Reconstructing History In Jibanananda’s Poetry

When a poet initiates to compose a piece of poetry, he requires being diachronic urging his readers over the ages to weigh up his poetic creation in the light of synchronic aspects of the prevalent time. The poet, any poet indeed, requires to be very pertinently ready to act in a way to get his message across to the readers of subsequent ages; he, that is to say, gets to be connected with an objective to be developed in sequence of events with a meaning carried with it to outstrip the periphery of time it is originated in. The readers, in sequence, being in a common line with the contemporary familial, societal, national, and international status quo bring about the most pragmatic meaning to conform to those; the readers set out to extract a meaning complying with a fairly precise meaning projected by the poet himself; and the poem itself has to be conceived in a mythical sense and implication as to carry out the intents of the readers which must be synchronic to determine the timeless and static traits of the contemporary circumstances. Here, in this piece of write up, an earnest endeavour has been taken on to bring into focus the utility and efficacy of the poem “Advut Andhar Eek” by Jibanananda Das to re-ealuate the germaneness of the contemporary state of affairs.
This poem comprises two stanzas with four lines each. In the very first line of the first stanza “Advut andhar eek esheche ae prithibeite aaj” the poet has been aware of, and ascertained the presence of a strange, weird, menacing, eccentric, uncanny, intimidating, bizarre, and ominous darkness over the world. The poet has been aware of the emergence of this strange dimness, obscurity, and darkness after he has witnessed it with his own eyes; and the darkness is strange so far; unlike any other darkness, it is of no match with the other form of darkness as far as we are concerned with. Here, this bizarre darkness stands for the anarchism, atrocities, chaos, and disorder ubiquitously pervasive. This anarchism has been loosed upon far and wide; and this chaos and anarchism has been given rise to and brought forth by us; it is the invariable outcome of the misdeeds we have committed beforehand now leaving us starkly exposed to an outright non-livable world. It entails the nemesis which we are responsible for, and caused to be occurred.
The existing political turmoil of our country that we are passing through now has given rise to a very horrendous circumstance which it is impossible to keep continuing our fundamental activities in. We are awed by the presence of a tormenting shadow being seen the world over. After having risen to the top of the zenith, we are at this moment having a great downfall. An all-consuming threatening gloomy shadow has approached to gulp the nobility of mankind down to its throat. So, the implication of the first line is justified as to have been matched with the autocratic supremacy exercised by that ominous power in our country. And it is very pragmatic in the political context of our country.
There in the second line of the first stanza occurs “Jara andha, shobcheye beshi aaj chokhe dekhe tara” which divulges a ghastly message to us saying that the persons who are blind and insensible are mistaken for the most sighted and sensible ones. Their impaired vision and ignorance induce them to bring about the disturbing circumstances that the inhabitants of this world at this instant are typically confronted with; they have not hitherto developed an insight into the most palpably mild and meek gracefulness, poise, and delicacy of human heart; and they run out of the indispensible sublimity and sensibilities of character and heart; nonetheless they are thought to be imbued with what others are short of, and believed to have infused themselves with the evenhanded acumen, expertise, and judgment that they are not really worthy of. The have taken hold of the absolute authority to rule over the world with their subversive and deceptive instructions to lead mankind go astray. It appears quite paradoxical that they are blind, but they are deemed to be seeing more than the farsighted persons.
It may undeniably be specified that these shortsighted frogs in the well have led the country to so diabolical an extremism that it is not so easy a tusk to restore the missing equilibrium, stability, and the uniformity either in the mind of the people or of the country. The blind are engaged in doling out the insight among the enlightened ones. The poet has managed to take notice of the hypocrisies and the double standard principles that these inept and clumsy people nurture in their character. And their sightlessness, that is, their thoughtlessness is so much so that they do not, in fact, know that they have got blind out of their unbridled yearning for more power.
In the last two lines of the first stanza is added to the meaning set forth in the preceding two lines as the poet goes further on accounting for the characteristics of those persons having no compassion in their heart for the others; they are bereft of moral scrupulousness; they are devoid of conscientious righteousness; and they do not feel a least the presence in their heart of the sense of empathy; they are not moved a bit by the fellow feeling and the responsiveness for the sake by the good counseling of those persons insensible. The poet conveys this idea to his readers while uttering “Jader hridoye konu prem nei – niti nei – korunar aloron nei, / Prithibi ochol aaj tader shuporamorsho chara”. Really, they have set out to undertake the world leadership in their hand to lead the mankind to obscurity.
Taking the aforesaid situation into our judicious account, we can without difficulty get to the conviction that the poet Jibanananda was righteous in his argument that the world today is at a stake without the assistance of those emblematically blind men. People from all walks of life in this country are presently seized with a great fear that they may anytime be made to face a severe prosecution when they have committed nothing detrimental to the interest of the state. The ruthless persons having no mercy in their hearts are now busy there educating the generous and benevolent people the moral lessons.
A very diabolical note confirming a literal inferno for the people with austere scruples has been imparted by the poet in the second stanza to us. The most refined and transcendent attributes of human nature namely truth, sacraments, arts, and belief in humans are threatened here in this stanza; these polished associates of human character are left exposed and susceptible to the all-pervading systems of capitalism; they are presented in contrary to the obnoxious principles exercised by the power monger avaricious people, majority in number when the poet voices “Jader govir astha ase ajo manusher proti / Ekhono jader kase shavabik mone hoy / Mohot shatto baa riti, kingba shilpo othoba shadhona, / Shokun o sheyaler khaddo aaj tader hridoy”.
Every historical truth turns mythical with the passage of time; it is mythical in the sense that we evaluate them in a synchronic manner, that is, we make effort to determine the meaning of a particular historical fact intended by the author in terms of our frame of mind designed by the time we live in. So, it may very emphatically be enunciated that truth in a particular period becomes myth in another time. The truth in the past grows myth in the present. But really it does not. It remains as it is; the trends of thoughts of our transformed minds get us to interpret the anticipated meaning projected by the poet or the author. The proposed truth of the poet attains a symbolical dimension when passed on to the subsequent generation, but the efficacy of a poet ought to be assessed on the basis of the realism that he conveys, applying to a timeless phenomenon. “Odvut Andher Eek” may be no exception to this truth.
Nonetheless, there are the truths retaining the identical appeal to all generations as sensed in this poem. Here, in the last line of the poem the images ‘vulture’, and ‘fox’ undertake a symbolical implication to denote the animals living on the left over of humans; they metaphorically embody the men who survive on putting away the good and decent associates of ideal men; they make the benign and generous people fall an easy prey to their trap as a means for their living.
Provided we get a little concerned with the prevalent political condition of our country, we can realize that the driving force of this country is accumulated in the hands of those inept and clumsy persons who have not the least competence to run the state smoothly. The more awkward situation arises when the injudicious and thoughtless people attempt to review and involve critiquing various forms of art; when they are set to give unwise view in reaction to the noble effort of the artists. Throughout the poem, we notice the reflection of the poet’s resolute estimation of the present chaos being loosed upon the world; the innermost and insightful disposition of the poet is mirrored in the poem to make the reader aware of the forthcoming upsetting condition.