Dawn At Puri

Endless crow noises

A skull in the holy sands
tilts its empty country towards hunger.
Whiteclad
widowed Women
past the centers of their lives
are waiting to enter the Great Temple
Their austere eyes
stare like those caught in a net
hanging by the dawn's shining strands of faith.
The fail early light catches
ruined, leprous shells leaning against one another,
a mass of crouched faces without names,
and suddenly breaks out of my hide
into the smoky blaze of a sullen solitary pyre
that fills my aging mother:
her last wish to be cremated here
twisting uncertainly like light
on the shifting sands

Dawn at Puri is a poem of faith and doubt stranded on the vast seashore of Puri marking the
funeral pyre burning, the black crows crowing, the holy skull lying on the sands, the widows
queued up to enter the Great Temple and the lepers scrambling as nameless figures. Crows
and the skull picture a world raked by hunger, scarcity, heat, dust and thirst; depravity,
mismanagement and trouble. The white clad women are in rows to enter the temple who
have nothing left with them, the eyes looking waterless. What to ask for from the deity,
deliverance or something else? The dawn light flashes upon and shifts to, frail and shaky in
its presence. The lepers assembled add to the pity and misery of the poem and contrast faith
with doubt and suspense. Where actually is faith? Why does God not see it all? Again the
dawn light dazzles over the pyre burning on the sands. The sudden blaze lights up the sky
and it reminds him of the wish of the mother who too likes it to be cremated here as Puri is
the swargadwara. As dawn light is frail and shaky in its presence so is human faith
staggering. Nothing is certain here, everything but temporary and transitory.
Abstract on “Dawn at Puri” by Jayanta Mahapatra

„Dawn at Puri‟ is an imagist poem (a poem consisting of a number of vivid, sharply etched,
but not necessarily interrelated images). The Panorama of Puri (in Orissa- a land of
„forbidding myth), artistically portrayed with vivid images and symbols, becomes evocative.
Puri is the name of a famous town in Orissa, which is considered sacred because of the
temple dedicated to Lord Jagannath, the presiding deity of Orissa. This temple is said to date
that to 318 A.D. It is particularly famous for the chariot festival of Jagannath; an annual
ritual conducted for the glory of this deity and is attended by a large number of pilgrims.
„Endless crow noises‟; a reference to the endless cawing of the crows, a visual as well as an
auditory image. „A skull on the holy sands‟: This is a startling imagery created with the
juxtaposition of the abstract with the concrete, where the abstract „holy‟ and the concrete
„skull‟ are grouped together. It is believed that the deity of Puri was carved out of a tree trunk
that was washed ashore and this fact is alluded to in his poem „Losses‟. Hoping for some
kind of redemption for this wayward world, the speaker in the poem muses: “Perhaps the
piece of driftwood/ washed up on the beach/ heals the sand and the water”. Puri is regarded
as a sacred site and it is the wish of every pious Hindu to be cremated there to enable them to
attain salvation.

„It‟s empty country towards hunger‟: a reference to the poverty to the people of Orissa
including the sight of the skull lying on the sea-beach symbolizes the utter destitution of the
people. „White-clad widowed women‟: reference to widows wearing white saris and the
phrase that points to their predicament as well as the rigidity of Hindu customs and rituals.
„Past the centers of their lives‟: having spent the middle years of their lives and passing their
prime. „Their austere eyes stare like those caught in a net‟: the misery resulting in utter
hopelessness is clearly visible on their faces for there is an expression of solemnity in the
eyes of the widows in which no worldly desire is perceptible and are full of desire like the
eyes of creatures trapped in a net.

„Dawn‟s shining strands of faith‟: A person having a firm belief in religion never losses
hope, so in spite of their circumstances, the only thing that sustains the widows is their
religious faith and the hope born of it. The reference to dawn is to be noted. It refers to a new
beginning in nature and thereby, to a new start in mankind and civilization. The tone of quiet
acceptance, with a latent awareness of suffering, perhaps indicates a very Indian sensibility.
„The frail early light‟: the dim light of the dawn is a reference to the title of the poem which
must be noted. „Leprous‟: from leprosy, an infectious disease affecting the skin and nerves
and causing deformities . „A mass of crouched faces‟: a large number of timid persons
standing in a group, having no confidence in themselves, preferably referring to the lepers
and widows who are not allowed to move freely in the town. „And suddenly breaks out of
my hide‟: suddenly emerges from beneath my skin.

„A sullen solitary pyre‟: A pile of wood is used for burning a dead body as part of a funeral
rite. The sight of this reminds the poet of his mother‟s last wish to be cremated here as it is
the gateway to Heaven or the „Swargadwara‟ which is the name of that part of the long sea-
beach where the funeral pyres go on burning. Since the temple of Lord Jaganath at Puri
„points to unending rhythm, dying in this place will take one to silence the ultimate desire of
a human being which will enable him to attain Nirvana. „Twisting uncertainly like light on
the shifting sands‟: This is an apt image of the smoke rising from the funeral pyre where the
wind from the sea causes the smoke to twist uncertainly. This is an example of Mahapatra‟s
„transcendal mode‟ and an example of his attempt to trap elusive meanings. The poetic
exploration of this place turns out to be a search for the self. The view thrills the poet and he
becomes an integral part of it, observing a morning scene on the sandy sea-beach in the town
of Puri. By means of a series of vivid pictures, the atmosphere of dawn has been created.
Mahapatra also underlines the importance of the temple town of Puri and what it means to
the Hindus in India.

The famous town Puri is considered to be a sacred place by the Hindus. It is the sacred place
of Lord Jagannatha, the presiding deity of Orissa. The Hindu devotees find redemption and
celestial peace at Puri. The poem, “Dawn at Puri” emerges as a realistic document of the
Hindu psyche and their age-old beliefs and traditions. Mahapatra marks this unflinching
belief of the Hindus in this poem:

her last wish to be cremated here

twisting uncertainly like light

on the shifting sands.

Being aware of his environment and firm roots in the orthodox cultural convention, the poem
deals with the local details. The poet is disappointed with the hollowness of traditional
practices and customs. Here the poet ironically brings out the incongruities in the Indian life,
as well as landscape. At Puri, we find a stretch of beach called „Swargadwara‟ or „Gateway
to Heaven‟ where the dead are being cremated. Many pious Hindus or widows feel that it is
possible to attain salvation by dying at Puri. People from different parts of India mingle
together irrespective of caste, colour and creed. The poem brings out through successive
images the characteristic atmosphere of Orissa, its sufferings, poverty, hunger and its age-old
customs and rites and rituals. The image of the crow, sand, widows, the shell caught in a net
– all evoke the early morning ambience of the sea beach at Puri.
 The image of widow is an important image for Mahapatra. It associates the
disagreeable. Their presence here places the poem in its specific Indian locale. The images of
the widows are pregnant with symbolism. The widows, in a country like India were, and in
some societies still are forced to live a life of austerity. They are therefore characterized not
as „old‟ but as women who are „past the centres of their lives‟. Their wait for the access into
the Great temple also becomes symbolic of their waiting for death. With the help of a simile,
the poet describes the vague consciousness ruling the superstitions of human mind. Just as a
fish stares vacantly after falling a victim into fisherman‟s net, similarly the religious-ridden
widows caught in the nets of faith stare blankly with eyes full of despair and devoid of any
confidence. They are lost in the darkness of overwhelming unconsciousness. The poet is not
free from those conventions and practices. His ageing mother has expressed her “last wish”
to be cremated in this beach. The „sullen pyre‟ reminds the poet of it. Thus we come across a
very faithful portrayal of the landscape around the poet.

Poetry Analysis: Jayanta Mahapatra‟s “Dawn at Puri” . © Rukhaya MK 2010

Puri is an eminent town in the state of Orissa. It is distinguished for its religious associations,
particularly the annual festival held to honour the deity, Jagannatha.

The poet ruminates on the beach premises at Puri. The endless cawing of crows catches the
speaker‟s attention at the outset. He then notices a skull on the beach where bodies are
normally cremated. The skull is a part of a cremation that has not been completely burnt by
the funeral pyre. This skull is emblematic of the abject poverty and spiritual handicap of
Puri, in spite of all the religious connections and connotations. The skull represents the
hollowness of life and the inevitability of death. It symbolizes the spiritual stagnation and
pseudo-existence of Orissa. Puri here, functions as a miniature metaphor of India in. The
term „empty country‟ emphasizes the same, the nihilism in a non-productive life. The hollow
skull points to the irrational superstitions prevalent taking man back to primitivism.

The speaker then notices a number of widows adorning white saris all ready to perform the
customary rites and rituals. These women are depicted as “past the centre of their lives” They
have whiled away a significant portion of their lives, implying they are past their prime. The
word „centre‟ may also signify that they have crossed the peak of their lives. Again, the word
centre may point to their spouses who are no more, and were the centre of their lives. They
appear serene and solemn. There appears an expression of austerity in their eyes, as they are
divorced from all worldly concerns. The white color that they adorn is as symbol of their
purity and tranquility. They are like creatures caught in a net. The creatures caught in a net
having nothing more to lose as they remain captured. The widows too have nothing more to
forgo, as they stand in spiritual submission. The force that anchors these women to be steady
in their approach to life is their undeterred faith in God. They dreamt with the hope that
religion equipped them with. As they stand in a group, their uniting factor seems to be their
timidity .They are a “mass of crouched faces” possessing no individuality. They are
presented as a common noun. Women are relegated in a patriarchal society; and this
marginalization is more pronounced, if it is a widow.

At the break of dawn as the poet looks at the single funereal pyre burning, a sudden thought
occurs to him: that of his mother‟s last wish. The phrase “And suddenly breaks out from my
hide” echoes the thought springing out; just as the poet sprung out from his mother‟s
womb(hide). His aged mother wished that she be cremated at this particular place. It comes
across very strongly to the poet. Rites and rituals are mandatory. However, perhaps,
performing one‟s mother‟s last wish is far more important than these obligatory dictates of
religion and doctrines of custom. It „dawns‟ on him all of a sudden. The symbol of Dawn is
thus also one of realization.