Kuvempu’s (1904-1994) “Kalki” as a dream allegory

The paper studies dream allegory or dream vision as a literary device, its origin and Kuvempu’s
use of it in his revolutionary poem “Kalki” in order to comment on the society at large. The
paper examines the inherent symbolism of the poem that has been foregrounded through the
symbol of Kalki who is known to be the last ‘avatar’ or incarnation of Vishnu in Hindu
mythology. According to Hindu mythology Kalki is yet to make its appearance in the Kali yuga
and his appearance will bring the Kali yuga to an end. The paper also studies the poem in the
light of Marxist ideology.
Introduction- Dream Allegory or Dream Vision
The dream allegory or dream vision belongs to the genre of visionary literature. The dream
vision tradition has been widely used in European literature from the Late Latin (3rd-6th
centuries) till the 15th century. Its origin lies in early medieval Europe and its ancient and
medieval form is thought to be of divine origin. A very influential medieval example of dream
allegory is the thirteenth-century French poem Roman de la Rose; the greatest of medieval
poems, Dante Alighieri’s (1265-1321) Divine Comedy (1555), is also a dream vision. In
fourteenth-century England, it is the narrative mode of the fine elegy The Pearl of William
Langland’s (1332-1386), Piers Plowman (c. 1360-1387), and of Geoffrey Chaucer’s (1343-
1400)
The Book of the Duchess (1368) and The House of Fame (1379/1380). After the Middle Ages the
vogue of the dream allegory diminished but it did not die out. During the Restoration Period
(1660-1700) of the Neoclassical Age (1660-1785) John Bunyan (1628-1688) wrote The
Pilgrim’s Progress (1678) as a dream allegory. In the Romantic Age (1785-1830) the genre
becomes predominant with John Keats’ (1795-1821) The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream (1819). In
the Victorian Period (1832-1901), Lewis Carroll’s (1832-1898) Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland(1865) was written in the form of a dream allegory. In the Modern Period (1914-),
James Joyce’s (1882-1941) Finnegan’s Wake (1939) refers to an intense cosmic dream of an
archetypal dreamer. The form of a dream allegory has been imported by Kuvempu and used in
his poem “Kalki” to address his social concerns. The poem “Kalki” describes the plight of the
poor in a society dominated by the rich. It exposes the injustices prevalent in the Indian society
and the unbridgeable gap between the haves and the have-nots. In the poem, the hunger of
the poor takes the form of fire which destroys everything. Kalki, a mythical figure and an
incarnation of Lord Vishnu, emerges from the fire to bring about a total annihilation of an
unjust world.
A dream allegory or dream vision or ‘visio’ may be defined as:
A mode of narrative widely employed by medieval poets: the narrator falls asleep, usually in a
spring landscape, and dreams the events he goes on to relate; often he is led by a guide, human
or animal, and the events which he dreams are at least in part an allegory. (Abrams 49)
The genre follows a structure where the author narrates his account of falling asleep, dreaming
and waking up. The poem ‘Kalki’ which may be considered as a ‘dream allegory’ is
structured in
the following way:
The dream-street in the world of sleep:
I trudged and toiled, but I lost my way! (“Kalki” )
It begins with the poet persona or the speaker in the poem losing his way in the dream street
while trudging and toiling in the world of sleep. The poem concludes with the narrator waking
up, determined to record the dream in the form of a poem. Thus, the poem ends in the
following way:
The dream was broken,
And I was awake!
How could there be any more sleep? (“Kalki” )
The above mentioned examples show that the speaker is in a dream state which comes to an
end towards the end of the poem when he wakes up. The speaker goes on to relate his
dreamduring the course of the poem.
He does not have a guide and is on his own to find his way out of the forest. The poet persona
comes before a primal forest which is depicted to be dense and immense with “gigantic trees
untold”, “creepers close entwined”, “bushes full of thorns”,“creepers with saw-toothed leaves”
and “prickly pears looming like spectres” (“Kalki” ).
The forest that the speaker comes across in his dream is scary but still he dares to move throughit
and spots a weird half-light which is neither light nor darkness and leaves him perplexed. The
poet persona feels surrounded by the phantoms of fear. Therefore, he states:
Phantoms of fear slunk and stalked
In that horrible forest! (“Kalki” )
The poet persona walks through the scary forest. There is silence all around him. He crosses the
forest and reaches a mountain. He climbs to its summit and sees a city of sheer enchantment.
The city is described to be having the mansions of the rich on one side and the hutments of the
poor on the other side. There are blazing crystal lamps in the mansions of the rich whereas
pitch darkness in the huts of the poor. There is a soft voice of song on the side of the rich but
there is a long scream of lament on the side of the poor. The pride of the rich made them
throw away their food but the poor pined away for the want of food. There is a park for the
rich but a grave for the poor. The rich wore silks whereas the poor did not have a rag to cover
their loins. This description of the speaker foregrounds the unbridgeable gap that exists
between the living condition of the rich and the poor in the city. The speaker then spots the fire
of hunger that rises from the bellies of the poor and gluts their hutments, engulfs the rich in
the city, singes their mansions, burns babies, children, mothers expecting child, newly-wedded
brides, married ladies, young, old, lame, deaf, those who were deaf to the wails of the poor,
monks in ochre robes, priests, their votaries, dwellings and monasteries.
The poet persona sees the poor man as ‘Kalki’ of the Kali age. Kalki who is known to be an
incarnation of Vishnu as per Hindu mythology and is supposed to make its appearance in the
Kali age leading to the annihilation of the world is brought in the poem as an ominous figure
symbolizing revolutionthat would replace the old world order with a new world order.
The poet persona is greeted by a new spectacle of blood falling everywhere and the stink of
human flesh. The blood roared and the speaker could see human skulls, human trunks, towers
of temples and houses of religion were floating in the blood. He goes on to describe Kalki as a
“skeleton rider” riding a “skeleton-horse” (“Kalki” ) drinking blood to quench his thirst and
gobbling the heads that bobbed up from the blood. The horse too drank the blood as the rider
and both crunched the dead bones of the corpses thereby swallowing all the dead bodies. The
flood of blood dries up but the thirst of the throats of the poor does not get quenched and the
hunger of the bellies of the poor does not get satiated. The speaker realizes that Kalki has seen
him and is coming for him so he gets terrified, shudders and drops. His dream ends and he
wakes up. The poem is in the form of an allegory which is a rhetorical device and the characters
or events in it represent or symbolize ideas and concepts. It is considered to be an “allegory of
ideas” (Abrams 4) because in this poem the literal characters represent abstract concepts, that
is, Kalki in the poem represents a violent and bloody revolution that establishes a new social
order based on equality and the plot exemplifies a doctrine or thesis, that is, the poem is about
social change that advocates equality among the people and puts an end to the oppression of
the poor by the rich.
The ‘vision’ addresses the waking concerns through the possibilities of the imaginative
landscapes offered by the dream-state. In the course of the dream, the narrator often with the
help of a guide is often provided with perspectives that offer potential resolution to the waking
concerns. The dream allegory is considered to be a literary device that recounts as having
revealed knowledge or a truth which is otherwise not available to the dreamer or a visionary
when he is awake. The poem describes the disparity that exists between the rich and the poor
in a society:
The mansions of the rich rose on one side,…….And here you saw a grave!
In silks they paraded themselves there, not a rag to cover their loins here! (“Kalki” )
The speaker talks about the disparity that exists in the society which he may have observed and
forms an important part of his waking concerns. In the poem, the speaker is provided with
perspectives that offer potential resolution to his waking concern of disparity between the
condition of the rich and that of the poor and of its resultant inequality in the society which is
that of a violent revolution. Thus, the speaker describes the revolution in the form of a fire
that rises out of the bellies of the poor: ‘I looked and looked, still looked and looked;… Rose
the fire of hunger,’
The hutments themselves first caught the fire, ‘Dhag, dhag, dhag, it blazed,…Upto the tufts of
all the quarters,’
The fire of the poor man’s hunger ‘Shot out its tongues and drew the rich in …And enfolded
them in its arms! (“Kalki” 29)
The fire that rises from the bellies of the poor takes the form of Kalki of the Kali age:
The fire rising in the poor man’s belly...That comes as the Kalki of the Kali age! (“Kalki” )
Therefore, Kalki in turn represents the violent revolution.
The speaker then talks about another dreaded spectacle in which there is blood all around:
But what was this new spectacle?.....Rising up was the spray of hot blood! (“Kalki” 30)

Kalki and the horse he is riding drinks blood which symbolizes the fact that the revolution
which will end the old social order and establish the new social order will be a violent one
resulting in bloodshed that will engulf both the rich and the poor. The speaker describes
Kalki’s
act of drinking blood:
“Blood, blood, blood! I want blood!” he shrieked ,….Never, never, is that belly filled! (“Kalki” )

The revolution in the form of the “skeleton rider” on a “skeleton-horse” (“Kalki” ) will level
all differences existing in the society by eating up the rich and the poor alike. The revolution in
the form of the skeleton rider riding the skeleton horse will demand more blood and more
corpses so that there are no vestiges of the old order left behind and an entirely new beginning
can be made. This is the revealed knowledge or the truth that is not otherwise available to the
dreamer when he is awake. Thus, although the dreamer when he is awake is able to observe
the stark inequality that prevails in the society between the rich and the poor but the violent
revolution which is a solution to this inequality in order to begin a new social order is not
available to him. The result is that he sees the solution of this disparity between the rich and
the poor in the form of a violent revolution in his dream. Thus, the dream that forms the
subject of the poem is prompted by events in the waking life that are referred to early in the
poem.
Symbolism
“The term symbol is applied only to a word or phrase that signifies an object or event which in
its turn signifies something, or has a range of reference, beyond itself” (Abrams 206). Some
symbols are “conventional” or “public” (Abrams 206) as they refer to symbolic objects of which
the further significance is determinate within a particular culture. Poets may use “private” or
“personal symbols” (Abrams 206) which are widely shared associations between an object or
event or action and a particular concept. An allegorical emblem is an object whose significance
is made determinate by its particular qualities and by the role it plays in the narrative (Abrams
206).
In this poem “Kalki”, the mythical figure of Kalki who is also considered to be the final
incarnation of Vishnu as per Hindu mythology is used as a private or personal symbol. Since
Kalki means eternity or white horse or destroyer of filth the image of Kalki is brought in as a
harbinger of change. In Hindu mythology, it is believed that Kalki will end the Kali yuga or age
and usher in Satya yuga. In this poem too, Kalki is shown to be a destroyer of filth or foulness or
darkness. He symbolizes a change through a violent revolution that would turn the existing
order of society topsy turvy resulting in a utopian social order based on equality. Kalki is
described by the speaker in the following way:
Who was he that in the distance/was charging onward ruthlessly? ... And the grief of the poor
incarnate? (“Kalki” )
The frightening description of Kalki riding a horse projects the revolution to be ominously
gruesome. Kalki in addition to being a representative of the poor is projected as a symbol for
the life as well as for the grief of the poor because the revolution that is there in the offing aims
to restore the rights of the poor thereby giving them agency and doing away with their
marginalized status in the society. Kalki is described as a poor man in the poem:
And it is indeed the poor man himself
That comes as the Kalki of the Kali age! (“Kalki” )
Kalki also becomes a symbol that represents the rebels who are the downtrodden people in the
society and are actually instrumental in bringing about the revolution.

Marxist Ideology in “Kalki”

The economic and cultural theory of Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895)
states that 1) The mode of material production or economic organization determines the
evolving history of humanity, its social relations and its institutions 2) The historical changes in
the fundamental mode of production effects changes in the social class structure thereby
establishing dominant and subordinate classes in each era which are engaged in a struggle for
economic, political and social advantage 3) Human consciousness is constituted by an ideology
which is considered to be a product of the position and interests of a social class as well as
serves to legitimize and perpetuate the interests of the dominant economic social class
(Abrams 241). The poem “Kalki” manifests the social relations between the two classes, that is,
the rich and the poor. The rich are the ones who own the means of material or economic
production whereas the poor are the ones who form the working class or the labour force. The
tension or antagonism exists in the society as there is a competition of socioeconomic interests
and desires between people of the two different classes. Thus, the poet persona states:
The mansions of the rich rose on one side,…..From want of food they pined away here!
In silks they paraded themselves there, not a rag to cover their loins here!

The social relation between the two classes is one of conflict resulting in class warfare or class
struggle which ultimately leads to a revolution. The poem depicts the class warfare in the form
of the fire that rises from the bellies of the poor and engulfs everything and everyone around
including the rich. Thus, the class warfare is described by the poet persona in the following
way:
From the bellies of the poor….And enfolded them in its arms!

The class warfare results in a revolution that is characterized by bloodshed which is

portrayed
by the dreamer in the following way:
When that dreaded spectacle vanished from sight….Floating, floating, floating and floating,
Were driving down like straw!
The revolution that takes place in the poem aims for a complete change of the existing
social
order so the visionary states:’ The fire of the poor man’s hunger blazing…All, all were burned
up by that devastating fire’

The above mentioned lines highlight the annihilation of the old social order by the fire that
rises from the bellies of the poor which symbolizes the revolution that is instrumental in
bringing about change. This annihilation ends the supremacy of the dominant class, that is, the
rich, and begins a new social order that may provide an economic, social and political
advantage to the poor who were otherwise powerless in the society.
The poet persona is portrayed to be on the side of the poor. Thus, he states:
The soft voice of song on that side,
The long scream of lament on this side!
This example shows the poet persona to be on the side of the economically powerless in the
society through the use of the phrase ‘on this side’. The speaker in the poem takes a radical
stance against the economically dominant class in the society and expresses his belongingness
towards the oppressed social class. The dreamer suggests a radical alternative to the existing
inequality and oppression in the society in the form of a revolution. The poet persona’s radical
stance helps to subvert the ideology which is a product of the position and interests of a social
class, serves to legitimize and perpetuate the interests of a dominant economic social class and
constitutes the human consciousness. The poem is based on Marxist ideology because it talks
of radical change through a poet persona who considers himself to be a part of the oppressed
social class and it also talks about equality in society through revolution thereby ending the
dominance of the economically dominant social class. The poem although a dream allegory
mirrors the occurrences in a real societal set-up and the ways and means to bring about change
thereby bringing home social realism to its readers in the form of dream allegory.
The poem is didactic because it gives a social message that equality should be introduced in the
society and that it can only
be done by changing the existing social order through a social
revolution. The message is based on the existing condition of the society. The poem has the
form of a dream allegory but talks of social realism based on Marxist ideology. The form of
dream allegory was imported by the poet from Europe and has then been domesticated to
convey his genuine concerns regarding the well-being of the downtrodden people occupying
the lowest rung of the economic ladder in a society. The symbol of Kalki, the mythical horse
rider, represents the poor in the society and also their anger against the rich. This symbol has
been used to portray the violent aggression of the poor that leads to a change in the societal
set-up thereby telling the readers of the poem that a social change through a revolution is an
alternative available to the marginalized in the society.