P-106 Assignment The Wasteland" Epic of modern time with comparison to "Ramayana" the epic of ancient time

 P-106  Assignment

The Wasteland" Epic of modern time with comparison to "Ramayana" the epic of ancient time

Name-Kishan Jadav

Paper 6: The Twentieth Century Literature: 1900 to World War II

Roll no-10

Enrollment no-3069206420200008

Email id- jadavkishan55555@gmail.com

Batch-2020-22 (MA Sem-2)

Submitted to- S. B. Gardi Department of English,

                Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

 

Introduction

Literature is a huge source.  In which writers of every language have written literature.  Much literature has been written from ancient times to modern times.  Today's writers take a little too much from the earlier literature.  While some writers write the opposite and different types of literature in their own way morden literature.  So here I will discuss about these two epics The Waste Land and Ramayana.

Both the epics “Wasteland” and “Ramayana” have great influence on literature. “Ramayana” is the most famous historical text of Hindu. Both the epics highlight various issues which are relevant to the current world. An Epic is a long poem typically one derived from ancient oral tradition narrating the past history of nation. Therefore both these epics narrate the past history of nation along with many mythical stories.

1] The Waste Land:

The Waste Land is written by T.S. Eliot.  It is a long epic poem.  Which was very famous in the 20th century and a central work of modern literature. It is published in 1922.

The poem structure is divided into five sections:-

i)  The Burial of the dead

ii)  A Game of Chess

iii) The Fire Sermon

iv) Death by Water

v)   What the thunder said

All these five sections passed a great message to society. These sections also reflects the plight or suffering of human beings and how they involves in various activities which leads to their own downfall such as sexual perversion, lack of spiritual values etc.It is on this line that we feel that poetry will be dark and deadly.  We know spring as a time rebirth, happiness, fresh starts, and beautiful scenery. But within the West Country this time is considered a painful time because it snows at this time. Perhaps by the symbol of death T.S. Elliott is trying to show the world war here.  They are talking about a war situation.

Various Myths in Wasteland reflecting the situation of contemporary world :

i) Sibyl :

Sibyl is portrayed differently.  What is important for a human being in that life?  Every human being has a desire or greed to live. But here Sibyl shows a desire to die. The Cumaean Sibyl’s quote “ I want to die” is taken from Satyricon or Petronius, but the background story of Sybil is founded in metamorphosis. She, being loved by Apollo granted to live as many years as a grains of a heap of a dust: but she didn’t, and though she lived for centuries, her body decayed in such a way that eventually was as small as to kept in a jar. Sybil wants to escape from the world, wants to get ‘Moksha’ but she was not able to get it. The condition of Sybil is very much significant with the current world.

ii) the Fisher king

“While I was fishing in the dull canal

On a winter evening round behind the gashouse

Musing upon the king my brother’s wreck

And on the King my father’s death before him”

(Line 189-192)

Fisher king is a myth story that is significant in the present time. The Fisher king is crippled by a magical wound and spends his day fishing on a lake near his castle. His lands are desolate, infertile, as result of his wound. The knight Percival eventually come to the castle of the fisher king in search of the Holy Grail. Percival heals the King, restoring the land to fertility and becoming keeper of the Grail. This mythical Wasteland is the analogue for the Modern world of spiritual Bareness. This mythical story of Fisher King is very significant in the present time also. If a man is not well he can do nothing.  Unless we are healthy, as long as we are not suffering from any disease, like King Fisher King no one comes to help or alleviate our suffering.These things show the indifference to life that when we are sick all our moves is useless.

iii) Tiresias

Eliot has widened the scope of the poem by combining with it the classical wasteland of King Oedipus and the barren land of Christian Bible. The classical association is symbolized by Tiresias, the blind prophet of Thebes, who is introduced as protagonist of the poet. He stands for the human consciousness, connecting the present with the past, and his vision which is the substance of the poem, is a series of flashes (Al-Mahdi). Lamentation of Tiresias in the third part is having certain kind morality when he sees what clerk and typist are doing.

Vi ) Phlebas

In the section four “Death by Water” Eliot has used the mythical character Phlebas. He is a Phoenician sailor who has died, apparently by drowning. In death he has forgotten his worldly cares as the creatures of the sea have picked his body apart. Phlebas offers the lesson of physical reality of death and decay triumph over all.

There are still many myths which are remaining and are significant  such as Tristan and Isolde, Holy Grail, Philomela, Thames daughter and others.

2]  Ramayan

Ramayana is an epic legendary narrative of the Ram and Ravan  war and the fates of the Dashrath, His Queens , Laksman, Sita, Lavkus stories. It contains philosophical and devotional materials which are relevant in present time also.Philosophically he lags far behind in the compare of Mahabharata.  The Mahabharata deals with many things related to philosophy which are not in the Ramayana.  But even in Ramayana we find some philosophical matters. There are plenty of life lessons one can learn from the Ramayana.

Mythical stories of Ramayana which are relevant in present time.

i) Dasharatha promise :

Dasharatha was the king of Ayodhya.  He died because of a promise he made.  Because they promised their queen that they would give her whatever she wanted.  Kaik asked him to promise exile to Rama and hand over the throne to Bharat.  Dasharatha had to do it according to the rites of Raghukul, but by doing so he dies himself.  So sometimes even the decisions made by oneself in human life can prove to be risky.

ii) Ram's Dissension :

Ram is considered as the ideal man.  He was the son of Dasharatha.  Since he was born in Raghukul, his Raghukul policy was that even if " Prana dies, the promise will not go".  So they were forced into exile because of the promise of their father.  So Ram is world famous as the right son of a father.  But Ram also made a few mistakes in his life.  People say he took Sitaji's ordeal.  They ordered a pregnant woman to be placed in the forest. So as a husband they do not prove to be good. He also cheated and killed Wali and Ravana. They fought with their own children.  It was inappropriate for a heroic warrior to fight with a small Kshatriya warrior. So even as a father he did not prove to be good. Even an ideal man makes many mistakes.

iii) Enemy in the form of brother : 

There are two incidents in Ramayana in which only one brother kills his own brother.  One is the incident of Sugari and Wali and the other is the incident of Vibhishan and Ravana.  Sugari and Vibhishan both help Ram to kill his brothers.  So sometimes our brothers can be the cause of our downfall.

vi) Women Relationship :

In the Ramayana, Sita Urmila and Mandodari Pativrata prove to be women.  While Dasharatha had three queens.  Surpankha likes Ram at first sight.  He presents this idea to himself but is insulted by Lakshman.  So Surpankha's brother Ravana kidnapped Sita to avenge her. But he did not have another relationship with her.At the present time, the attitude towards women is very different.  It has both female and male faults.  Such a situation has arisen due to the influence of Western culture and the gradual change.

v)  True Friendship between Ram and Hanuman :

Throughout the Ramayana, if anyone has a friendship, it is Rama and Hanuman.  Because Hanumanji has always supported Rama. He has helped and supported him in every situation. Such friendship is very difficult to meet in modern times.

Similarities between “Wasteland” and “Ramayana”

   Reality of life:

Both the epics teach life lessons through various mythical characters. And make us aware about the reality of life. For example, the character of Sybil in The Wasteland taught us that how one cannot die with their choice, suicide is sin according to the Christian faith. She is just struggling in her life waiting for her death. When in contrast Rama himself leads himself to death and commits suicide himself and shortens his life.  Those who do not want to struggle for life anymore. They shorten their lives and commit suicide.

 Theme of sexual perversion and lack of spirituality

Both the epics follow the theme of sexual perversion and lack of spirituality. There is one story of three girls of Mrs. Porter in The Wasteland washing their feet with soda waters, just to attract male. The Story of Clerk and the Typist who are engage in sexual activity also signifies the sexual perversion. This signifies how people are too much involve in sex and don’t look at other things.In the Ramayana when Surpankha is attracted to Rama she presents her intentions.  And he intends to have a relationship with them. When Ravana kidnaps a widowed woman and brings her himself, it is also an insult to a woman, which shows the reason for the fall in religion.  Because Ravana was a Brahmin and his religion is considered sacred.

Universality

Both the epics are universal in theme. Both convey universal message and each stories are relevant for any place, any religion, any caste, any class.

Dharma and  Karma :

Both the epics follow the message of karma. We need to do Karma only, then Dharma automatically comes in our life, we have to follow our karma. Sybil, who came to The Waste Land, is now seeking euthanasia under her karma. While Ravana's religion is a Brahmin, he dies according to his karma.

Difference between “Wasteland” and "Ramayana”

 Various texts :

In The Wasteland T.S Eliots includes various other texts from all over the world. He has included many works of other writer and poet, such as Bellinda from The Rape of the Lock, Philomela, Shantih shlok from Bruhada Upanishada. But these kind of variation we cannot find in Ramayana. There is no mention of other outside texts. Only we can see one single big text, Ramayana itself and its various characters.

Special Character

We cannot find any special character in The Wasteland. All are common people. There is no mention of something special one. But in Ramayana  we can find this distinction between special and common characters. Such as Rama are special than Ravana, there is distinction line between them.

Follows different times

The Wasteland follows modern time and Ramayana follows ancient time, even we can find lots of diference in between some characters like Mrs Porter and Dasharata, both having difernt ideals in life. DDasharatha is married with three princess  and Mrs Porter is keeper of Brothel, both the ladies having different moral values according to their contemporary time.

Autobiographical elements

Eliot wrote The Wasteland with the influence of his personal life. He is talking about sexual perversion a lot because he was left alone by his wife who was in extra marital affairs. Therefore we can find the influence of his personal life in his work. But in "Ramayana" there is no such influence as the epic was written by a character that is totally outside of it. Vedvyas has written things what he knows about the story, he has not included personal life and we cannot see the influence of his personal life in it.

Conclusion :

So, In this both the great epics are very much relevant to study and to compare with each other. Both have given different real life lessons that one should need to learn or follow. There are many aspects of living in ancient literature.  Similarly in modern literature also shows different aspects of living life through.  The Ramayana is ancient literature while The Waste Land is modern literature. But the Reality of life, Theme of sexual perversion and lack of spirituality,  Universality, Dharma and  Karma, have similarities.

WorkCited :

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Thanks.😊