25  

In the Introduction to The Collected Essays of A.K. Ramanujan, Wendi Doniger says that

before Ramanujan the Indian scholars residing in U.S.A., were merely informants, but

Ramanujan is presented by her in glowing terms:

At a time when the American Indological establishment regarded native Indian

scholars merely as sources of information about languages and texts, like the raw

fibres that were taken from India to be processed in British mills, but seldom as

scholars who might have their own ideas about how to process those texts, Raman

taught them all how to weave a theory, a folktale, a poem, a book. . . . (Collected

Essays 3)

A deep entrenched Indian sensibility united with an analytical intellect, sharpened by a

long sojourn in the West are the admirable features in the poetry of A.K. Ramanujan. Having a

vital grasp over actualities, he does not view life through the colored glass of imagination. On the

contrary, he portrays a picturesque description of life as it is, giving due emphasis on its endless

diversities full of oddities and absurdities. Precision and detail are other predominant

characteristics of his poetry. Without imposing his opinions on the readers, Ramanujan simply

pens down his thoughts and experiences in an abrupt, lucid and often mocking style. Taqi Ali

Mirza expresses his sentiments thus:

The strong nostalgic note which is such a prominent feature of much of

Ramanujan’s poetry, does not portray the nostalgia of an individual for times and

things past. It is the nostalgia of a whole people who look back, often in an

attitude of love-hate, to the past, at once drawn towards and repelled by it. (qtd. in

Shahane 155)

26  

Despite his expatriate experiences abroad, there is nothing really westernized about his

poetry. Except a few ones, most of his poems revolve around his Indian themes set against an

oriental backdrop. But his sharp memory accompanied by a capacity for objective analysis

enables him to recall even the apparently unimportant details of his life. Ramanujan recalls his

various experiences of childhood and expresses them in a vivid manner. A.K. Ramanujan recalls

the varied experiences and anecdotes of his youth with a renewed sense of analysis. He cherishes

his memories but analyzes them assuming the role of a detached observer. There is no kind of

regression and yearning for the days which he enjoyed in his childhood and adolescence.

Moreover his reminiscences do not have an aura of sentimentalism. And like Thomas Moore he

does not say: “Fond memory brings the light / Of other days around me” (Moore 330). He writes

with equal poise on the royalty, the commoner, the learned and the religious. As Jahan Ramazani

says, referring to Ramanujan:

Like the postcolonial or migrant subject, torn out of one cultural context and

inserted into a new one, the eye that blinks in a new head or the heart that beats in

a new chest cannot always adapt with ease to its new surroundings. (Ramazani

43)

The chapter which is to be studied elaborately consists of several poems of A.K.

Ramanujan’s four anthologies and all the poems elaborate the subject of discussion i.e. “Deities

and Nature” in a peculiar way. The poems have the description of natural objects such as trees,

animals and rivers etc. which are related to Hindu gods and goddesses in one way or the other or

have been associated with the deities due to their mythical and religious significance by the

people in India. The poet reveals the beliefs and traditional rites and rituals of the people in India

and thus both aspects i.e. deities and nature occur in his poems naturally. Being an Indian poet it

27  

was natural for him to introduce the traditional beliefs of his native land. These traditional beliefs

have been developed by the people from the time immemorial and who have adjoined them with

the natural objects because these natural objects occupy a great place in Indian myths and

legends. In an interview with Rama Jha, Ramanujan himself says:

All kinds of relationships there are, but one writes about what one feels one

knows best. Not what one wants to. You see, these are two very different things.

It may be true, I ought to be writing about pollution, about ecology and the rest of

it. If you truly feel about it, it will be there somewhere, because one does not

write according to doctrine. As I said, one does not know whether one writes even

to be published. (qtd. in Jha 11)

There are a lot of references in Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas and the epics written by the

renowned poets, which make the people to venerate the natural objects as gods and goddesses.

All the things which emerge and dissolve in this mortal world, have their association with the

One i.e. God himself. They cannot be detached from the Supreme Being or from whom they

enjoy their existence. In the holy book of Hindus, Shrimadbhagavadgita Lord Krishna while

preaching to Arjuna says that:

                             yo mam pasyati sarvatra

sarvam ca mayi pasyati

tasyaham na pranasyami

sa ca me na pranasyati (Shrimadbhagavadgita ch.6, text 30)

(For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me (as their essential spirit), I am

never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.)

28  

Not only this, there have always been many essential necessities of the people which

made them to adore the natural objects as deities. The trees, rivers, animals, mountains are those

primary natural objects which especially have their mythical significance. The poet is not

actually concerned with the mythical or traditional beliefs of the people of India, but while

talking about the phenomena, several things come into discussion along with the man because

there is not a single thing which do not affect the man or remained untouched by the man. The

natural objects have always influenced Man and his life in multidimensional ways. Thus the

natural objects cannot be detached from man either in literature or in any other sphere. Such

natural phenomena as lightning, floods, storms, and miracles are attributed to deities, and they

may be thought to be the authorities or controllers of various aspects of human life (such as birth

or the life after death).

Some deities in the Vedas are asserted to be the directors of time and fate itself, to be the

givers of human law and morality, to be the ultimate judges of human worth and behavior, and to

be the designers and creators of the Earth or the Universe. The poet Ramanujan depicts this

feature in his poem entitled “Moulting” when he says: “Lord of snakes and eagles, and

everything in between . . .” (Collected Poems 176). The poet again shows the multidimensional

deeds of the deities in his another poem entitled “Prayers to Lord Murugan” where he depicts the

ancient Dravidian god Lord Murugan as the:

Lord of green

growing things,

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lord of great changes and small

cells: exchange our painted grey

29  

pottery

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lord of headlines,

help us read

the small print.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lord of the sixth sense,

give us back

our five senses.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lord of solutions,

teach us to dissolve

and not to drown.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lord of lost travellers,

find us. Hunt us

down. . . . (CP 114-15)

About Rammanujan M.K. Naik rightly says, “The poet also appears to view favourably

the absorbing power of his traditional culture” (Naik 14). A.K. Ramanujan’s poems have their

significance in abundance because nature does not come in his poems by force and they never

make us to feel that this aspect has been imposed on them rather the natural objects along with

the discussion of man occur so naturally that these does not seem any kind of patch over the

description of man or on the poet’s creativity. Among all the natural objects, the trees have their

 

own pec

depiction

tree wors

always r

dedicatio

goddesse

mankind

clothing

In

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the peepu

not belie

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culiar signifi

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n Rigveda a

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inly an ancie

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m to be holy

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aditional bel

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only in the

d “Chaityavr

ent practice

by the peop

f veneration

y and Hind

al to worship

veda the tre

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n his poem “

n” (CP 199)

liefs of the p

to venerate th

ocial reality

rites and ri

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in India. Pla

ple who pe

is that the

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p trees that

ees are sanc

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“Shadows” w

). Here the w

people rathe

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word ‘hoping

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his interview

mately to be

dana 2003)

n the mytho

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me immemo

food, shelter

Vriksha Dev

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g’ signifies t

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w with Rama

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e misbelief o

a Jha, Raman

poet” (Jha 5)

30 

. The

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poet about h

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31 

given

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32  

In Ayurveda it is used extensively. Its bark yields the tannin used in treating leather. Dr.

Kanta Gupta says in his book Be Your Own Doctor “apply paste of soft leaves of Pipal is useful

in healing wounds” (Gupta 129). Some believe that the tree houses the TRIMURTI the roots

being Brahma, the trunk Vishnu and the leaves Shiva. In Hinduism, the Trimurti ‘three forms’-is

a concept in Hinduism:

in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are

personified by the forms of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the maintainer or

preserver, and Shiva (Kali) the destroyer or transformer. These three deities have

been called “the Hindu Triad” or the “Great Trinity”. (Kappor 5591)

This is the reason why it has a specific position among all the trees. In his essay “Classics

Lost and Found” he says, “Indian tradition is not a single street or a one-way street but consists

of many connected streets and a neighbourhood. . . . India does not have one past but many

pasts” (CE 187). In Shrimadbhagavadgita, while describing his Vibhuti (powers and attributes)

Sri Krishna narrated that, “Ashvattha Sarva Vrikshanam Devarshinam cha Gandharvanam

Chitraratha Siddhanam Kapilomuni” (Shrimadbhagavadgita ch.10, text 26). In this text Sri

Krishna said, “I am the Aswatha Vriksham, the king of vrikshas” (qtd. in Williams 54). The

reference of circumambulating the tree shows how deep the poet is attached with Indian culture

and traditions. This mentioned ritual has a broad and deep significance in different myths. In the

Skandapurana, it is said:

Vishnu resides in the root of the peepul tree. Keshav (another name of Krishna)

resides in the trunk, Narayan in the branches, Lord Hari in the leaves and all the

gods reside in the fruits. This tree is like the idol of Vishnu. All good people serve

the virtues of this tree. This tree is full of all kinds of virtues and has the ability to

33  

fulfill desires and absolve the sins of the people. (qtd. in Bhalla 69)

And not because of this that people worship the Peepul tree but the tree has a great

symbolic significance due to several other characteristics. Subodh Kapoor in his book The Indian

Encyclopedia says that the tree loses its leaves in winter only to sprout new growth with the

return of spring season. This aspect makes the tree a symbol of resurrection. Even the fruit of the

tree is used as an example to explain the difference between body and the soul in the Upanishads.

The body is like the fruit which being outside, feels and enjoys things, while the soul is like the

seed, which is inside and therefore witnesses the things. Thus, Peepul tree has its significance in

grasping the basic idea about human beings and philosophically it makes its unique importance

(Kapoor 5591).

Such kind of beliefs seem to the poet as blind faiths of the people because after residing

in U.S.A. the approach of the poet had undergone a change and this can be perceived in the

beginning of the poem “Shadows”:

Shadows fall between people

when they walk in the sun.

Doubts grow in the dark

and by dawn the window

is tangled in vines. (CP 199)

Here these lines depict the poet’s thought that how the doubts take place and increase

ever with the time and gradually thus entangled that it is not possible to find any kind of solution

for them and this attitude of the poet can also be seen in his another poem entitled “Fear No

Fall”, “Snakes” etc. For instance, in the poem “Fear No Fall” the poet depicts the protagonist

34  

named Arunagiri who spent his youth and money on liquor and subsequently meets a sage who

suggests him to:

‘Sing now of Murugan!’

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Arunagiri, truant extraordinary,

escape artist, burglar of hearts,

guzzler on all good things,

who didn’t have an alphabet

in his past nor ever a tune in his head,

hated temple bells and hypocrisies. . . . (CP 276)

The poet here shows his dual attitude, first he depicts in these lines that one should praise

and show his dedication towards Lord Murugan but again he says about the temple and the other

rites and objects of veneration as hypocrisies, as he depicts: “temples, bells and hypocrisies” (CP

276). Thus his altered attitude gets expression in the above mentioned stanza. The poet’s

approach towards such kind of beliefs of the people is somewhat mystical. The reason is that on

the one hand he talks of the traditions followed by the people and on the other; he speaks

ironically about these customs. In Preface to the Lyrical Ballads William Wordsworth defined

poetry as ‘the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin in emotion

recollected in tranquility’ (qtd. in Bloom 142). Ramanujan’s poems however reveal a marked

deviation from this oft-quoted definition of poetry. According to K. Vedanta Reddy, “It is

recollection emotionalized in un-tranquil moments that appears to be the driving force behind

much of Ramanujan’s poetry” (Reddy 88). Same is the case of the poet who being nostalgic

35  

reminds everything related to his native place whether it is about its religion or about his own

family and the other objects.

Having settled in U.S.A. it was natural for A.K. Ramanujan to change his approach

towards the things including traditions, and ceremonies of his native land as well. Whenever a

person lives in such kind of atmosphere where the things are seen from the scientific vision the

mental status of the person adapts naturally with the atmosphere and the same thing happened

with the poet. He began to look at the things in the same manner and found several doubts, his

reference of the Peepul tree shows his deep knowledge about the Indian traditions, rites and

rituals, ceremonies, and religious beliefs also, but the reality is different and the poet seems to

mock at all the traditions and the religious beliefs of the people. He is possibly not in favour of

all these blind faiths of the people rather he considers the Indian people as fools who follow the

things without having knowledge of their actual existence. But in his interview with Rama Jha he

says, “whatever world it may be. It may be a personal world, it may be a social world, but a

world which is fully embodied in poetry. We need enough of that, some part of our experience-to

explore it as best as we can” (Jha 5).

This thing only shows how a man is get influenced by his surroundings and atmosphere

as happened to the poet and he reflects this influence in his creations. Same is the idea of another

poem when the tree gets importance by a woman who does not want to cut it because of her

traditional beliefs and several other reasons. The poem is “Ecology” in his third anthology

entitled Second Sight 1986, which depicts how a woman who is deeply attached to the Champak

trees opposes the cutting of the tree. The son mentioned here, is the poet himself and in this

poem he recalls his mother. She chides her son who due to extreme love and care for his mother

decides to cut down the trees because the intense fragrance of the yellow pollen of the Champak

36  

trees causes an acute headache to his mother.

for I could see from a mile away

our three Red Champak trees

had done it again,

had burst into flower and given Mother

her first blinding migraine

of the season. . . . (CP 124)

But the poet’s mother has several reasons to prevent the cutting of the tree. She says that

the tree is as old as she is herself and this aspect of the tree has made her to attach deeply with

the tree.

almost as old as her, seeded,

she said, by a passing bird’s

providential droppings

to give her gods and her daughters

and daughters’ daughters basketfuls

of annual flowers. . . . (CP 124-25)

This thing again reminds of the cultural beliefs of the people. They don’t want to perish

the things which are attached with their traditional beliefs, emotions and sentiments. Here the

poet shows how the people possess intense love and do care for the things which have their place

in their rituals, rites, traditions as well as in their daily practice of life, though the things are

natural objects. It has always been a general characteristics of the human beings to show intense

care and affection for the things that grow up with them or have passed a long time with them

and only because of this the poet’s mother prohibits the cutting of the tree. She gives several

37  

other reasons to save the tree from the rage of his son. She says that the tree is grown up by the

droppings of the passing bird which she considers as the providential thing. And above all the

ritual benefit of the tree, as it gives the basketful of flowers to offer to gods, is also put in the

consideration of the poet. The flowers of the trees are used in most of the ceremonies and rituals

of Indian society and are considered as the main objects for the adoration of the gods and

goddesses.

Thus the poet has different ideas when he depicts the natural objects and attaches them

with the deities in one way or the other. Sometimes he disregards the ancient beliefs that have

their existence even today but gives ample importance to them when he describes the intense

love and care that reside in the heart of the people for them. The people love trees because of

their traditional and social significance. The aspect of the representation of the gods and

goddesses occur every now and then in Ramanujan’s poetry though it does not happen

knowingly but whenever he reminds his native country, India, it’s essential elements such as the

religious beliefs and traditions, rites, rituals come in his poems naturally.

For A.K. Ramanujan, the recollections deeply imprinted in his mind, brought the

memories of other days around him. Another distinguishing feature of A.K. Ramanujan’s poetry

which comes as an outcome of his faith in the Hindu philosophy is his intense love for animals

and his ability to perceive the divine presence of God in all creatures, great, or small. Ramesh K.

Srivastva quite emphatically states, “It is this hindu belief in the existence of God in every living

being, big or small, that creates in Ramanujan a healthy attitude towards all creatures of God,

including dogs, snakes and lizards who in certain respects, are better than human beings”

(Srivastava 61).

38  

The poet depicts a mythological incident in the poem “A Minor Sacrifice”. Though the

poem starts with a mythical tale, and is followed by an incident chosen from day-to-day life.

Both the tales in the poem are conclusive and independent of each other. But Ramanujan

establishes a connection, harping on the perpetual tension between the scientific temper, and god

fearing, Karma-adhering attitude. The poem does not resolve the tension but the manner in which

the poem concludes suggest us that the killing or sacrificing insects or animals is an act of

condemning sin. The poem indicates the Hindu and Buddhist effects on the poet. Herein the poet

tells about the Nagyajna which was initiated by Janmejaya, the first ruler of the era of kali (the

era of kaliyuga) to take revenge of his father Parikshit who was killed by the bite of the snake

named Takshak, the poet presents gods and goddesses in an indirect way. Indirect in the sense

that the yajna was performed to perish the species of snakes and the snakes to save themselves

went to gods for seeking help and thus the gods take place indirectly. As:

His son vows vengeance

and perform a sacrifice,

a magic rite

that draws every snake from everywhere,

till snakes of every stripe

begin to fall

through the blazing air

into his altar fires. (CP 144)

The incident depicted in the poem has been taken from the Adi Parva of Mahabharata.

This shows the knowledge of the poet about the Indian culture. Any kind of yajna is incomplete

without the worship and offerings to gods and goddesses. Moreover it was an ancient practice to

39  

perform yajna to please deities for the fulfillment of any kind of wish. The poet gives an ample

evidence of such kind of ancient practice in this poem, but the gist of the poem is that we should

not take revenge on anybody and perform any kind of sacrifice to please gods because it is all

against the welfare of human beings. The peaceful life contains the boon for the entire mankind

and the story related to this incident proves this thing. Thus we can say that the poet gives only a

reference of this epical story in his poem entitled “A Minor Sacrifice” but through such a

glimpse a broad view of the gods and goddesses can be seen. Thus it can be said that various

kinds of deities have their various ways to treat the living beings and they used to please by yajna

and sacrifice in the epical eras. The yajnas possess importance even today in many parts of India

and to please deities these are performed even today. A.K. Ramanujan possibly wants to say that

any kind of ritual and rite should not be performed only to please deities and the things should

not be followed unknowingly and blindly.

This mythical tale of sacrifice is followed by another narrative in which a certain uncle

kills a scorpian and shows its poison head to Shivanna and Gopu-the children at once become

interested in riding the world of scorpions by witch craft. They have to appease the “twelve-

handed god of scorpions” (CP 146) by offering “one hundred live grasshoppers / caught on a

newmoon Tuesday” (CP 146). The children, accordingly, steal three pickle jars on a new moon

Tuesday. By evening they could collect only ninty nine. Gopu keeps the jar under his bed and

dreams of punishment in the Hindu hell. On Wednesday morning, the mother of Shivanna

informs everyone that he has been admitted to the hospital because of “some strange twitching

disease” (CP 148). Shivanna dies of that disease, and the uncle who was instrumental to

provoking the children coldly makes self-explanatory interrogation:

‘Did you know, that Shivanna,

40  

he clawed and kicked the air

all that day, that newmoon Tuesday,

like some bug on its back?’ (CP 148)

The poet does not find any fault with the “Savage innocent” (CP 148) the children. He

digs at the matured uncle who is responsible for Shivanna’s death. An important fact revealed by

Ramanujan’s poetry is his comprehensive knowledge of Indian mythology, folk-lore and

religion. His expatriate experiences did not in the least disssuade him from enriching his

knowledge about his native culture. The idea of sacrification is seen in his another poem entitled

“At Zero”. Here the poet depicts how a “potter-saint” who buries his youngest child alive to

please his god and the poet depicts these mal-practices as:

as when the potter-saint

singing hymns, dancing

his god, kneaded with his feet

the soft red clay, burying

alive his youngest child. (CP 201)

Such are the instances of sacrification in the poems of A.K. Ramanujan, which depict

how the mal-practices is prevailed in indian society and are followed blindly. Among the

remarkable achievements of Hinduism was its blending of the countless cults, gods, and totems

of India’s many ages and diverse people into one vast mythology-a mythology dominated by the

two Hindu gods, Shiva and Vishnu. The roster of these deities reaches, quite literally, into the

millions. It includes all the gods of early sacred and epic literature and their later permutations;

deified mortals; and the animals, birds, trees, mountains, rivers, and plants revered as divine

personalities by India’s primitive tribes. The roster of these deities reaches, quite literally, into

41  

the millions. It includes all the gods of early sacred and epic literature and their later

permutations; deified mortals; and the animals, birds, trees, mountains, rivers, and plants revered

as divine personalities by India’s primitive tribes.

M.M. Ninan in his book, The Development of Hinduism describes the Vedic periods and

the development of Hinduism and its several aspects such as the emergence and development of

the deities, monotheism, and reincarnation etc. in the Vedic period. He describes how the

characteristics of many of these gods often merged into one. Shiva, for example, incorporates

aspects of the fertility-god of the prehistoric Indus Valley people, as well as the fierce god Rudra

of the early Aryan invaders and the unnamed dance-gods of the Dravidians of the Tamil region.

When such adopted gods were too disparate to be combined, they were simply made members of

the family of important gods or incarnations (avatars) of them. Animals venerated by the earliest

Indian societies. The bull, the elephant, the serpent were joined to the Hindu pantheon as

companions of the major deities. A.K. Ramanujan also describes the worship and reverence of

the animals including serpents in India, as they are considered to be the symbol and ornament of

lord Shiva. Even the festival Naag Panchami is celebrated to show the dedication and reverence

to them. And the poet also gives instance of this festival in his poem “Snakes” when he says:

A basketful of ritual cobras

comes into the tame little house,

their brown-wheat glisten ringed with ripples.

They lick the room with their bodies, curves

uncurling, writing a sibilant alphabet of panic

on my floor. Mother gives them milk

in saucers. (CP 4)

 

R

lives in

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Ramanujan

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43  

the native land affects every human being residing there. And so happened to the poet, the first

reason for this was that after some time he moved to U.S.A. and remained there throughout his

life. The result was that he became nostalgic and expressed in his creations what he reminds in

the state of being reminiscent. And thus the Indian culture, traditions, rites and rituals comes in a

large quantity in his expressions. Thinking on the same lines A.N. Dwivedi cites, “And though

he has been living in the States since long, he has not forsaken his Indian heritage and sensibility.

Again and again he reverts to the theme of the past and displays a remarkable sense of Indian

history and culture” (Dwivedi 1). In the poem “Snakes” the poet depicts one of such traditions.

Naag Panchmi is the festival when the serpents are venerated and worshipped by the people who

consider them as the symbol of Lord Shiva. Ramanujan’s “Snakes” points out the touching truth,

the truth of insensibility and Indifferences of the modern society. The poor do not hesitate to face

danger. No doubt, snake-charmers take any risk only to stub out the starvation of the family by

providing entertainment or pastime to the rich. Here it appears that their lives are for the sake of

snakes:

The snakeman wreathes their writhing

round his neck

for father’s smiling

money. (CP 5)

Paul Verghese has rightly remarked on the imagery of the poem that “the description of

the snake reveals great skills in the use of images that are highly concentrated in their effect”,

and that “the images have vividness even in their abstractness” (Verghese 91). But the animals

have been described in a varied manner by the poets form time to time. Another reference is

made to snakes, flies and frogs. The poet brings out the puzzled association of snakes are “like

44  

some terrible aunt” (CP 4). Whenever his sister entwines her he conceives it as a snake. The poet

as a child does not get rest from the fear of snakes till they are killed.

Now

frogs can hop upon this sausage rope

flies in the sun will mob the look in his eyes,

and I can walk through the woods. (CP 5)

The poet as a child does not get relief from his fear of snakes till they are killed. He is

happy that now the frog also can jump on the snake which is just like a “sausage rope” and flies

will mob the look in his eyes. Commenting on his poems Lakshmi Raghunandan rightly says,

‘The killing of the snake, out of irrational panic reveals the inability of man commune with

Nature when he is restricted by innumerable self-made inhibitions” (Raghunandan 158). Another

reaction of his parents and the poet to the snake can be seen here. His mother gives it milk and

the father cheerily pays the snake charmer, but the poet screams to see this and thus shows his

awe and fear towards the serpent. Not only this, the poet has depicted the magnificence of the

snakes when he says:

The twirls of their hisses

rise like the tiny dust-cones on slow-noon roads

winding through the farmers’ feet.

Black lorgnettes are etched on their hoods,

ridiculous, alien, like some terrible aunt,

a crest among tiles and scales

that moult with the darkening half

of every moon. (CP 4)

 

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46  

aspects of Vishnu or Shiva. They embellish and beautify Hindu decorative art and temple

architecture, adorning the outer walls and towers of temples as objects of beauty or being

installed inside as objects of veneration.

Though Krittika Ramanujan suggests such a process as: “Animals appear everywhere in

the poems, but the poems are not “about” animals, they have a double vision” (CE 16). Father of

Nation, Mahatma Gandhi was right was he said that “the greatness of a nation can be judged by

the way its animals are treated” (Francione, 62). Wonder resulted from primitive man’s

observations of this distinctive trait and this wonder eventually induced adoration. Thus,

primitive man worshipped animals that had inimitable traits (Weissenborn 282). In Charles

Darwin's theory of evolution, the existence of a conducive eco-system is highly dependent on the

interaction between man and beast. Different types of animals occupy various strata in the food

chain of which man is invariably a part.

Because of their cyclical moulting, serpents are believed to be immortal; eternity is often

illustrated in the form of a serpent eating its tail. Thus immortality reflects in the life processes of

the serpent. It is believed that mortality from snakebites must have been considerable to prompt

people to worship the nagas to seek protection from them. Because of the fear, nagas were

elevated to a divine status by the Hindus. In the southern area at the beginning of a harvest

season crops attain their full growth and the harvest is ready to be reaped. In countries like India

the reaping of the harvest is still largely a manual operation for the performance of which

farmers have to go among the dense crops for cutting them before the threshing, dehusking, etc.

In doing this work farmers, expose themselves to the danger of snakebite from these reptiles

lurking unseen among the dense crop. From this fear and for providing psychological comfort for

themselves farmers propitiate the snake (God). For instance, William Blake’s poem “The Lamb”

47  

included in his poetic volume Songs of Innocence in which he describes the innocence of the

lamb which has been rendered to him by the Almighty. Though he does not speak about any kind

of deities and only mentions in the end of the poem, the word “HIS”, “I a child, and thou a lamb,

/ we are called by HIS name” (qtd. in Lewis 14), he does say so because both are innocent and

meek and so is the God. And then he says “Little lamb, God bless thee! / Little lamb, God bless

thee!” (qtd. in Lewis 14). Though the representation of lamb is taken in the sense of Jesus Christ

who was meek and modest like lamb and as the lamb is used for religious reasons to please the

deities so did Christ for the world. Blake, thus, manifests his own belief in the supreme power

and the almighty God.

According to Blake god reside in the heart of every living being and in the Bible also

Jesus is called the lamb. It is referring to Him as the perfect and ultimate sacrifice for sin. Thus

the association of the deities and nature exist from the very beginning. But on one hand William

Blake shows the innocence of the lamb on the other he does show the fierceness of the tiger in

his another poem “The Tiger” which is included in his another poetic volume Songs of

Experience. Of course, there can be no gainsaying that the tiger symbolizes evil, or the

incarnation of evil, and that the lamb represents goodness, or Christ. The poem is more about the

creator of the tiger than it is about the tiger in itself. In contemplating the terrible ferocity and

awesome symmetry of the tiger, the speaker is at a loss to explain how the same God who made

the lamb could make the tiger. Hence, this theme, humans are incapable of fully understanding

the mind of God and the mystery of his handwork gets primary place. Not only Ramanujan has

depicted the animals as an integral part of the traditions and practices in India but the Christians

belief related to gods and animals is also hinted here. According to them the god is meek,

humble and gentle like the lamb itself but when the god has created lamb he has also made tiger

48  

as well. Such a great contradiction questions the modesty and gentleness of the god and the tiger

shows the fierce part of his nature also get revelation.

Thus the concept of making of gods by man gets importance in almost all the poems of

A.K. Ramanujan and the poet is also aware of the fact that many rites and rituals are manmade

and they have no reasonable significance and importance and its supreme reason is the

psychology of the people residing not only in India but in the entire world and the people

residing there. The people get relief because they feel that by doing so they will surely get the

protection from the gods and goddesses to whom they are offering their prayers. This is only

because the gods and goddesses are considered as manmade, and to think of such aspect the main

reason is that what gods are worshipped at one place and what appearance they possess there are

not considered the same in another place. Thus due to these practices of people they became the

part of the tradition in Indian regions. And only due to their mythological existence they have

been considered as pious.

In John Milton’s epic Paradise Lost an example of a serpent used as a negative symbol is

the snake that tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, as described in the Book of

Genesis. And above all the snakes are considered the symbols of immortality, rebirth, healing,

and transformation. Thus every festival that is celebrated in India, possess a special mythical

value and the practice of these festivals retain their existence in recent times. India has always

been the “Tapobhumi” of the sages and seers and thus it all come in our traditions and it is has

been the speciality of the Indians to keep safe what they get in their inheritance. So is the case

with the poet who being a common person represents the social beliefs and values of his native

land in his creations.

49  

Though the poet gives a little glimpse of those great mythological and historical incidents

which are in real occupies a wide area in their sources. Though the poet has a view full of doubts

about these rites and rituals but he could not detach himself from his social practices and beliefs.

All the natural objects that are venerated belong to either one or two deities and find their

expression in the mythologies in a large scale. And the beliefs of the people cannot be neglected

as they does not grow them from their own imagination rather they have proof with them in the

form of Mythologies and Puranas. Thus it can be said that in this poem the poet expresses the

general belief of his family members as well as of the whole region.

A careful analysis of Ramanujan’s poems convinces one that A.K. Ramanujan stands out

as one of the most distinguished Indian English poets who embodies the choicest elements of his

rich native culture and the detached view point drawn from an intellect subjected to western

thought. Though he gets ironical and gives expression to such thing when he says:

The snakeman wreathes their writhing

round his neck

for father’s smiling

money. But I scream. (Collected Poems 5)

And thus towards the end of the poem he expresses his disbelief in such rituals and says

that the snake charmers befool the people and only fulfill their means in the name of religion.

While discussing the ideas of tradition, philosophers like Swami Vivekananda have also

criticised the superstitious practices, which have unfortunately become an integral part of

tradition.

Such is the power of superstition, or faith in old traditions without inquiry into its

truth, that it keeps man bound hand and foot, so much so, that even Jesus the

50  

Christ, Mohammed and other great men believed in many such superstitions and

could not shake them off. You have to keep your eye always fixed on truth only

and shun all superstitions completely. (qtd. in Sen 154)

Thus in the concluding line Swami Vivekananda inspires us to be rational in thinking and

analytical in approach. Ramesh K. Srivastava rightly points out: “Ramanujan is not a preacher,

nor does he suggest remedies and palliatives for the ills of the society and for the erosion of the

human values” (Srivastava 62). The poet only believes that these kind of rituals are made to exist

by such people so that their wishes can be fulfilled but to a great extent the people are themselves

interested in making all the rites and rituals to be enlivened forever and they feel some kind of

psychological satisfaction and mental peace in performing such kind of rites. The poem shows

another aspect also which is related to the act of hurting such animals and since “Hinduism is the

primary religion of India” (Regenstein 221). “Like several other religions that profess animal

respect and consideration, ahimsa is a major concept in Hindu belief” (Regenstein 223).

“Humans and animals are one family and therefore, humans should treat all living creatures with

respect and kindness. Their pets are often treated as if they are truly members of the family”

(Regenstein 223-224). But on the other hand such kind of instances as the exploitation of the

animals can be seen also which take place in the name of traditions and customs.

Not only the serpents but the birds also possess a great significance in the Hindu

mythologies, legends and culture but the birds also have importance as they are represented by

the deity in these myths and legends. The lord of snakes and eagles that is lord Garuda in Hindu

mythology and the poet in the poem “Moulting” prays him to protect his son. As he depicts:

“Lord of snakes and eagles, and everything in between cover / My son with an hour’s shade and

be the thorn at a suitable height / In his hour of change” (CP 176).

 

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51 

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52  

Bruce king says in this connection, “In a ‘A River’ Ramanujan places himself in a Tamil

cultural and poetic tradition by criticising it. The old poets lied; the new poets imitate the old by

not looking at reality” (qtd. in Ghosh 62). Though the condition of the river is discussed when it

is dried:

every summer

a river dries to a trickle

in the sand

baring the sand ribs. . . . (CP 38)

and one can easily perceive the things that had been brought by the river when it was flooded and

now the dead things lying in the river are discernible only these things are sociably and

religiously important as the river takes along with her a pregnant woman and “a couple of cows

named Gopi and Brinda” (CP 39).

it carries away

in the first half-hour

three village houses

a couple of cows

named Gopi and Brinda

and one pregnant woman

expecting identical twins

with no mole on their bodies

with different-coloured diapers

to tell them apart. (CP 38)

53  

As Bruce King remarks, “The havoc caused by floods and drought suggested by the

“sand-ribs”, runs contrary to the poetic myth-making tendency of Tamil poets who ignored

reality and the poem itself is an attempt to debunk the romanticization of traditional Tamil

culture” (King 210). The fury of the natural objects have been shown in the poem and when they

are furious what disasters can happen in real is also reflected here. The pregnant woman’s

expected twins can be considered as the object of sacrifice to the river because they are spotless

and are able to be offered to her as a sacrifice. This is the general saying that those things are

able for the sacrifice that does not have anything blemish in them.

Thus in the fury of natural objects the living things get affected on a great scale. And the

poet is not only concerned with the sacrifice that is taken by them when they get flooded. The

flood is taken as the rage of the river, the consequences of this kind of anger may be disastrous

and the things carried away by the rivers are considered as the sacrifice which has been taken by

them. The idea of sacrifice reminds the ancient rituals when the deities were pleased by the

sacrifice and chants and mantras. But here the belief of considering the rivers as deities primarily

gets expression in this poem, “A River”. The image of “pregnant woman” implies a fine example

of two generations the present and the future. The present in the form of mother and the twins

represent the future in this image. R. Parthasarthy verily remarks “The relative attitudes of the

old and new Tamil poets, both of whom are exposed for their callousness to suffering, when it is

so obvious as a result of the flood” (Parthasarthy 95). This remark is, no doubt, corroborated by

K. Sumana in a lucid manner:

The poet narrates the poem through the mouth of a visitor to make it objective.

The greatness of the poem lies in the fact that the traditional praise for river has

been contrasted with what is actually experienced by the people during the floods.

54  

Apart from presenting the grim realities of a rover in spate, Ramanujan hints at

the sterility of new Tamil poets who still quoted the old poets. (qtd. in Ghosh

41)

In the poem “A River” the poet also expresses that the river Vaikai carried along with it a

couple of cows named Gopi and Brinda. The names given to the cows show that great reverence

which the people possess for the cows in India. Cow in India is regarded as “Gau Mata” and is

thus revered on every occasion. Hindus consider killing cows and eating their meat a serious

taboo. Every part of a cow's body is said to be occupied by a divinity and everything it produces

is considered sacred including the cow dung and urine which are used in certain rites and rituals.

The Vedas expressly prohibit the killing of cows either for religious or secular purposes. Vedic

people regarded cows as wealth and demanded them as donation from the rulers and merchants

in return for their priestly services. Cows played an important role in the life of Lord Krishna

who spent most of his childhood in the midst of cowherds tending the cows. His flute had a

soothing effect on the cows causing them to produce more milk. Goloka or the land of cows is

another name for Vaikuntha the world of Vishnu.

Rivers have always a great significance in the mythologies and legends of India. Every

river has a myth about its origin and the origin of these rivers on the earth was quite impossible

without the role of some or the other deity though they themselves have been considered as the

deities. Rivers are adorned and venerated by the people in India and several rituals and rites are

associated with the rivers and through them the people show their dedication for the rivers. As

the river Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati possess their significance in northern India so does the

river Vaikai have its importance in the southern part of India. Here again the regional effect on

the religious rites and values can be perceived in this poem. The trinity of the rivers Ganga,

55  

Yamuna and Saraswati is important and these rivers are venerated only in the northern part of

India while this trinity of the rivers loses its importance in the southern part of the same country.

Rivers are considered as the mother in Hindu societies and are venerated all over India. Not only

this poem but the rage of “Ganges” is also shown in the poem “One Reads” when the author tells

about those news that publish in the newspapers in general, when he says:

Daily, and therefore calmly, one reads:

of the raving Ganges,

The boats overturned. . . . (CP 48)

Thus the poet by depicting the rage of the rivers in the form of flood shows that the

natural calamities occur and they are considered as the fury of the natural objects in the Indian

beliefs and societies as well. The river signifies that the lord destroys sin, removes ignorance and

bestows knowledge, purity and peace on the devotees. Ganga also denotes fertility, one of the

creative aspects of lord Shiva. Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first and longest-serving Prime Minister

and a proponent of religious secularism, asked for his own ashes to be poured into the Ganges

River even though he was not a Hindu. He wrote in his own will, “The Ganga is the river of

India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her racial memories, her hopes and

fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India’s age-

long culture and civilization, ever-changing, ever-flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga” (qtd. in

Ghose 342).

The people make offerings of flowers and clay disks that are filled with oil and lit; they

then float these offerings atop the river’s water. Pilgrims then bring home a little of the river’s

water to use for religious purposes. And as mentioned earlier, when a Hindu dies, his or her

ashes are thrown into the Ganges River. The rivers were considered to be divine and worshipped

56  

as Goddesses in mythological descriptions and people were ordained to use their life sustaining

waters most judiciously and with greatest reverence. Even today in India, water is the single

most important tool/mode for performing daily religious rituals or social ceremonies and a

primary means for purification of body and soul. The rivers have been a source for evolution of

socio-economic and cultural patterns. A dip in the holy rivers is considered as an essential part of

Hindu culture, especially on specific occasions such as the solar and lunar eclipses or occasions

specified on the basis of specific planetary configuration, which are considered to have its

cosmobiological effect on the human body and mind. As Bruce King remarks “His Indianness is

a part of his past, (with which) he is inextricably linked as he changes and develops” (King,

Three Indian 8).

In T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” The shortest section of the poem, “Death by Water”

describes a man, Phlebas the Phoenician, 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. The narrator

asks his reader to consider Phlebas and recall his or her own mortality. This section is meant to

recall other highly organized forms that often have philosophical or religious import, like

aphorisms and parables. The major point of this short section is to rebut ideas of renewal and

regeneration. Phlebas just dies; that’s it. Like Stetson’s corpse in the first section, Phlebas’s body

yields nothing more than products of decay. However, the section’s meaning is far from flat;

indeed, it’s ironic layering is twofold. First, this section fulfills one of the prophecies of Madame

Sosostris in the poem’s first section: “Fear death by water,” she says, after pulling the card of the

Drowned Sailor. Second, this section, in its language and form, mimics other literary forms

(parables, biblical stories, etc.) that are normally rich in meaning.

57  

These two features suggest that something of great significance lies here. In reality,

though, the only lesson that Phlebas offers is that the physical reality of death and decay

triumphs over all. Phlebas is not resurrected or transfigured. Eliot further emphasizes Phlebas’s

dried-up antiquity and irrelevance by placing this section in the distant past (by making Phlebas a

Phoenician). In T.S. Eliot's the “Waste land”; water represents both rebirth and death, and colors

each theme with a degree of wistfulness. Spring rain is one of the "cruel" aspects of the month of

April, a vital component of the rebirth of the seasons, yet harsh in the way it stirs life anew. Eliot

refers to water indirectly later in referencing the Hyacinth garden, saying “Your arms full, and

you hair wet, I could not speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither living nor dead . . .” (Black

452). In this case water acts as a component of a memory, colored with a strong degree of

melancholy.

All the elements of this moment worked to move the narrator of the poem into a limbo, a

temporary nether realm of neither life nor death. In reference to the Tarot reader, and "Fear death

by water" the mention is made ironically, as Eliot uses the starkness of the prediction to

undermine the validity of the fortune teller. Essentially all people can fear death by water at

some point in life. The final stanzas of The Waste Land once again link Western and Eastern

traditions, transporting the reader to the Ganges and the Himalayas, and then returning to the

Thames and London Bridge. Eliot’s tactic throughout his poem has been that of eclecticism, of

mixing and matching and of diversity, and here this strain reaches a culmination. The relevant

Upanishad passage, which Eliot quotes, describes God delivering three groups of followers-

men, demons, and the gods.

“The Elements of Composition” is one of these poems which represent the existence of

deities in natural elements or in other words it depicts that the natural objects originate from the

58  

gods and goddesses. Here the poet describes about his own existence which became possible due

to the combination of certain elements as he writes:

Composed as I am, like others,

of elements on certain well-known lists,

father’s seed and mother’s egg

gathering earth, air, fire, mostly

water into a mulberry mass,

moulding calcium. . . . (CP 121)

The soul cannot be separated from the divine God, the soul is immortal and so is God.

God is the master of all creation and the destruction as well. In Shrimadbhagavadgita (ch. 7 text

4) Lord Krishna says ‘Erath, water, fire, air, space, mind, reason, and egoism-thus in my nature

divided eightfold’ (qtd. in Oruka 298). He is the only one and many as well. God pervades in

everything and everywhere, He is the colossal being and stays in the gigantic things as well as in

the smallest particle of the world. Hinduism defines God as the being who is visible and at the

same time invisible, He has a form and He is formless as well. The pancha mahabhuta, or "five

great elements", of Hinduism are Kshiti or Bhumi (earth), Ap or Jala (water), Tejas or Agni

(fire), Marut or Pavan (air or wind), Vyom or Shunya (or Akash) (Ether or Void) (qtd. in Sharma

38). Nature with all its beauty and grandness is God’s greatest gift to humans, and over the years,

humans have treated Nature with God-like fervor and devotion.

Some gods are associated with specific elements or functions: Indra (the king of gods, the

god of thunder and lightning and the firmament, he also rules the world of Swarga), Varuna (the

god of the oceans), Agni (the god of fire), Vayu (the god of wind) and Bhumi (the goddess of

earth). In the book Rigveda Sookta 84 is dedicated to Prithvi thus:

59  

O Earth! You bear all the beings and keep them happy. The Stota (Pangyrists)

eulogise you through their hymns. You only push away the roaring clouds. When

the clouds pour rains upon you, you by your innate power produce medicines

(medicinal herbs). (qtd. in Pandey Rigveda 109)

Vayu (Sanskrit: Vayu); Malay is a primary Hindu deity, the Lord of the winds, the father

of Bhima and the spiritual father of Lord Hanuman. In Rigveda book 1, hymn 2 “Beautiful Vayu,

come, for thee these Soma drops have been prepared: Drink of them, hearken to your call” (qtd.

in Griffith 392). As per our Hindu mythology fire is one of five basic natural elements (Fire,

Space, Earth Water and Air) responsible for the existence and identification of living

beings. Apart from this, fire is most essentials and inseparable part of our life, needed in

fulfilling our daily needs. Agni is a deity, one of the most important of the Vedic gods. He is the

god of fire and the acceptor of sacrifices. Agni has three forms: fire, lightning and the sun. Varun

is the god of water, water is essential for all beings, plantations, greenery, clouds, as water is the

life line of human existence and is used in our daily chores for bathing, personal hygiene,

harvesting, drinking, washing etc. major portion of our body contains water fluids.

The idea of maintaining the balance between the essential elements can also be depicted

while discussing about the role of the combination of these basic elements of the composition of

the human beings. In the Vedic times the sage prayed for maintaining the requisite balance in the

functioning of all entities of nature - the mountains, lakes, heaven and earth, the forests, the

waters in the firmament. Maintaining discipline with respect to Nature’s bounties was order of

the day in the Vedic times. Another element governed by the deity is sky. The god of sky,

probably considered is Indra. He is considered as the god of firmament, and the king of the

abode of gods is a specific character in Hindu Mythology.

60  

Thus the basic structure of the human body is expressed in the poem in a very simple way

but the simplicity confines in itself the myths and legends of the various deities who actually

govern the elements helpful in the existence of the human beings. Hindus believe that all of

creation, including the human body, is made up of these five essential elements and that upon

death, the human body dissolves into these five elements of nature, thereby balancing the cycle

of nature. The five elements are associated with the five senses, and act as the gross medium for

the experience of sensations. M. M. Ninan in his book The Development of Hinduism says that

the basest element, earth, created using all the other elements, can be perceived by all five senses

- hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell. The next higher element, water, has no odor but can be

heard, felt, seen and tasted. Next comes fire, which can be heard, felt and seen. Air can be heard

and felt. "Akasha" (ether) is the medium of sound but is inaccessible to all other senses (Ninan

19). The only thing which has been mentioned in the poem entitled “Elements of Composition”

that the human body dissolves into the elements from which it comes into existence and these

elements are governed from the various deities:

and even as I add,

I lose, decompose

into my elements,

into other names and forms,

past and passing, tenses

without time,

caterpillar on a leaf, eating,

being eaten. (CP 123)

61  

In the holy book of Hindus Shrimadbhagavadgita it is mentioned about the soul of every

living being:

nainam chindanti sastrani

nainam dahati pavakah

na cainam kledayanty apo

na sosayati marutah (Shrimadbhagavadgita ch.2, text 23)

(The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be burned by fire, nor

moistened by water, nor withered by the wind)

Thus in the sloka mentioned above, it can be easily perceived how the basic elements get

expression even in the holy and philosophical books of Hinduism but soul is above all these

things and it has its oneness with the the supreme soul of divine being. In “Elements of

Composition” not only the essential elements have been depicted but how the origin of living

beings becomes possible due to the balanced combination of all these elements is also expressed

by the poet. While the secret or reason behind the existence of all living beings is depicted in the

poem but on the other hand, the passive role of deities is also shown in his poems.

V.S. Naipaul writes in his The Enigma of Arrival: “We were immemorially people of the

countryside, far from the courts of princes, living according to rituals we didn’t understand and

yet were unwilling to dishonor because that would cut us off from the past, the sacred earth, the

gods” (Naipaul 351). But the poet’s view is not only limited to the amalgamation of the basic

five elements for the making of the human body, Ramanujan harps on the kind of amalgamation

that has gone into the making of his personality. He once admitted:

English and my disciplines (linguistics, anthropology) give me my ‘outer’ forms

–linguistic, metrical, logical and other such way of shaping experience; and my

62  

thirty years in India, my frequent visits and field trips, my personal and

professional preoccupations with Kannada, Tamil, the classics and folklore give

me my substance, my ‘inner’ forms, images and symbols. They are continuous

with each other, and I no longer can tell what comes from where. (qtd. in

Parthasarthy 96)

The poet in the poem entitled “Zoo Gardens Revisited” pleads to god to defend and save

the animals and he describes the various incarnation of the god who take birth in the form of

animals himself. As he says:

Lord of lion face, boar snout, and fish eyes, killer of killer

cranes, shepherd of rampant elephants, devour my lambs,

devour them whole, save them in the zoo garden ark of your

belly. (CP 154)

The poet describes various incarnation of Lord Vishnu in the above mentioned poem.

Lord of lion face is Narsimha, who delivered the world from the clutches of Hiranyakashyapu,

the tyrannical father of the great devotee Prahlad. “Boar snout” refers to his assuming the shape

of a Varaha, who lifted the stolen earth from the waters of the deep and thus freed it from the

demon-thief. Lord Vishnu also appeared as Matasya- fish eyes, in order to save Manu, the

progenitor of the human race, from a great torrent. According to an Indian myth, the lord rushed

to the rescue of Gajendra from the jaws of a powerful crocodile. He is also represented in our

mythology as kurma, the tortoise, sitting on whose back he recovered some valuable things lost

in the deluge. The Kurma back also served as the pivot of the mountain “Mandara” during the

churning of the ocean in a tug-of-war between gods and demons. The Lord is also depicted as

Kalki, the White Horse, who purged the creation.

 

63 

 

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two of every

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the Eastern

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he Lord Vis

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R. Parthasar

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64 

2008)

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65  

Consequently, the animals got importance and significance in the Hindu mythologies and

legends. Thus the objective of the chapter is achieved by illustrating several poems of the poet

which do possess such a great kinship.

The chapter entitled “Deities and Nature” discusses the poet, A.K. Ramanujan’s approach

towards the natural objects which are regarded as the manifestation of the gods and goddesses

due to their mythological references in Indian society. Being a detached observer the poet also

perceives the rites, rituals, and customs as well, that are performed to show the reverence

towards the deities. The mythologies give importance to the natural objects and this fact is

proved by several illustrations found in the Puranas, Upanishads, Vedas and other holy books of

Hindus. For example, in Shrimadbhagavadgita, the holy book of Hindus, Lord Krishna while

preaching to Arjuna states that:

                             yo mam pasyati sarvatra

sarvam ca mayi pasyati

tasyaham na pranasyami

sa ca me na pranasyati (Shrimadbhagavadgita ch.6, text 30)

(For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me (as their essential spirit), I am

never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.)

And thus the above mentioned sloka gives ample evidence of the great kinship between

the natural objects and divine being. This sloka supports the chapter i.e., “Deities and Nature”

specifically as it reflects the association of all the natural objects with the one i.e. God. Though

Ramanujan is primarily concerned with human relationships, Nature also plays a major role in

defining his mode of poetic experience. The poet concludes that Man and Nature are not separate

altogether and there is a mysterious link between them. He also gives an expression to his varied

66  

responses to Nature in different poems. His reactions are personal and unique, but his expression

is always acute and accurate.

67  

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