The Fakeer of Jungheera-Henry Louis Vivian DerozioCreated by:Heenaba Zalaheenabazala05@gmail.com

Introduction of the poet: Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (1809-31), poet,

thinker, radical, and one of the earliest Indian educationists to disseminate Western learning and philosophy among the young men of Bengal, was also, crucially, the first modern Indian to write of the incumbent nation extensively in English.

Taken from Derozio, Poet of India: The Definitive Edition

The Fakeer of Jungheera Introduction: The Fakeer of Jungheera is a narrative

verse. It is a story of a young, beautiful Brahmin widow Nuleeni and strange vicissitudes of her star-crossed life. Her husband dies and she is forced to become ‘sati’ for him. Just when Nuleeni is about to be consumed by the flames on the funeral pyre of her dead husband…

Fakeer, her former lover, comes to rescue her. The lovers elopes and finds shelter on the rocks of Jungheera. Nuleeni, for a very brief period of life, tastes sweetness of love and freedom. Nuleeni’s father is wounded as his pride is lost. He comes with other family members to take revenge and Fakeer dies fighting. Nuleeni rushes to the field and sees her lover dying. With Fakeer her hope for life dies and she finds peace in blissful death in the arms of her dead lover.

What is there in the poem?

Role of religionRole of societyVictimization of womenCulture and traditionSatiprathaLove – Rebel against rigid Indian cultureRevengeDeathRigid caste system

Role of Religion and society: In The Fakeer of Jungheera

Derozio has observed Indian society. In the effect of religion is very powerful. Religion has played a major role in shaping Indian society. Nuleeni is a young widow with rosy dreams of life. She has her individual ideas but religion is used as a powerful weapon to condition Nuleeni’s mind. She is given fake promises.

In the poem women sing song to convince Nuleeni to become sati. The practice of sati is glorified and is celebrated like a festival. Women sing:

“Joys are immortal, hopes never decay, Onward from glory to glory they fly!” Women try to convince Nuleeni that after

becoming sati Nuleeni will be happy forever. These women’s mind is also conditioned as they

speak the language of patriarchy.

These women speak as subaltern. They are singing songs of the festival of death but their pain is veiled by phallic structure of language. They are happy for Nuleeni not because she is going to become sati but because:

“Happy! Thrice happy thus early to leave Earth and its sorrows, for heaven and its bliss Who that hath known it at parting would grieveQuitting a world so disastrous as this?”

These lines revel the tragic condition of widow in Indian culture. For them death is a better option as society would torture them daily and their life would be in hell as society would not allow a widow to remarry. They promise Nuleeni that she would become a queen if she becomes sati. The word ‘Happy’ does not actually mean happiness. Derozio himself has used a very symbolic language to convey the message. The real message is hidden so one has to deconstruct the language.

The practice of sati was a major issue in India. It was perhaps not possible to challenge the age old practice of sati. So Derozio has used symbols to talk about this strange custom. Women had no choice in that.

“Devoted woman here must die.” (pg no. 175)

Women were forced to become sati and it was celebrated like a festival.

“Slow moves the throng as ‘twere a passing cloud, The cymbal tinkles, and the drum beats loud,As if in mockery of the solemn sceneAnd her who shall be something that had been.O! this is but the world’s unfeeling wayTo goad the victim that soon will slay,And like a demon ‘tis its custom still To laugh at sorrow, and then coldly kill.Yet dreaming sophists in this world there beWho tell us man for man has sympathy,Who say that tears arising out of painSoon see themselves reflected; - but – ‘tis vain-Sure social love dwells not beneath the skies,Or it is like the bird of paradise,Which lights we know not where, and never canBe found alive among the haunts of man.”

In these lines the poet says that social love has no space beneath the sky. People beat drum loudly so that the screams of a woman cannot be heard. The practice of sati is glorified. People worship women as goddess if they become sati. Nuleeni is going to the funeral pyre of her dead husband if she is going to her bridal bed.

From this tragic situations of life Fakeer comes to rescue Nuleeni. He is her former lover. Perhaps she was forced to marry the dead one but her love was for Fakeer only. Death of her husband has made her free to marry her lover but society would not allow remarriage. As “man for man has no sympathy.”

Nuleeni father wants revenge. He goes to fight with Fakeer. Fakeer is killed by Nuleeni’s father and brothers. She also dies with her lover as life was not possible after that.

Thank You