| Intertexuality:
A Study of Brajendra Kumar Brahma’s
Poem |
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By
the Promise of Valmiki |
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Any
text is a new tissue of past citations. Bits
of codes, formulae, rhythmic models, fragment
of social languages , etc. pass into the text
and are redistributed within it, for there
is always language before and around the text. |
(Ronald
Barthes, Theory of the Text,
in Robert Young, ed. Untying
the Text (London, Routledge,
1981), P.39
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The
frontiers of a book are never clear-cut:
beyond the title, the first line and the
last full-stop, beyond its internal configuration,
its autonomous form, it is caught up in
a system of references to other books,
other texts, other sentences…The
book is simply not the object that one
holds in one’s hands…its unity
is variable and relative.
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(Michel
Foucault, The Archaeology
of Knowledge (London, Tavistock,
1972), P.23.First published in France
in 1969)
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The
idea of intertexuality was born in France
in the later part of the year 1960. As an
important part of the process of postmodernity,
it has become increasingly a significant
way of thinking about how a literary text
is produced and acquires meaning. Barthe’s
view of the text as a network helps partly
to explain what is meant by the term. We
already know how the figure of the author
is no longer considered as central to a
text,s production of meaning: the author
has been decentred in the interpretive process.
Instead, a text consists of multiple writings,
and writings which are drawn from a range
of discourses, already in circulation in
some form or other. If anything, the writer
is not thought of as the great originator,
the creative genius, but rather a synthesizer:
someone who draws together and orchestrates
linguistic raw materials. In this sense,
literature becomes a form of repetition
to an extent.
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| Brajendra
Kumar Brahma’s poems are post-modern
and have the inter-textual potentiality. The
concept, however, is synchronic in nature:
it goes in search of the references irrespective
of time and place. It never goes diachronic
way which rather guards the chronological
aspect. Mr Brahma gives reference to the Indian
myths in his poems and paves the way for wider
responses leading to diverse meaning. The
process of interpretation, thus, is an endless
activity and gives rise to a broader references.
He deliberately refers to the socio, economic,
political and cultural problems of the Boros.
The poet dreams of peace which is far from
being perpetuated as a result of militancy.
The poet oscillates between a sordid reality
and a beautiful vision. |
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| In
the poem, By the Promise of Valmiki,
Mr Brahma speaks about the gloomy state of
affair in the world. It is the epic poem
The Ramayana in the light of which
he refers to the present problems. The epic
is something which remains entrenched in public
psyche and memory. One sign goes in search
of another: Ravana is there
in each and every human being. Evil reigns
supreme no doubt. But it will come to an end
just as it happens in The Ramayana.
When the future of the present world is envisioned
in isolation its’ picture is very much
hazy in readers’ memory. But once it
is linked with The Ramayana the same image
is very clear and interesting. It acquires
meaning and significance. |
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The
birth of Ravana is again there.
There are your plunderers again,
Blessed by the power of demon.
You are insolent and haughty.
In your firy eyes of one score
Which are blazing out of the ten heads
The snow of the Himalaya
Is smouldering there today.
At the violent swing of your stony club
By the might of twenty hands
The ten commandments of Sinai Mountain
Are dissolved into shreds.
At this startles the humanity. You
don’t know
The world has various aspects
But you’ve seen only one
By your twenty eyes.
So
won’t the ladder to heaven
Be built now?
But
we haven’t lost heart.
For we know there’s gorse
Even in the demon’s blessing.
We still dream of
Building a dyke across the sea
Together, with Ram.
Let another Ramayan be born.
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The
poet is not just talking about the Ravana-like
demons of the society, he is rather concerned
with the Ravana in each and every human
being. In spite of all the material as well
as scientific development he has not been
able to build up a Rama Rajya,
which the poet dreams. Ironically the poet
is asking: So won’t the ladder
to heaven/Be built now?
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| This
process of intertext not only shows the loopholes
of the human being but also guides him towards
a proper direction. The poet, how-ever, has
a romantic spirit of William Wordsworth and
the potentiality both of thought and dream
like R.N. Tagore. His symbols are matured
and he has the talent of integrating his poetic
ideas with the Classical Indian poets. |
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