The Judgement of Indra - Dhan Gopal Mukerji

The Judgement of Indra

1. K.DEEPA ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH BON SECOURS COLLEGE FOR WOMEN THANJAVUR.

2. THE JUDGEMENT OF INDRA - D.J.MUKERJI

3. AUTHOR INTRODUCTION D.G.MUKERJI Dhan Gopal Mukerji is a well-known author of children’s books. His works for children were mainly folklore stories and regarding animals. His autobiography “Caste and Outcast” is internationally commended. He is the winner of NEWBERY medal in 1928 from American library association. He got this award for “GAY NECK: THE STORY OF A PIGEON” written in 1927. He was born in 1890, near Kajangal Jungle of Kolkata.

4. His father was a Lawyer, who later gave up his profession due to ill health. He was born in the higher class brahmin family,he was distrubed by the tradition and strict out look of his society and later moved to Kolkata for higher studies. Later he got interested in Bengal resistance. His brother JaduGopal Mukerjee was a leading cultural figure of his change. He is a person of rare talent and broad appeal. At the age of 14, Mukerji entered the brahmin priesthood. Before , beginning his priestly works, he travelled for two years as a beggar. He insists people to be courageous. He committed sucide in Newyork in 1936 at at the age of 46.

5. HIS WORKS My Brother’s face – is a memoir written by him for his brother. He published two dozen published volumes of Poetry, Drama, Fiction, Social Commentary, Philosophy, Translations and Childern’s stories. He played a Pivot role in transmitting Indian culture through his works. His works best demonstrate the beauty and the simplicity of his imagenery. He wrote in an engaging personal style, a kind of Ethnographic writting that seeks to render intelligible and familiar, the unfamiliar and exotic.

6. CHARACTERS SHUKRA - THE MASTER SHANTA - THE DISCIPLE KANNADA – ANOTHER DISCIPLE OLD MAN FATHER OF SHUKRA

7. TIME: The Fifteenth Century PLACE: A Monastery on one of the foothills of Himalaya SCENE: In the foreground is the outer court of a monastery. In the centre of the court is a sacred plant, growing out of a small altar of earth about two feet square. On the left of the court is a sheer precipice, adown which a flight of stone steps-only a few of which are visible-connects the monastery with the village in the valley below.

8. To the right are the temple and the adobe walls and the roof of the monastery cells. There is a little space between the temple and the adobe walls, which is the passage leading to the inner recesses of the monastery. Several steps lead to the doors of the temple, which give on the court. In the distance, rear , are the snowy peaks of the Himalayas,glowing under the emerald sky of an indian afternoon. To the left, the distances stretch into vast spaces of wooded hills. Long bars of light glimmer and die as the vast clouds, with edges of crimson,golden and silver, spread portentously over the hills and forest.

9. SUMMARY Shanta is introduced to the audience while he is reading a manuscript sitting near the Sacred Plant. The monastery connects to the temple from where the protagonist Shukra man does not know to judge between the true and the false, he will suffer and have to face the judgement passed on to him by Lord Indra. The master agrees to that and says no one in the world can escape fate or from the punishment of the Almighty . His speech is highly philosophical but he seems to be upset. The non-stop rains trouble him very much. He is also worried that his day of reaching God is delayed. He talks about reality and illusion.

10. He feels proud that as a monk he is a free from all kinds of illusion knowing not the future consequences. Shanta feels proud of his master Shukra and his wisdom. The master asks his next disciple Kannada to run to the village and inform the people not to worry and that he is going to perform prayers towards Lord Indra for remedy. When the man is off, Shukra begins to pray. Meanwhile an old man climbs up the stairs in distressed manner. Thunder and lightning oustide makes Shukra almost blind. The man has come to take his son Shukra along with him because Shukra’s mother is nearing death. Shukra denies his request and says that he has no father or mother since he has renounced the world long back in order to become a monk.

11. The old man pleads and begs to the court, but Shukra is not willing to give up his promise. He can love only God and no one else in the world. He also curses his birth . Thus infuriates his father and he condemns Shukra for having cursed his mother and have committed a sin that can never be forgiven. He also criticise his son for disobeying and insulting his own father. Both men argue with regard to curse and sin arriving at conflicting statements. Finally, the old man curses Shukra that he must face the judgement of Indra very soon and leaves the place in deep sorrow. Shukra feels upset about the curse but feels happy for keeping up his promise as a monk. At the moment , some men bring the dead body of a man.

12. Shukra is shocked to see that it is none another than his beloved disciple Shanta . He feels doomed that his father ‘s curse had come true very immediately and he instantly. T he judgement of Indra has been passed on Shanta instead of him and he should suffer endlessly for his crime. This is the best penalty for a man like Shukra because emotional punishment is severe than physical punishment. He is doomed for his crime.

13. THEME One who curses his birth will be doomed. One who disrespects his parents will suffer for sure. This is the plight of Shukra.