Thinking Activity :- Deeno Daan by Rabindranath Tagore

Hello Readers ,

This blog is the part of my classroom thinking activity . This Task given by Dr. Heenaba Zala. In this blog I would like to talk about  famous poem ‘Deeno Daan’ by Rabindranath Tagore. 

      So , let's throw some light on the poem;

                        " Deeno Daan "

"Deeno Daan " poem originally written in Bengali language . 'Deeno Daan' is a part of Tagore's poetry collection 'Kahini'. It was signed by the Nobel laureate some 120 years ago (Bengali calendar 1307).

The poem and its English translation was shared on social media by Banojyotsna Lahiri, an alumnus of Presidency College and JNU, on August 5 and since then the poem has gone viral on the internet. It is widely shared by Tagore's readers on social media and personal messengers.

In 'Deeno Daan', Tagore writes about a sage who criticizes a king for getting a temple built in the name of God using “two million gold coins” while turning away the poor during a drought. And so, the sage goes on to say that the temple has no God but only “royal pride”.

                      : Original Poem :

A translation of Tagore’s poem ‘Deeno Daan’ (’Destitute Donation’)

Said the royal attendant, “Despite entreaties, king,

The finest hermit, best among men, refuses shelter

In your temple of gold, he is singing to god

Beneath a tree by the road. The devout surround him

In numbers large, their overflowing tears of joy

Rinse the dust off the earth. The temple, though,

Is all but deserted; just as bees abandon

The gilded honeypot when maddened by the fragrance

Of the flower to swiftly spread their wings

And fly to the petals unfurling in the bush

To quench their eager thirst, so too are people,

Sparing not a glance for the palace of gold,

Thronging to where a flower in a devout heart

Spreads heaven’s incense. On the bejewelled platform

The god sits alone in the empty temple.”

At this,

The fretful king dismounted from his throne to go

Where the hermit sat beneath the tree. Bowing, he said,

“My lord, why have you forsaken god’s mighty abode,

The royal construction of gold that pierces the sky,

To sing paeans to the divine here on the streets?’

“There is no god in that temple,” said the hermit.

Furious,

The king said, “No god! You speak like a godless man,

Hermit. A bejewelled idol on a bejewelled throne,

You say it’s empty?”

“Not empty, it holds royal arrogance,

You have consecrated yourself, not the god of the world.”

Frowning, said the king, “You say the temple I made

With twenty lakh gold coins, reaching to the sky,

That I dedicated to the deity after due rituals,

This impeccable edifice – it has no room for god!”

Said the tranquil hermit, “The year when the fires

Raged and rendered twenty thousand subjects

Homeless, destitute; when they came to your door

With futile pleas for help, and sheltered in the woods,

In caves, in the shade of trees, in dilapidated temples,

When you constructed your gold-encrusted building

With twenty lakh gold coins for a deity, god said,

‘My eternal home is lit with countless lamps

In the blue, infinite sky; its everlasting foundations

Are truth, peace, compassion, love. This feeble miser

Who could not give homes to his homeless subjects

Expects to give me one!’ At that moment god left

To join the poor in their shelter beneath the trees.

As hollow as the froth and foam in the deep wide ocean

Is your temple, just as bereft beneath the universe,

A bubble of gold and pride.”

Flaring up in rage

The king said, “You false deceiver, leave my kingdom

This instant.”

Serenely the hermit said to him,

“You have exiled the one who loves the devout.

Now send the devout into the same exile, king.”

                     Let's, we can see some question- answers.

1. The poem is written before 120 years (approx.). Can you find any resemblance between the poem and the pandemic time? 

             Yes, I find  the poem is relevant to pandemic time also. Because in the corona pandemic every placees and temples were closed . Thousands of people has corona positive and there were no space in hospitals . some people were died because we have not enough facilities for health . We have no stock of Oxygen and Ventilator also . That problem many people's face in corona time.

  In our country  have lakhs of people who believe in God except rather than humanity. During the corona pandemic temple were closed that time people has not understand which place they go .  We see that everything was closed. People have to stay at home. People talked a lot about this topic. When the money came people built a temple rather than a hospital, so now temples are closed so where will they go ? Same thing is happening in this time also that there are people like this king who are using money only to become famous and popular. There is no humanity in their hearts. People face a lot of problems in the  corona pandemic time also .Now a days we understood temple is not necessary , built a hospitals and more health facilities is a important for us. 

2. Why do you think the King is angry on the Sage?

          King is angry on sage because sage don't admired that work of king and beauty of temple and intact he says that there is no God in temple. God was going away with the poor people. And there is no need to this beautiful temple if you don't help us your people who are your responsibility.The sage hurts the ego of the king.

3. Why do you think the Sage denies to enter in the temple?

 Because he believes that  God is not living in the gold temples. He thinks the God is living with the pure and kind people. What should we do with this gold, if the gold came from poor people's hard work. If they don't have enough food for survival, this golden temple is useless .And  Instead of living there God will choose to live under the trees because the poor people take rest under that tree. 

4. Can there be any connection between the text of the poem and the verdict of Ayoydhya Ram Mandir? 

                      Yes , There is a connection between the text of the poem and the verdict of Ayodhya Ram Mandir. When our prime minister bricks the first stone in Ram Mandir Ayodhya that time this poem came out on social media and became viral. It's deep connection with this poem and Ayodhya temple.

 As we know, people around us are very religious. They spend crores of rupees to build temples. Sometimes we see  the position of poor people in India, there are millions of people who are not able to get food at one time and on the other side people are wasting money to build statues and temples. Even our government is spending money on building these stuff rather than building hospitals and schools . If you develop your country you should make your health and education system strong. And I think temples are not going to help you in build a developed country. 

                      ... Thank you ...