Summary of the Poem:
This poem centres round two incidents, each of which led the poet to form a certain resolve. The first incident occurred when the poet was yet a boy. Walking along the river - bank in the company of his father, and passing the ghat where the Hindus cremated their dead, the boy saw the red - hot embers still glowing, many hours after a dead body had been cremated. But what attracted the father's attention was the half - burnt fingers of the dead body. Pointing to those half - burnt fingers, the father told the boy that sometimes the fire failed to perform its task fully and that, as a consequence , some limb or portion of a limb remained only half – burnt.
On seeing those half - burnt fingers to which his attention had been drawn by his father, the boy felt somewhat depressed. As a Parsi and a follower of Zoroaster, the boy felt pained by the thought that the fire, of which he was a worshipper because of his Parsi religion, sometimes failed to perform its function fully. Clenching his fist, he swore that he would never again allow the fire to commit the sin of forgetting its function.
Subsequently the poet never again came across any case of the fire having failed to consume a dead body fully. In the meanwhile he had grown up into a man and had got married. Twenty years had passed since his father had drawn his attention to the failure of the fire to burn a dead body fully. And now his own first - born child was dead. According to the Parsi custom, the dead body should have been exposed on a raised structure known as the Tower of Silence to be eaten up by birds of prey ; but the nearest such place was about a thousand miles away. The poet was therefore compelled to have his child cremated. When the dead body was consigned to the fire, the poet heard the fire telling him that he was forgiven for having committed a sin by violating the Parsi code. In other words, the fire forgave the poet for not exposing the dead child to the vultures. But the poet could not forgive himself for having deviated from the Parsi code of conduct; and he therefore felt that the fire had this time committed another sin. Now its sin was that it had forgiven him for his violation of the Parsi code. What the poet means to say is that, even if the Tower of Silence was situated a thousand miles away, he should have carried out the Parsi ritual instead of having adopted an alternative method of disposing of the dead child.
Critical Analysis of the Poem:
Fire Hymn is a fine specimen of Daruwalla's poetic craftsmanship. It centres round two incidents in the poet's life. The first incident took place when as a boy he was walking along the river bank with his father. Passing through the burning ghat the boy saw phosphorescence light enveloping the environs. Once wandering “at dawn fast river bank and ghat” they (the poet and his father) saw the red - hot embers still glowing, many hours after a dead body was cremated. Fire consumes dead body leaving only bones and ashes. One day his father was upset to see half burnt fingers of a dead body, which he showed to his son. Pointing to these fingers the father told him that sometimes fire failed perform its task and leaves unburnt limbs and other parts of the body.
Half cooked limbs
bore witness so the fire's debauchery.
My father said, “You see those half - burnt fingers
and bone stubs? The fire sometimes forgets its dead.”
At this he was depressed. Being a Parsi and worshipper of fire he was pained at the forgetfulness of fire towards it dead. He swore “to save fire from the sin of forgetfulness.” Subsequently the poet minutely observed that the fire never failed in performing its duty of consuming the whole human body.
The next episode takes place after a long gap of twenty years. The poet's first born child was dead. Contrary to the Parsi custom he consigned the dead body his son to the flames, as the nearest tower of silence was a thousand miles away. But the poet had a feeling of guilt because he failed to observe the Parsi custom. When fire was consuming his son's dead body the poet heard the fire telling him: “You stand forgiven” for violating the Parsi code. The poet solemnly ruminates:
Broken, yet rebellious, I swore this time
to save it from the sin of forgiving.
Fire Hymn is a serious, touching and thoughtful poem. It is conspicuous for lucid, succinct style, pithy and highly condensed expressions, apt words and excellent craftsmanship. It also acquaints us of Parsi custom of disposing of dead bodies.
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