Introduction of the Poem:
“The Exile” is one of Mahapatra's philosophical poems. The protagonist in the poem regards himself as an exile. This imagist poem is deeply personal as the protagonist reveals to us his own innermost thoughts. He tries to penetrate the depths of his own mind, besides depicting the scenes around him.
Critical Summary:
The protagonist feels that his plight is similar to that of an exile. In a miserable state of mind, he seems to be broken - physically, mentally and morally. Here he gives vent to his feelings of distress and frustration.
He recalls his decaying village with a crude and shabby look, which is situated by the side of the sun - burnt hills. People keep dying everywhere. Similarly, people in this village and around it die and the protagonist witnesses dead bodies being burnt on the funeral pyres. The wind sometimes scatters the ashes from these funeral pyres. The protagonist regards these ashes as the ashes of the present (or the passing memories of the present fast turning into the past). Some of these ashes fall upon him and stick to different parts of his body.
Having walked away some distance from the village, the protagonist now returns. Lost in his thoughts, he feels drugged; he is semi - conscious because he is absorbed in his own thoughts. He has old, ailing parents to look after. The long - haired priest, who looks after the shrine of the goddess Kali, still steals jasmines from other people's gardens and parks in order to offer them to the goddess early in the morning. The priest performs his professional duties while the protagonist feels miserable.
The protagonist considers himself in an exile; his condition is no better than that of a person who has been banished from his country. But his state of exile is unlike the state of exile as of anybody else. He finds himself torn between the good and the evil; they pull him in opposite directions. He feels that it would be better for him to die than remain in scorpion's sting; it would waken him to the awareness of his plight. But although death may come to his rescue in one way, the past of his country creates in him an urge to continue living in the hope of a renaissance.
The awaited renaissance would resemble a relative that one has never seen but who might arrive someday. It is possible that his country which is in a miserable condition now, might renew itself and regain its ancient glory. Meanwhile, the protagonist hopes to continue performing his duties and carrying on his back his own trivial or insignificant actions and thoughts in the hope of entering his Father’s, i.e., God's house. His duty, the protagonist says, is perceptible in the eyes of his son who he can see on a tree.
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