Pravin Gadhvi's Laughing Buddha
This blog is written as a task assigned by Prakruti ma’am of the paper 202- Indian English Literature Post-Independence unit 1. In this blog the questions of the poem will be addressed. Before diving into that let’s briefly look at the poem.
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“Laughing Buddha” is a poem written by a Gujarati Dalit writer as irony on the atomic bomb testing that happened in India on 18th May 1974. Fifteen lines of the poem with the repetition of “see Buddha laughed” conveys the central irony of the poem.
What should be of a higher moral importance for governing bodies, national security or basic needs of its citizens? What do you think is Gadhvi's opinion about this?
Humans are always at the center of the discourse. The higher moral importance for the governing body may differ from one situation to another. It’s hard to make a balance between basic needs and national security. Both are crucial at their place however, the choice depends upon the circumstances.
For example in the 1970s India was still like a toddler taking small steps towards being developed. The scratches of the partition were not still gone and the waves of riots were in the air. India was like an infant who is learning to walk. At that time what infants need is basic needs: food, clothes and shelter. “Roti,Kapda,Makan”
Nonetheless if at that time one tells the infant that they will get sports shoes so it will not work. Similarly, in India as per the view of Pravin Gadhvi the basic needs of addressing the poverty, economic and food crisis was at the center.
Additionally, national security was the priority so that India can reflect that though she is a developing country, not powerless. On the contrary, the scenario of the 1990s was totally different. At that time the class distinction was different, the rise of the middle class with the capacity of affording many things led to thinking about security.
Now the representation of people is different and with some classes fulfilling basic needs the question about giving importance to national security rises. And the view has changed. Gadhvi particularly is on the side of basic needs. As literature always stands with the underprivileged binary Gadhvi is with ironical laughing of the Buddha revealed it.
In light of Henri Bergson's essay titled "Laughter: An Essay On The Meaning Of The Comic" , share your thoughts about the possible interpretations of Buddha's laughter in Gadhvi's poem.
Henri Bergson in his essay talks about how laughter arises and what are the consequences. For instance Bergson stated that by highlighting and ridiculing these deviations, laughter serves as a gentle corrective, promoting a more harmonious and dynamic social interaction.
Buddha’s laughter can be irony, first the lines like,
“There was a laughter on his
Lips and tears in his
Eyes”
This line revels the juxtaposition of the Buddha. Buddha may laugh at the people who planned the testing of the atomic bomb on the day of Buddhapurnima which is also known for its peace message. On the one hand Buddha laughs on the triviality of human beings of understanding them something more than they are, here in the context of providing security to the nation.
On the other hand Buddha laughs on the outcome of the bomb, double standard and hypocrisy of the political leader. The whole atomic bomb testing happened and people only get to know about it later on. The power dynamics in the society is in the hands of politicians and that is why Buddha laughs on them for making things more urgent according to them and not on the basis of the time.
However, here the laughter is painful. One can laugh but ears only come in two situations when one is overwhelmed and one is broken by the pain. Buddha is broken by the pain of facing the reality which he can’t bear and becomes dumb. Dumbness as Lucky of Godot got when he lost his ability to express similarly Buddha is dumbed.
The rise and fall of significance of a particular moment in history depends on the narrative that is built around it. Discuss this statement with specific reference to Laughing Buddha.
The poem is a replica of a real incident of 1974. Narrating or telling a story happens only in one way. The power dynamics works here as well; the rise and fall also depends upon that. From history we have learnt that narration is always in the hand of the majority and power.
Similarly, the story becomes a truth when it is narrated by them. The narration of the same event may differ from one person to another, like the Rashomon effect. The incident of the 1974 Smiling Buddha operation was told by different people in manier ways, one of them was India still being a developing country not powerless and other was severe criticism.
However, as W.B.Yeats said that statemen’s lies become the truth of the day so it may raise the importance of the situation and the act of testing the atomic bomb on the name of national security is considered a rising action as per it’s narration.
Share your interpretation of the lines: "What a proper time! What an auspicious day!"
The line echoes the pun hidden in it. The proper time of early morning and auspicious day of full moon which is normally considered in the Hindu, buddha and Shikh religion. What we consider auspicious and what not that is also highly problematic.
Proper time here in the sense using the day which is celebrated as peacemaker now used for destroying humankind. What can Buddha do apart from laughing ? The world has seen the terrible result of the second world war and the result of the bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So what is the proper time ?In which sense is it auspicious ?
While looking through the binary of religion, Hindu on being the majority consider full moon as an auspicious day while Muslim considers crescent moon auspicious. So even the standard of the auspicious and proper also changed by the time.
So this is my views on the poem. I hope you enjoy reading it. Thank You.
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