Divya D Vaghela is submitting a paper on Henry Louis Vivian Derozio's poem "The Fakeer of Jungheera" to the Department of English at MKBU. The poem challenges Indian tradition by having a Hindu widow, Nuleeni, fall in love with a Muslim fakeer, or mendicant, despite their different castes and religions. Derozio used this interfaith love story to criticize the social evils of sati pratha (the practice of widow burning) and the rigid Hindu caste system in early 19th century Bengal. Through this poem, Derozio boldly confronted norms and endorsed a more inclusive vision that broke social barriers.
1. Name : Divya d Vaghela
Course : M.A (sem-1)
Batch : 2018-20
Roll no : 08
Email Id : vaghela.divya230@gmail.com
Enrollment no : 2069108420190044
Paper no : 4 Indian Writing in English
Topic : Derozio’s challenge to Indian tradition
with reference to the Fakeer of Jungheera
Submitted to : Department of English MKBU
2. About Derozio.....
Henry Louis Vivian
Derozio was a poet,
thinkers, radical, and one
of the earliest Indian
educationists to
disseminate western
learning and philosophy
among the young men of
Bengal was also crucially
the first modern Indian to
write of the incumbent
nation extensively in
English.
4. Sati pratha
The Social Malaise of Sati :
Sati – Pratha
Instead of belaboring upon the misery of
slavery. Derozio embarked upon a mission of
resolving some of the inherent evils of Hindu
society especially – “The practice of widow
burning”
5. Derozio approvingly quotes a writer from the “ Indian
Magazine ’’ and endorses the latter’s opinion that sati
constitute the most barbaric and degarding aspect of
Indian society which can be overcome through
education and intellectual development.
Nonetheless with all his self assurance and animosity
for Creamation, Derozio seems somewhat confused
by cases of will -full self- immolation.
During the nineteenth century many upper caste
Hindu women will -fully committed sati mistakenly
beliving in the veracity of the Hindu ritual as if
mesmerized into an abominable act through a long
process of socialization.
6. Caste System
The Protagonist of the poem is a robber Fakeer or a
mendicant, who belongs to some unidentified Muslim
sect, while the Heroine,the widow Nuleeni comes from an
upper caste Bengali Hindu family.
But still they love Each – other very much in the intense
bond of love they forgot the society. They forgot their
caste discrimination .they challenged the man made
norms of the society.
Fakeer bravely snatched her from the hands of so called
Upper -class people. Here in this case we can say that the
poem makes an important stage in the use of social
themes in literary texts endorsing a Syncrestic tradition
quite popular in 19th century Bengal.
7. Derozio breaks all the norms of writing of the
contemporary poem writing .it was not easy for the
contemporary writers to break the established laws
and at the same challenging the upper-class of the
cosecant.
He wanted to remove the social evils that slowly
swallowed the Society. This Hindu Muslim love story
arose great sensation. The poet was Marginalized in
his time.
The poet through the impossible and bold story of
love affair between Hindu Upper -class widow and a
Muslim lower class Fakeer reflected and criticized the
evils of Indian society and challenged the Indian
tradition .
