![]() ![]() The ringing sound (tinkling) of anklets on those feet made it clear that it was a woman who stumbled upon the body of sleeping Upagupta. While Upagupta was in sleep, all of a sudden, someone’s feet touched his chest. It was Vasavadatta the dancing girl, starred with jewels, clouded with a pale-blue mantle, drunk with the wine of her youth. He woke up startled, and the light from a woman’s lamp struck his forgiving eyes. Whose feet were those tinkling with anklets, touching his breast of a sudden? He needs no home and no bed to sleep, as the entire world is his home and he has discarded all worldly pleasures. Understandably, he has been living a life secluded from the buzz and bustle of city life. In the first two lines of the poem, we get a clear picture of the lonely ascetic life of Upagupta as a follower of Lord Buddha. And the entire city was asleep with all the lamps put out and all doors shut. The stars were not visible due to the cloudy (murky) sky. One dark night, he was lying asleep on the dusty road by the boundary-wall of Mathura city (a city in Uttar Pradesh in India). ![]() It’s the story of Upagupta, an ancient Buddhist monk who lived in 300 BCE. So, the poem “The Tryst” begins in a straight-forward manner presenting the readers with a story. Lamps were all out, doors were all shut, and stars were all hidden by the murky sky of August. Upagupta, the disciple of Buddha, lay asleep on the dust by the city wall of Mathura. In return to Vasavadatta’s display of love and kindness one day, Upagupta meets and shows his selfless love and compassion to the girl when she needs it the most.In fact, it relates the ‘abhisara’ (a Bengali word meaning ‘tryst’ or ‘a secret meeting’) between them. The poem “The Tryst” (also known as “Abhisara” and “Upagupta”) by Rabindranath Tagore narrates the story of Upagupta, a Buddhist monk and Vasavadatta, a dancing girl of Mathura.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |