The Cock Fight by Sitakant Mahapatra Poem summary, Regional Indian Literature in Translation and English, Language through Literature - II, 2nd year 4th semester B.A and B.Com Degree

PART II - Language through Literature - II
Second Year - Fourth Semester
All BA (except BA English) and
B.Com (Corporate Secretary ship & Cooperation) Programmes

Unit - IV Regional Indian Literature in Translation and English

4.2 The Cock Fight 

by Sitakant Mahapatra 

translated from Odia by Ramakanta Rath

☝ Click the above link for poem explanation

Poem:

Armed from head to toe,

the two warriors are arraigned against each other.

Some anger enlarges

the dimensions of their narrow necks.

Battle drums announce

a face-to-face contest.

 

Hunting for insects has ceased.

Seeking refuge from hungry cats and hungrier men

has also ceased.

As battle cries rend the air

and carnage is due to commence,

the villagers leave behind their long history of cowardice,

and gather here.

The warriors do not know

what this war is about,

or who is whose enemy.

They do not comprehend

the clamour that rushes on this dumb village

like a bellowing sea.

The weapons they wear

strain their nerves.

And, suddenly, their blood is on fire,

feathers almost fly off their flesh,

and each cell of the body overflows with hatred.

The war is only a moment away,

and, when it arrives,

to kill to be killed will be all the same.

Evening descends

on a sky smeared with blood.

It's all over

in a moment.

Darkness erases all

the day's colours, the day's blood.

A day ends.

Carrying a handful of meat

that has lost its voice

the crowd returns.

The village is once again enclosed

by silence

breathing like an abandoned child. 

About Poet:

    Sitakant Mahapatra (born 17 September 1937) is an eminent Indian poet and literary critic in Odia as well as English. He was in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) since 1961 until retiring in 1995.

  He has published over 15 poetry collection, 5 essay collections, a travelogue, over 30 contemplative works, apart from numerous translations. His poetry collection has been published in several Indian languages. His notable works are, Sabdar Akash (1971) (The Sky of Words), Samudra (1977) and Anek Sharat (1981).

    He was awarded the 1974 Sahitya Akademi Award in Odia for his poetry collection, Sabdara Akasha (The Sky of Words). He was awarded the Jnanpith Award in 1993; he was also awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2003 and Padma Vibhushan in 2010 for literature and several other prestigious awards.

Summary:

     The poem "The Cockfight" has highlighted cruelty to innocent creatures for the sake of fun. The poem dramatizes a familiar scene of rural sport and recreation in the village festivals of Odisha particularly in tribal belts. Two cocks armed with gaff, a metal spur on the leg are provoked by onlookers to attack each other. The gathering crowd gets frenzied and spurs each of the roosters to fight the other till the end.

     The game usually terminates with killing of both the cocks from fatal wound. The poem is a pathetic record of torturing animals to death, a scathing comment on human folly, a pointer to man's depravity, lack understanding of the non-human. Here is the poet's appeal to humanity for saneness for all living beings. A poet by virtue of his special knowledge is capable of understanding the nature and the non- human. His primary concern is the well-being of mankind in harmony with them. For him, existence is co-existence. Fellowship, not cruelty should be the criterion for man's relationship with nature and the non-human. Man’s perspective needs to be reset accordingly.

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