The Buddha's Wife
Summary
=> The poem 'Buddha's Wife' is composed by Ruth Silcock Pearson. This poem presents the mistreatment of men to women. Women are always dominated in the male dominated and patriarchal society. In this poem, the famous figures: Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, Lord Krishna and St. Paul are presented as negative people.
In the first stanza of the poem, the poetess shows her sympathy to Buddha's wife. Buddha left his palace and wife in search of salvation and perfection. The Buddha's wife must have felt difficult to spend her life without her husband According to the poetess, Buddha was like a selfish person because he only thought about his life and perfection. He did not care about his wife's life and happiness.
In the second stanza, the poetess criticizes Gandhi. Gandhi fought for the nation and freed India from British Empire but he did not give time to his wife. He ignored his wife. He was praised though he had got crooked legs as well as he was thin. He was called saint. But nobody talked about his wife.
In the third stanza, the poetess talks about Christian women. They have to cover their shining, long and loose hair because they are afraid that their husbands may be excited and attracted to their hair and stop worshipping. They are not free. They have to obey their husbands. St. Paul might have been attracted by the impressive and shining hair of women but he controlled himself twice. So, he asked all the women to cover their hair.
In the fourth stanza, the poetess talks about activities of Lord Krishna. The milkmaids called Lord Krishna throughout the night but he did not come. They danced and sang till morning. They spread milk and white flowers on the green lawn to welcome him. But he did not come at all.
According to men, God has chosen men, not women to convey divine messages, to show divine miracles and to become divine medium.
Possible Question from this chapter
1) Make a list of people mentioned in the poem . what is commom among all of them?
Ans:- The people who are mentioned in the poem are: Buddha, Krishna, Gandhi and St. Paul. There are many things common among them like they all are men, they all are like saints, they all are religious and reputed personalities. Besides, all these four men neglected and despised women. In other words, they didn't respect and value the life and difficulties borne by their wives and other women who adored them.
b) Do you also think that Buddha and Gandhi mistreated their wives? Give reasons in support of your answer?
Ans: Yes, I totally agree that both prominent personalities, Buddha and Gandhi mistreated their wives. Buddha fled from his family and Kingdom in search of salvation or enlightenment. He left his wife and son to suffer. Similarly, Gandhi also gave up his family for the sake of politics.Both of them had neglected, despised and made their wives to a arduous situations for the rest of their life. They did not give time to their families and their wives. To sum up, they would find some other ways to achieve their goals but not giving up family responsibilities.
3) Would you call the poem 'satirical', 'humorous', 'sad' or a blend of all the three?Elucidate.
Ans: I would call the poem a blend of all the three qualities: satirical, humorous, and sad. The poem expresses tone of sadness and sympathy towards the women folks. A group of milkmaids wait for the glimpse of their adorable Lord Krishna but he doesn't hear their pangs. Likewise, the poem expresses satirical tone at St. Paul, who instead of controlling his inner appetite tries to rule the passion of the young and playful Christian nuns. The poem also expresses a sharp tone of humour at Gandhi who despite his bandy or crooked legs and skinny body challenged the British empire and brought it to dust. He may also have little sexual appeal to women due to his unusual physique. Similarly, after consummating luxury and sexual life, Buddha chose the path of recluse and sainthood. The poet expresses tone of humor and satire towards Buddha's act of abandoning worldly pleasures.
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