A Close Reading of Sarojini Naidus Palanquin Bearers by Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya

 Palanquin Bearer by Sarojini Naidu 

Lightly and lightly we bear her along

She sways like a flower in the wind of her song

She skims like a bird in the foam of a stream

She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream

Gaily and gaily we glide and we sing

We bear her along like a pearl on a string

Softly and softly we bear her along

She hangs like a star in the dew of her song

She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide

She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride

Lightly and lightly we glide and we sing

We bear her along like a pearl on a string

The word palanquin has been derived from Sanskrit paryanka or bed and pallanka in Oriya and paalki  in Bengali. In other words the word palanquin suggests some bed which is light and comfortable. But palanquin is a kind of carriage. The use of the word palanquin at once transports us to those days in India when the nobility were transported in a palanquin and everywhere in India palanquins could be espied. A palanquin is a coach having doors and windows with silken curtains but without wheels. Palanquins are coaches held on poles and carried by men. Even today palanquins are seen in some parts of India. At least some four men are needed to carry a palanquin. And a palanquin has to carry its rich treasure of passenger from  one place to another which is far.The palanquin bearers while carrying their palanquin sing songs in harmony with their steps of walking.They do it to make their manual labour enjoyable. Here is a song sung by a group of palanquin bearers while carrying a palanquin to some far country.

The palanquin is a container and hence it stands for feminine gender The bearers say  that  lightly  lightly do they bear her along.Lightly is a mounting and descending sound and when it is repeated it gives us the notion of something swinging lightly. It also suggests the light foot steps of the palanquin bearers as well. The palanquin bearers carry the palanquin lest it is not injured while being carried.While being carried the palanquin or the noble princess seated inside the palanquin sways like a flower in the wind of the palanquin bearers song. Here the attitude of the palanquin bearers is noteworthy. The burden of the palanquin is not a liability with them. They are carrying it as if they are carrying a flower. And flower sways by the wind of their song.Here the song of the palanquin bearers and the movement of the palanquin become one..The wind of their song only suggests that the palanquin  is being carried fast as it were by the wind. The palanquin bearers are as it were the minions of wind. The palanquin is being carried faster still. She  skims like a bird in the foam of a stream.In other words the palanquin moves swifter.The stream is swift. In its urgency to go fast the waters of the stream are agitated and bubbles show up.The palanquin is the bird swifter than the stream..It lightly touches the foam of the stream.Everything under the Sun is in flux. Our existence is a stream as it were. May be on the road there are localities or shopping malls which the palanquin goes past and those localities might seem like a foam on the stream. Or they are laughters from the lips of a dream. In other words the sights and sounds that the palanquin goes past are as it were laughters of the subconscious.The world in the contingent we perceive as the objects of the conscious realm: it is transformed into the stuff of the dream and the subconscious when looked upon by people who are in motion.The journey with the load of the palanquin is as it were a journey in a dream.The palanquin bearers perceive laughter all about them. They have as it were leaped from the lips of a dream. May be although the surface of the world is harsh the subconscious of the world  seeks to convey that  the world of appearance is at bottom  funny. May be  the palanquin bearers are transformed into fairies—the figments of a dream.The palanquin bearers in the dream exclaim that gaily and gaily they glide and sing  carrying a pearl on a string. The palanquin itself could be the pearl that stands for accumulated wisdom purity balance of mind and so on. The palanquin at the same time could be an instance of  synechdochee  . It might stand for a beautiful bride as red as rose who is being transported to her husbands house in the palanquin.

The first stanza opened with  carrying the palanquin lightly lightly. The second stanza opens with the palanquin bearers carrying their treasure softly softly. She hangs like a star in the dew of the song of the palanquin bearers ,What is audible is compared to what is visible. This is a case of synaesthesia.The palanquin is as it were the distant star of knowledge and wisdom reflected in the dew drop of the song of the palanquin bearers.In other words no real palanquin is not being carried. It is a star reflected on the song of the palanquin bearers. That is whatever a song seizes  to be illuminating like the star  is true.

In the tide of life this star is reflected like a sudden ray of light.That is the palanquin or the passenger in the palanquin now smiles .But now she is in tears. She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride. She rises and falls  being carried on the shoulder of the palanquin bearers.She smiles when she imagines that she is going to a new place—may be to the bridegrooms. But at the same time she is scared of going to  a new place with the prospects of living with strangers.She is then a tear that has fallen. She has been earlier compared to a pearl and a dewdrop.In many a myth the dew drops have been described as tears of god. And Keats described dew drops as angels tears. The poem is clinched up with the couplet—Lightly  O lightly we glide and we sing/ We bear her along like a pearl on a string. The first line of the first stanza accompanied with the last line of the first stanza recurs here and they together serve as the frame of the poem.The poem is a dream figment where sights and sounds mingle into a kinetic imagery. It is a unique experience for the readers.