"The Dance of the Eunuchs” is one of the most remarkable poems of Kamala Das. It is the opening poem in her first anthology, “Summer in Calcutta”, published in 1965. This poem sets the tone of the first volume as well as of the two other volumes. The poetess vividly conjures up the atmosphere of a hot, tortured, corrupt, sterile and barren world through vivid symbols and images. The dance of the eunuchs whose joyless life reflects the poetess’ fractured personality is a noticeable piece of autobiographical poetry. Words, images and symbols theme - oriented. They reveal the theme of sterility and rottenness.
Dancing eunuchs is a familiar sight in India but in this poem they are used symbolically. The poetess sympathises with the dancing eunuchs who belong to neither sex and, thus, suffer a peculiar irony of fate. They dance ecstatically. They seem to be completely merged with their dance which actually reveals their inner rottenness and void. How graphically and sensuously the poetess pictures the dancing eunuchs’ summer heat!
“It was hot, so hot, before the eunuchs came
To dance, wide skirts going round and round, cymbals
Richly clashing, and anklets jingling, jingling,
Jingling.... Beneath the fiery gulmohar, with
Long braids flying, dark eyes flashing they danced and
They danced, oh, they danced till they bled...…”
The weather is very hot. The repetition of “hot” and the addition of prefix “so” before the second repetition heightens the effect of heat in weather. In such awfully not weather the eunuchs dance in great excitement. The repetition of certain words- “wide skirts going round and round” and “anklets jingling, jingling” emphasise their excitement and passion for dancing . “Fiery gulmohur” conveys the effect of heat. With their eyes flashing they dance with great excitement and passion, and ultimately they bleed. The repetition of the word “jingling” creates an auditory sensation of the music they produce while they dance. There are green tattoos on their cheeks. They wear jasmines in their hair. Some are dark and some are almost fair. It is evident by their make - up that they have female appearances.
The voices of eunuchs are harsh like men. They sing melancholy songs “of lovers dying and of children left unborn.” Thus, there is an undercurrent of pathos in their songs. Some beat their drums and others beat their “sorry breasts”. There is no joy in their hearts. Their sad predicament fills their hearts with unending sorrow and melancholy which are reflected in the theme of their songs. They wail and writhe “in vacant ecstasy”. Their passionate movements in dance are more convulsions which clearly express the joyless state of their hearts. How can they be happy with their incomplete, fractured individuality! The physical condition of the dancing eunuchs is very pathetic and pitiable. They are emaciated, pale, lean and thin. What a pitiable sight they create!
“They
Were thin in limbs and dry; life half - burnt logs from
Funeral pyres, a drought and rottenness.
Were in each of them.”
They are emotionally dry. They have no feelings. They are internally rotten and sterile. Their dance and songs are unproductive and communicate their internal rottenness and sterility. Even the noisy crows are stunned to silence at their pathetic condition and children, wild - eyed with bewilderment look at their dance. The clouds thunder, lightning flashes and meagre rain falls. It too gives no relief from the awful heat. It only smells “of dust in attics and the urine of lizards and mice.” It is a beautiful and well - organised poem. The functional imagery and theme - oriented diction create the desired effect of sterility, rottenness inside the hearts of dancing eunuchs and of environmental heat.