A Different History by Sujata Bhatt Part 2


                                          Which language
                                          has not been the oppressor's tongue?
                                          Which language
                                          truly meant to murder someone?
                                          And how does it happen
                                          that after the torture,
                                          after the soul has been cropped
                                          with a long scythe swooped out
                                          of the conqueror's face-
                                          the unborn grandchildren
                                          grow to love that strange language.

Part two.

The lines are not as random as the first part although the line length still varies but the lineation is different. Bhatt uses a series of rhetorical questions introduced by Which, Which and How does...? The tone changes. She is not speaking about religion, things that are sacred but about oppression. She uses tongue to represent speech/language (native tongue, foreign tongue). This whole section concentrates on language, a recurrent theme in her poetry. Language and being able to communicate cannot be seen in isolation from identity. From this we learn about culture and traditions and perhaps more pertinent to Bhatt here- history.

The answer to the first question would be that there have been oppressors using different languages throughout history. All nations have had and still have dictators who oppress their people. She is not just talking about colonisation, a part of her Indian history because this also affected parts of Africa and other countries. She then equates oppression with murder (line 22) and the next two images become more violent: torture (line 24) and the "soul" which has been "cropped," cut down in size (or removed) using a long scythe. The poet is using metaphors of violence which are synonymous with language and oppression.

"Swooping out/of the conqueror's face" (e.g. colonisation) is another metaphor for violence, murder and oppression.

The final two lines are different. Bhatt tries to end on a more positive note referring to future generations ("the unborn grandchildren"). They will not be at the mercy of the "oppressor's tongue" or witness tortures or murder. They will accept language (perhaps the conqueror's) as their own and even "grow to love" it. Presumably, Bhatt is implying that this will be a foreign language that has been adopted and that would explain the use of the word strange.

To sum up:

This is something to think about. What is the relationship between history, cultural identity, religion and language? This is one of the complex questions she is trying to explore here. Of course there aren't any simple answers.

Question: Bhatt believes that history is important and can be seen through religion and language. Explain how she does this in "A Different History" and which literary techniques she uses.

Copyright 2013. Permission must be obtained from the writer before any of this article is reproduced.

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