sacrifice chapter by rabrindanath Tagore
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SACRIFICE: Introduction:
The play Sacrifice by Rabindranath Tagore reflects primarily the practice of animal and human
sacrifice to please the goddess Kali in Hinduism. Sacrifices of goats and roosters are common
sight in many temples of goddess Kali in India. Animal sacrifice is widely prevalent in many
temples of India even today.
Sacrifice is a religious rite in which something pleasing to the god is offered to obtain blessing.
Man maintains a relationship between his own self and the supreme power through sacrifice.
This religious attitude is widely prevalent in India. Every one offer something to the god present
in the temple. We may desire for good rain, good harvest, wealth, children or health and other
material benefits from the god in the temple through our prayer and offerings.
Sacrifice in the form of animals or flowers are also made to please gods and goddesses in order
to seek forgiveness for the wrong doings or sins, which we might have committed. Many non-
vegetarians give up meat eating as a form of sacrifice to please their gods and goddesses on
specific days. An extreme form of sacrifice is human sacrifice where a human being is killed as
an offering to the god.
The play Sacrifice:
Gunavati, the queen in Rabindranath’s Tagore’s play Sacrifice, wonders whether she had
offended the fearsome mother goddess, because even though she was a queen and the whole
world was under her feet but still she was not fortunate enough to become a mother. Was it a
curse upon her for the sin she might have committed in the past or previous birth? Here the
fearsome mother goddess is the Hindu goddess Kali (CPPR 513). Kali worship is more popular
in Calcutta, the capital of Bengal. People were not educated and often led a very superstitious life
without any reason or scientific approach during the period of Tagore.
The spiritual Gurus like the temple priest Ragupathy took advantage of the people’s ignorance
and maintained a superior authority over the King and his subjects. His words were authority and
people must obey it blindly. Even the king was no exception to this law of the priest who was a
symbol of vanity. He advises the queen to make an offering of a beast and flowers to please the
Goddess. The queen brings the goat of the poor girl Aparna and flowers for offering to the
temple. The king Govinda questions the servant Jaising about the offerings.
The servant advises the girl that it was the mother’s (Goddess Kali) wish and Aparna need not
repent for it. Aparna argues that she was like the goat’s mother and took care of it as if it was her
own child. The king bans all the sacrifices in the temple and an announcement was made to
forbid sacrifice in the name of god to the priest and the courtiers. The king also instructed them
to spread his order to all parts of his land. The priest argues and warns that the king’s rule should
be only outside the temple and not in the matters of age old traditions and religion. The priest
condemns the king for disregarding the goddess Kali and not giving her due sacrifices. The
queen was very upset since her offering too was turned by the order of the king. The King tried
to convince her that it was mother kali’s command and he must execute it against all odds. The
priest decides to give an offering of a beast to the Goddess, but the King prevents it through his
general Nayanrai and Chandpal, the second commander with their soldiers. But the general
refuses to follow the order of the king and surrenders his royal sword to the king himself because
his faith in religion and age old beliefs was dearer than the king’s order.