Keki N. Daruwalla

Born: 1937 , Lahore, Pakistan   Fire Hymn

Nationality: Indian

Books: The keeper of the dead, Under Orion.  Apparition in April, Crossing of rivers

Education: University of the Punjab, Punjab  University, Chandigarh

Notable awards: Sahitya Akademi Award (1984), Padma Shri, Commonwealth Poetry Prize etc.

Keki N. Daruwalla is an Indian poet and short story writer in the English language.
He is also a former Indian Police Service officer and was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1984 for his poetry collection, The Keeper of the Dead.  He received the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for Asia in 1987.

Summary: Fire Hymn By Keki N. Daruwalla

“Fire-Hymn” is a religious poem. It has been composed by Keki N Daruwala, an eminent Indo-Anglian poet.

In this poem, the poet vividly and realistically describes the scene of a burning ghat where the dead body is burnt. Sometimes, the dead body is not completely burnt to ashes. It presents a terrible scene and seems that the fire fails to perform its duty well.

It has been insincere to the task. The poet belongs to the parse community which worships fire as a god. The poet comes to such a ghat to cremate his own son because the nearest Tower of Silence was thousand miles away. Doing so was a sig against the Parse Religion.

Thus, the poem is beset with irony and satire against religious rituals. The language of the poem is simple and its style is lucid. No difficult words have been used in it . It inspires us to have faith in our religion.

Question & Answer : Fire Hymn By Keki N. Daruwalla

1. How did the passer-by get frightened?
Ans : The passer-by got frightened by the phosphorescence and wandering ghost lights in the burning ghat at night.

2. Which event does the expression ‘ the burning ghat’ refer to?
Ans : The expression ‘ the burning ghat’ refers to the event when dead bodies are cremated at the places which are made for the last rituals of the human body.

3. Where do you think is the ghat located?
Ans : The ghat is located near the bank of a river.

4. What does the speaker see/observe in the morning at the ghat?
Ans : He saw embers losing their redness, and the grey ash had covered the half burnt limbs.

5. Why does he say that the redness of the fire is cruel?
Ans : He says that the redness of the fire is cruel because it stings and burns. It spares nothing.

6. In what sense does the fire forget its dead?
Ans : The fire is supposed to burn the dead completely. But sometimes it does not do its duty. It leaves some limbs half-burnt.

7. Why does the speaker reveal his religious identity?
Ans : The speaker is a Zoroastrian. They do not burn their dead. They leave their dead on the Tower of Silence. He reveals his religious identity to make this point clear.

8. Why did he consign his first born to the flames?
Ans : The speaker consigned his first born to the flames under compulsion. The tower of Silence, where he should have disposed of the dead body, was a thousand miles away.

9. What did the fire-hymn say to him?
Ans : The fire-hymn forgave him for not observing the ritual of the dead according to Zoroastrian religion.

10. How does the ghat appear to the common people?
Ans : The ghat appears to be a haunted place to the common people.

11. What is fire’s debauchery?
Ans : Fire’s debauchery is that it forgets to burn the dead body completely.

12. Why did the speaker swear twice to save the fire from two different sins ?
Ans : The speaker swore twice to save the fire from two different sins because once the fire forgave him from the sin of burning his first child.

Objective Questions (MCQs) : Fire Hymn By Keki N. Daruwalla

1. Fire Hymn is written by…….
(A) Keki N Daruwala
(B) TS Eliot
(C) Kamala Das
(D) Keki N Daruwala

2. Keki N. Daruwala is an…….. poet.
(A) British
(B) American
(C) African
(D) Indo-Anglian

3. It was the …… of the poet along with him, passing by the cremation ghat.
(A) father
(C) son
(B) brother
(D) sister

4. “The burning ghat-erupted phosphorescence; is taken from
(A) Fire-Hymn
(B) Song of Myself
(C) Macavity the mystery cat
(D) None of these

5. Who has violated the tradition of his religion by cremating ?
(A) DH Lawrence
(B) TS Eliot
(C) Keki Daruwalla
(D) None of these

6. Tower of Silence is related……..
(A) Parsis
(C) Sikhs
(B) Hindus
(D) None of these

7. Keki N. Daruwala is a recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award in…….
(B) 1983
(D) 1985
(A) 1982
(C) 1984

8. Keki N Daruwala was a ……… by religion.
(A) Parsi
(B) Hindu
(C) Christian
(D) Muslim

9. Keki N Daruwalla is an……..
A. American
B. Indo Anglican
C. Africa
D. British

10. The speaker in the fire hymn belongs to………… religion
A. Muslim
B. Zoroastrian
C. Hindu
D. Sikh

11. The poet sees the red hot………
A. Iron
B. Face
C. Amber
D. Acids

12. Keki N Daruwalla consigned his first born……………………. to the flames.
A. Son
B. Daughter
C. Brother
D. Sister

13. We saw embers loosing their cruel redness is taken from……
A. Song of myself
B. Fire hymn
C. The soldier
D. Snake

14. ‘As I inside my first born to the flames ’ is written by……
A. Kamala Das
B. Rupert Brooke
C. TS Eliot
D. Keki N Daruwal

15. ……………. swears to save fire from the sin of forgetfulness.
A. John Donne
B. keki n Daruwalla
C. John Keats
D. T S Eliot

Also Read :-Story Of English, Question Answer | Objective Question | Class12 English

Also Read :-ODE TO AUTUMN, SUMMARY | QUESTION ANSWER | OBJECTIVE QUESTION | CLASS12 ENGLISH