Year: 1998
Type: article
Abstract: An unusual image lies hidden among the twists and turns of flamboyant prose in Walt Whitman's Democratic Vistas.In a particularly lyrical passage, Whitman writes of "a consciousness, a thought that rises, independent, lifted out from all else, calm, like the stars, shining eternal."He describes this mystical experience for several more lines before concluding: "Under the luminousness of real vision, it alone takes possession, takes value.Like the shadowy dwarf in the fable, once liberated and look'd upon, it expands over the whole earth, and spreads to the roof ofheaven."lMost readers have passed over this strange mention of a "shadowy dwarf" without comment, and it certainly is a cryptic reference.Its origin, however, becomes clear when we refer to the story of Yamana, an avatar of Vishnu (Vi~I).u) in Hindu mythology.According to this legend, a demon named Bali conquered Indra and the other gods and established himself as ruler of the "triple world" of earth, atmosphere, and heaven.The gods, naturally distressed by this development, sought the assistance of Vi~I).u, who agreed to take birth and • win back the world for them.He was born as a dwarf named Yam ana and went to see Bali.The demon, aware that he was being visited by the Lord, offered the dwarf a gift.Yamana asked for just three steps of land for his own sacrificial ground.Receiving this boon, he expanded to the size of the universe and then crossed the earth, atmosphere, and heaven in his three strides, thereby reclaiming the entire universe for the gods. 2 The resemblance between the passage in Whitman and this Hindu legend is easy to see: both refer to a dwarf who expands to cosmic proportions in order to reach heaven.Since this story is, to my knowledge, unique among world literature, it is safe to say that Whitman encountered a version of the legend and incorporated it into the above passage from Democratic Vistas.It would be valuable for our knowledge of Whitman's reading to determine where he found the story, but unfortunately there are too many possibilities to be sure.According to DeborahA.Soifer, there are thirty versions of the Vamana myth in Hindu literature, including versions in the two major epics-the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.3 While we therefore cannot be certain of his source, it seems probable that he encountered it in the Ramayana or in the Vi~I).uPuraI).a,since those were among the few Hindu texts readily available in mid-nineteenth century America: Horace Wilson published a translation of the Vi~I).uPuraI).a in 1840, arid William Carey's version of the Ramayana appeared as early as 1810.4 Despite our lack of certainty as to its specific textual source, this allusion in Whitman's prose sheds light on the connection between Whitman and certain aspects of Hindu thought.In the 1960s and 1970s, V. K. Chari and T. R.
Source: Walt Whitman Quarterly Review
Author: Nathaniel H Preston
Institution: University of Iowa
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2018577583