22 pages • 44-minute read
Gunga Din
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Symbols & Motifs
The Bhisti, or Water-Bearer
For Kipling, the bhisti forced into service by the British occupational army symbolizes the dedicated work ethic, long-suffering stoicism, and courage of the peoples of India.
It is difficult to underestimate the historical importance of a regiment’s bhisti. In India, where the torrid dry season could last eight months, bhisti proved invaluable to the supply and transport system of the British occupational army. Before the development of canteens, and before scientific discoveries challenged the hygiene of lugging water in an animal skin, water-bearers saved lives second only to field medics.
The Hindi word bhisti comes from the Persian word bihishtī, meaning “heavenly one,” a suggestion of the enormity of the relief that the water-bearer brought. Moreover, their work was done under battle conditions—although they were not permitted to be armed, water-bearers worked on the front lines. When the regiment “charged or broke or cut” (Line 38), Din was only a scant “fifty paces back” (Line 40).
Kipling’s depiction of the regiment’s bhisti draws on Christian and Hindu imagery. Din’s quiet courage and disability align with Christian ideals of turning the other cheek when assaulted. Din’s first name, Gunga, is a masculine variation of Ganga, the Hindu goddess of purification and spiritual cleansing for whom the Ganges River is named. In Hindu belief, the Ganges is a sacred river whose waters are the purest and most spiritually powerful—an association that reflects on Din’s portrayal.
Masculinity
Ultimately, the speaker pointedly concedes that Din is a “better man” (Line 85)—rather than a better soldier or person.
With Din, Kipling explores the nature of masculinity, a key ideal in British Victorian society. The speaker is a model of one kind of Victorian masculinity. Although his accented speech reveals that he is from a lower-class background, he nevertheless embodies many traditionally male qualities: He is a foot soldier proud of his uniform, a hard-drinking adventurer with lots of pub buddies, and a man who risked death in an unfamiliar colony to defend the vision of the British Empire.
By contrast, Din embodies a different kind of masculinity that confuses the speaker. Din appears weak: He has a leg disability, wears “a piece o’ twisty rag” (Line 21), and drags around a bulky mussick in service of others. Din is also pointedly marked as inferior: He does not participate in combat and is exploited by the regimental soldiers who taunt and beat him. These vulnerabilities seemingly contradict Victorian values of male supremacy.
However, Din’s selfless courage under fire teaches the speaker that the true test of masculinity is the willingness to die to save another. This model of idealized male behavior is less about outward display and instead focuses on the strength that comes from within. Din’s ability to bear suffering stoically comprises the masculine identity that the speaker comes to prize above the one he’s been indoctrinated to.
Religious Iconography
“Gunga Din” reveals the tension between East and West, symbolized by the speaker’s Christianity and Din’s Hinduism. Although Gunga Din’s name is a reference to the Hindu goddess Ganga, whose sacred Ganges River is the source of pure, life-giving water in Hindu belief, the speaker flattens Hindu worshippers into a vicious racist stereotype, calling Din a “[h]eathen” (Line 31). He and the other soldiers compare Din’s facial features to the “squidgy-nosed” (Line 17) statues of Hindu gods.
This racist and sacrilegious taunting is in line with British demands that their colonial subjects abandon their ancient culture and faith system in favor of Christianity. In turn, when Din surprises the speaker with his heroics, the speaker can only see Din through this Christianized lens. He praises Din by referencing sainthood: “You Lazarushian-leather Gunga Din!” (Line 82), he exclaims, using an adjective Kipling coined to elevate his lower-class speech.
The reference is to a parable in the Bible’s New Testament Book of Luke. Lazarus is a humble beggar ridiculed by an arrogant king; in the afterlife, however, the king, now in hell, begs Lazarus, now in heaven, for a drop of water. The allusion symbolizes the speaker’s epiphany: that the Hindu Din earns salvation and that the Christian speaker deserves damnation.
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