The 20th century witnessed few greater poets than TS Eliot, who was most influential in shaping the modern style of writing poetry for more than forty years. Not only was it his distinctive style, but he also used a conversational speech loaded with complex poetic imagery layered with diverse thoughts to portray various aspects of life. The poet was fond of allusions and used them very effectively to convey a great deal of meaning through just a few lines. This individuality of Eliot’s is perhaps best expressed in his magnum opus, ‘The Waste Land.’ The canon of karma and detachment as propagated in Hindu philosophy was not unknown to Eliot, and the present poem highlights these principles.

Themes That man must pursue his actions with a spirit of detachment is the main theme of this somber poem. Exactly such a theme has been enunciated in the Bhagavad-Gita by which the poet seems to be substantially inspired. The Bhagavad-Gita advises giving up cravings for worldly possessions such as wealth, fame, family, property, and the like. That is why the poet says that every country is the homeland of one man and the exile of another. If a man conscientiously fulfills his duty in another country, regardless of the country of his birth it becomes his homeland. Therefore, a ‘foreign’ or ‘native’ land is nothing more than a relative term in the sense that one has to remain separate from his homeland when he has to answer the call of duty. The Indian soldier and his comrades-in-arms, including his British allies in the poem, are good examples of such people doing his duty in the foreign land of Africa. Some of them are not destined to reach their own country but would die in another man’s land. However, the land where they sacrifice their lives for a great and common cause becomes their home while the land that was their home now ceases to be. His great deed would bring its own reward though they would not know it ‘until the judgment after death’.

Another prominent theme of the poem is the doctrine of karma. Through the selfless action of the Indian soldier and his fellow men in Africa, he echoes the philosophy of the Bhagavad-Gita that: “You have the right only to action and never to its fruits; let the fruits of actions not be your own.” reason”. ; nor that there is in you any attachment to inaction.” TS Eliot says in the last line of the third stanza that wherever he dies bravely that soil is his. It occurs to the poet that soldiers from different countries fighting for a common goal they may not know the result of their efforts. However, this possibility does not diminish the value of their sacrifice. They become immortal by being glorified in the memory of their people through their sublime act. Judgment after death shows concern of the poet by the Christian doctrine of ‘the last judgment’ as mentioned in the Old Testament.