To emphasize the feeling that Ratanji's vast wealth was 'fruitless' without a son, chapter 14 employs a series of powerful analogies. The text questions the beauty of several things that lack an essential component. These include: Hari-kirtan performed without love, singing that lacks rhythm and tune, a Brahmin without his sacred thread, a person proficient in arts but lacking essential knowledge, someone with outward signs of piety who slanders saints, a pilgrimage undertaken without repentance, and jewelry that is missing a central necklace. These comparisons powerfully frame the household without a son as something fundamentally incomplete, just like Ratanji felt.
What literary comparisons does the text use to illustrate the idea of incompleteness, as exemplified by Ratanji's life without a son?
📖 Chapter 14