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Blind Man Elephant

Six blind men from Indostan come into contact with different parts of an elephant. The first feels the side and thinks the elephant is like a wall. The second feels the tusk and thinks it's like a spear. The third feels the trunk and thinks it's like a snake. Each man argues that his interpretation is right based on the limited experience of touching one part of the elephant. The moral is that having a partial experience can lead to wrong conclusions, just as religious disputes are often based on incomplete understandings.

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kangan jain
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49 views

Blind Man Elephant

Six blind men from Indostan come into contact with different parts of an elephant. The first feels the side and thinks the elephant is like a wall. The second feels the tusk and thinks it's like a spear. The third feels the trunk and thinks it's like a snake. Each man argues that his interpretation is right based on the limited experience of touching one part of the elephant. The moral is that having a partial experience can lead to wrong conclusions, just as religious disputes are often based on incomplete understandings.

Uploaded by

kangan jain
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Blind Men and the Elephant

(by John Godfrey Saxe)

American poet John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887) based this poem, "The Blind Men and
the Elephant", on a fable that was told in India many years ago. It is a good warning
about how our sensory perceptions can lead to misinterpretations.
• It was six men of Indostan To
learning much inclined

• Who went to see the Elephant


(Though all of them were blind),

• That each by observation Might


satisfy his mind
•
The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall

• Against his broad and sturdy side,


At once began to bawl:

• “God bless me! but the Elephant Is


very like a wall!”
• The Second, feeling
of the tusk, Cried,
“Ho! what have we
here

• So very round and


smooth and sharp?
To me ’tis mighty
clear

• This wonder of an
Elephant Is very like
a spear!”
• The Third approached the
animal, And happening to
take

• The squirming trunk within


his hands, Thus boldly up
and spake:

• “I see,” quoth he, “the


Elephant Is very like a
snake!”
• The Fourth reached out
an eager hand, And felt
about the knee.

• “What most this


wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” quoth
he;

• “ ‘Tis clear enough the


Elephant Is very like a
tree!”
• The Fifth, who chanced
to touch the ear, Said:
“E’en the blindest man

• Can tell what this


resembles most; Deny
the fact who can

• This marvel of an
Elephant Is very like a
fan!”
• The Sixth no sooner
had begun About the
beast to grope,

• Then, seizing on the


swinging tail That
fell within his scope,

• “I see,” quoth he,


“the Elephant Is
very like a rope!”
• And so these men of • Moral:
Indostan Disputed loud
and long, So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
• Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and
strong, • Rail on in utter
ignorance Of what each
• Though each was partly other mean,
in the right, And all
were in the wrong!
• And prate about an
• Elephant Not one of
them has seen!
 
          
                                                                                                        

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