Skip to content

Abhisara The Tryst: Two Meetings and the Promise | ISC 11

questionbuddy.in/isc/class-11/english-literature/abhisara-the-tryst/the-two-meetings-contrast-and-the-kept-promise

English LiteratureISC Class 11 · Abhisara: The Tryst – Rabindranath Tagore

Abhisara: The Tryst (Tagore): The Two Meetings and How Upagupta Keeps His Promise

Updated 18 October 2026 · Fact-checked

In Abhisara: The Tryst, Upagupta first meets the proud dancing girl on a stormy August night and tells her he will come 'when the time is ripe'. On a spring night he finds her outcast and diseased by the city wall and nurses her, saying 'The time, at last, has come to visit you, and I am here'.

Everything about her and the weather changes between the meetings, but Upagupta's promise stays, and he keeps it with mercy at the city wall.

Illustration drawn for QuestionBuddy.

Understand The Two Meetings: Contrast and the Kept Promise (Abhisara)

Structure. The poem has two paired scenes that mirror each other, joined by the promise 'when the time is ripe I will come to you'.

The first meeting (August). It is a dark monsoon night with lamps out, doors shut and stars hidden. Upagupta, disciple of the Buddha, lies asleep on the dust by Mathura's city wall. Anklets tinkle on his breast, and the lamp of a woman falls on his 'forgiving eyes'. She is starred with jewels, clouded with a pale-blue mantle and 'drunk with the wine of her youth'. She asks forgiveness and invites him to her house. He tells her to go her way. Lightning flashes, 'the black night showed its teeth', and she trembles.

The second meeting (spring). Blossom, flute music and a full moon fill the scene, but the citizens are at the festival of flowers. Upagupta passes through the gates and finds at the foot of the rampart a woman 'struck with the black pestilence, her body spotted with sores', driven out of the town.

The contrasts. Storm and moonlight; jewels and sores; invitation and abandonment; her pride and her helplessness. The monk alone is unchanged.

The tryst. He takes her head on his knees, moistens her lips with water and smears her body with balm. 'Who are you, merciful one?' she asks. His reply keeps the promise.

The title. The chapter page notes that abhisara means a lover's secret meeting. The real tryst is an act of mercy at the city wall.

Scope note. This page uses only the lines and details on the ISC Class 11 chapter page. No copy of Rhapsody was available to the writer.

Key quotations

Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.

  • Woman, go on your way; when the time is ripe I will come to you.

    Upagupta: Declining her invitation.

    The promise whose meaning appears only at the end.

  • Suddenly the black night showed its teeth in a flash of lightning.

    The narrator: End of the first meeting.

    Personification and foreboding.

  • struck with the black pestilence, her body spotted with sores, hurriedly driven away from the town

    The narrator: The second meeting.

    Her fall from beauty to outcast.

  • The time, at last, has come to visit you, and I am here

    Upagupta: The last line.

    The promise is kept as an act of compassion.

The Two Meetings: Contrast and the Kept Promise (Abhisara): key facts

Contrasts between the scenes
  • August storm
  • spring moonlight
  • jewels
  • sores
  • invitation
  • abandonment
Pair each with its opposite.
The promise
  • declined in August
  • not forgotten
  • kept in spring
  • when she needs him
Use for questions on 'the time is ripe'.
Devices
  • contrast
  • personification
  • metaphor
  • rhetorical question
Quote one phrase for each.

How to answer The Two Meetings: Contrast and the Kept Promise (Abhisara) questions

Use this for questions on the structure and meaning of the poem.

  1. 1Name the two meetings and their seasons.
  2. 2Contrast the woman's two conditions.
  3. 3Quote the promise and its fulfilment.
  4. 4Add one device with a quotation.
  5. 5End with compassion and the meaning of the title.

The Two Meetings: Contrast and the Kept Promise (Abhisara) in real life

The idea, met in an everyday situation. Answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.

Help arrives when it is needed, not when it is asked

Suppose a student declines a rich classmate's invitation to a party, saying 'I will come to you when the time is ripe', and months later is the only one who visits her in hospital after an accident, while the party friends are busy.

What does this show about the promise in the poem?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. The refusal was not coldness.
  2. The visit came at the point of need.
  3. It shows loyalty and care.

Answer: As Upagupta's, the promise is kept when the person needs help most, which shows compassion rather than desire.

Memory hook: The time is ripe when the need is greatest.

Tricks to remember The Two Meetings: Contrast and the Kept Promise (Abhisara)

Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.

  • A-S

    August storm, Spring blossom.

    Use it when: The two scenes.

  • Jewels to sores

    Beauty fades, kindness stays.

    Use it when: The theme of transience.

The Two Meetings: Contrast and the Kept Promise (Abhisara): solved examples

Ordered from board level to HOTS. Try each one before you open the solution.

Example 1: The promise · 1 mark · MCQBoard level

'when the time is ripe I will come to you' is said by: (a) the dancing girl (b) the narrator (c) Upagupta (d) the Buddha

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. He replies to her invitation.

Answer: (c)

Example 2: Assertion and reason · 1 mark · Assertion-reasonBoard level

Assertion (A): The second meeting takes place in spring. Reason (R): The citizens have gone to the festival of flowers.
(a) Both true, R explains A (b) Both true, R does not explain A (c) A true, R false (d) A false, R true

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. A is true.
  2. R is true but does not explain why it is spring, only the empty town.

Answer: (b)

Example 3: Contrast · 5 marks · Long answerHarder board level

Compare the woman as she appears in the first and second meetings. Answer in about 100 words.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. First: starred with jewels, drunk with youth.
  2. Second: spotted with sores, driven out.
  3. Contrast with the unchanged monk.

Answer: In August she is starred with jewels, clouded with a pale-blue mantle and 'drunk with the wine of her youth', polite but proud. In spring she lies at the foot of the rampart, 'her body spotted with sores', abandoned by the town. The change from admired dancer to outcast shows the transience of beauty, while Upagupta, calm in both scenes, shows constant compassion.

Example 4: Setting and mood · 5 marks · Long answerHarder board level

How does Tagore use the weather to prepare the reader for what happens to the woman? Refer to the text.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. Personified night and storm.
  2. 'the black night showed its teeth'.
  3. She trembles.

Answer: At the end of the first scene lightning flashes, 'the black night showed its teeth', and the storm growls. This personification makes nature threatening, and the woman trembles. It foreshadows the danger and suffering that come to her, and it contrasts with the gentle moonlight in the second scene, where the harm is a human one: she is abandoned.

Example 5: Meaning of the title · 5 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency

Abhisara means a lover's secret meeting. Discuss how far the title is ironic.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. The word suggests romance.
  2. The meeting is a nursing of a sick woman.
  3. Love is compassion.

Answer: The title promises a romantic meeting, yet the tryst is the monk's visit to a diseased outcast at the city wall, where he nurses her. The irony shows that the greatest love is compassion and service, not desire.

Where students lose marks in The Two Meetings: Contrast and the Kept Promise (Abhisara)

The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.

  • Mistake: Treating Upagupta's refusal as unkind

    It was a promise.

    Wrong working

    He rejects her harshly.

    Right working

    He declines gently and promises to come at the right time.

    Do this: Quote the line.

    Usually costs: 2 marks

  • Mistake: Missing the contrast

    The poem is built on pairs.

    Wrong working

    Only one scene described.

    Right working

    Both scenes compared.

    Do this: Use jewels and sores.

    Usually costs: 2 marks

  • Mistake: Taking the title literally

    The tryst is mercy.

    Wrong working

    A love story.

    Right working

    An act of compassion.

    Do this: Explain the irony.

    Usually costs: 1 to 2 marks

Exam tips

  • Compare the two scenes in pairs.
  • Quote the promise and its fulfilment.
  • Use personification with the black night line.
  • Explain the title.
  • Keep the compassion theme in the conclusion.

Practice questions on The Two Meetings: Contrast and the Kept Promise (Abhisara)

Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.

  1. Q1 · 1 mark · MCQBoard level

    What does the woman hold when she first meets Upagupta? (a) a flute (b) a lamp (c) a garland (d) a veil

    Hint

    Her light falls on his eyes.

    Answer

    (b) a lamp.

  2. Q2 · 1 mark · Very short answerBoard level

    What is the illness that has struck the woman in the second scene?

    Hint

    Black pestilence.

    Answer

    The black pestilence (a plague-like disease).

  3. Q3 · 5 marks · Long answerHarder board level

    Describe how Upagupta cares for the woman in the second scene. Answer in about 80 words.

    Hint

    Head, lips, body.

    Answer

    He sits beside her, takes her head on his knees, moistens her lips with water and smears her body with balm. He is not afraid of the sickness and does not ask who she is. His acts show gentle, practical compassion.

  4. Q4 · 5 marks · Long answerHarder board level

    How does Tagore show the indifference of society in the poem?

    Hint

    Festival, outcast.

    Answer

    The citizens have gone to the woods for the festival of flowers while the sick woman is driven out of the town and lies alone by the wall. The people who once admired her have cast her aside, and only the monk comes.

  5. Q5 · 5 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency

    'The time, at last, has come to visit you, and I am here.' Explain how this line completes the poem.

    Hint

    Promise, need, compassion.

    Answer

    The line answers the promise made in August and shows that his refusal was a postponement to the time of real need. It gives the poem its meaning: the true tryst is an act of mercy.

Test your recall

Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.

  1. 1.Who is Upagupta?Show answer

    A young disciple of the Buddha.

  2. 2.Where does he sleep?Show answer

    On the dust by the city wall of Mathura.

  3. 3.What season is the second meeting?Show answer

    Spring.

  4. 4.Who wrote the poem?Show answer

    Rabindranath Tagore.

  5. 5.What does abhisara mean?Show answer

    A lover's secret meeting.

The Two Meetings: Contrast and the Kept Promise (Abhisara): frequently asked questions

Which book has the poem?

Rhapsody: A Collection of ISC Poems, as the chapter page records.

Is the dancing girl named in the poem?

The chapter page notes the name Vasavadatta only in the legend.

What is the theme?

Compassion, the transience of beauty and true timing.