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Gunga Din" (/ ˌ ɡ ʌ ŋ ɡ ə ˈ d iː n /) is an 1890 poem by Rudyard Kipling set in British India. The poem was published alongside "Mandalay" and "Danny Deever" in the collection "Barrack-Room Ballads". The poem is much remembered for its final line "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din".
Gunga Din. By Rudyard Kipling. You may talk o’ gin and beer. When you’re quartered safe out ’ere, An’ you’re sent to penny-fights an’ Aldershot it; But when it comes to slaughter. You will do your work on water, An’ you’ll lick the bloomin’ boots of ’im that’s got it. Now in Injia’s sunny clime,
'Ere's a beggar with a bullet through 'is spleen; 'E's chawin' up the ground, An' 'e's kickin' all around: For Gawd's sake git the water, Gunga Din!" 'E carried me away To where a dooli lay, An' a bullet come an' drilled the beggar clean.
‘Gunga Din’ is one of Kipling’s best-known poems. It features two characters, the speaker who is a white British soldier fighting in India, and Gunga Din, an Indian water carrier who is beaten and abused by the soldiers.
Tho' I've belted you an' flayed you, By the livin' Gawd that made you, You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din! This poem is in the public domain. Joseph Rudyard Kipling is best known for his novels The Jungle Book, The Second Jungle Book , and Kim , and his most famous poem, " If — ".
Gunga Din. You may talk o' gin and beer. When you're quartered safe out 'ere, An' you're sent to penny-fights an' Aldershot it; But when it comes to slaughter. You will do your work on water, An' you'll lick the bloomin' boots of 'im that's got it. Now in Injia's sunny clime,
Gunga Din: ORG identifies Gunga Din as Juma, the heroic water-carrier of the Guides Frontier Force at the siege of Delhi, during the sepoy rebellion of 1857. The Guides were a celebrated Corps of the British Indian Army, which served in the North-West Frontier, and included both infantry and cavalry.
