Selected Dramas of Vijay Tendulkar: A Brief Review

Transcription

1 CHAPTER-V Selected Dramas of Vijay Tendulkar: A Brief Review Vijay Tendulkar carved out a place for himself in the world of Marathi drama. This is in spite of the controversies which his plays occasioned. The Vultures came as a shock to the conservatives of Maharashtra s society which could not accept that greed and consequent violence could be a part of everyday life. Someone actually beat him with a stick because of the play. When Kanyadaan was staged an attempt was made to throw a slipper at him by a dalit. Ghashiram Kotwal constituted an assault on the Brahmans in their own citadel (Pune). Its critics threw tomatoes and eggs at the troupe. They even approached Bombay High Court to prevent the troupe from going abroad to stage its performance when invited to do so. But a better sense prevailed and the Court gave its judgement in favour of the troupe. Sakharam Binder is also one of his most controversial plays. It is against the commonly accepted Indian practice for a man to marry and settle down with his wife. Here the man keeps on changing women in a live-in relationship. Arundhati Banerjee correctly points out, His Silence! The Court is in Session earned him a place among leading Indian playwrights in the sixties while his Ghashiram Kotwal won him international fame in the mid-seventies. Winner of several national and international awards and fellowships, he is both a venerated and a controversial figure in the country s theatre scene. 1 Given below is a survey of these five plays.

2 I. The Vultures This play (hereafter referred to as Vultures) was produced in 1970 but published in 1971, about fifteen years after it was written. It mirrors human relationships between two individuals in the form of husband-wife relation, father-son relation, father-daughter relation, brother-brother relation and brother-sister relation. Manisha writes that the play shows... shameless domestic violence in the crudest verbal and physical forms, inflicted upon each other by the family members. 2 There is one more relation, viz., that of the illegitimate son with other members of the family. These relations are in an upper middle class family which is headed by Hari Pitale. Ramakant and Umakant are his sons and Manik his daughter. Rama is the wife of Ramakant. Hari has also an illegitimate son named Rajaninath who lives separately in a garage. Harish Gopaldas Tapadia observes, Rajaninath has a dual role to play in The Vultures. In addition to being a character, he also functions as the Sutradhar (presenter and conductor of a theatrical performance). It is through his memories and poetry that we come to know about the incidents that have happened in a span of twenty-two years. 3 Except Rama and Rajaninath, other characters are corrupted and greedy. Shailaja B. Wadikar insinuates, Even the name of the family, viz., Pitale, suggests that the family members are rather brazen, shameless, and insolent. 4 V. Thillaikarasi says, Strangely enough, these vultures have unique fertile minds. The devilish ideas crop up like anything in quick succession. And similar is the horrible haste in transforming it into action. 5 But their character does not disgust the reader. To quote Wadikar again, Still, we feel sympathy for them rather than terror, as all these characters appear to be the

3 victims of their own wickedness or viciousness. In their unceasing efforts to inflict miseries on others, they make their lives more miserable. 6 Arundhati Banerjee remarks, The play is a ruthless dissection of human nature revealing its inherent tendencies to violence, avarice, selfishness, sensuality and sheer wickedness. 7 Rosy Chamling supplements, The sordid theme of violence is further reinforced by the lurid play of light effects and the screeching of the vultures. Rajaninath makes the opening commentary accompanied by the constant howling of the wind and the shrill screeching of the vultures... She also says, The family as a domain of comfort and protection is debunked, for the family itself is presented as a site of violence. 8 Act One Scene I begins with Rajaninath sitting and writing a poem. There is no conversation between characters and the screeching of vultures alone is heard both before and after he begins to write. In a part of it he writes, 9 But it was no home. Not a home, but a hole in a tree Where vultures live In the shapes of men. A haunted burning-ground Surrounded by evil ghosts. Was that a home? Scene II begins with off the stage violence although it is not immediately clear who brings it about and who is the victim. There is a male voice, Ungrateful bastard! Get out of the house. This minute! Comes here at an ungodly hour. Asking for money, the bastard! As if it is your father s money! Get out on the road! Or I ll shoot you. This is followed by another male voice, What are you waiting for Ramakant? Kick

4 the bastard in the balls! Give him another! Slam him. 10 There is an exchange of shouts. Blows are exchanged and noise of beating. Subsequent conversation shows that it was a fight between Ramakant and Jagannath, the gardener. He had not been paid salary for two months. Pappa justifies on the ground that he has the habit of shirking work. Pappa says that he deserves kicks and curses. There is conversation between Rama and Manik. Rama did not wake up Manik and this grieves her. Rama justifies her action by saying that Manik s door was locked. Manik s retorts, Ha! So I should leave it open, should I? So you can come and strangle me, all of you? It s because I take care that I ve survived in this house! Think it s human beings that live here? She believes that her brothers and sister-inlaw will kill her at the first opportunity. She calls her father senile, Ramakant a hypocrite and Umakant a miser, lickpenny and bloody ruffian. She says about Ramakant, I suppose I m lucky he doesn t flourish a knife at me. And get away with my share at night! She adds, When I had typhoid last year, far from looking after me, you d all plotted to put poison in my medicine! When Rama protests and says No, no..., Manik retorts, I was careful. That s what saved me! I just refused me medicine. I wouldn t even drink water. That s what saved me. I never slept. Even in the dark, I never closed my eyes for a second. That s how I survived. Or you d have fixed me long ago! I know you all. 11 Pappa thinks that he is the victim of neglect. In case he does not get up in the morning, no one will notice it and his corpse will decompose the whole day. When the phone rings, he thinks it must be that of Umakant. He tells Rama, Must be your brother-in-law. He always gathers all the darling little boys of the neighbourhood. And plays the Gopi-Krishna game with them. 12 He also complains about Ramakant to

5 Rama, Every deal of his is a crooked one! But it s a crime if I mention it! The other day, he raised a flower vase to hit me. Going to kill me, he was! Die, rather! Drop in the ditch! I ve just stopped talking to him. He thinks that other members of the family are waiting for him to die and he tells himself, If I die, it ll be a release! They re all waiting for it. But I m your own father, after all! If I die, I ll become a ghost. I ll sit on your chest! I won t let you enjoy a rupee of it. I earned it all. Now, these wolves, these bullies! 13 Ramakant enters and talks about the gardener with disgust, Came right into my room today. I d have shot him. But I thought, he s a family man. Wife and children. He ll only die but they ll raise hell against me! So I just slapped him. Blood streamed from the fellow s mouth. Must have lost one or two teeth. Well, they d have fallen out anyway. Rama talks uncharitably about his father. He calls him a bloody burden having stupidity. Pappa sarcastically says that he indeed has stupidity for he produced bastards like Ramakant. To this, Ramakant retorts, As the seed, so the tree! Did we ever ask to be produced? 14 Here is an exchange of hot words between Umakant and Ramakant. Umakant threatens to smash Ramakant s mouth who, in turn, talks of shooting Umakant and also calls him a lifelong bloody enemy. When this quarrel continues, Rama wants Pappa to intervene and stop it. But he just calls them devils, pimps and scoundrels. Umakant opines that a mangy dog would have made a better father. Pappa is distressed that the sons talk of his funeral when he is still alive. He tells them that he will see their pyres burning. The focus now shifts from the father vs. sons to brothers vs. sister. When Umakant had come, Manik was having her bath. He is annoyed that she took so long in finishing it. He had an appointment and will have to go without a bath. In exasperation, he calls Manik a cow. She, in turn, flares up and catches hold of his neck. She addresses him as a swine and curses, worms ll rot your mouths, you

6 bastards. She continues, Bloody beasts! You want to ruin me! You d like to kill me! Umakant goes for his bath and Rama comes out of the kitchen with a cup of tea for Rajaninath. Ramakant has contempt for him and remarks, A kept woman s bloody son! A bastard! If he d come here begging for a share, I d have shot him with my rifle. I d have blasted him! 15 Pappa has a soft corner for Rajaninath whom he considers to be better than his two other sons who, he thinks, want to kill him. But he warns them, 16 Say all you want! Kill me... that s all you bastards want. But I won t die! I shan t! If I die, I ll become a ghost. I ll trample on your chests! Who d you take me for? I m going to dance on your chests. Trample on them! Ramakant does not take it lying down and retorts that if their father will be a ghost, the two brothers will be arch-ghosts. In Scene III Ramakant calls his father a perfect bastard. Their uncle Sakharam has come to demand his share and he is an unwelcome guest. Manik makes a macabre remark, Then throw him out! He ll writhe to death with cold all right. On his own. 17 Scene IV begins with a meeting between Rama and Rajaninath. She brings a cup of tea for him which he does not like. He tells her not to bring it next day. He does not want her to even visit him. Scene V witnesses the departure of Pappa s brother Sakharam. Ramakant remarks, Inseparable brothers. Like Ram and Lakshman, Uncle and Pappa. Both absolute swindlers. Early morning he took his airgun to and went out to shoot birds. He went upstairs to see Sakharam. But he bounced on his bed. Ramakant further continues, 18

7 He stumbled to the door and then... flight! Uncle Makes His Getaway! I tried to bloody prevent him. I rushed after him. With my rifle. But Uncle ran like a bloody deer. Gone. Uncle disappeared who knows where. The family is together to celebrate Sakharam s departure but the celebrations turn sour. When there is a heated talk between the two brothers, Manik intervenes to calm them down but in vain. Umakant says, I ll knock the bastard s block off! I ll crack him open like a crockroach! To this Ramakant retorts, I ll bash your bloody brains out! Filthy bloody bastard! 19 Pappa is sitting on a chair with both the sons on one side each. Ramakant topples his chair and all the three fall on the ground. There is a gash on Pappa s head with blood streaming down. He is half dead with fear. Both of them support Pappa to the sofa. He says, 20 You are devils, you pimps! You re going to kill me! You are going to murder me... murder! I don t want to die! Don t want to! I m not going to! I ll become a ghost. I ll sit on your chests! Murderers! Call the police! Pappa does not want to transfer his deposit of Rs. 7,000 in the bank to his sons. They catch hold of him and so Manik brings a pen and asks him to write a cheque which he does. Then he runs out of the other door because he senses danger to his life. There is a harsh screeching of vultures. Scene VI marks the end of Act One. It begins and ends with Rajaninath reciting his poem. It includes the following verse: 21 The oldest vulture s own born son!

8 Instead, I prayed For one more kick, Just some more blood. I wished and wished for A wound less shallow The inmost part Of that rotting brain. In Act Two Scene I the two brothers and sister quarrel over the game of rummy. When Manik does not give the money, Umakant threatens that her tongue would hang out by the roots and grabs her neck. Scene II takes a different turn. Rama visits Rajaninath and sees his bare torso. She is attracted by it and sets her eyes on it. She confides to him what she has in her mind, 22 Those women long ago who used to commit sati, we re all praise for them. They used to burn themselves alive in loyalty to their dead husbands. But only once. Once they were burnt, they escaped. But I, Bhaiya, burn in this living death of my wifehood - I commit sati every moment! I burn! I am consumed! And do you know something? - I ve felt every day like like getting out of this! Getting free of this once and for all! In any way whatever. Let the world say what it wants. I don t care. Finally, she embraces him and rests her head on his back. In Scene III Ramakant and Umakant talk about Manik. She has a fractured leg which is plastered. Because of her relations with the Raja of Hondur, she is pregnant. The brothers see an opportunity in it and plan to swindle the Raja for money. Since the Raja has already

9 died of heart attack, their plan is not successful. They talk of Manik committing sati and also about killing her unborn child. Ramakant makes a ghastly remark, I ll give such a kick, he ll fly up to the bloody skies. 23 Pandurang Ananda Kirdat comments, It shows that Ramakant and Umakant are demons, vultures who behave with their own sister very badly. They have no mercy for her. 24 K. Janardhanreddy and P. Satyanarayana corroborate, The cruelty and obscenity of human behaviour is at apex when the brothers kick at the belly of their pregnant sister. 25 Sarika Tiwari explains that their worry is that the child may demand their wealth when he grows up. 26 Scene IV shows Ramakant and Rama talking to each other. She is pregnant and is filled with fear. She thinks that her father-in-law and sister-in-law are looking at her with eyes resembling live coals. In Scene V Ramakant gets a bolt from the blue when Umakant informs him that the child carried by Rama is of Rajaninath. Since Ramakant was an alcoholic, he had failed to meet the sexual need of Rama. Anju Bala Agarwal writes in this context, She has just one wish in her life, that is, to have a baby, which remains unfulfilled due to her husband s impotency. But, like any patriarchal husband, he never acknowledges his faults and calls her a barren woman. 27 Scene VI begins with a meeting between Pappa and Ranjninath in the garage. Pappa wants to change his will which gives the property to his two sons. He wants to make another will to divide it between Manik and Rajninath. But Rajaninath does not show interest in the proposal and he asks Papa to go back with a thudding heart. Rama screams in the house and Ramakant runs towards it. Manik s face has a terrible and hysterical joy. She says that she has done what she had planned. She cut the lemon and rubbed the ash on the loins and stomach, adding that Rama s baby will

10 abort by this black magic. She is laughing loudly and madly. Ramakant goes to Rama to find out the truth. First Rama is reluctant to speak and then informs him about what Manik has done. He tells her not to talk like this and threatens to murder her if she did. He adds that the child, if it is his, will not die. In Scene VII Ramakant is looking for his rifle. He talks of killing Rajninath and himself. He says that the child is not his but of Rajaninath. He talks of shooting him. Then he talks of shooting himself. He puts the barrel of the rifle under his chin and his finger is on the trigger. But he changes his mind. He calls Rama down who does not come and so he decides to go up. There is the sound of a continuous and torrential rain. Finally, in Scene VIII Rajaninath is alone in the garage, summarising the course of events. 28 The tale of the five vultures Had this end. The story of men accursed. Or of vultures accursed To live their lives as men. The very title of the play is indicative of its unpleasant subject. Arundhati Banerjee writes, Tendulkar has said that Gidhade was born out of a personal crisis in his life, that it poured out of him within the short span of four days and he himself was shocked that he could give expression to so much violence. 29 Because of it, Tendulkar s name came to be associated with sensationalism, sex and violence. In this play violence naturally flows like water. There are also elements of sex in it. This is clearly with respect to Manik s relations with the Raja of Hondur and Rajaninath s

11 relations with Rama, but obliquely to Umakant s game of Gopi-Krishna which borders on sexual aberration. Uday Shankar Ojha notes that the sequence of events in the drama is unwholesome, Bottles of liquor and soda on the sideboard, pouring it into the glass, smoking cigarettes and taking pills are as essential as breathing for the two brothers, father and Manik. 30 He writes, Strangely enough, these vultures have unique fertile minds. The devilish ideas crop up like any thing in quick succession. And similar is the horrible haste in transforming it into action... one barbaric violent action is followed by another with still greater revengeful vehemence. 31 Javaid Ahmad Lone believes, Among the various dramas of Vijay Tendulakar, The Vultures, has the maximum of scenes of fury and anger in it. 32 Shanta Gokhale comments, When the rajah dies before he can be blackmailed, they kick her unborn child out of her in one of the goriest, most heinous scenes ever conceived on the Marathi stage, albeit as an off-stage event. All we hear of it is Manik s scream. Then another... She runs out of the house and down the passage at the back, fearing for her own life. At the end of the passage, stands her dead father s spirit, evil even in death, laughing at her fate. 33 Pandurang Ananda Kirdat writes, This play is a pitiless dissection of human nature. It reveals inherent tendencies to violence, selfishness, sensuality, wickedness and greed for money. 34 Harish Gopaldas Tapadia argues, Unlike the vultures which feed on the dead, these human vultures inflict sufferings on people who are alive. 35 Anju Bala Agarwal writes with excusable exaggeration that one feels disgusted and horrified at the heinous and monstrous characters forcing one another s ruin. The images of preying birds, hunted animals, repulsive insects, ghosts, evil spirits, demons, goblins, darkness, death, poison, corpse, carcass, (and) rites of black magic aggravate the abominating and awesome evil in the play. 36

12 Tendulkar writes in the play that in Rama s bearing has the innocence of a deer. Uday Shankar Ojha s view is that life for Rama in the midst of vultures is living death. 37 He compares her with a cuckoo in the midst of wolves and vultures. 38 Pramila Pandey makes a parallel statement about Rama, However she has been depicted as a helpless, submissive, tender little bird among the vultures. 39 It is worth noting here that Arundhati Banerjee had made almost the same statement earlier, She is like a helpless, submissive, tender little bird among the vultures. 40 In a somewhat similar vein, Shanta Gokhale comments, She is a sparrow. She is painted in the pastel shades of innocence, purity, goodness and willing subservience. The only shade in her life that asserts itself boldly, albeit briefly, is when she expresses her desire for the body of the outcast half-brother of her husband, the poet Rajaninath. 41 Uday Shankar Ojha sums up the play by saying, 42 Throughout the play, the condition of victimization prevails upon all the inhabitants of home who are trapped by cultural constraints and economic circumstances into an impossible coexistence. Consequently, all sorts of treacherous, corrupt and deceitful ways coupled with the frequent verbal and physical violence stem equally from the old father and his three children, while Rama and Rajaninath with their unprotesting moral selves fail to assert themselves. Vishwas Raghunath Kanadey s overview of the play is, Tendulkar s Gidhade presents a set of vultures in human form to whom nothing is sacred except their greed. The play is a gradual unfolding of the fiercely wicked nature of these men who relentlessly pursue their avarice with passion... This melodrama of cruelty and passion

13 is relieved by a strain of sentimental tenderness in the characters of Rama and Rajaninath, a poet - a stage-poet and their conventionally conceived sentimental relationship. 43 II. Sakharam Binder Soon after writing Gidhade, Tendulkar expressed his belief that he did not think that he could write a play with such violence and sex again. But sixteen months later he wrote Sakharam Binder 44 (hereafter referred to as Sakharam). It was produced and published in It is set in the lower strata of the society. The principal character is Sakharam who works as a binder in a printing press. Beena A. Mahida puts it, He is a man who has always lived out side the established norms of decent society and has learned to challenge them in words as well as in action. 45 Act One Scene I begins with an evening in an old red-tiled house in a small district town. There are two rooms, i.e., one is an outer room followed by a kitchen having a window at the back. The dialogue begins with an offstage shout of Sakharam, a middle-aged man, at the noisy children. Then he enters the stage with a woman named Laxmi with a bundle who seems terrified. He introduces himself and the rules of his house to her, 46 It is Sakharam Binder s house... I m hot-headed. When I lose my temper, I beat the life out of people. I ve a foul mouth... And if I am not around, don t admit anyone into the house. May be I m a rascal, a womanizer, a pauper. Why may be? I am all that. And I drink. But I must be respected in my own house. I am the master here... In this house, what I say, goes... No questions to be asked... This Sakharam Binder he s a terror... I won t have you

14 leaving the house unless there s work to be done, you understand? If someone calls, you ll have to cover your head and answer him briefly. That s all. And if I am not around, don t admit anyone into the house... I a m not rich but I pull on. You ll get two square meals. Two sarees to start with and then one every year. And not a fancy one at that. I won t hear any complaints later. I like everything in order here. Won t put up with slipshod ways. If you are careless, I ll show you the door. Don t ask for any pity then. And don t blame me either. I m the master here... you ll have to be a wife to me... Born in a Brahman family, but I am Mahar, a dirty scavenger. I call that a bloody joke! I ran away from home when I was eleven. Got fed up with my father s beatings. In this context Pratibha Sharma and Sanjit Mishra explain, The bitter experience of his life has made him hard and violent. The frustrated household life in his childhood crushes his emotions and feelings and leaves him a rough man like desert cactus that stands the onslaught of stormy weather. 47 At this time, his friend Dawood Miyan comes and mentions the rumour that Sakharam has caught a new bird to which the latter affirms. He brought her from a dharamshala. He remarks about the attitude of a husband,... I tell you, Miyan, those fellows they can t father a brat and they take it all out on their wives. Beat her, kick her every single minute of the day. They re an impotent lot! For them the woman s just dirt, that s all. I h ve yet to meet a more gutless breed than these husbands. We re a whole lot better than those swine! Not that I don t give a blow now and then. I

15 know I do. But that s not because I don t have any guts myself. I am like this mridanga here. It plays better when it is warmed up. 48 In Scene II Sakharam and Laxmi are alone. He continues his over-bearing behaviour. He asks her to press his legs. When she does not respond to the query about her husband s name, he comments, I won t ask you. The whole lot of you! All alike where this one thing s concerned. Mention your husband s name and your eyes begin to brim over with tears. He kicks you out of the house; he is out to squeeze the life out of you. But he s your God. You ought to worship a god like that with shoes and slippers!... You women, you re all the same. Suckled by dead mothers! Corpses! That s what you are. You get kicked by your husbands and you go and fall at his feet! 49 Here he also mentions that she is his seventh wife. Scene III is uneventful but Scene IV has a surprise for Sakharam. He hears Laxmi talking to someone although she seems to be alone. When he offers her tea, she refuses to take it. This infuriates him and he retorts, I ll knock out your teeth if I hear that again! I m offering you tea from my cup and you tell me yours is in the kitchen. 50 At this stage he learns that she was talking to a black ant. He flares up, Don t you dare repeat this sort of thing! All this madness must stop at once... I ll knock your brains out, I will. He kicks live coals at her and says gleefully, Good! I hope these coals roast your feet roast them, nice and brown. I don t feel a bit sorry... Impossible creatures! You have to kick them and clout them. That s the only way they can keep their minds on their work. Give me those coals. And go in and put something on that foot of yours. Or else go to hell. 51 In the next Scene Sakharam s erratic behaviour persists. He tells her, Come on, get up. Are you going to get up or...? I ll hit you now if you don t get up. Get up, I

16 said! When she says that she will get up later, he retorts, You laugh for the ant. But you won t laugh when I ask you to. I ll twist that foot of yours, you get me? Now sit up. You re not to sleep. Wake up. When she insists that she will sleep, he commands, No, you can sleep later. Get up and laugh. Laugh or I ll choke the life out of you. Laugh! Laugh! Go on, Laugh! When she says that her foot is throbbing, he asks, Where? Look, I m warning you. If you re clumsy again, I ll break that leg of yours. All you women, you re a worthless lot! 52 In Scene VI Sakharam belittles Mangalmurti which hurts Laxmi. He wants Dawood to sing the aarti to which Laxmi is not agreeable because he is a Muslim. Sakharam slaps her hard and hits her again and again, and even lashes her with the belt. Laxmi goes insight and there domestic violence continues. In Scene VII he invites Dawood to come the next day. He says to Dawood assertively, Come for the aarti tomorrow. I ll see how that bloody woman stops you. 53 In the next Scene he orders her to laugh, and threatens to twist her arm and get the belt if she refuses. Although she does laugh, it is punctuated with moans. Scene IX shows that Laxmi cannot bear domestic violence any longer and bursts out, How much more can a person bear? It s a year now since I entered this house. I haven t had a single day s rest. Whether I m sick or whether it s a festal day. Nothing but work, work; work all the time. You torture me the whole day, you torture me at night. I ll drop dead one of these days and that will be the end. He replies, I ll perform your last rites. He asks her to go at that very moment and not to show her face to him again. She talks of going to her nephew in Amalner and speaks out her mind, A dead hen doesn t fear the fire. Nothing more terrible can happen to me now. I ve been through everything in this house. Hell must be better place than this. 54 He

17 wants her to admit that he has improved since she came otherwise he threatens to break her jaws. He pushes her out of the door and menacingly exclaims, Don t you dare step into this house again or I ll kill you. I don t mind going to the gallows for killing an ungrateful wretch like you. Meanwhile Dawood comes followed by Laxmi. Sakharam tells Dawood, I ll knock her teeth in, every single one of them....i ll beat the life out of her. Laxmi says with resignation, Why re you waiting! Go ahead and beat the life out of me. 55 Considering Sakharam s overall behaviour towards Laxmi, Shashank Shukla observes, Apart from all such restrictions Sakharam s own expectations of Laxmi are so obscurantist that they could easily be termed as a form of violence against women. 56 Scene X pushes the situation towards their separation. Calling her a bitch, Sakharam blames Laxmi for her state of affairs. He elaborates, 57 I was wrong. I m short-tempered. But you always rub me the wrong way with all things you say and do... You ve been a lot of trouble to me, this whole year. I tormented you, too. But I m fed up now. And you ve had enough... You can t really cope with me any more. And I can t cope with your sort of nature. The blood goes to my head. I feel it is bursting... We re not married. There s nothing to bind us. We don t need to remain tied to each other. You can go your way. I can go mine.you don t owe me anything. I owe you nothing either. Let s be free of each other. In Scene XI Laxmi leaves and says that she would not see him again because he was not destined to be her. In Scene XII he and Dawood talk about his next move. He expects to get another woman who is the wife of a sacked police fouzdar. She may

18 leave him in another week or so. She does not have any relation except her stepmother. In Act Two Scene I Sakharam comes with another woman named Champa. He introduces himself to her as he had done to Laxmi before. Champa talks about her earlier husband with contempt for which Sakharam checks her but in vain. After finishing eating, she asks him to make a cup of tea for her. Sakharam considers this to be a woman s job. When Dawood comes, he prepares tea and in response to Champa s wish brings two pans one for her and another for Sakharam. She is sleepy and asks Sakharam to wake her up when food is ready. When she does wake up, she tells him to fix a dinner for both of them. In Scene II when Sakharam is asleep and Champa has gone out, her previous husband Fouzdar Shinde enters the house. When Sakharam wakes up and comes to know who the man is, he wants him to leave the house. He calls Shinde a bastard, rascal, swine and filthy warm. Clenching his teeth, he tells Dawood, I feel I could tear him limb to limb. When Champa comes, she calls Shinde a clown and clod. She slaps, hits and kicks him. She throws him out of the house. Blood comes out of his mouth and he says that he would kill himself. Sakharam and Dawwod watch this in shocked silence. Then Sakharam cannot help asking her whether she has a heart? Justifying her behaviour, she says curtly, He d torture me at night. He branded me, and stuck needles into me and made me do awful, filthy things. I ran away. He brought me back and stuffed chilly powder into that god-awful place, where it hurts most. That bloody pimp! What s left of my heart now? He tore lumps out of it, he did. He drank my blood. She addresses Shinde, Just you try and set foot here again! I ll roll you in chilly powder, yes!... You insect! You worm! 58

19 In Scene III Champa is asleep and she does not want Sakharam to disturb her. Sakharam also drinks and she asks him to wait a little. In Scene IV Champa is having her food and Sakharam comes early from work. She does not want him to disturb her and so he reminds her that in his house whatever he likes happens. Then both of them get drunk. Sakharam becomes assertive in Scene V. Champa is eating and continues to do, ignoring him. He comments, In this house what I say goes, see? You ve got to do what I say... my orders have to be obeyed. I can turn nasty otherwise. I ll thrash the life out of you. There s no stopping me. Champa exclaims unbelievingly, You re telling me! Sakharam loses his temper and shouts, You ll be driven out of here. That ll put some sense into your head. You ll have to live like a bitch then. 59 In a fit of fury, Champa throws away the plate although she drinks from the bottle which Sakharam has brought. In Scene VII Sakharam converses with Dawood and shows his infatuation for Champa. In Scene VIII Champa is drunk even though it is Dassera. He says in exasperation, Good-for-nothing! Doesn t care for either feasts or fasts. Damn her. Not right for a woman to behave like this. If it had been someone else, I d have broken her jaw. 60 In Scene X Sakharam and Champa are sleeping in the kitchen. There is knocking at the door. He is intoxicated but opens the door. He cannot believe what he sees. It is Laxmi and he throws her out. Act Three Scene I begins with Champa and Laxmi talking to each other since Sakharam has gone to the press. Laxmi pleads with Champa to let her live with her. She can look after the household work while Champa can look after him. But when Sakharam returns, he cannot bear the presence of Laxmi. When Laxmi says that he is

20 God for her, he bursts out, Don t you dare say a thing like that again. I ll slit your throat, I will. 61 She again pleads with him to allow her to stay. But he asks her to stop her nonsense and warns that he would split her skull. Clenching his teeth, he rains blows on her even though she is clinging to his feet. He calls her a shameless bitch and leech. When he hits her, Champa stands between the two. He repeatedly asks Champa to throw Laxmi out of the house. In the middle of the night Laxmi mutters her prayers and claps her hands. Sakharam is disturbed and tells her, Stop it, or I ll kill you, d you hear? Damned nuisance... Will you put out that light and sleep in peace? Or else I make you vomit blood, I will. Then he calls her the bitch. 62 In Scene III Laxmi is alone at home. She is disturbed and pants. She tells the pictures of her gods, 63 Oh, my God, what a thing to happen! I can t understand it. What shall I do? I don t know what. How horrible! Sitaram, Sitaram.That Champa and that Muslim how horrible!... Terrible! Shouldn t have followed her. I couldn t help it. What could I do?... I don t know why I went. Why did I go? Shall I tell you? I had my doubts. The whole of last week. Where does she go every afternoon? I went for his sake. My misfortune, I couldn t keep the man I married. For me this one was my husband. I worshipped him. Even when I was away, I d worship him in silence every day... I belong to him... How could she do it to him? This sort of thing behind his back with that Muslim Oh God!... I can t bear it. I wish I d dropped dead the minute I saw it.

21 Just then Shinde comes to look for Champa. Laxmi is not aware of who he is till he tells her. He tells Laxmi, Where s Champa? I want her to beat me. I ve come to die at her hands. Champa, beat me. Beat me, Champa. He is already hurt because Champa had hit him. Laxmi tells Shinde, And she beat you and threw you out of the house? She a woman or a fiend? He replies, I want her to beat me. Want to die at her hands. Laxmi warns him, She ll come back any moment... Go away now. Go before she comes or she ll beat the life out of you. She s hard-hearted. Shameless. She could not restrain herself and commented, Sinner! She ll pay for this. Walks out on her husband. Lives with another and carries on with a third. Horrible! To lay hands on your husband! 64 In Scene V there is a struggle between Sakharam and Champa. He asserts himself and says that he is the master in the house. Champa retorts, You re not a man not since she came. She made an impotent nanny of you. Don t have the guts to take me before her. You turn into a corpse worm. 65 Sakharam asks her to watch her tongue and threatens that he can turn nasty. He pounces on her and a struggle between the two follows. In Scene VI Sakharam wants Laxmi to leave the house immediately. Otherwise he threatens to kick her out and make her vomit blood. Laxmi informs Sakharam about Champa s affair with Dawood. Sakharam flares up and talks of breaking Laxmi s jaw. He pounces on her like a tiger and beats her left and right. Scene VII has the final act of violence. Sakharam puts his hands round the neck of Champa and squeezes them till she becomes motionless. He shudders and mutters Murder. He repeats this word many times. Laxmi picks up a sheet and pulls it on Champa. She suggests that Champa s corpse be buried in a pit before the dawn

22 breaks. Since Sakharam is stupefied, Laxmi starts digging the ground. Just then, Shinde comes and standing outside calls upon Champa to kill him. He does not know that Champa is no more. Laxmi suggests to Sakharam to just ignore Shinde. He would knock for a while and then go away. Sakharam s life is an unusual story. Bitter experiences of childhood make Sakharam crude, aggressive and violent. Hence, Talluri Mathew Bhaskar observes, Sakharam is to be seen as the product of patriarchal tyranny at home. 66 He smokes tobacco, drinks liquor and mechanically indulges in sex. He is a womanizer who speaks uncouth language. He may be called a personification of physical lust and violence. But Laxmi is calm and tender-hearted. The sharp contrast in their nature makes it difficult for them to satisfy the physical and psychological needs of each other. Champa s violence and infidelity can also be traced to her mother s disregard and her husband s harsh treatment to her. But when Laxmi returns to Sakharam, Champa is kind enough to plead with him to let her stay with them. To quote Bhaskar again, She cannot bear the misery of Shinde and accept the betrayal committed against Sakharam by Champa. But she remains surprisingly blind to Champa s generosity towards her and the fact that Champa herself once used to be tortured by her husband. 67 S.B. Kadam and Geeta M. Patil point out, It is interesting to note that she reveals the fact of Champa s disloyalty to Sakharam only when her own existence in his house is threatened. 68 Shailaja B. Wadikar also feels that Laxmi is not above board, Thus, Laxmi, who outwardly appears to be generous and kind-hearted, turns out inwardly to be vicious or violent. On Champa s murder, she shows more presence of mind than Sakharam. When the latter fails to carry out her instruction to bury Champa in the house, she herself takes up the shovel and does the grave-digging. 69 Beena A. Mahida compares Champa s relation with Dawood with her own relation

23 with Fouzdar Shinde and makes an accusation, Though Laxmi finds nothing wrong with her own association with Shinde, her moral sense is outraged by Champa s affair with Dawood and she used this opportunity to malign her rival. 70 However, the remark is obviously unfair as Laxmi does not have sexual relations with Shinde. Whatever she tells Sakharam about Champa, it is out of her loyalty and love for him. V. Thillaikarasi thinks on similar lines, Though Laxmi is also only a kept woman, she regards Sakharam her husband, master, and God. She believes herself to be a chaste and an honest woman... Laxmi insists that she is going to die in Sakharam s lap an expression of the common wish on the part of a chaste Hindu wife to die before her husband. 71 The incident brings out Sakharam in a poor light. Mohan R. Limaye writes, Gradually he finds to his utter humiliation that, though he has a desire to make love to Champa, he often cannot, because he has become impotent. His emasculation under Champa s rule is thus both literal and metaphorical. By the time he strangles Champa to death when Laxmi reveals to him her infidelity, his degradation has become complete. 72 Arundhati Banerjee corroborates, Sakharam s masculinity is doubly hurt through the knowledge of Champa s physical association with Dawood, since he himself can no longer satisfy her. 73 He lays moral standards for Champa which he himself does not follow since he himself keeps sexual relations outside marriage. Champa is neither a legally divorced woman nor his legally wedded wife. Her crime of sexual relation with Dawood is deemed by him as a serious offence but he himself is guilty of many such crimes in that he has relations with several women who were discarded by their husbands. III. Ghashiram Kotwal

24 This play (hereafter referred to as Ghashiram) was first performed on December 16, 1972 by the Progressive Dramatic Association in Pune. After nineteen performances the President of the Association banned the play on three grounds, viz., i. It depicts Brahmans in a bad light and, therefore, is anti-brahman. ii. The picture of Nana Phadnavis drawn in it is historically not correct. iii. The play was likely to cause a tumult in the city which could result in civil disturbances. Most actors resigned from the Association and formed a rival Theatre Academy in The production was revived in the following year. It was also published in Since then it has been both popular and controversial. It has been produced in many Indian languages and performed in several European countries. It has the distinction of being one of the longest running plays in the world with over six thousand performances in India and abroad in the original Marathi as well as in translation. Its setting is in the late eighteenth century when the Maratha Government in Pune was Brahman-dominated and on its last legs. The background of the play was created when the Shiv Sena launched the first major riots in Bombay. Tendulkar was working for the Loksatta then. He admitted, Bal Thackeray seemed an ordinary man, not at all the sort of person who would indulge in dare-divilry (sic). The middle-class boys who followed him were not demons. In that particular situation they acquired power, abused it and spread terror. I sensed that terror in my newspaper office. If the title Senapati was not prefixed to Thackersay s name in a report, a morcha would be taken out with burning and looting. 74

25 In Act One there are many Brahmans on the stage. There is conversation between a Brahman and the Sutradhar (narrator). The former uses abusive language for the latter by calling him idiot, son of a bitch, bastard and monkey. There is a dance going on and in the midst of it Nana Fadnavis sprains his ankle. Ghashiram Savaldas, a Brahman from Kanauj who comes to Poona (a city dominated by the Brahmans) in search of fortune, holds Nana s foot in his hand. Nana gives him a necklace as a reward which he refuses to take. Before leaving in a palanquin, Nana throws the necklace at him which he catches. Gulabi (courtesan) demands the necklace from him but he refuses to part with it. She calls the muscle men who snatch it and throw him down. He gets up after a while, dusts his sleeves and wipes blood from his face. Rupal S. Patel observes, It is Gulabi, the weaker sex ironically who gets him kicking and abuses. Here, verbal as well as physical and mental violence are powerfully depicted by the author. 75 A Brahman calls Ghashiram a dog and shapeless piece of shit. In the midst of this, a white man comes in a palanquin. The dakshina ceremony of honouring the Brahmans by giving them gift of money is held and Ghashiram also expects it. When a Brahman loses his gift money, he accuses Ghashiram of robbing him. Soldiers begin to beat him and he is covered with blood. The white man intervenes and says that Ghashiram was not the thief and that he saw another man stealing the money. Soldiers threaten to bind his hand and foot, kick him so as to make him wriggle like a butchered goat. The Sutradhar informs him about the misdeeds of the police it softens, breaks and cracks bones, and even kills people. A thief is a simple thief while the police force is an official thief. A soldier throws Ghashiram out in the audience. On the stage Brahmans, Brahman women, Gulabi, Maratha lovers, etc., look down on Ghashiram. The soldier yells, Get lost. Hey! Thief, monkey. If you so much as put a foot in the holy city of Poona, you ll lose your head. Go away. Take your ugly face

26 far away. Don t come back to Poona. Not even your shadow should fall on the city of Poona. Get lost go. But Ghashiram asserts, I ll come back to Poona. I ll show my strength. It will cost you! Your good days are gone... there is no one to stop me now, to mock me, to make me bend, to cheat me. Now I am a devil... I ll come back like a boar and I ll make pigs of all of you. I ll make this Poona a kingdom of pigs. 76 Nana Phadnavis, chancellor of the Peshwa, enters the stage and is infatuated by a girl he sees. But she is shy and does not respond to his gestures. Ghashiram also enters in the garb of a servant. Nana is furious and threatens that he would get him killed. Ghashiram promises to bring the girl back. Nana is full of lust for her and says, How beautifully formed! What a lovely figure! Did you see? Erect! Young! Tender! Ah! Ho ho! We ve seen so many, handled so many, but none like that one. None her equal. 77 When the girl Gauri appears, Nana chases the girl through the garden. Ghashiram, her father, cries loudly, Now, he s in my hands... Oh, my daughter... The beast... I ve given my beloved daughter into the jaws of that wolf! Look. Look at this father. Putting the child of his heart up for sale. Look at my innocent daughter a whore. That old overripe bastard! Look at him, eating her like a peach... Spit on me. Stone me. Look, look, but I will not quit. I ll make this Poona a kingdom of pigs. Nana calls Ghashiram a bastard and outcaste. Ghashiram threatens to get Gauri married. This is too much for Nana. He must have her at any cost. Ghashiram demands that he be appointed the Kotwal of Poona if Nana is to have Gauri. After some hesitation Nana agrees. But Nana has his own plans which he unfolds, 78 This time, there are two bullets in this gun. With the first one, we ll fell your luscious daughter. But with the second we will make the city of Poona dance... Because you re a stranger, you re an outsider. We just raised a dog at our door to the

27 position of the Kotwali! We are your sole support. Oh, you re a bastard, Ghashya. Your manner will be more arrogant than that of the Chitpavan Brahmans. You ll manage the diference nicely... What ll happen is that our misdeeds will be credited to your account. We do it; our Kotwal pays for it... And that luscious peach is at hand to be devoured by Nana. Excellent! Yes, Ghashya, be Kotwal. This Nana blesses you. Act II begins with Ghashiram as the new Kotwal of Poona. As the Sutradhar notes, Gauri dances, Nana danaces, Ghashiram s got his chances. He adds that the latter s administration was despotic, Started ruling in person. Accosted anyone he met in the streets. Whipped people. Arrested people. Demanded people s permits. Imprisoned people. Sued people. 79 When Ghashiram sees the Sutradhar in the middle of the night, he grabs his neck laughing, calls him an idiot and slaps him. When told that his wife is due for delivery, Ghashiram asks for his permit which he does not have. Ghashiram asks a soldier to go with the Sutradhar to his house to find out the truth. He also orders to give him 25 lashes if he is found to be telling a lie, and if he is a thief, adulterer, or whore-monger, then his hands and feet be tied, and he be thrown in a cell. Ghashiram hears a noise and wants to know its cause. He threatens the man that if the truth is not told, he would cut out the tongue. Ghashiram catches his hair and says that he would tear it out. Ghashiram asks a soldier to go inside the house to find out who is there. The man s wife is brought out and Ghashiram demands from her a proof that she is indeed his wife. Further, his neighbours are brought to confirm it. Ghashiram tells them to speak the truth, otherwise he would break their bones. Even though they confirm that she is his wife, he asks the police to tie them and bring them to the police station. In another instance, a Brahman panics that his money has been stolen. A Brahman behind him is treated as a thief. He is subjected to an ordeal to make him confess the crime. When he refuses to admit, he is continuously tortured till

28 owing to his suffering he is forced to admit it. Ghashiram orders that his hands be cut off and he be thrown out of the city. In great torment, the accused Brahman curses Ghashiram, I did not steal. O Ghashiram. You tormented a poor innocent Brahman. You ll die without children! You yourself will endure torment greater than mine. You ll die a dog s death, grinding your heels in the dirt. 80 But Ghashiram is intoxicated with his newly found position. He boasts, 81 No one dares to look Ghashiram straight in the eye! Now, once I find a fitting husband for my darling daughter - that piece of my heart named Lalita Gauri and get her married, then everything will be the way I want it. I ll make such a show of the wedding that no one s tongue will dare utter one bad word about my daughter. And if some tongue starts wagging, it s easy to cut it off! There is conversation between Bhatji and the Sutradhar. Bhatji informs the Sutradhar about Nana s seventh marriage which is about to take place. Bhatji fears that if Nana comes to know that he had told the Sutradhar about it, his skin would be peeled raw. Then Nana is on the stage with his just married wife and Ghashiram enters to enquire about his daughter. Ghashiram is aggressive and demands to know about Gauri s whereabouts because she has not been seen for ten days. He has a terrible and cruel face when he learns that she has gone to Chandra, the midwife. Nana is scared and orders that Ghashiram should not be allowed to enter his chambers again. The numbers of bodyguards and watchmen should be suitably increased. Ghashiram meets Chandra and learns that Gauri is dead and buried. He exclaims, What has become of you? What happened? What did that devil Nana do? That

29 monster. There is murder in his eyes and Chandra trembles. He again exclaims, You took the life of dear child. 82 He grabs her throat, choking her to death and throws her down. When Nana comes, Ghashiram accuses him of taking Gauri s life. But Nana reminds him that he is the Peshwa s chief minister. Nana further directs, Every care should be taken that no one anywhere speaks of this. If you hear a gossipmonger, don t wait a second longer cut off his head! The Sutradhar sums up the position, Gauri went. Nana stays, Ghashiram engraved the sorrow of Gauri on his heart... No one should pity Ghashiram Kotwal because his unmarried daughter died when she was pregnant. 83 Meanwhile Ghashiram becomes more sadistic. There is a talk in the city that his style of working has changed for the worse. The Sutradhar comments that life has cut to half. Brahmans from outside come to Poona. They are needy and hungry. They reach Ghashiram s garden and begin to pluck and eat fruits. Ghashiram comes, sees and says, Now I ve got you. Caught you red-handed, bastards. Who stole the fruit from the Kotwal s garden? Rogues, thieves, rascals. He calls guards and asks them to put the Brahmans in a cell. But it is too small for so many of them and hence they have to be huddled there. The Sutradhar notes, The Brahmans in the cell can t get enough air. They are suffocating. They are moaning. They are in torment. They re calling for help. But who will help? Everyone s asleep. The guards are high on opium. During the night, some of the Brahmans die. 84 Certain others are on the point of death. Next morning when the cell is opened, it is found that twenty-two persons are dead and the rest half-dead. Sardar Phakade is Ghashiram s enemy. He has a golden opportunity. He puts the corpses before the Peshwa who is furious and calls Nana. Brahmans of the city come in droves to Nana s mansion and try to force their entry,