Drama und Theater in Südasien 5. An Indian Tartuffe

Transcription

1 Drama und Theater in Südasien 5 An Indian Tartuffe P.K. Atre's Comedy "Where there is a Guru there are Women" Translated with an Introduction by Catharina Kiehnle Bearbeitet von Catharina Kiehnle 1. Auflage Taschenbuch. 204 S. Paperback ISBN Format (B x L): 17 x 24 cm Gewicht: 400 g Zu Inhaltsverzeichnis schnell und portofrei erhältlich bei Die Online-Fachbuchhandlung beck-shop.de ist spezialisiert auf Fachbücher, insbesondere Recht, Steuern und Wirtschaft. Im Sortiment finden Sie alle Medien (Bücher, Zeitschriften, CDs, ebooks, etc.) aller Verlage. Ergänzt wird das Programm durch Services wie Neuerscheinungsdienst oder Zusammenstellungen von Büchern zu Sonderpreisen. Der Shop führt mehr als 8 Millionen Produkte.

2 An Indian Tartuffe P. K. Atre s Comedy»Where there is a Guru there are Women«Translated with an Introduction by Catharina Kiehnle 2006 Harrassowitz Verlag. Wiesbaden ISSN ISBN after :

3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements... 7 Introduction... 9 General Remarks... 9 The Author Buvaism Indian Sources of Buvā tetheṃ Bāyā Western Sources Religion in Buvā tetheṃ Bāyā Stereotypes connected with Gurus Every-day Culture in Buvā tetheṃ Bāyā Atre s Audience Remarks about Transcription and Translation Translation of the Play Where there is a Guru there are Women Before the Prayer Act I Act II Act III Bibliography Original Text of the Play

4 Introduction General Remarks Whereas Indian theatre as such has at least a two-thousand year-old history, the play under discussion here belongs to an era that began in Mumbai at the end of the 18th century. At that time, Western plays, topics, and performative styles were introduced to India. In the middle of the 19th century, the Pārsī community came to play an important role in the development of modern Indian theatre, which became a thriving branch of entertainment in Mumbai and Maharashtra. In the beginning, especially English, also some French, and Sanskrit plays and stories were translated and adapted into modern Indian languages, and the result was a khicaḍī of European theatrical techniques, Indian folk theatre, clowning, and showy processions. 1 Later, original plays in Urdū, Marāṭhī and Gujarātī appeared. From 1880 onward, the medium was also used to propagate social reforms. 2 One way of doing so was by means of comedies, which proved to be the genre in which the Maharashtrian spirit could excel. B. Gārgī remarks (after pointing out the vices of commercial theatre in Maharashtra, such as long monologues and exaggerated sentimentality): The characters [of the comedies] are delicate, the story-line concise, and the events dramatic. In these comedies full of laughter the defects of society and the present problems are presented in an agreeable shape. 3 Perhaps the most famous sociocritical comedy is Śāradā, published in 1899 by Govind Bāllāḷ Deval, after which any aged bride-groom, desirous of marrying a young girl, became an object of utter contempt and ridicule. 4 This play is still frequently performed and was, as mentioned above, even translated into Sanskrit. Phālguṇrāo, an adaptation of Murphy s All in the Wrong by Deval, is based on Molière s Sganarelle, and still continues to lead all the humorous plays on the Marāṭhī stage. 5 Published in 1963, Prahlād Keśav ( Ācārya ) Atre s Buvā tetheṃ Bāyā (henceforth Buvā) similary belongs to the tradition of European comedy in India. The play is interesting for a number of reasons. First, it is a Marāṭhī adaptation of one of the most famous European plays ever written: Molière s 1 Gārgī 1968: 171; Desai 1961: 9ff. 2 Desai 1961: 14ff. 3 Gārgī 1968: Desai 1961: Desai 1961: 17.

5 10 Introduction Tartuffe. This alone would have justified a translation. Second, as I have shown elsewhere, its blend of Indian and Western elements exemplifies some of the mechanisms of intercultural exchange in literature. 6 Third, it deals with a phenomenon that is one of the main export items from India to the West: guruism. Fourth, for someone interested in popular religion in India, Buvā is instructive because it contains all its commonplaces. Fifth, it is a good reading exercise for those who have learned Marāṭhī grammar and want to further develop their language skills. For this last reason, the original is published here together with the translation. The Author P.K. Atre is one of the best-known playwrights of Maharashtra. He was born on August 13, 1898 in Sāsvaḍ, Dist. Pune, and died on June 13, He was educated in Pune, Mumbai, and London, and held the post of the headmaster of the Camp Education Society s High School in Pune. He was also editor of the journals Navyug and Marāṭhā and director of Navyug Pictures in Mumbai. He became president of the Mahārāṣṭra Sāhitya Saṃmelan in Nāśik in 1942, and was a member of the Legislative Assembly in Mumbai from He was one of the leaders of the movement for the unification of Maharashtra (the state got its present shape in 1960). 8 He wrote at least 45 plays (among them also one-act-plays and plays for children), three novels, ten short stories, many poems, essays, as well as two autobiographies one of them in five volumes. 9 He gained special fame for his parodies like Jheṃḍūcīṃ Phuleṃ (1925), due to which humour came to be accepted as an independent entity in Marathi poetry. 10 As for his plays, every one of them whether it be a comedy, tragedy, melodrama or farce, has been a hot favorite with the audience. 11 He criticized the middle class, the custom of arranged marriages, the dowry system, and alcoholism. He stood up for the freedom of women, and thus belongs to the tradition of socially committed writers and reformers that dates back to the 19th century. In his works, the influence of Gandhi and Ibsen s realism is visible. 12 Even before he wrote Buvā, Atre had translated Molière s Miser (Kavḍīcumbak, penny- 6 Kiehnle Kulkarni 1985: ; Banhatti 1998: 40-52, 80, 125, 126, 306; and X in a letter of January Banhatti 1998: For a list of his major works see p. 35f. 10 Banhatti 1998: Kale 1961: Gārgī 1968: 133; Banhatti 1998: 39, 40.

6 Buvaism 11 kisser ) for the Muṃbaī Marāṭhī Sāhitya Saṅgha in His comedy Sāṣṭāṅga Namaskār, Prostration, of 1933, a satire about the literati of his time, was an uproarious success. 14 Buvaism Buvā is a Marāṭhī designation for guru. In the opinion of Atre, that species is a plague from which society should be freed. In his introduction to the play he remarks: I am not so foolish to think that buvaism in society will disappear by means of just one play. Yet, I shall consider my aim to be achieved if by means of this play a lot of laughter about buvaism in Maharashtra is produced. 15 He was not the only one in India to criticise this age-old institution. The history of anti-guruism and the exposure of hypocrites dates back to times long before the advent of the British. The expression bakadhyāna is well-known in Sanskrit: it means meditation of the heron, and refers to a heron who stands on one leg with half closed eyes like a yogī in meditation. In contrast to the latter, he does not wait for liberation or a vision of God, but for fish. In Mahābalipuram (6th century A.D.) a cat in a similar pose is chiseled in stone, a scene calling to mind the cat Dadhikarṇa of Pañcatantra In his play Prabodhacandrodaya (11th century), Kṛṣṇamiśra depicts a kāpālika and his left-hand rites which include women, wine and human flesh. With much relish, he portrays the Buddhist and Jain monks who enthusiastically embrace this religion when the kāpālika s female partner takes care of them. 17 The Mattavilāsa by Mahendravikramavarman (7th century A.D.) is a farce about several ascetics who are quarrelling among each other. 18 Maharashtrian proverbs testify to the sharp eyes of the folk when it comes to hypocrisy: nākālā dhākā āṇi kapāḷālā thuṃkā, red powder on the nose and spittle on the forehead 19 ; lāvlī rākh jhālī pāk, she put on holy ashes [and] became pure 20 ; kāśīs gelyāceṃ āpaṇ sāṃgto paṇ māṃjar mārlyāceṃ sāṃgat nāhīṃ, he tells that he has gone to 13 Kale 1961: Kale 1961: 52; Banhatti 1998: See p For a picture see Flood 1999: plate 12 (the cat is standing in front of the elephant); Pañcatantra 1892: 311ff, Benfey 1982: 259ff. 17 Nambiar 1998: Hertel 1924; Lorenzen 2002: Red powder is usually put on during or after religious ceremonies, and in any case after one has taken bath and is ritually pure. Spittle is considered impure and unclean. 20 Ashes are used by devotees of Śiva for putting three horizontal stripes on their forehead and other parts of the body. Śaiva ascetics may even cover their whole body with ashes.

7 12 Introduction Kāśī (Benares), but that he has killed the cat he does not tell. 21 Tukārām (17th century), the most popular poet saint of Maharashtra, does not mince his words either. Here are three of about seventy similar songs from his Gāthā: TG 788 ṭiḷā ṭopī māḷā devāceṃ gavāḷeṃ / vāgavī voṃgaḷeṃ poṭāsāṭī // 1 // tuḷasī khovī kānīṃ darbha khovī śeṃḍī / laṭikī dharī boṃḍī nāsikācī // dhru // kīrtanāce veḷe raḍe paḍe loḷe / premeṃviṇa ḍoḷe gaḷatātī // 2 // tukā hmaṇe aise māvece maiṃda / tyāṃpāśīṃ goviṃda nāhīṃ nāhīṃ // 3 // Sign [on the forehead], headgear, rosary, ritual bag, 22 he exhibits his dirty stuff for the sake of the belly (1). He fixes tulsī 23 behind his ear, darbha 24 in the tuft, falsely he holds the tip of the nose (refrain). 25 At the time of kīrtan 26 he cries, falls, rolls, without love the eyes water (2). Tukā says, such robbers of property - near them Govinda is not, is not (3). TG 4446 jaḷojaḷo teṃ gurupaṇa / jaḷojaḷo teṃ celepaṇa // 1 // guru ālā veśīdvārīṃ / śiṣya paḷato khiṃḍorīṃ // dhru // kāśāsāṭīṃ jāleṃ yeṇeṃ / tyāceṃ āleṃ varṣāsana // 2 // Tukā mhaṇe celā / gurū doghe hi narakālā // 3 // Let burn, let burn gurudom, let burn, let burn discipleship (1). The guru [has] come to the main gate, the disciple runs in the side lane (refrain). 27 What for [his] coming? His annual [time for] tribute has come (2). Tukā says, the disciple and the guru, both [are] for hell (3). TG 1214 sādhaka jāle kaḷī / guruguḍīcī lāṃva naḷī // 1 // pacīṃ paḍe madyapāna / bhāṃgabhurkā heṃ sādhana // dhru // abhedāceṃ pāṭhāṃtara / ati viṣayīṃ paḍibhara // 2 // celyāṃcā sukāḷa / piṃḍa daṃḍa [bha]gapāḷa // 3 // sevā mānadhana / bare iccheneṃ saṃpanna // 4 // 21 The quotations are from Manwaring 1899, nos. 419, 1472, Gavāḷeṃ: the bag in which a [ritually pure person] keeps his idol and the articles he is to use (Molesworth). 23 A designation for several sorts of basil or thyme, dear to Viṣṇu and his incarnations. 24 A particular sort of grass used in the worship of gods. 25 He pretends to do prāṇāyāma. 26 A performance in which the legends of Viṣṇu and his incarnations are told, often accompanied by devotional songs. 27 They come from both sides so that there is no escape. Khiṃḍorī is derived from khiṃḍora, which is another form of khiṃḍāra, a gully, cleft, a path between two fields (Mahārāṣṭra Śabdakoś).

8 Indian Sources of Buvā tetheṃ Bāyā 13 soṃgācyā narakāḍī / tukā boḍoniyāṃ soḍī // 5 // Sādhaks 28 [have come up] in [this] kali era, [who] smoke a water-pipe 29 (1). Firmly engaged in drinking liquor, their observance is sipping hashish sherbet (refrain). Knowing by heart [the teachings of] non-duality, 30 [they have] a huge interest in sensual objects (2). [Theirs is] a flood of disciples, [with strong] bodies and arms, cherishing the female sexual organ 31 (3). Service honour wealth - greatly filled with [such] desire [they are] (4). Dirty actors 32 Tukā scolds [them vehemently once and for all] (5). Thus the subject was not new to religious India when in 1861 the Mahārāj Libal Case 33 in Mumbai brought to light the practices of vallabhācārī mahants 34 who sexually abused the wives and daughters of devotees on the grounds of the puṣṭimārg 35 rule that body, mind, and fortune 36 should be made over to the guru. Due to the enormous proportions the misuse had taken with the Vallabhācārīs, and coming at a time when Christian critics were viewing Indian religions with hostile eyes, the case was a blow for the pious and those who wanted to create a Hinduism on a par with Christianity. A similar wave of dismay arose when soon afterwards a Bengal mahant of Tārakeśvar seduced a woman devotee, who was subsequently killed by her husband. The case was dealt with in at least eight plays and novels between 1873 and Indian Sources of Buvā tetheṃ Bāyā Ketkar s novel Vicakṣaṇā of 1918 also depicts the condemned vallabhācārī practices. 38 It is the only Indian source Atre mentions for Buvā tetheṃ Bāyā. Much of the characteristics of the Bābā ( father ), as the guru is called in the 28 People who keep observances in order to achieve spiritual goals. 29 Molesworth: guraguḍī, commonly guḍaguḍī, which is also mentioned as variant in P.N. Joshi s edition. 30 Abheda = advaita(vedānta), the most famous expounder of which was Śaṅkarācārya (between 7th and 9th century A.D), is still one of the most popular world views in Hindu India. 31 I read bhaga, pudendum muliebre, with Sakala Santa Gāthā 828, for bhaþga of Government ed. and Jośī 1966: no The translation is mostly following Jośī. 32 Literally: latrines of roles. 33 Lütt 1995: 142 ff. 34 Religious leaders who are in charge of monasteries. 35 Path of well-being, see note Tan man dhan kar gurulā arpaṇ, offer body, mind, and riches to the guru, is a saying recorded by Manwaring 1899: 193, no Zbavitel 1976: The novel was not accessible to me, and what I know comes from a hand-written abstract of the play provided by X.

9 14 Introduction play, are taken from it, such as his claim to be Lord Kṛṣṇa and thus exempt from conventional ethics. 39 Accordingly, in Act III he propagates a relationship between guru and disciple that should be vareṇya, desirable, like the relationship between husband and wife. 40 The figure of the chief disciple in Buvā also stems from Ketkar s novel, as well as the idea that the guru should help sterile women produce children. 41 This, though, is nothing new: there are many legends about wondrous offspring due to the intervention of holy men. 42 Atre had also quite a number of contemporary gurus and literary models in mind which he does not mention by name. Shortly before he wrote Buvā, a priest of the famous Maharashtrian pilgrimage place of Paṇḍharpūr had raped and killed a woman. 43 Bābā s name, Baṇḍu Baḍve, which is revealed in the end of the play, is on the one hand a reference to this particular priest, and on the other a dig at such priests in general who are traditionally suspected of being greedy. Upāsnī Mahārāj of Sakoḍī is alluded to as well, who married a 12-year-old girl in his old age, and also the leucoderma of a famous guru from Pune, the name of his temple, and his method of transferring divine power from one person to another by means of strings. 44 The girl, it should be mentioned, has in the meantime become a respected Mother herself, Godāvarī Mātā. 45 Mahātmā Gāndhi is not spared either, because of his experiments of celibacy with young women. He went to bed with them in order to find out, among other things, to what extent he had overcome sexual desires. 46 Bīḍkar Mahārāj, a guru of the Dattātreya school, is immortalized by a song he used to sing frequently. 47 With the song about Kṛṣṇa at the beginning of Act III, Atre pokes fun at L.R. Pāṃgārkar who sung it while serving sweets at a conference. 48 Mokashi s account of the pilgrimage to Paṇḍharpūr, Palkhi, first published in 1961, contains elements that seem to 39 Act III, p. 93, Act III, p Act II, p E.g. in the case of Gorakhnāth and Gahinīnāth according to Navanātha Bhaktisāra 2.110ff, 9.8ff (on the birth of Gorakhnāth); see also White 1996: Act III, p. 106; X, oral communication. 44 Act I, p. 43, Act III, p. 104; X, oral communication, which was connected with the request not to disclose the name of the Pune guru because his relatives are still alive. 45 She and her pupils were among the first ones in Maharashtra to recite portions of the Vedas (White Yajurveda), and to carry out public pūjās. They are very popular because they perform the rites more diligently than most male priests. 46 My Days with Gandhi by Nirmal Kumar Bose was banned for years because it contained such information (introduction p. 1, 2; ch. XVIII; p where Gandhi uses the term prayog, experiment, while justifying such activities; p. 149, 150). 47 See note 143. His biography by L.G. Bāpaṭ is much read in Dattātreya circles, and has been reprinted six times since Most of these allusions would have escaped my attention, had it not been for X.

10 Western Sources 15 have been used by Atre as well: first, the buvā who occupies a tent with his female devotees and splashes about in the river with them, second, the eroticised phugaḍī (normally a children s play) after which the one in the beginning of Act III seems to be modelled, and third, the manner in which the kaikāḍībuvā includes the audience into his kīrtan, which is adopted by Āī in Act III. 49 In the designation ÀÍBÁbÁ for the guru and his partner may be an allusion to (Śirḍī) Sāī Bābā. Last but not least, Atre refers to his own play, Sāṣṭāṅga Namaskār, Prostration, about a practice nowadays common only in traditional circles in India. Western Sources Molière s Tartuffe has been mentioned already. It is the story of the rich and gullible householder Orgon who invites a seemingly pious person, Tartuffe, to stay with his family. He hands over his house to him and even wants to give him his daughter in marriage. Everyone but the host sees through the hypocrite who is exposed when he wants to lay hands on Elmire, Orgon s wife. Although Atre calls his play svatantra, independent/original, 50 the plot and most of the characters of Buvā tetheṃ Bāyā are taken from Tartuffe. Yet, as I have shown elsewhere, Atre had to make the personalities match Indian surroundings. 51 Tartuffe becomes Bābā, complete with an Āī, mother, for his tāntrik practices, and a favorite disciple, Bajaraṅga, who assists him in his schemes. Because of the prominence an Indian guru has when lodging in a household, 52 and due to his numerous religious activities there, Bābā appears on the scene from the very beginning - in contrast to Tartuffe who only makes his entrance in Act III. The family, in order to be typical for Atre s time, is equipped with a daughter-in-law. The women, in general, are not as bold as their French counterparts. Orgon s mother, for example, has such overbearing manners that Atre transformed her into a man, the father-in-law quite rightly, because originally she was impersonated by a (limping) man in France. 53 The French maid-servant s wit is distributed over the Indian family members and the manager of the house (another contribution by Atre). Moreover, Elmire s Indian counterpart does not take action herself but is saved by her relatives. Indian is also that Atre s villains come from ill- 49 Mokashi 1987: 180, 181, 126, 127, 238, , 249, 250; phugaḍī according to Molesworth: two or more, holding hands, fling themselves around, keeping time to their movements by puffing phugaḍī phū with the mouth. 50 See p Kiehnle Naipaul 1964: is a fine description of such an event. 53 Molière 1981: 237; 1971: 21, 32 (note 1).

11 16 Introduction reputed communities: the Buvā s female partner is an acrobat (kolhāṭīn), and the main disciple a member of a criminal tribe (beraḍ). 54 Apart from the pessimistic end of Buvā, where guruism has not really been banned, the spirit of the play is Molière s. Moreover, most of Tartuffe s structure (except for the unity of time and the verse form of the play) has been adopted, as well as some details of the dialogue, as e.g. in the first act, when Dājīsāheb (= Orgon) absent-mindedly reacts to the mention of his wife s illness. Dājīsāheb, like Orgon, is proud that his spiritual adviser has taught him to no longer worry about wife and children. Dialogues from Tartuffe are sometimes translated almost literally, for example the one between Dājīsāheb and his daughter (in which he tells her of his decision to marry her to Bābā), the ensuing discussions within the family, and the lovers tiff in Act I. Furthermore, Tartuffe s self-incriminations when his desire for Orgon s wife has been revealed, are transferred to Bābā at the end of Act II. Sometimes Molière s motifs are modified or used in other places. Orgon s wife is, so to speak, split in two: she herself and her daughter-in-law who takes over half the job of unmasking the malcréant. Tartuffe s pangs of conscience because he killed a flea in anger are transformed by Atre into the inadvertant crushing of an ant which, as Dājīsāheb claims, made Bābā sob. The box filled with incriminating documents of Molière s play has become a box of jewels in Atre s, and Tartuffe s pious wish that Dorine should cover the bosom, which [he] must not see with his handkerchief, is developed into a discussion about sari fashions and dots on the forehead of Indian women in Atre s play. Atre, furthermore, drops some parts of the French play altogether. Except for the description of the truly pious, the admonitions of Orgon s brother-inlaw Cléante are present only in the shape of casual remarks. It is interesting to note that Cléante did not exist in the original Tartuffe, which consisted of only three acts (like Buvā) instead of five. 55 Tartuffe s actions against Orgon, the scene of the bailiff asking Orgon and his family to leave the house, the impending imprisonment of Orgon, the offer of help by the fiancé of Orgon s daughter, and the eulogies for the king when everything ends well, are also missing in the Indian adaptation. There was no reason for Atre to demonstrate the greatness of a monarch (if anything, then the efficiency of the police), and since Dājīsāheb is beyond help, his prospective son-in-law is not obliged to give any proof of his loyalty. 54 According to Report of the Backward Classes commission 1955, II: 24, the traditional occupation of the Beraḍs is theft and robbery; Ghurye 1961: 39 mentions their two subgroups, namely Kare and Bile who (at least at the time of the report) differed in their food and social habits (the former ate mutton, bullocks and pigs, and supported the prostitution of their women, the latter did not). 55 Molière 1971: 17.

12 Western Sources 17 Atre mentions Judah by Henry Arthur Jones as another source for Buvā tetheṃ Bāyā. The play is about a young woman who, on the instigation of her father, pretends to be a healer. At the time she is invited to cure the fatally ill daughter of a lord, she is already unwilling to continue the show, but nevertheless lets herself be persuaded. Although she is found out, her lover (Judah) shields her, and well-wishers help her start a new life. The idea of Bābā s fasting goes back to Judah, as well as the manager s sarcastic remark that he has more sympathy with the rogues than with the devotees who should be put into prison together with their gurus. 56 In contrast to the optimistic outlook in the concluding scene of Judah, the third source, Mary Baker Eddy by Ernst Toller, offers little hope for the eradication of deceivers and deceived in the world. Mary, the founder of the Christian Science movement, is a fraud of the purest order. She has stolen the method of metaphysical healing from the mesmerist Quimby. 57 She manages to build up a church with herself ( Mother Mary, the successor of Christ) 58 as the leader, by ruthlessly exploiting and betraying her followers. Her husband dies from lack of proper medical care, 59 and she herself meets her death in the end - a human wreck living on morphia, still trying to uphold the pretense of her immortality. Her successors stand ready for action when the curtain falls. The play provided the blueprint for Buvā s miracle healings. Mary s spiritual union with Eddy is just the kind of marriage Bābā offers to Dājīsāheb s daughter. 60 Of course, like Mary, Bābā yearns for sex. Similar to Bābā s explanation of his skin-disease, is Mary s claim that she is weak only because she has taken the pains of a thousand suffering people into [her] own virginal body. 61 The idea, though, that the guru takes over the sins of the disciple and works them out in his own body, is also prevalent in India. 62 Bābā, just like Mary, manages to twist all events in his favor, at least for a while. The meditation in which Bābā s devotees see him with a crown and sun and moon shining above also stems from Mary Baker Eddy. 63 The images seem to be modelled on St. John s Revelation 12.1 and Jones 1925: Toller 1935: Toller 1935: 413 ff. 59 Toller 1935: Toller 1935: Toller 1935: A recent example is Ramana Maharshi of Tiruvannamalai. The tumor from which he died was said by some to be due to his endeavors to make his mother reach mokṣa (Osborne 1993: 184, 191). In the last stages of Ramakrishna s fatal illness, people were forbidden to touch him for similar reasons (Isherwood 1986: 291). 63 Toller 1935: [The Holy] Bible: 173, 177.