AREADER Modern Indian Theatre AReader edited Iry NANDIBHATIA OXFORD UNIVB&SITYPR.BSS ........c-:h Jkr,versions,whichtookintoaccountclassISSUUandrejectedthe convcnt ions ofrhe prosceniUIn stage, S\' ggesllng 'both adm'nt!on andambivalence'towardsEnglishplaysandShakespeare.Singh providt!scxampl esof suchambi val encethroughadiSCUSSion ofUr palDutt'sJatrastyleMdCbelh,aPOintthatfindsfurther supportinAramjit Singh'sarticl einthe currem volume, whIch rcinforcesthatmodernPanjabitheatrewasinfluencedmOfeby \'('estcrna ndShakespeareantheatrethanSanskrittheatre.Such deep-rootedinAuenccs of Europeandrama have led scholars such :lSDharwadker(0 rightlycaurion againstthe simplisticrejection o fmoderni !),asa' \Vesternphenomenon :Critiquingarguments that insistuponthe revivalof traditionaltheatre asa restorative actof recoveringprecolonialformsinterruptedbycolonialism, she arguesinher essayinthiscollectionthat suchclaims, which callforarejectionof ' modern'theatreasun-Indianandviewit asacoloniallegacythatcompromisedindigenousforms,have resultedinnewmythologies,generatednewhierarchies,and 'obscured (heac(Ualities of post-Independence theatre: And so, she goes on to assert, ' to reject modernity intheatre:as an legacy,onewouldlogicallyalsohavetorejectmoderm!)'In otherformsofsocialandculturalorganization.'Anycri tique of modernityasbei ngun- Indianis' riddledwithinconsistency, misrepresentation, and contradiction:.. Whattheseinconsistenciesalsoexposeisthatmodernitym theatre spreadunevenlyacrossdifferent regions of na.tion. In someplaces, asAnandaLalpointsout inhisessaymthiSitreachedonlyinthemid-twentiethcenturytherebyallowmg thepre-modernand(hepost- modemtoco-exist.SatyaPrasad Barua's analysis inthe current volume,of the development ofprosceni umstageand' theatri cal activitiesof thetypeAssam, including the use of wings, costumes, stage. hghtmg, mUSIC, acting conventions, and themes, points out the umqueness of such phenomena. LANGUAGE POLITICS Anotherpointof contentionindebatesonmoderntheatrehas beenthequestionoflanguage.AccordingtoIyengar, inEnglish,evenbeforeIndependence,hadtocontendWI """"n.: ,h,- .I1l,h."h".111.11 ... . 11 1res l:'.dlt' IIltario 'hr.l11T .unlrh".u,,;:hrhelrcontnbutionfll 01..'>tnrflIn_,,....,.aCta d "TlfCn.I ', rhrlt (1,,>0'.,.Itle 1 I','11 llUnS!counrtng,Cil:ccp r01s .UlJI'lllll'l"' ""d- Itho I, '/IIr.1r,lnlOUnr/"111,'1'pro,,!.:dabrief'" 0 ollecanlInde.'s randwhyLt."'ir.Q jWuhl'tJ 10 ('nnr/co book. 'The Indian Thean'e'.A more aeet!elt (Ide, hO\l"('\'('I", ,,'Quid Ix'en 'TheS.m5krit. Theatre,' JUSt as \t "Sl"'n",5 Spt'mnnuo/tIN 1bc'lfr'f'o!the Hmdlls sho uld have c.allt"d"SdKISpKmu"ns of the Satlsknt Theatre of the Hindus'. \l',lson 's,mdUn's Imprecisetirles are of several difficultiesthar.havefromthebeglnnmgafflictedh ,- h".te .nungof Indl3nnanonaltheatreIscones.Tocon[jnuethO dIScussion.however,Ill1UStoudinet he, three ph.ascs oflndl,}'s culrural and political hiStory. Accordmg to broad .scholarl),consensuS,awelldevelopedurbanculture,theIndus flourished between about 2500 and 1600 BCE." Thism-:iliutJonwassupplantedbySanskrit-speakingAryan btginningabout1500BCE.TheAryansreligiousbooks,th: four Vedas,became the foundat ionof Hinduism.19 By the fOUrth centuryBCEcheseVedicHindushadgraduallyconquetedand assimi.latedthepre-Aryanpeoplesof mostof India,culminating inthefirstIndianempireof ChandraguptaMaurya.Untilthe tenthcenrury CE,Hinduculture- withSanskritasthelanguage of court andliterature- dominatedbutdidnotreplace thenumeroll.!oregionaJlanguagesandartisticgenres,which chartedtheirownindependentcoursebutwithoutclosing themselvesofffromSanskritinfluences.ThisancientIndian eraendedby about1000CE,whensucceedingwavesof Muslim InvadersachievedpoliticaJsupremacyandeventuallydisplaced Saruknt literature and culture with Persianlanguage and culture. Sanskmslowlydiedoutasaspokenlanguagewhileremaining themNJumof Hindureligionandscriptures,butthevariow vanacu1ar languagesand artistic genres thrived. This new period, rrad1aonaliy labeled the medieval efa of Indian history, continued up to the rise of British power between the mid-eighteenth and the mad-nineteenth cemuries, which, in turn, inaugurated the modem dv periodization employedinthe latest edition of Wolpert's A -'*-10(,..... .....dums for histhe lofty and sacred status of the 6rcb liuraUy, the Theatre Veda.. 13 h:J.... cuf Indianhistory.Englishgraduall y supplantedPersianasdp.of nnweran th ... languageof go"crmnentandotherInstltUuons,..._..5 asrhelanguageof Ind1a'spolincal. economiCandculturalehte, faclittat"ingIndia'sencounterwithmodem Ideasand . IStltutions. This triparlite divisionisusually summedup Simply II.I..A Medieval as the Hindu, Muslim, and British eras or as tuenClent ,.' . lldModern eras.(For thethreecorresponding periods of ,kiddthatlhls theatrical history, secFigure 1). mUSt be .acI.' h pcriodiz.1.Lionalsoreflects colomal-eraOrlentaltst hlsrono.grap . Y bur one [hat waslater adopted by a broad spectrum of nanonahst and postcolonialIndian historiographies... Int heli ghtof thishistoryitisclear[hatintheirr.espe \ other hand, apan- n.IannI k 'domsInshort, like t le Is old royaiIlg, incorporatedt le,d''''rliertheytOOwere ,Hduepicsnote ...., allt horsof theanCIent10d 'fo,n"a nation into existence. "",arrate'anper "ying tonnaglllc,n' d' d'theatre en)'oycd great ,,.hmoernnIan As aresult of this ongm te ,h'h' nrurnledtoanew ,hculturalelites,WIe, I ' db Prestigeamongte,'h'asrepresentcY ,'dhlstonograpIC ,fh genrechauvlIlIsman ,.roduced at the height 0te hext twOtheatre hlstones- bOth P ten,nt in the1930sand 1940s,. nationalist moveme.I" t.novemcnt,Moderni ty d fthenatlona IId Inthebroaarena0fhOn' enralistproject- he k onents0te' _I andReason- eyeomp,hI,dIndia'santiCOlOnial W' de!ttcsWOC swayovertheeStemlze,I',as Gyanprakashnotes, h hat' Nattona Ism, struggle. Somucso t"d' dlogy in its drive to create dh"ntlmoernIeo. ' hi)'acked even GanIsa ,'andturnedhimmtOa d dmoderni zationd anation-statet,O,ealto 'irrational'peasants an figurereveredfor hI Sab,lhryto:::',with themasses'(p, forthis supposed} mystical ,'hy_ whetherpohncal "Ithennat ionali sthlstonograp surpnslIlg y,, .'of its Sanskrit drama heritage, itis 11 GivenmodernIndia's hadbeenwidelytranslatedremarkabletbatwhileasnotedearli er,notranslation EuropeanlanguagesbeglllOingIIId't'I at leasteighty years latet, See into a modern IndianIndwnDrama:AnG,P.Deshpande,' Introduct,lonIIIIS (NewDelhi: Sahitya Akademl, 2000). tJIdw.aI"".&Jrhesetwinideol. IfDnU,lJI.'tClphl1 l'. ah oPOIllI Sour,'wasOgltS. ' /rl l., aftetaJI .,. 11,(nllnt'n! 0 1I1("fXbt-nr eg,IIl1C of Reasor\', If.,,'I') olnd ("() 'OIll.l!' S III,H'ose rngerher IIIInd.a' (p. 39 1) '" L""''''et .I"lavj .llfU'1'1.'d pr;tCIKe ....U1d prIllCl pl('s ofiusrori cal wriringfrom WI'l& moJds Mldoffel1dln'ITl) afW'eslemuniversities, rhe ea rl tht".auyh'SI On.1IlSmC\1rablvsharedsomcadditional nd' an ..ental' fonnulolllons.u\, .... 11l iket heOncnrahs[s,theynegleCted[l$.{ rhearf"(' , ,1J1d.liked, CIll .rheyfocused on only 0h. negen (0"-'prt'SCnl;tilInd,.ant heatre.However,unliketheOrie,." nta 1St!; "ho "-'p",scnrl..-dIndiantheatre as made up only of an unch. ofltOnll,ht"ol tre.rhenationalist - fo rwhomprojectingan""d8>ng 10I!:tn n.1nonsr.ue W3Sparamo unt- representedIndiantheatre as ..made upJargel vof adp,amlcanddeveloplllgmodernIndianth ...earre. moreo\'t'r,temperedthei rpositionbyacknowledgingth achlevememofrheancientt heatre- nationalisticall ystressio; ICSpre.Sncishandpre.Muslimformation- andbyoccasionalJ noddmgtowardsrherraditionalandfolkgenresaswell.InR.unanJaJKanaiyaJaJYajnik,aprofessorof Englishatasmall college in 8havanagarstate inWestern India, published in London asrudyof themodernlndiantheatrebutnameditTheJrnii4" 7be.:ztre." Theproblemposedbyhistitlewasnot amelioratedby hiSsubmle,ItsOriginsandItslAterDevelopmentsUnderEuropea" mJlumct",WithSpecial Reference toWesternIndia, as was the case wirh someprtvJOushistoriesdiscussedearlier.Yajnik'shistorytreats rhe largely Europeaninspiredmodemindiantheatre asthe only genre among all others worthy to represent Indian theatre.Begun asaPh.D.thesisattheUniversityof Londonanddedicatedto ptoI1nngtheatrescholar AllardyceNicoll,thebookreveaJsan ...mar dearly inchrallof European and especially Britishtheatre -largely dismissive of traditionailndian genres except for those elanmts inthemthatresembleBritishdramaticandtheatrical COfWmtions, Although the work deals primarily withthemodem indiantheatre,apreliminarysectionexaminesSanskrittheacre Prabah, 'Pollcoionial Criricism and Indian Hisroriography,' SociII JJl ll, Thud World and Posrcoloniallssues, 1992), p.17, 110,-.._. \9 anda fe w tradirionalthe:uregenres but chu:f\ y ,n order to locate with Western theatre Pr:l.enCeS, and thus even dus section another panof all overall enterprise ofproJccung Ind,an lil ':Hrcaspossessingmanyaffi nitieswithEuropeantheatre "' ..\leofthese :\ndt husdeservmgofrespectandattention.n sp' pronouncedbiases, Yajnik'spainstaking researchIIIldprivatcarchives,hisunearthing of importantdocuments0 :u.h'nl"!over \lterary pe rformanceand Ius conSistent cmpaslS on st as ,...f val uesmake hisbook anextremely valuable histOri calaccOll nt0 t hc growth ofthc modern Indian theatre. Thcothertheatrehistorywri tt enint hefinalyearsofthe nationaliststrugglewasHcmendraNathOasGupta'S'o\lInle71Je IndianStage,publishedinCalcurra between\9.44 a . ,,,.fanona!tst 1946 ..10 ReflectingthecontemporaryreaIty0massn. movements of their t ime, DasGupta and Yajnik became the first Indianstochall engetheEuropeanmonopolyofIndian: heat.re historiography,andinturntheyhelpedshapeanewnationalist histori ography andhistory.LikeYajnik, OasGupta toO introductorynod to the Sanskrittheatre andtoa .fewt heatre ge nres, especially the Jatra of Bengal, but hISprunary goa , gaindespitehis comprehensivetitle,isahistoryof the theatre,andinfact,ofalmostexclusivelyInguagemanifestation.Hemakesthisintentexphclttilhl.s ;reface, which in effect contradicts his own dele, foritoverallai m' of writing acomplete History of the Bengahd .)No doubt the modern Indian theatre first emerged and achieve I... f l}galyet rhere its earliest floweri ng in Ca1cucta In the0en,od canbenojustificationfort hisimplicitclaimthatm e:: Bengalitheatre could st and forthe cmirc modern indian h . Simi;arlyalthoughOasGuptacompletedhisbookdurmg hte ,.'d' "dependencewen threeyearsimmediatelyprecedingnla 5IIId nationali st s fervently sought to project Indi an cultuhreasern" 'h'yalof tetramona that circumscancecannot excuseISpo rtra.,'' b .,.Indi sClissingthe StlVIrant genresas incol1 sequennaor WOI SC. TheIndianStage4 vols(Caicuua: Metro-lOHemendraNarhDasGupta,.. 'Publish .. rs, \.p1944- 6'rpt.NewDeihl:MUll shlramM potranress". .' the tt xt 2002). Subsequent page references Willbe gIVenIII. Ilh.l \Jdl11\rheto Cite ..u"I ' )n (,UI'I.1Snl'ad}"\\ holcsalc deili gra t io n o fcrd " . Gilt aItlo dw.urrhI'' .. leIfmm14rhto18 d1century haQ f1a.1cunor ;&n\dr.lnl;.lllChter.uurt'worthrhename, TheG. 1\0 f'h.u....ISlclwrre rh .. only dramali ked by rhepeople,thN>I5 \'C'csccm veneer, shared several affinities Withh ((1lkUld rumespeciallyinthearea of acting styles,In rum conmbutedcot histheatre'sappealfor theurbanmas modem t hearre's playwrights had direct access to West: dnmanc\;a printed plays, the vast majority ofactors did nOt h .. access [0 W'estemacting sryles and actor t rai ningtechniques, nonnthstandmgthe occasionaltouring companyfromEngland, Perforce these actorsrelied o nthe acting they hadencOUnteredin the acting of traditional theatre tfoupes. &yondellOstprejudiceandhistoricalinexactitudesuch cLumsforthesupremacyof themodemIndiantheatremeant .adn"a.lu.anonandevenerasureof thetraditionaltheatreforms frompublicconsciousness,especiallyintheinfluence-wielding merropoitcancemers,atatimewhentheseformswerealready under enonnous pressure fromthe effectsof modernizacion and theshrinJcingof theircradicionalpatronagebase, Throughcheirpublications.YajnikandDasGupta. especially as de factoof theemerging nacion's cultural e1ices, exerted c:on&adrrab1einfluenceonpublicofficialsand ocher leaders who made cuJauaI policy and controlled government fundingforem .a..1n Jbon, at least in an emergent India the writing of national hiIr.oria hadserious-sometimesnegative- consequences ....... me academy and in the very reaJ world oftheatre companies ... doam anisu. 11w fil1y..u )'UI'SsinceIndia achievedindependencein1947 "'produced eight national theatre histories in English,ll unlike .. CIDUnIIIIIJ haw aduded 'he fu coosketchy,illustraced survey .... ,., Waum Iibrarin and some bibliographies: MulkfU.jAnand's fh scdonotPOSitany I>pre_Independencehistories,seven0t ee no' Horrepnscntauv e.... riodo rgen reasthesi nge, pre-clmnc.......,_" onr - IG{... s" Ie"..,,1" achievement.Theeighth,ChandraB lanupasalready 71x.-1trf'( \ 954;1991),standsoutasatypicalbecause,h'dn ',honylnoUS Witn1;1.d scussed, it t reats t he Sanskrnlcalre as syn..fh "Id.de characteriStic 0tIE:riu:atre andt hus represents an 0.er atUlli.h. AU of O . ,talisr s t randof colonialIndian [heartehlstonOSrapY nell.hkabl e convergence t h eremainingpost colo n ial works sow arcmar_hfist time .t h e way cheycon st ruct Ind ian t heat re his tory. I-or l: r i d I II...hasesdennenIan theatrehistorians,albcnWith h '(he Sanskrit ) acreasmade up of allthreeof ItSmain br:mces......... . [lCdIodCflltheatreIil l S h " (rcthetraditionaltheatre,ant l eIn. [e...,)1passingcoverage ,Iveconstructionalsomeans a llaenCOIll.Id mcUSI.. ned levaan ofthenation'sthreehistoricalperi ods- anCle.nt,t.\classes odern- aswellasits important languages, regions, SOC)I:\' .'1 ' n on'g' )usci nestlelrc all dpfh;Iud qu.l/ lr, ' and OWrl.lproadegreerhatrnakes f.u011!'/lfunpr;lclK.dIha\'erhereforealsoexcludany _Vfl. rht' .,I.1lul.\ rh3r follows. 1,1 cdnlll fbI!'til'"III.SfOnrStor funher examination areBalwantG" 1lttwrr ,,,I"m.,( J 961).SomBene-gal'sAPanoramaof TheO\rgl S /...., (I %R), Adl.1R.1ngOlcharya'sThelndidnTheatre(1971) ill PRJdlmond,0.1n1l5L5\\";1,nnandPhillipB.ZarrilJi 's' J:ey 0( /Trfonnanu(1990),andNemichandra J.,PII""'"TnMillJOn,Continuity and Change ( 1992).304 Four$ books .1l:>O\",allby Indianauthors- devotethemaximumse rorht'modt'mrhe3tre-cufllulativelyinbothitspre- andPact Indrpcmdrnce phOlSeS. On rheone hand, this reAects a COntinu:St. of\'.1Jnlk's2I1d Das Gupta'sthe of Indiantheatrebut-verySIgnificantlY-WI thouttheirvirtuI uclusJOnof tht'traditionala ndSanskrittheatres.OntheOth:r h.a.nd,th.ismirrorsIndia'slionizationof itsPOst-Independence rhr.1trea5equalcothebestof anynatio n,anassessmentthat optr.Ue5a5apart of anew postcolonialnationalismseekingto projectrhe counery asaprogressive andimportantnationState. Most of thesehistorians,withasurprising degreeof uniformiry, offer ertta\'Clgantpraisefortheplaysandtheatricalproductions ofmtpost-Independenceperiod)andtheyconsistentlyrate themsupenor tothoseof itspre-Independenceyears- ablanket US6SmentchacI,forone)question.Wittinglyornot)these htstonans dtarly participating in a broadet nationalist process ofS4!:lf-dtfinJDon, and,as experts, they are providing the necessary .luthOnt)' to bolster anewly independent country's high val uation of me .utnae attainments of its postcolonial era. W-o..... (New Delhi; Publications Division, MinistryofInformation ....1'I.. 1956; revised edn,1981). ...... Garp, 71Iulrt i"1"JUt(NewYork:TheatreAnsBooks,1962); ........ AAutonI",.,of"TbtatreinIndia(Bombay;PopularPrakashan, ,w,. bnpchatya, 11Jt 11kka" Tbealrt (New Delhi; National Book Trust, ...oW'" J,*,); Ibchmond. Swann, and ZarriUi. eds. India" Tbemr, and

I..... Tbutrt: TnJJiIum,Omtinuity and Change(New Delhi: I99Z). Subsequent pagereferencestotheseworkswillbe 23 GrIsenegaland I IIthreeofthehistones-thoscby,ag,ndandthe lunga,harya- thcSanskrittheatre'DinesIIIsec: of ancnnon dltionaltheatredltrd,intermsof theamouS"k' "eant trah .heailsrI cachmerits.Therel1.cwedempaslSontof IndIanthe.atre showS that hiSlOrians III thepost,olomal phasci hgh nationalist histOriography. unlike Yajnik and.contlllUlng dearlyacknowledgeteanCient[, ..the phase.,dStatusIIIrelati onto Ignificance.Yetthistheatre sseconary ..e unlikely to theatrethatphase. Iveit the preeminent position acco .ith inthe works {'hetraditional Although these thrCt.'poStCOOllla.11SIIexceptSenegal's Icethatspace- Illacasesd rhearn!thecastspa,.issubstantialan wherepublishingexigencies of theprevious .1hant hataoweIIIan. conslderab ygreatert..ostcolonialhistorIes,the histories.Intheremammgtwo . p.themaximum hfir sttimereceIVes tradit ionaltheatreorted Z' II eds/)1dr.1IITheatre) ,(.RihdSwannanartI ,. atrentronIIIcmon,.um(inJain,India)1l"beatre oronlysli ghtlylessthanthem:uamnt onesexaminedhere Tradition);thesestudiesarethe rec:sonthetraditional I,ageanewemerglllgIOCUd-. andthusasoprerailhnew attenr.ionaccort;;\.I theatre inthe yearsto come. .'te.s a neW postcolonial .hfive\"ustones mirror. traditional theatre III tesc .dIf assuranCeinindia .dItal assertIveneSS anse nationalism ancu ru.',braceindigenous,often .dhlstonanstoen,d (hatallowsartistsan\denigratedan .formancegenresong. rural,andnon-hterary rnd Indian nationalistclites.ThtS silenced by European Oncnra. tstS ad '",plex waysrather t han in d .connec(cm co,.f unprecedenrestatus.Ihe hihly successfulblendlllg 0 any simpl ecausalfashion, Witrgo'a,y oneSbyleadi ng .Withconremp traditionaltheatre\ ' kG'" \KarnadSarishAlekar, .Ivnglus ( IeIrt S 1.,. PostcolonialIndian P ay\\' \\)d postcoloniallndlan h dHKanlala an.d Mohit Chattopadyay, an .P' kkarHabibTanvt r,an \ Narayanaant".\ directors(likeKava am.tionallyinfluentla ,)wellassome Illterlla lutanKumar Thlyamaskd Ariane Mnouchkine) . ,(I' kPeter Brooan., EuropeandirectorsIe\' \eriodBalwanrGargt s .fhepoStCOOOiap ,. ThefirsthiStory0t\ 'hd 'America and displays ,\hfistpub ISeIII. TheatreinIndiaIS aso ter'Iede o f world theatre. Gargt t he author's extensive fitst-hand knml,g C'UUoIil" ..hl\throug hout[ 0show pa ralJI hr-twt'f'n\.1nou\rhcJ; rrcsand t hoe lll} '1- .sCOrthIIanJ '''roe" .111..1(11111.1!'dn\.1.\an'suh o rrhls and P" I"'.. .tY as a ofLf1",rrml'1 h.lb,rs of l'Kplaulingaway thttsUq d eUnfal'I (o..II}JI,1111\,""11)0Ol.111r.l1lulrllnarelyIllis leading We'hI.'.Stern1",1._. ' fDuniqueInJI.1"gcnn:-sdasslcOlol forrhcSanskri tth "',.'r J '('acrca".. HhM.It.a .. oPf'1"aror pageantplays'foritti'll_'II Mid $('I(,'n\slde 'rom suchlabeling,thoughhis \VeStlila .' ern the ..bul.an.andf'r'tc.' rencespro\'C bochpreciseandill. Um'llar h,l('3UllUJl.ll1roushrt"\'calinghismodernistandpoIIlI!, steolorf prt'Judi ces, such as his rejection ofiate ni ne[eenth U'OllJnGU/ol.r.uimelodrama.Apla}'Wrighrandasho. rrSto " "ter. G.t"lPofferscolorfulandswifdy etchedpOrtraitsr'l' f0each rM..ur'r'.""rhbnebutvaJuablecommentsonContextI' ,1[sco,), MldCUrR'ntst.lte.Havmgattendedperformancesof virtual!' h h "Yd ( genreseexamll1es,Garglcomesacrossas d" ban omOlpresentanOmniscIent narratorUtonewhorarelysto [ 0sources, mar.shaJevidence or articulatehis \1Ston_lmphOt In hiS coverage, however, is an all-embracing vision of Indl,antheaTre[hat includesnot onlytheSanskrit,traditional OUldthemodemtheatresbutalsodance,puppetry,children's modem baJlet, and amateur theatre. AmongthepostcoloniaJhistories,asalreadynoted,Sam Btnegafs APanontma oftheTheatre inIndia isthe only one without ameall1ngfultradlrionaltheatre section.This omission, howevtt, "u nO(aresult of theauthor's choicebue,asisclearfromthe prd'act. cJu.c ofhlS publisher's need to avoid competition with one of.a. oUwr books devoted exclusively to the tradi [jonal theatre. It is puyromus &negaJ's views on that theatre because his comments on dw Saru.krit and modem theatres offer many insights. Overall, IIICIIm aaaJybc than descriptive,he notes wrylythat 'AHerodotus, nl' 1or PlutarchisalientoIndiantradition',inorder to .... diedatth of historicaldocumentationaboutSanskrit (3). He inkrprrts Bharata's claimthat the Natyasasrrais a MIl Veda as a strategy to gain acceptance fromupper caste _..... 'II' en"....,.' nerowho chieOy belonged to the low Shud.. ....... analyses'he Sanskrit society'sworldviewand .,--on "'" individualvenus the group asthe pnmary 7 4 b ,)'0'-' HSolomon25

I.ewrh:n blames cason for ItS decline, challenging the tradluonavlnintothelow ' 1successiveIslamicinvasions.H,smvesngallonorv faultS tlC.hParsi dramatiCrepc., ILlYof themneteent-centurydyImnauon fatuousfarces,contrivedthrillers,'prOVincial comedy of manners, andme the only models ",panies that traveled to Indi a and thus becad..... rsonnd of co.hTheaesthettcanr-avail abletotheParslteatres...withsomeirony. thisParsitheatrenotdedllle,(now call ed butmetamorphosedI mo theBombyhof lknega\'s history, IIood) JSSuchinsightSarcthe suengt yw...bd coverage notwithstanding hIS clrcumscn. eThfi'[publishedIn\ 97 1 AdyaRangacharya'sTheh.dlallI rs1ybibliographIesof d'1980pcars reguar y IIImal andreissueIII,ap.fSanskrit fort WO 'Rh"yawasaprOlessor0,d Indiantheatre.angacdIIIworks and partici pate I novels ansc 10ar y decades, wrote severaIdecades asanact or, dI etheatre forncar y ,our.I ' .Kannaa- anguag.I .g thathiSlIStory ,".dI.htThus it isastolllS "n, produce r,anp aywng .malroblellls.Bytheauthor s suffersfromsomanyfundamepSskritand Kannada f;the chapters onanI own admission, exceptorII ""ormationfromtHee kd 's almostalts mf theatres,thebooenvehproblematiCMinistry0 .IndumDrclma,tebo' 11" secondarysources..hlogydiscussedave, InformationandBroadcasunhg antOk ,',suedunderthe aegis of 8431960a sort war.\d Marathi Theatre, 1-.'hMarathi TheatreCounClal.' the MarachiNatyaPanshad or takehBon,bay' and Seth Govmd bplar Prasan,'.d. published in1961yopu..a.lvolume of essaysinHillI ulaGnthaanoccasi on..OasAbhinalnra,h'dl (orfelicitation) Commt. bro ughtoutin 19S6 by an Abmanal,eless{hanimpeccable h dependenceonson.hr InadditiontotIS,book 'deeplyflawed111ote secondary material,Rangacharya sh':he following, are simply ways too. Some of his statements, sueasId not have a vocabulary ' s language wouf bffiing: ' Anordinaryman,erousproblems0 a00'ds'(29).Therearenum of morethan5\\ or hbeenrearticulated . .fIk)mbayfi lmsasdtor )5Senegal'strenchantcnnque0v Benegal. a rising filmIrec . hd1990s by h,s son,edin reaction forcefully si nce (e IIlI- od andthe art cinema that emergeIdia's who denounces bothBo\l)"vonewcorethatfocusesonn toBoHywood.Insteadheayto Indian filmwhat al whlcIn a waI. contemporary urban reICY, .hvebeen doing withreguamy. many modern Indian plaYWrightsa rhrtlflllR01('\ld"'kt"""I llHl",sf,'n!;Hbcsl;a,Ii atJUlIW'nltll.1 Je,.np" l lIl .lb:llldo ll("dh:dfwaythtollrbr rn""It lu."',It'JhI,1\\"";tm anduncle;u- plwasi ng0g 1,"'lk , .. nIh"III. Iud ..,";If'\lchddich.'llcicsprobably Ile'll\4t of hillIIh.1I1overa llapproachfOwriringatt'slilt hin.>Utlll('n-tuwhIIT\ ',.'>"hiSprose.Thushi sdiscla.'cSPeCi.aJI), !flieri nrrt"lt"h'n...IndunT1'f"JhY,"hal'ent.-vcrlikedandbnthe r"aVe31,,_ .. ,,.... J....-IIT.. .. rimeanythingfhatJWr ot' Ih .e,rnUS[ L uJ;t'nm .... ,....u ../ltt'(.;&rather ran arhetorical statement (")ut ;l.ndsrudentsof Indiantheatrehadtowa' "', I ttwet} fOs ,ht'nC.nhistory.Theirwaitwasamplyrewardf}' ..ng"-'ft"lu.shITscMchcdandhistoriographicallyself'awareeQby Rlchmond,S"-annandZarrilli' sIndianTheatre:Trnd"" wOrk, ..'''Onsof pubhshedbythe UnIVerSItyof HawaiiPressin19 booksrhretprmcipalandfourcont ributingauthors_e 90. ",m )"t'M:S ofspeciallzarion in oneor Indian genreS- collecti: lh bnng .. .. drhanddepthof expertiseunmatchedinany of thY postcolonialhistories.Thebookbenefi tsmorCOve,IIIIndl:!begm:rheAndhra JUOI''"t'SIf'I1t.1 dwhru'l.. rrn.l.f11,C0"I,CH I[1 1I)' .t 10 \\aIVCWCr Q1lttn'L-.dc.lro!\I"-Co.,"onest:1',lu:.:u-rcwhen modern theat re '"",II"ulanunJlSo r.J.tuon.v.folk,andpopionial cines? To wha textent d id. (--ret'S Ctllcrgt"d,n chI"majOr .dirL'CrI )'witheacho ther ? And r -- odds COmpt:fCd ' tiltmhremai nfro mInIanSOCiety . dd, heneWrcarre.d L_.'.JJIt'n.JfedIh,extenrdopost -Illcpcndence /)'[O wa . androlrurt? Converse ,d ",,31theatrerestorep re-colo ni al folkand[faICIO .. ul'V'nmencsInd " 'ons' \VhaCnormativeforcecan r - drfonnance( 1"3It!. anrh... ticanptry p racricc? tMy exl"rrist' in 5.greechatafrerthedecli neof lK.rre1"lIstonan First,most(dJOOOandthCMuslimconquestofnorrh k heacrt' aTOunAD.. nr rr. hrv significant theatre actiVIty resumed in I dh..' rhe rwt"l rrnro."5J ' nla ""/', he ninccecnrh cenru ry.omec asslcal d'/guageson}'1n the In1.1nan'.ed 'theTamil- andMalayalam-s peaking mucrtformsSU(\1\In. _ LId'a,andreligiousforms,suchastheramilia vus o( SOUUlemnI /'/d' a,edmenorth.InsuchlanguagesasBengali , r.1SIaomtrl.Ikd _ LKannadandGujarari,avartetyoffoanpopular MuaUll, .a,.ddd' khd ' ng ,he poscdassical penD, anaccormg Co forms t OOsapeun 5KDas[he vitality of these traditions actually weakened ISlrumarJ .' [he \t'estemimpacr in [he beginning,theof eMIndianstage(orsomerime.Buc InlanguageslikeHmdl, Pun"am, orKolshmi ri,therewasnonotablecheacreacalluntil melateninetetnchcencury,andchereforeli t tleforcolonialism to displace. Second.thenineeeenrh-cencurycriciqueof indigenousforms a25nor primarily aBritishbueanIndianpreoccupation.Nandi Blw:upointsourthattheBritishwereequallycontemptuous of the'immoraJi ry'of tradieionallndianentertainmentsandthe prrsumptuous crudity of Inruaniud versions of Shakespeare. and rncour.tgedrhepolarizationof theacre'aroundrhecategories oflow'(Indian I and' high'[European)cuJeure'( 14),Because d.now rheure was il1ien and inaccessible, the Bricish were also iIIIIItar.td In developing aJcernacive cuicuraJ spaces inthe interestS ...... poIuluI control. But indigenous forms came under attack 67 becallSC of the self-criticalt hrust of. f 'ddlSOCi alreform 'Illcrgcnceo1111 e-dasscUl ture i ,h..movements, the c.Itecltlesandh of suchmajorauthorsasShand.'tecommltment .en\IHaTi shchandD L :1ndRabmdranath Tagore to th ...I',ra,.Roy, ,'"I crary andII.. .. of cbenewacst heti c.AsKathrvnHcu HlraposSibilities .,ansennotesI of urbandramaunderEuropeaninn'. -,t leemergence ,d'uencedidnotcoII supplant InIgenous theat ricalgenresbh.mpC[ey Idfh 'Ut te reformist discourse rhatr cSUrcromte colonial eXnPrieh ' f. .f' '"ncepusedthetheatre to rbe margms 0respcctablhty' (Grou'lds[1'1'1111("3111.- ('\.Id hto unCO't't:r rrh.rrJCcgicpoimcaancultural K>Ug'rrI"S. .,_ _Plrt''"nWIthinaCOI11Ol llTll ryoriarg" "-..U"Jroducno . (orofrhf',1mc.af andbl'' (oCusl ngonrhenexusof .-w""nnh':.v " f4 rrhe reprcscnra n on o f, but also b--CO'-'- _cc25,1s ift'0,". mC=JrncaJ ' .". (Gainor. XIII ).Sud.pro Chanerj ee's mpe "bblocs thar were used co santlze contempo,> addition ofextra sup..ry .f "a1behavior among the rich. These productions did no IdeasoSOCI..hhkbt h di'ence's familianrywlcSaespeare,utobviousl presume te au.y adaprtrl the works coappeal co popular tastes. For Instance, ar. the urdu performances, the program gave aSynOpSIS of h .rog-herthe fulltext of the songs. ce aceon,..After1913,thepopulariryof theseplaysdeclinedasBombay chearres"'ereconverted(0cinemahousesforsilentfilms. Nr\'trcheles.s, rhe phenomenon of this ' craze' on the Bombay stage ironicaJly displaces the nocion of universalicy as being synonymous with\t'estemculrure.Intheseobviouslyirreverentandeclectic aciapr:arions, the Shakespearean text is no longer sacrosanct; rather, it isinvaded by ' hcreroglossia' or amultiplicicy of styles and forms In the Bakhcininan sense thac disrupt the cultural authoricy of the official English Shakespeare.JII Thus, while the colonial theatres of Calcurca promoted thebard asacentralsource of ' highculture,' lutr performances of hisplaysreproducedvaried,h eterogeneous SlWspeares" .. Shah, p. 485. -!bod. Pomorsh'sForev.'Ordto&belaisandHisWorld,byMikhail ..... mns.Helen'S\\'olsky(Bloomington:IndianaUniversityPresS. ,-'" b Jyoh,nQSinghq3 HI T HE POSTCOLONIAL, INSTIT ,SHAKESPEAREUTIONAL .Bulletin oftheSoci RcporronadLsclissionon'\VhR.etyofIndla- Apnl1988 1988I .Yead?'hId JaL1ILar),artwUn,versiryofDclhi .1"- eeon20 I'rof approximatey 140,000scudentsmusrstudyEnglishliteratureforatleastone year, among whom around 20,000 may read Shakespeare. Whoarcthesestudents?Inwhat waysarethey constitutedas in t he ideology of the universal English text,orspc,OIlI""CS.on(he8fld ' IJI){' lbog'd" .,....,.. 1'cnll t'lla llJ(lI r;lhn'"IIs tuents/read 't't'III'an1M .l'rs . h .... "I".tt'l"consncu. Ai Ori n ',.1.';nltllircrso rtheofJ .11('IZc,,"rna)IIId-J(he'ul1.1llb,{extn : l11,UIl S a1:1. oweent" Indu " F,lIshIIrer.lI").dbI''Y, Sh " 1".1(1". 111t'J,;Ib_( y(rnajori Uotht S('nSt'0.'..ty T'houbhof ('DurSt',li shas:Ifi rsllanguageISintrinSICto their ho donOfscud,'Engre!c\\lOcetothevalueof t hete '"IandhasnorXt. bnmllSOC scrtlg&"t.cc ofEnglis hliterature ror langua.g &- r(he Ullportan IIdd' 1'lK rc;a50ns ,or.'a!Itisgenera)'concee' dun orIno dent.h'11& ['tJlchlngartnbou..moDisie found te continued used or de chdnd,art' b -- 'a!dI"I IndtprncnC,dcOus for SOCIanpolti cacontrol I ;;rulation ant . escandal it created.aIt nor been for And rhe Lordohhls Indigo Unrul b'I 'he was noneothh suJecr,annsman,Reverend Jer tan anOther frhe ChurchMissionary Socieun",' ro the dU'Glnf dependency oEthe Crown, by barbari:he __" ..orcunmng and meanness 0 11 [he oeh"'Y"d ""'""'_ on".,,,... ..., Ch . ... ...._ ,-_11KrecogmsedthIS{Obe the great. --"\l .. c.rlI......(rPJ5S- b) Lon" \Io"Hsn1[('nad to amonrh inprisonand would pay, ' "h,.0 _at"b-bline ofRsJ.OOO. Ki1:Jprasann3Sina IavcngIau, volunteered dJotfineHiSla"'}"ersmadenofor amitigation eN snltenu.The question,rather,rookadifferent turn: ' bUt w hemonJi) wrong.isaquestionwhichmayberaisedandis0: o( calm consideration' (360). The 'consideration', far froe bangc..a.Im',W4S(0 bring the British ruleinBengal to adiffere: on both sides ofthe spectrum, native and European. It Was Long. the whiteall,who wasimprisoned, ncxDuuhandhu Mirra, me native clVlIservant. MlUIonanes had around the1860s developed the reputation of muchlefmners' from their antioppression (therefore, pro-native) 10the colonies.Especiallynotedweretheirrolesinthe W\'etTbe:UionsintheCaribbeancoloniesandMaorisinNew Zul.a.ndLong explained inaletter to the Committee of the Club ofEhe Chw-c:hMissionary Society in London, afew months before hU m.aJ.on 2J April1860,abOUthowhebecameinvolved in[he mdJgo aglt.won in the first place: God II'ttrU to be "'wking fortheryotsin away we didnot calculate on. Luc:f-nd.ayeverung ...fiftyryocspresentedthemselvesat mydoor who fyd fttdfrom"""uddeeand Jes.soreDisrrictsto escapetheoppression of dwthey brought me a letter (rom Mr B__ [illegible]- 1 could not tum people away, and say beyewarmedand be yeclothed and Si6h.(1140 70),knownforhisbeneficence,wasathinkerandan 57hufwnm-humorutaswellastranslatorof Sankrttau inlO tIIdudana tht and a fewSankrt plays. dt'""tI'lIl!:myself 50I sent downtoconsul!DrDufT" 1 hec"lIed:Ifmyhouseameetmgof iIOln.onthe J'",II",hal",as 10 be done, thc1"1:were preM;cmO'SSIOnaries,friendsto ("uSI WYin, rDuffDr C[hbe.. d)'SVaughan,.ae, aBapti stMiSSionaryd'uft, r)H''f',:wl lemall .Wecametothe condusioan alon g with a Nal"."11 Unanimously thai" dun.' asmisSlonanesto dowhat weCouldh'wu ouf 'fIhor teM;poor ..... opl,'" r bdpt/X!IIIS!'I/(!S- tatwerepudiat etakinhC"W (.1",,0db- Ih guptcquestiononan ..,J ric,llgro\1llut Si mp ytat IndI goPlanting i, _Y ,.."'- h- II "nterereWIthOUf work. [under$COn ng auto na HowevermuchLongdidadvocatetherepudiatir 'k-.r "I"on o tamgup {hequesti on onany poIhcaground, It did becomepolitical. The \\ho]econtroversy was seenas aof anact of ' betrayal'by the BritishandEuropeansettlers,whiletotheBengalinativesLong becamea champion for (he downtrodden, the ' good' Englishman who sought to bring (0 task the ' rogue' Englishmen (it is ironic that one ofth .. villainous planters in Nildarpa'Jhappens to be called Mr. Rogueas well, althoughinthetranslation the name becomes Mr. Rosel), embodied by the planters. But Long, in so muchashis letters (0 rhe Committee of the Club of the Church MiSSionary Socie[), in Londonreveals,wrote evenfromtheprisonthat his purpose was not so much to meddle with the administration ohhe government of Bengal or the commercial affairs of the indigo planters, as it was (0propagateandupholdChristianmorality.Heconsideredhis actions to be agreat booster inpromoting Christianity in Bengal. Hewrote from his prison cell on 7 August 1860: Dr.Key of Bishops College called on me lately and said how much he was struck with the rone of the native news papers, who were astonished at the fact ofa Christian Missionary cheerfully going to prison in the cause of the oppressed, t he Editor of one Bengalipaper writes-'Ifthis be Christianity then wewish Christianity would spread all o\'Cr the country' - who knows LJ AlexanderDuff wasaScouishmissionarywhoworkedin Indiaforthe Church of Scotland . 16Reverend G. G.Cuthbert, another missionary who had, since1855, been supportive of the Indigo ryots, trying to bring their plight [0 public attention. Hisaccount of theIndigosi tuation,IndigoPlanting lind theBenglllRyot, was published inCalcutta in1856. 11 Promthelettersof JamesLongof theRareBooksandManuscripu Collection at theUniversity of Birmingham. ./10"""""".... ,m.I,"N\T Iht' ('It .. ,. IIIIlllpn'OIUnt' rUIlllhed1t ...nll)YlI "_07 'iJrT.am01Chnsn.lll(;OIl\'l!rSl0ninUCIll' aJi --.co ,'.o'I,ldcv.,l.\.at.lr CT1rromrhe- Inuh,It ISt ruethaI rrw'ml.'tlle nrH..tCaJcun.a\lootSIndeedagogwahcOllllllend"'t ' ...- hi_ "n'wm. If *l[Wr\Ion."15pull.l1"helidedInallthevariatio ...Os rublK JI:t.... urY.v1lOngthemlflvc,.,.",ssionary,aswellas, dwEurorr.mRfdtr bythe loJ,ISthe(;act[hat rheliterary worktharmade it .-lut ICb.une "'OUtheEnglishtranslationof Mldarpa'Jandits wbttoqumr dJrnbutlonInEngland,nottheBengaliworkitself ('II'("\Tf\.thlnttnr'tat'S irsseageproductioninDhaka and Ulcuru:-':t\"t[v. of Bengal, alsobyOak,,_pnSOncrsIn,"I narailJanClIeJ:;UPI:WSprotestedtheatrocitiesnd'anopJ.dhyJ.YAll," ..leteOUtby""" dOIUHlanon.nOtto theurbanmiddledascolonl;llagenciesof nlrai working classmajority of BenIs'.bur[0the Sub;lltem Ifhga.ObviouIII ri skedt 1eIfe0teBritishandC\s y, aof thepl;lV III'CnSOmepro,-ofrheHcngaImreCctual elitewhhnllnentmembers \rolre-facedfromsidingwiththe0ad, generally,bythiStime I peasantsand! EuropeallP antersto defendingtI.oropposmgthe lelr 0 .... '11 ec.. (oftenabsentee)landlords, ZAminda0onOmlc mterrsu as rs.ne canntI thatalmostallof theseplayswc" .otIep bur note ' ..ewritten;I ci ri es,bywnters who didnot bela1nlle safetyof rhe .'ng to [ leclassesh imllledlate subject of the playsThe ob..lat ....'Crethe .'.JecC! \lesof tlI "par Witht heirContentseitherA_Ie p aywerenot .IU aresuhtild Parroni zingstrokesthe urbangcnrrv"cyrcamoreIlke ..."/wereglvmgtoh..' Polittcal cont radlcttons by atheatricall.lelf Own SOCIO-...Y prOjectedprotest .. the atrocities t he colomal rulers perford1,lgalnSt I...mcon tIe lowcr class whosecxp oltatton,Ironical lytheurba.cs, to .,n gentryalso com'bd quite dtreccl y.One canfeel inthe dialogudn 11leanscene consrruction of alltlrce p ays t 1e nervous excitement ofd'. . .I..seItl OUS Wflt mSlaced more Wit hpo\[Icaladrenaline t han ideol.1.' .oglcaCommitmentAnd although,ost enSiblyaddressing thelower....k1. 'Ofmgc assesthese playsweredirectedtowardsthemoralheatfbb' _".r oaa u oratlcast ababu-sympathlzlIlgaudience.Dal..-inaranJ'Cdl ...nanopalyay'S class-positio nIS evenmoretransparent. Thetide pageof hisCa-Ka:Darpa.,)(The Mirror)camewitht hefollowing eptgraphInFrench:HomSOltquimalypt nse'whichwasthe mono of rhc Ordcr of t heGarter fou ndedbyKi ngEdward111of England. Themotto, int ranslarion,reads:'Eviltohim whoevil thinks' . .obvio usly, in his pedantic disclaimer (a French epigraph for in India! ), Canopadhyayseems to bc addressing hiS pOSSible castlga[QrsamongtheBritishas wellas babus.Inhis next ' protcsr'play, j el-tLtrpa1)(Mirror of rhe Pri son),Canopadhyay went a step further and deviseda multi -lingual epigraph with four quotesfro mfourlanguages:SanskrtHindust ani,Bengaliand, Engli sh, in that order. While the firstthree in the Indian languages placateandromanticizeideasof rebellionandfreedom,thelast one, inEnglis h,comes asanabsolute ami-climax: ' England with II . ..,"'t'Ihtc snll 'aquotefrom\'(' illia mCow"," ..u ,'"'.awnQ\ '... t he ..",....Onc=I)Ic=frq UC=) rlOIHIlSshould we sub,. R.!(ft.lnu< r----'[!tUft tn"LutJ,nIh-Ind, .. ',tnddu' u""ldrhe o r.isthisthe _rnC"f' ro rhe colonl;tladnu nlsrr.trlon ,anaffirmatio nof hat Cl."'f1ti.>nnI'"ro rhe 8nnsh R,1J? ,J ,h< al" '3}'Slookt heotherway"h Bur.uu.nte '8- 6lht' Grt3t National Theatre cameup '\1rhaI ..Pay 0jNNr.J}. Amp-alil ,Basu. ThiS playwas asatirical account of one abam ster,who had entertained the nSJong Ponet>10hIShouse and allowed the womenfolk of Ius t;anulr [0 mete hi m. This was regarded atremendous viOlation (tlUJ"'tpr.tcoctSwho,albei ttheir confonnj tyto coloni a lrul oV na.c ,..,hrt', ... the \\,IVthe duracfcr I Susedas a .a--....attll"nllon('trope __ .2.l,..-r syrllphonv rh:uwould whet the pat '. - I 'nOtlc ,- rh,JIC:'I1CII"\"chour.attIesaInenOll"incur' Wflnmf'nu 0t";I'.hring rh R.I.H:l\'lIlgIdennfiedrcpresenceof ' rag ,hIl IIroll"n11lf. .Vlnc lIlI h ,..of rheIflrcndmcnrs0BnushOricilta li..g Y .ugufi [.Jt (n.." Ill ft n"\\:1.5forSal1skrr[0beconvertedintoaI...lll Ihebq;lOflIS..ngua fl " "p-sslonth3rcouldbe severedby'estheti cs'fige oItll'nln..,...rOrt)i d ('u=n 'emplo)'t'd rosuppress ItS own tradition'TIts ong,"s.ln,....lrOUgh ClSe dcmonsrrateshowass lmllanon andex1" rtus .._C uSlon k -her' inthecolomalset-up(Case.11 5).Thakur'b rog.......'..s oak d.c p",,,npcionof asslOlliatlonthat Itproposesforth m .._ theatre,initspeculiarself-negatinghybridi hI unruckrhecomponentsofnineteenthcentucyB'Y. psusr- ....engaJi thearrtthatinvokedthe anCient.HIn.duof India Slruacing it inthe modernt ty of colomal Vlctonanism. maJeur'sposition,symptomatic alargerpinure,beconles e\'f:nin another book he had wntten a year earlier on musi his6e1dof specialization,enticled,Bhiktoria-Gitimala(Garland :i Songsfor"ictoria).Thisbookclearlyenunciatestheflipsideof the- &ngalibabu'sassimilatory andexclusionary ofInthesesongsThakur uses JkngalimerricalsryJes,hislanguagelauded/ loadedwith Sanslqtroot-wofds,'incommemorationof theassumptionof the Imperial Tiderofthe Empress ofIndia]by her most gracious QueenVictoria'.Letusconsider,asanexample,the Inttrrogatory ending of the poem: By nvrryofthu: same goddess,the mute man comes to posses, the fafe attribute of eloquence; AIrht locus-feet of the same goddess,[like]a boatman seeking recess, co cross the waterway fromhence, Goddess. my meagre poetic crafc,I have set afloat like a raft, To touch your feet's end; ","'IDt, I don't know what,OnDestiny's chronic chart, Fate ordains provident. [Translation mine) (Thakur, 1877:140) 121 akur'swritingherereadsP.ol,h" ,..eHcandbe :v,I:tys(harheIntended, truths:.\)0.trays, nOlpernana ,n"ddtit colomal .,-liehaS,Inee,grantedt he colonia.h Ity.Bntl!h ndl 'te 'eloq rnS into amauInmouthful of rvu..uencet.hateasily ellt"" ..... t IC Ad " on iI.'.,thoughnot untypicalinversioh.nIt 15through If' ntatehe , f(heHindugoddesses(anarchervpI..11.'.01111.'. lotus-feu> o aImage111 Hd. ...nerry) becomes that of the newly orddInUrehgious t'--._alneW'h ui zzicaliry,roo,Thakurends[he.5.ItSImIlar q"' h'poemruminatinghh c',(Urc has 111 store [or1m. This Was "wat[e Il .."Ot an uncom omakeInasong,SinceViCtoriabe'mon Statement f..."mgeulnojd 'h 'orTllSinrhelargert heatreof publicd- ozeInorer I'ISCOurseasw UKh Chunder Sen (Beng.Kesab Candra Sen)(hII ke.esub "dk ''ewe- nownBrahJ' .. forTllLst, haremared In a lectured.I",vd '.mo ..... 'eremEngltsh 1 d ' Religion a.nd Madness' , ln1877:,entlt e Who can denyrhat Victoria isaninstrument inthI " Iddd elanw;of PrOVIdence to elevatetli SegraeCOUntry In thescaleof. Ih nattons,andthat inher handst heso emntruStas beenmost solemnlyd, GI V"" '(AI).reposeorythento EmpressIctona.pp ause.(Majumdar: 112) Victoria'sdiamondjubileein1897roo0 nil... J111'11[1'urr Jlotthe,wdlcnc('onpolmc.11devcl0Pfllen. tduc.lnns.tsIn rut'f"--.s.trvYf Subr.1ll1anya Bhararh. had s hown en L_untnE.lrllt'r., ,--- ..tWa)' :h (Mamas 1933), p, 69, lJ of Irsd iffUSi o namonglessetlc """po)'lSf'.rt'cOI1Sci d ';annarbeahogcrherruledour.\Virht hefou0", .auIcnet'S.ndati ..,rthehOln'I'Cr looseIrsstructure was,rhese err.Il onh'btx'.UlICmoresustained,burrhetaskof estab!"nord"...Ish In cr 'mongrhesesporaIeacnvltleswasmorecong cont..SClousl undert .. kcn.Y Arr.1di(lonthath.,da1readybeeninthemakingin1942 laeerupbytheIPTAwascharof routi ngsnUadand .c . 'sand rounns culturalu'Orkers.AtIrs/944InCalcUttatn Af\tl\Aofwhich the Bcngal lPTAfunctioned as abranch,.t >00";3n organizationalresolutionchar atravelingculturalsquadsh Ik.hhd".ould be set up centrally to keep upIIIS WIteIStrlct troupes (Aranj 4February1944,p.351).HowfarthIScouldbeactualized.' questionablebut the effort to esrablishlinksthat the resolu." [IOn showshadbeenanriciparedeveninpreIITAdays.In1942 srudenrsquadfromCalcuttavisitedtheeasternmostof .lkngaJ;anothervisitedAssamin1944.Thepurposeof both squads wasto boost [hemorale of the people inareas whichhad comeunder Japanesethreat;thesecond squadwasalsoengaged in roUsingmoney for fam.ine-strickenBengal. While the first squad 1.'Tnrto interior areasineasternBengal,the second squad visited m.ajnlydiscrictinAssam.The perfonnancesgenerally cO\'Cred mlddJe-dass audIences, bur peasanc areas were sometimes wuched; che second squad also performed among railway factory ,",orkers acDibrugarh, and the workers enthusiastically helped the squad[0 serupamakeshift stage and collectfundsUanajuddha, 5 July1944,p.3).This squadpickedup Assamese songs while in Asumandaddedthesetotheirprogrammes.Localtalentmay h1\-'ebeenrecruited occasionally, at least onthe firsttrip; thus, ar Noa.khaji, some Moulavis initially opposed the programme because JocaJ girls Wtre being recruited to sing in public. Bur the resistance IUbsided when the items were shown (janajuddha,29 July 1942, pp. Z A8; 5 August 1942, pp.4-6). 11Ir programmeof thesecondsquadshowsaddedresources, fIIIIwed pramwion, and more organized efforts than that of the ...... The programme of the first squad included anti-fascist "j(lll songs, talks, poster cxhibirions, and aI ;1 (i _f:tsc,stdefenceconsistingmoter,ryp ay\tt Oil:tildbh(\speec l CSt hanaction :l. waScrcatCytc character of an e. pr:tn1."hk nemy paratrooper who ldJumpmtoternaeshlftstageat thI \1"011ddJ..eCImactlePOint A$ (of dwsccon . s,qua, Moimra and 1 l arlpadali editWI{ 1arepertOire0newson.,d sup?.II..anforthe OCcasion.parflcu ar ypcnamlllgtothedefencetoMampur ccsby ShambhuBhattacharyaaccompani edM '. OandOltra ssongs. Thefewereother groll,ptoo. Sukamo Bhattacharya's play IkeRookhteHobe(ReSist Japan')and asecond\h jllpH.h..pay,or rater atableau,showmgtcterriblemfluenceof thefamine.onthe. dllCarionsystemwereperformed. It may benoted that those who ' h.. directedteprogramme wereartiStes In their ownright and were. associated with IPTA. [nBengal,beforeIPTAwasformed,BenoyRoy,si ngerand organizer,. tookaleading role .inutiliZing the Communist Party's influence III peasant and workmgc1ass areas to recruit local talent andformcultural squads.A reportin Janajuddha(28April1943, 12)mentionsthatBenoyRoyhad alreadytoured13 centresin districts andtaught ' people's war songs' to about 90 activistS. squadshadbeenformedinplaces.Attheprovincialconference of rhe CommunistParry,the district committees sent one squad fromeach frontUanajluldha , 9 July1943, p.1). Benoy Roy himself;n a subsequent report Oanajuddha, 6 October 1943, p.3) gives an account of culmral squads having been formed not only inrural areas, but among urban workers like the tramway men andcorporation employees. They came up not only with new songs, bur even with plays.Benoy Roy's report me.mions aon ' more production'by Gurudas Pal, then a worker to theareaint hesuburbsof Calcutta. Hieren Mukherji inhis memOirs talks of aplay byDasarathlal , aCalcutta tram-worker, producedbyAnilD'Silvaand inIndia I-Iallunder the auspices of the Trade UOion Congress.A report m ja"ajuddha (2 1 June1944, p.6)on the firstprovincialof spinning and belting mill workers mentions that the seSSlons were ..hhdb ' h borh squads and wrote ' Oral inrerview ofSaro)Hajra, W0a1\ Wit the report of the first tour for Janajuddha . 7Tori Hote nr, Calcutta, 1974, p.353. ,.. ho IuddramallcperformancesTI .lCSO In",.'>t'I..fb)Iheworkers:(hoserromKus tia d 'ng, "'"'errmoSII' corllr - 1St ;I/ldrheloc.11menstagedaplayOnt hes .."k n" Jl#nson",!>.- 11 e:oc- ,on Mill.InIhemselves, such effortsmay" &ngaluxlfll01.seem t I 1 j and cI,hclllcrajbur In the repeared appearance of0 ,' , Parrcrllma)'beseen.Itwasont hiSsoilt il ... 1 phl'nomcrJ:l...tpt _..,.j[1norv.miz.;lrion.TheDhangar women 'ssqu'd fA '0 80b , whichsau"onrhemarryrdomof BhagarSi ngh"' m.prognnlfll c at rhe firstCommunist Pa .H.,Uk".lJ]une 1943. p. 8) exemphfies slIndar efforts 0.tty ..Utsldt &ng;u where rhe siruaria n was proplUOUS. Aroundrhe same orne,inthe Surma valJey inAssamtale ...' nted srngusfromSyihcrlikeNlrmaJenduChoudhun,GopalNand-PrasunRO)'.and weregoi ngarOundin dun"jcffO\lT15andvlUagessmgmgsongsaboutthe. ....,CISt waf, abour and about the famine ..8 IPiA as an orgaruzaaon wasnoc formally founded In Assam uncil1947. but fromthetouring squadinSylhettheSurmaValleyCUlturai Squ.adwasborn in1945 and it went on atour o f Barak valley and Brahmaputra valley inJune-July 1946,'again preparing the ground for the organization ..It would not perhaps be always correer to say that the fonnation of localsquads reflectedthe organizationaleffect of thetours.It J5likelychat inmany areasevenafterthetoursnonewCUltural acrivirieswerevisible.Sometimes,thepurposeoftherouring squadwascoperformratherthanpreparethesoi lformore perfomt.1.I1ces. Sometimes, short-lived local groupsmay have been fonned .. But even ifsuch events were small in number, (hey point to anunprecedented fact-that there was adegree of dissemination. 'Gr,..,S4ntftShiJpiHemaflgaBisWM,KhaledChoudhuryPratikhsbtJn (""'ph)),",w), 2- 17, 1988, P' 45,' V' nten II SOI1lt .regarding theof the forming of the Surma SqUMl..The earliest wrmenreferenceto Itthat IhavefoundisinP.e. loti; Ion me culturalfestivalat the Netrakona AllIndia KisanSabha tan, InPtoplt'sW",.(6May1945,p.12).Thatitwentonatour of :aua MId vaHeyin maybefoundinHemangaBiswas's ....reportsubmittedaethethirdAssamIPTAconferencein1955. ,.. Choudhun, acloseassociatt:of HemangaBiswaswhowastht ...,flfr:heSunna V.a&ySqtud, rt:members ieto be inJunt:-July 1946. MoI.nlehattocharyo\65 _;1111.SOl1lclil1lcSsquadsfoundal I\ ,!; zcdcultural, aCII VltJes inthe pia..\""eadye:u5unS or:1111 .Cel;VISitedThe co Ilu:lpt!d to ennch the repertoire on bohd .mact nOt 0 11 Y loCaldimcn s ion to the movementt."01 ell ,but added more 1\1 :111dl'' $lIf:1(hPalChoulunrecallsinaninte 'h ' I '40.. ffVl ewtatInSurma II'" inthc car ys quite aten the fOrmariofK' " IIdbInoaIsanSabha \\'oll ldbe(Qowey tl e formation ofI\' 1111\1 Ia cul uraUl1lt. These ' OllS! )'drew uponocal talentbut .h 01.1'"..'..... ngsCIter composed I Hcl1l angaBi swasandhiSassociatesorbrouhf 'YIhgtoverrom ga!wereasotaugttothembyoccasio_." Ucl1...nillV!.Sltors.Khal ed Choudhury IIIthementioned article refers to at least one occasion when, d.. a .. Klsan Sabha conference at Patharkandi in Karilllga njsubdi VISionInBarakvalley,HemangaBiswaswrotea ngonrhethemeof famineusing alocal Jaritune andKhaled picki ngup the simplemovements of the dance from a local peasant, t3.ugh.t it the refrain of the song to some young peasantsintheManlpun sothatcouldsingitintheir own language (p. 46) .. At thiS tlme lrawat Smgh, the great poli tical and culruralleader of Manipur, was working among the Manipuri peasants inBar.akHeof the songs composed byHeOlangaBISwasmtotheMampunlanguagewhileretaining the original tune .. These two songs, ' Tbangol adu maya thangu thouna, heJo",,"ba'(' Kastetarediojoreshan')and ' HouroawabaUago dukberoratero ghar tamasb bhedi' ) became very popular in these areas ..Whenr visi tedRamnagar, apredominantly Manipuri villagenear Silchar afewmomhs ago, I met Bhagirath Singh, a survivor of the oldculturalsquadformedthereint he days of Irawat Singh, and rhe reveredold man sang snatches of the same songs to me. Att hetimewhentheSurmaValleySquadwastouringthe distriC[towns of Assam, at leastin some places squadsmusthave been fo rmed if they had not beenthere earlier. Otherwise, when the first provincial conference of the Assam 1PTA was held on 3- 4 May 1947,morethan150delegatesfromSylhet,Cachar,Dibrugarh. Jorhat, Dhubri, Shillong, Jaintia Hills and Tripura would have congregatedthere:o Surath Pal Choudhurirecalls thar dUringSurma ValleySquad'stripto Jorhat. (0counteracttheapathy a IOThere is some confusion about the date of chis conference too.,' If this conferenct Ibeen the date gIVenhere appears In the on y repon 0 r.. ... cofind10far. JeappursinSwadhinala8May1947p4'untilmort ,.."., uftidma II found cothe contrary this willhaveto be accepted. __ Prodhan. VoI. f. p. Uf . Molini Shot\oc;korya '.7 .::,-.:: 11 Nabafl ll rille RO'." pr;JsaCOIlUlU'l1f,lrv !> .IICC,hepcas;lnrs couldnotunderstrs co :;Ul'pl,.;I",iC.;Ifion;.ps boundto bet hoand Such ("01111111I:> ... t eOkanyt hUlg forlhebasicallypoliticalpurp"d ellrs"'Crt'lie,Os!"Of exprnlll",rhci:'unouscontroversy over Naba11na18 aI bd . >,hcll1e.' P Ol" ngil oS h--Iwrv high levelof rcchmcaJexcellenceI' hh hOldre.1lC{"UII' /,eaves "r.hthis technical excellence served a specific pun"" Ouf Ihl".Kf lar .1'"",,-,,1"( lurionizingtheprosceniumconventionevenWh'l' {h.lco",1'0hh'' hh" .looksrhe possibility rat ('ISmIgtavebeeh uSlOglf. h o\,cr.". h'.nte .f many other experiments WitIn and Wlthou,h sr;attlng poHir 0'...te ,'0 -aeh our to different kmds of audience.Nab. prosamum 1I'l4 . >h\'{'become rhe sale standard of rechnicaJ excellence' nt'n.lnO[a.., On hand. experimencs orocher kmds might have set up t heir Ol'n stvldards suirable cotheir specific purposes. For such experiments a dose study of and grasp over forms, and mrensi\'t rehearsa..ls, wererequired. even asin the case of Nabanna It5etffiSthatwhenin1944theNabatm4teamwasformedIkngaJ,andtheCentralSquadinBombay,formandCOntent nor yerseenasbinary opposites andthequestionof formal innO\'3oonhadnot acquiredsuchabadodourwi thinIPTA. As Iha\'tsuggestedbefore,rhereareexamplesof talentedanists amongpeasan[S and workers purring traditional forms ro new USes toevokenew responsesfromtheir traditionala udience.Middle_ class .arrisccslikeHemangaBiswasfromAssamor PremDhavan fromPunjabwerealsousing folkrunestoshakeupthecultural habiesof otherspecificaudiences.Occasionswhichpermitted adtgreeof heterogeneirywithintheaudiencealsohelpedthese experimentations.It was precisely withthe purpose of improving thequality of suchexperimentsandcarryingthembacktothe proplechartheCentralCulturalSquadconsistingof fuU-time cuJruralactivistswasformedinJuly1944;1'itwasfinancially supported bycheCommunisr Parry, though most ofthe participants YSudhi Pradhan, Vol.I, pp. 324-34 . ., Inhu above-mentioned report on the cultural festivalat the Netrakona conf'aaxt. Jomlcomparesrhelocalruralsquadswiththe$unnaVaUey s.,.cr and IUggesurha.ttheSuperiorityof thelatter'sproduccionsmaybe ::to daefaa that they were .'tx-Sfudenu and full-time cultural workm. IIfIIJfI produced for the mud annuaJ conference of the AFWAA in1945 175 notPartymembers.AbaniDasGuptaadSh. " .... rt"doS11l usicianandaleadin.dan.....nantiBatdhan, k,lL....... rrespeCtivelyfUda Jkaf'S Ahnoraschool , werethetrainedhromy Sh:'ln.d.rs,iUlteartiStslived ,Ily :'I ndpracti cengorously.They '''dh f lLS:l.teearsedalto.h r600 houtsforthelrsecondprogrammei1945..Ctcr fof 11(0f 'A6nwhich Included d 1"""QI'fareap e sge,January 1946p, 12) Thd III,a.Ch''e resscs were ,dby (he artl seItt3prosadand Inadbyh IannI!etemembers of PS'uadthemselvesfromcheapgunnydhd' {heq.'.Ot,e' In m EngUsh,30.2, (1990): 1- 9.. p.ard. Glt\'t, JImtnt,J Inrm-_. JMarch1998. RU$hdJe, .iman. TINMoor's l.4st Si!p, New York:Pantheon Books, (199S). SaId, ,d,,-ard, oJNrrilnd Impnialism,London: Vintage, (1994). Soller,'\l'crner,tbt /m'nltionof mniciry. NewYork:OxfordUniversityPreS! (1989).' T1uongo, NgugUJu,'a,/Je(olonisingtheMind,TbrPolitics of LanguageinAfrican Currty. (1986). CS:;s In Search of Women in History of Marathi Theatre, 1843 to 1933 Neera Adarbr InJuly1990,'Expressions,'awomen'sculturalfestivalwas organized by some women from various women's groups. Since the focalpain[ ofche festival was ' theatre' an effort was made to invite some of thefirst generationstage actressesof the19305 to share their experiences. It was soon realized that the [ask undertaken was rat her difficult as very few women of that generation were alive and amongst those who were, most were confined to the house because afcheir age. The third important facrorwas that actreSSts from the upper caste background were comparatively easier to contact than the actresses ofDevadasi origin. We were denied acctss to them by t heir family members who were rather ashamed afcheir past. Thestudywhichfollows,istheresultoffurtherresearch undertaken to explore women's presence in, and their contribution totheatreintherecordedhistory.HistoryofMarathitheatre inadditiontoachronologicaldocumentationpresentsa comprehensiveanalysisof thevariousaspectsandissuesrelated to theatre. AnnualeventsofNatya.Sammela,u(annualconferenceson theatre),magazineslikeRAngabhoomipublishedbyatheatre company and dedicated only to theatre,many literaryperiodicals and&equendyheldseminars,discussions,lecturesprovideda .... ' 51'discuss anddebate,( 0theIn laffonn.Inll t ",," .IOU011$ p.(,(,cdwithrbc,nrc- fromaestheticest I ,$SUI'SaJllll.,al '1s and decal s.Irrt"torhepolit iC,socIaandIll o ra]1 hues of rher ,eaVaUes ftC,uqI int heatre.Fromrhestudy oft he av' I ( hnH'Ipk1111'0\' b..ato r e y-- .rh:trrheaerua1conrrlurIa nofWOIll ldeedalIfISsccn.."cnto n../"z.dint he otherWI se comp telCns 'Veanal y. theafre ISm.ll'g maICfSIS of Th sanimportant component0WOme n'scul t rhl"t heatre.UUra] . ..'ssingOntheocherhand,onecanfi ndCXten. [ r;l dmonIS1111 .SIVe ' . 'how how womeninthe con text of t heir ' use'toth maten., [ 0S."e mc;t crt'" l:'.reviewedbytheparnarch aJsociety.T hiSpa pe rdeals \lith rhl!St'cwo aspects. DOCUMENTATION OF WOMEN'SCONTRIBUTI ON TO THEATRE \tomen asperformers, as theatre company owners, asplaYWri ghts are practically invisible as only a brief mention of the names ofa few of these women wi th cursory one line temarks about their work in me history ismade. Thisstands out starkly agai nstthebackdrop of gloriousaccountsof t hecontributionmadet o[het heatreby men, especially those who perfonned femal e characters o n st age. It is imeresting to note that historians of different periods have given the same infonnation about womentheatre companies while male theatre isreviewedwi th a revised analysis over the years. Theearliestrecordofwomenperformersisof 1865.Women performed intheatre companies, which were very often owned and foundedbywomen.Althoughspecificinformationabouttheir backgroundisnot available,one canconclude fromtheirnames thatthesewereprostitutesorfromt helowcast eco mmunities perhapsearlierassociatedwith'tamasha'(afolkform).These theacrtcompanieswere'allwomen't heatrecompaniesandthe asasmaleroleswere enactedbywomen. Thereisnor a singlemIXedtheatre company mentionedtill1929whenitwas foundedbythewellknownclassicalsingerHirabaiBadodekar KamlabaiGokhaleperformedbothfemaleandmale rolesInthe company ownedbyherhusband andlatermanaged by her. Barring the"". ......exceptions, women actresses were no tpart of m,i.lllStreamtheatre. 2'2 \ ,-he recorded documentation is given bel nI remarks available in historv bool .. OW. I.havequotedsame , ""'li,speclallythdI nl entS of t he women s enactment of, e nleUmg conI.'ma e characters ,-beearl IestofWOmenperformersinh Panyasperh, stoncalrecordisf'Vbh 'etheatre coink '0,upnchltta-cha.tak wari varshaPunearHmduStreeNatakMdI' Th. s,Mh1'ana,.emam I eroine sname wasa sawho wasyound L.. ,,g anut:aut,ful " This ,ompanywasownedbyBrahmi n andthecastw.d lascomposeof rosritures.T 1ecompany performedthe pi.,. P.h' ld' .ayommavauwhich dealt..... , thc ,marnage,WIdowmarri ag"nd woIdI' .lrre Ig lOUS Pr;nClples.[n1867wassetuptheNatakank.M.k .ranoran)a MumbaiHmduStreeMishri tNatakMandaliwhereN hb hl b 'eer;u.>al, Taibai ,V,taai,Ma saa1were;nthecast.lManikPrabhu PrasadikPurnachandrodaySanglikarMandaliwasalsoo .....ned byaBrahmi n, Joshi.Son;Punekarinwasthemai nperformer whowas' beautifulandwasagooddancer.'Purnachandroda; SanglikarNatakMandaliseemstohavebeenami xedcompany whereKrishnabaiactedasDraupadi.Sheisdescribedasbeing 'fair, slim, medium height but the quality of her voice andsi nging ability was average.'! From1908- 1925threecompaniesperformedregularly-Belgaonkar,SatarkarandManohar.6 BelgaonkarScreeSangee.t Mandaliwas apopular all-wo mentheatre company foundedby a prostitute Ekamba whichperformed a ' pro-Tilak' play Dalldadhari. Thewo menperformingmalecharacterslookedlike 'ardhanari ,' ' ugly'and'abnormal .'7 AprostitutenamedSheshasanifounded aco mpanywheremaleandfemal eactorsperformed.'Sarubhai ownedSatarkarStreetSangeetNatakMandali .'Kamlabai Gokhalefrom19 14o nwardsperfonned male and femalerolesin I R.S.Val imbe, Marrllm Narya Samiksba, 1865 1935, 2. lVal imbc, Maralhi Narya SamiJuba, JAppaji VishnuKulkarni, MarrJlmRAngabbooml , 1903. Valimbc, Manuhi NaryaSamiksha, 1865 1935. SIbid. , Ibid. 7P.G. Kanew,K4bi NatyiJSmriti, 1944. Valimbe, Manllhi Natya Samilcsh4, 1865 1935, 4. , Ibid. .Irhusband. In1929,I-l ira ba iBad"" ownedlJ)'Ie'. ,.ekat alo l1g\\' IthlerfWOSiStersand' d bSlCoilSillS"10on ill(;I",OU5"tc' company.Insome me moir,c' r.ded 11 ' IllLXCbrorhr"r.,unh'localcomparues mentioned,one of the korOIcrh,Cll\a( arr illrouplocaltrader coll ectedteocal prostitur 5.1\l'Vl",';1dl.,,"herr aes to form;a(hc.&rr'rronlpany THEATRE AND SOClO-POLITl CAL MARATHI MOVEMENTS h ('brath; chearrehasparalleled the political andsO(:,', Thtgl'(J\IT0"a.. .'-L.. ....ashrraThereat 1843 marks the beginningf mm'l"lTlcnfS In'' ou.......0 Maramitheatre whenVishnudasShave Withperformance of 5tJ SIl'J)'ilmt',;tr started atraditionofplays(which J.asrt'dtill1860).ThiswastheperiodwhenreligIOUSresentment especiallyoftheuppercasteHindus,towards(he missionarieshadreacheditspeak.Thetheatrecompaniesof this period\.I'treinthehands of Brahmins,pundits andshastris. Throbjectiveof thesemythologicalplays,accordingtoShave t.\01.S 'nationalentertainment.'Theconcept' national'inclUdes consolidationofreligioussentimentsandmoralval ues.The plays \.I'tre mostly based onRamayanato show Ram as anideal of manhoodagainsttheeffeminatemalesportrayedbytanlasha(a folkfonn of decadent Maratha period) whichwas sti llcontinuing at me time. From1861anewtraditionofhiscoricalplays startedto evoke theemocionsof patriotismratherchanreligiousfervour.These plays were rermed ' bookish' plays since for the first time the script of theplaywaswrittendown.Theestablishment of uni versities andrheexposuretoEnglishliteratureencouragedmanycollege srudenr.sandteacherstotranslateShakespeareanplaysaswell asoldSanskritplaysandstagetheirshowsinthecollegesof Bombay.Pune.Thesehistoricalplays,inadditioncoevoking the pacnonc sentiments, alsoupheldorthodox, conservative and moral values.The playsreflecting socialreform issues hadto take the form of'social plays.' Sumant ]Oihi, MIlr4lhi NI#JtUrishtitali Mushfiri,1966. Alrhollgh nearly 35 plays seem to have be. cialreforms pertaining to WOment "e:wnuenon the theme o( SO.h 'Itlle193Os,th ',f MarathltcatreISidentifiedonl. hego wm era\ecween 1885 [0 1920, which hadYmUSicalhinoncal playSfd 'a patnotlc messag. and .h standards 0proucnon and musicTh._.very hlg,' fi..ISIS;U50chara.cte "zed heera of g oncanon of SOmeof th1n by(rke rna e actorsperformin fcflla\eroles.ActorsIe Balgandharva were legends.g MosttheatrecompanyOWnerspi.1." ( L, aywngnu(espeaally Khadilkar) , actorsSUCIIas Balgandharva) werehigh'.flaIdI"yinuenc,= by theI[Yanpo ideology of Lokmanya Tilak. likeRAnaJ3bmulev,KharaRaJput(Real Rajput)glorifiedvirtues of self_righteousness,strength, valour,nationalandreli giouspride andmartyrdom .. Alltheseplayswerenot subtle inconveying the fllessagesand provokedtheBritishrulers by characters and situations IdentICal [Q the then prevailing politicalevents. AlmOStallthepoliticaleventsof thatperiod, especiallythose takenupLokmaya Tilak inhispaperKesariand Marolhll , became readymatetial forplays. A fewexamples: the Swadcshi movement andboycott on foreigngoodsadvocatedby TilakreAectedinthe playSwadesbiChalwal.InthefirstNaryaSammelanof1906,a resolutionwaspassedto useonly 'swadeshi'materialfortheatre company requitementS. Partitionof Bengal, theVangBhang movement gotreflectedin DiryaAnmodayandBritishatrocitiesonthepeopledemanding theirrighttosi ng'VandeMataram'underthepresidentshipof Surendranath Bannerjee, a closefriendof Lokmanya Tilak(were reflected) in the Marathi play Bariudchi Dhamdhum. ForTilaktheprioritywaspoliticalfreedomandnotsocial reformswhichaccordingtohimwoulddividechepeopleby isolating the orthodoxy, whereas leaders likeBhandarkar, Lokhitwadi stressed on the social reforms,spectally those to women. These differences among (he leaders on social and puhllcal priority are wellknown. Since thetheatre wasmoreby Tilak,playson women'sissuesalthough not d,ir:cted agalllst the reformsreflectTilak'slowpriority forwomen stssues. The plays .hhtsandviewsof boththe werestructuredtodeplc(tecaraCer". sidesthe traditional and the reformist; however, charaCtenzattons and :he situations created ina very shrewd and clever way, always r as lI't'srcnlizt.-d, O\er.cnthusiasticrid ' rrfonlll5 ,ICli l olls and a hn,ocncd, "8rhll.r rime afewexamples of f.'llllOUSI Th1'1" \lTR'unn..'d, II'hD .. d\,'Oc.aredwidow rcmarnag' butI "'. Jtt I{;ulll1I1l1SeJ /lktusn'8lId 'IIkegreeholders) wOll1enfrompacesIeIndoreNagpu,Khd ',anwa,Puneand BOll1bayresponded.Out of theseeigh"arionc.trc,nom':tlrt.'ad}'.Peoplewouldeit h chrouS"r,,('cu.' f,.er dcm;mdhuge ,Sumsof mOIlCl '3 SdO."'tJ'be o rt'agree mg[01l1arry h rl pp",mon wo uld emerge iI1 o rher forms. The astrolog_ Icit'oro.'.'I.1'-t would cd! the oo,,'s fami ly rh:H,(marned sue 1 g lrwould surtly d.c J,ndso on. At thenme of r.heeminent mendidtakt'dC\"3dasisaswin' smsymbolic,asse rtionof t hei r d Public spirir. Bur these cxcepnons (as in the tntJ.ncip4C1on an..' case ofchc ft" ' reportedwidow rcmamagcs of thetime) only served to _cJ-"wasthe\'en.'beautifuJor gifted dasisal one '" prt)\T u.t ru ...... J...'10 mVl.agedtomakegoodmatches-:-M.S. today's n'llO"'ntd marriedaBrahmmdespIteherdaslparentage j.a\.u.akshmi, chefamousdancing girlof Pandanallur becameJUnIof Ramnoad.comentiononlytwo.For the majority however nurri.agr n'maineci an expensive and difficult proposition.' Thtwormcampaignforcedthedevadasistoacknowl edge c::Mmora.!supremacy of grhastaval ues.Evenmoreimportantly, It obligrdchemtorelinquishallrightstotempleserviceandits pn\1kgd "Dtt men on the other hand continued to perform both Ul dlt' tt:mplt:S and i.npeoples' homes. The immense patronage they ruc\'ed fromtht DK/DMK regional parry organisations favoured themfinancially. The nagaswaram, eventoday,isperformed asa ronan art.WithrespeCttolandrightsaswell,theabolitionof dw dn-adasi system benefited the men of the community over the 1t'OIl'lt:Din direct contrast to the historical situation. In the19205thenonBrahmin Jus ticeParry(themoreelitist prWSOtof theOK)hadtakengreatcaretoprotectservice bcnef.ia.. in ttons oflands and buildings attached to the devadasi's oIJia before finallypushing through the legislature Billin1930. T1v Madras Act of 1929 enfranchising inams and maniams as[he ux.fr-tt land privileges were called, was justified on the grounds of JiC.1rCUlJusoce: Tht devadasi' bond-slave'tothetemple authoriries cauId now""'ll che house and land without the extortion of service. T1w proct:sI of convtrting traditional usufructury rights (0 publiC J.adan.acht:citooffice)intoprivatetaxable'property'however dv menovertheirwomenfolkinchattheytOOcould Ami"Slinivoso 0'" inlwnt [he shares earli,kn253 11..rCpt Wifhl:mdcommgmto [hemarketIe fOr their dtdicat.td. heIUItttl(landdeed)sYStemud, throughtht 1.,,_-' (rnerthB .'U\Jucuof 110ral infrastructure of matric.1: tltlsh, theec.no 1. centred JoihonOmleand Internal strneoverproper .....d'...ntouseholdltr ' f'IiVISlonmng SUntTed. sccnons0(hecommuni.....benC": creasedandthe w,-'h' ."-,elltted;utItT ulteresnng yfurt hermorehOVerthelessfon , . .., t e procfunate social c lange IOl tlared b yt he rcess0ration,,"l ,. elorm cam., Wtstem casrcislllactuall yincreasedpalgn, farfromred' ..communal[t.uemg co01 muOi ty.TheImpetlalcensudwithinh sataof thte revealthISproccss of transition ofhe1901 - 1921 tvoriod ..tedcvad.ProfeSSIOnal class With a higher""asl CommUni'" fro ', m a for India) to a'caste' with amOre .lfl ,)r1ofBr.lhlllll1. null -Brallllli ll In,,1;i1dr.a5Sr.lre.IfW;1510that the rr"",.1 o{lhe d;ulce IIIIllf.)rt" 'currt"cl ' l",eINywouldbep"essedfor_ ,urd blrht: 8r.1hllllll..ayaRao, brought rhe intensegraceanversatili tyof thehighlyod'fidk' .h 'cIeathakaliof whichsewasa[ramedperformertocreI' ,ateanguarmodernist performancesthatrangedfromabstractbI, . sym0Ismtopolitical cabarec.Shetransportedthegestural languagef khkI' oataaloneo [he bare stage, and sham of the Costume and makeup, the performance gamed another kind of powera[ one' d ..'e expressive an ImpasSive, . Haks.ar, in erstwhile Soviet Union, with herdeep mstghtmodes of exploring interiority and its extemahzanon 1Ilnarrative, and her subsequent, equally formative trainingintheNationalSchoolofDramaunderBVKaramh, dramatizedworksasdifferentastheTamilepicSilappadhikaran, andOostoyevsky'sTheIdiot, toexploretheoverlapping selvesof wife and courtesan, ascetic and madman. The range wasimmense. IfTripurari Sharma, playwright and director, elected to work with marginalizedgroups,peasants,faccoryworkers,slums-dwellers, most often women and children, to produce and direct plays about andsometimeswiththem,AmalAllanaworkedmost oftenwith themonumental. She staged aspectacular KingLear with veteran character-actorManoharSinghinamemorableperformance .. thor tlurdu'.Ihn r- 1.II1"h.u-.1."Ilm'm,lf Mmin dw rU\0 1,11('.... 111('11.1111(' , .1 /-illl.it.ld,II'I.II('IIorMother (......sh(' dropped st.1l1d.lI'd' -Ilndl _r"us,' IIll'ot ,he- Handl bell , but \ol1ththe kmd 01ddlbtr.ulOllthat had Conl\! a long fromrI,(' fulks\' dIalect .1d,' prarions orrhc19805. Shl' has ,htofdlsron:nng Iheformar she andManohar SlOSh firl4l.lly found fora 8n.'chr pia)'. which had acquired canonical sunu Inthtclassicpcrfonnann'byanacrressaspowerfulas Hrltnt: \t'.!':'gel, Manoh;lr SlI1ghwaSbeginning rothePOStures, S.r!i ,Tilt, of (hewholeis; prQCC'5S,lhl'p.1I-:tllcl(l'MS'pur inpbce. adifferent Set of .aurhon.al .andprofcs.,... onalfl.'/aflomhil's (5).This Ia),eredness h slgrufico1nC"t"forthe pt'rforn13llce of gender:as Ifrfw- bod,. I!> SOCI.l.1scnpr rhenrht"p"rfonnanCt': of gendt'r is a soc;:ial 8'l"'C'med and enSIIlC'CrrdhI' codes rh;u an' embeddedinprevailing U'UC'furn..U'ollll'.ndm'('(orsare("oncern{'dto SUIfaceandmakevisibl dHSprocessof gl'.ndcnng:rheproc{'ssof showing,after JudithBUde; hov.bodies an ' m.1Cl'rializedassexed';howmenandwomenaremad ' Shlfong rhl'.of gender, ofrhesocialcodes masculinitywould mC'andl"scabli zing (hem and refocusmg on (hem. This dest.abliz.uionh.uamodernisthisrory;BenoitBrechr'sGoodPmOl1of Sr...."comes Immedl.1rdyro mind as a srrongly ideologicalrestrucrurin o(thC'demC'ncsofgt'ndt'r. J..atelylifescripts such as these H,,,,IIUIJ MIU, Manohar SinghJ are not authol'ed alone or.J1'('scnprsformlbycommunities aJldindividualsalike andmay bt' funof contradictions that might not beresolvl"dor brought together In a pou.'C'ffuUycoht'rt'.nr or focused narrative. (Kapur 2001: 10- 11 ) THE VIVADI COLLECTIVE Anuradha Kapur is me director and coordinator of the plays staged by the VivadicoUective sincethelate1980s,Kapurisanunusual comblOarionof afinelyanalyticaland articulate theatre schol.1r, "no has "TInen an extensive srudyofatraditional form, the RAmlila o(R.unnagar, as also of an avant-garde director, who has not shied a,,-ayfromtakingrisks.Shehasworkedsince1989withVivadi, anarnste' scollective,of whichsheisaco-founder,toproduce pJays whichrange fromTagoreto Brecht, fromalatenineteenth cmruryUrdunoveltothe autobiography of Jaishankar Sundari, afamedfemaJeimpersonator of the earlyewemiethcentury. The pby t4-nichhas grarifiedalarge number of audiences has been the frrshIOterpretation of an old favourite: Umrao,the dramatization of a (MnOWrumof the nineteenthcentury Urdunovel,thefirst prnon narrative of afamoustawaif, courtesan, ofLucknow.2 In the '11w ncwrJIftSplrN (he:Pakistani (J976) and the Indian (1981) films. IIm.u to become: an alltime: f.1vourite, See Dar (2002) for an analysIs Vosudho001 moo2h7 Dvd,Umr:lohad d n..ceInold o(I'ourhOI!> hernarrative prog"dage,acqUiring 'hfi 'd .ssefrom.Ihegure l'OIn:1nh00.Inthe play, it Was thglroed [0 full -f]d '"e PrOCessfeged ,'as c1roug10UtKapuh,0 ageingOfag,h' \. ," r c oseto' . ,w lch urtara Haorkar, one of che mOSt.cauthen\lddl ..'.vers.1tlle chae.sed Hindistage,InrheleadmgroleIiracter-actressesfh ..erlackof0te \\'3SafiguratIoncrucialfortheIfcoqul'ttyasUrn .....se-underst.1d'r Ol.OremUllsccncmg:ItwashermiddlednIng soughtWhile ,,b',-agebodyh time[0 III 1:1It t 1eworld of eph,ItatWentbackin ,. ., .meraYouthU seenfrolllSlHtmg perspectives:'Illrao herself was Thiselllphasisonpointofviewp'od " ucesachara' con [Ours,ac laraC(ert latappearsifI' kcter..... thdisSOI\;ng ., you1eftam' h' asUmraoseespeopleIIImany""rSOn'e ..... tInframe, JUSt ae,so dOl1.-..h ,yfSpecrtVes,Thecoherentconstituff ,seterfrommao, 1'- ..'.Ion0tau'tli'd' IOC3tl"d10manysubJectlvlties. ThisdrbISIspersed,tobe h'h ',Ife leatealanceof. subjectWICISItsemadeupbya criconstrucnnga ,'hSscrossof subJct". ., flexibility Witrespect to performancc(Kc 1V1tlesrcqulres .apur 200t : 8) Thechangingskies of the beautiful setf'. "h'h0Imagesrecallmgmini ature palming, wICcould be wheeled'd. ,.In anOUt, were conceived and pam ted by weLlknown artiSt Neelima Sheikh, ThescriptwasaliterarytranscrearionbG'" ..yeetanp IShree avant-gardeHmdlnovelistandshonStory,G,: fi wnter,eetanpiL Shree'srst novel, Mai, was a nuanced portraya'fh,' h '.'0temot lerwlt anhonesty and IOtlmacy asyetuntried inHindi, and the second Hamara Shahar UsBarrz-.s(Our toum, that year), was a deeply troubled and finel yhonedreadlOg of communaJ antagonisms and violence ina town innorthIndia. Geetanjali Shree's handling of the Umraoscnpc was an open and multilayered process: Her readings are aggregates, as it were, forperform.1oce, as they question thenatureof subjectivity.SubjecrivityisnOtseenasunifiedsovereign rationalconsciousnessbutassomethingthatisdiscursivelyproduced, encompassing unconscious and subconscious dimensions of the self and implying contradicrions, process and change. (Kapur, 2001: 8) Musicin Vivadiproductions is an integral part of the narrativej it was particularly so in Umraojan, woven as it was around the life of a of the respective constructions of the figureof theLucknow CourtC'san in[he twofilms. ",Wi anJoflllgh callhr.' . II W, I:> ,lIld ....ndcred k\ 'IJrI I-hll .In t lelr turnlea I .solercposltoryorvalu!'.set(' rn, 1, thatHi nduismI ,f",11Io-'''r,' ,.(Ih, ",w,lt;"r.1 upholds .. .. n"",--...Ih.t Ihr 1I1:11"r , .. "ulhc,ulC., 'h' Il.UI,"I.IL.Lnd also as a "...,,,,,..... rlJ tI'f'" ,II .t" Ju:"", .. ,( H,.,II" "IllLh- h cnll eal, and I!\'en "'_'- _..... . ",1, ,[",,'11(IwCt,nti n e.nell lof Won dun,;;,..,,ow'!I",1",:"""len u"oroI'",'IIII.a "."I,h,' bh.,Jraloklendency 10ca[egotiSt "J)lTlCSfIemg.inhis soul(anna).NoSall1aj,/10 dh.,arnurIS gTl':.:ncrthanrhat. But",h.ucanbeingHindusigni fYroanintcllccrualSUch \ 'In.l,.? CanIt bt more or lessthansocialVinar confess: thar Hindu nt('Sha\'('ne\'er meanr Illuchrohimandthat he d ,e, nO(posstsstheknowledgeroexpresslyagreeordisagreeWith dh.vma precepCS. Inthe switchingto andfrofromthe oneto the ocher ondus shmbasis,fromHindutoBrah motoHinduagain In the inreTl':sr of hisunion withLalira, t here dawns t he thar he does nor need co change hisHi ndu social identi ty, in order comartyBrahmo La.lita.Therealizati onemerges intheCOurseof hJ.Sconversations "ith Anandamayi andPareshBabu. Though Paresh Babu advises caurion in rhe maner of conversion hlC.asks VinayCOehrowhimself inco seormy waters,tonot restgn't:nbtlilCfsysclCmsbut to t ussle with them. A Hinduor Brahmo ,droncy can be an outer shell, in whichcase it would, of course,be possible to seep our of it.Bur there canbetolerance of difference Ifoong ICither one of[hem, Brahmo or Hindu, involves a search fo; tnDe:rtrurh.AsPareshBabuseesit,trurhhasalso to proveitself It has also[0 stand thetesr of time, forno truth can congealdogma. Vmay hasthentorealizethatbeingHinduint hi ssensecan tquaJly give Heneeds neither to leaveHindu society nor uh an stand.Itisquiteanothermatter,if Hindu soaecydeodes to excommunicare him. But then Anandamayi had ;;na told him theHindu Samaj has made space for amyriad .a.w. Perhaps It wouldcreatespace for awifefromtheBrahmo Samojl 'nanalmostparallelprocessandinthecourseof thesevery conwnanoru,Sucharitaisalsomadetorealizethenarrowness '" IraJunobM'rooLtn:Son,it's\\TOngtoforcepeopletobendthiswayOr (holt. PA....v. Is caJlfor this kind of conn-ovcrsyhere? PUESH:Then' II callforrhiskindof controversyhere.Pleasefeel frtt ro spe.t.k,.' A"'AND)'Lm:\rill your Brahmo Samajforbidhumanbemgronleer human bc:i ng? Will rhe Brahmo Samaj conrinue to hold chern apart eve.nifrhe Lord creaced them t hefrominside? PA....v. The Lord isnor discreeefromthe Samar ANA..... OMAn;\l/har are )'ou saying,son? Do youwant to swallow the Lord " 'hole? PA.....t..':Our dhanna .... ANA.....OM....Yr.PareshBabu,willman(insan)continuetobattlethe Lord? Do \l'efo rm a Samaj for that reason? pAJI.SH;A Sarnaj which doesn' rtake noce of petry difference, which drawsinto vaster harmony... Vll'iAr. Isjt possibJe to craft such a Sarnaj? A.....v.'O .. tAn:\l:rasn' c this the ultimate goal of cheBrahmo Samaj? p....,."\.,:J,&.rada.sundari,SucharicaandPareshbelievethacVinay hastocakeiniriacionintotheBrahmoSamaj.Only[hen canthe Brahmo Samaj begincoconsider chemacterof this marnage. A."AA"'DWAVl:Butwhowancscomarry[heBrahmoSamaj?No, Vinay? PM"':Forgive me, but Vinaywillhave CObecome amember of the Brahmo Samaj. We' llhave to exertpressure. Svot.wTA.: EvenLalita .... Now.'DNAYJ.:Forgive me, buc press ure won't work here. Otrorus: Her resolution stunnedthem intosilence. CItoM;; Partsh Babu, why are youlistening so intently? Have you In hIS shining eye? o.:..a: Btau.sc alJchat he tries to suppresses he hears Anandmayi .." opmly. Look, he spCXflC1111:18.-5.r.Ild .sw\'r('translated1111'0powcl'fulplas, 11m ;unI ht'Sl'poe"c m12!,CT'." 'he31'1of theaeror.l i Sapproach \Iu.aJIIn;l8('s.emp o)1ngf. ',.d)? ..., JM"IfMUIeti"lUJomitarage(No,threekilometresbeyond C;). \.othorLulu323 B: y.lr./;,I"uml,dhar}l ",, 1,/11 I"".. , f" rnh""" I, fiance. Over-confident of his valour and blinded by his pride, Mirza sleepsunder a tree,payingnoheedtoSahiban'swarningsnot to stOP midway as her brothers will kill him. Sahihan'sreach thereandchallengeMirza.Waking,hefinds(hathiSqUIverhas been hidden in the branches ofehe trcc by Sahiban, whohad feared that Mirzawouldkillherbrothers. InsteadMirzaiskilledby rhe brothers.InPilu's version, Sahibanis dragged back [0 her village, while insome later versions she fallsdown dead beside her lover. In various renderings of the legend and in proverbial utterances, Sahibanisabywordfortheinfidelityof woman.Mi nimizing Sahiban's warningsto Mirzaandhishaughty refusalropay heed to her advice, the legend's repeated strai n is that Sahiban ' betrayed' Mirza. 'Thoudidsrpractisedeceitonme,Sahiban,... Thoudidst playmefal se,' complains Mirza;lwhilethenarrarer warns:'They thar love womanfallinto trouble,'.!Similarly, quickly passing over Heer'sofTertoelope v.oith Ranjha just before her marriage, t he legend as composedbyWaris Shah(i n1767)repeatedly and rhererically emphasizesrhe complaint of Ranjha toHeerthathehasbecome a fakir (asadhu) for her sake while she is happily married.Equally frequently, Heer's sister-in-lawSahitiboasts about the evilpower of womenwhowereagentsof Ravana'sdestruction(alongwirh hisLanka)andwhoinsti gatedKauravas'sandPanda vas'sfighr: From the particular event, without a valid connection, the legend leapsontomakewidegeneralizationsaboU[theevilnatureof the women whobring sorrowtomen. Contemporary playwrighrs notonlyredeemthesewomenfromthe chargeofinfidelityand betrayal, butalso. presentthemasmorecomplete,complex. humane persons In comparisonwi thmcnwhoblindedbyrhelr egoshi "' 11,aveon y apanialunderstandingof lifeandwho;lrc,I forwomen'ssuffering.Whilemaintaining oadoutllllesof thenarrativesof theP"-"byslightlyshiftl!1:.,,.(,S,r/"".I.19 ........pay swmans' rr.nna - (D_ > HompJlanon),1935, puts it:.ncnqmanct: If a man and awomanhavelivedtogether fortwo thenbothofthemarecowardsor they areboth .andnnotr fight, Happinessinmarried lifeisJ>UStfihec.elVtngeachocher... .If 'anameor te vanitywhich ItseIn the woman's victory over the man orofthe,.aprnses woman.(Ramans: romaiic, 91- 2)man s VIctory O\-'tt the Maya inLam (Lottery),1935is alsointent on winning a victory over. themeninherlife.Sheisflatteredtochinkof herself medieval'hasa .pnncess,or whom two men are fighting. In her opinion Oraswordwilldecide(he dispute berweenher husband' t lorkandher loverPradyum.However,Pradyumdoesnor want o taepar,>h>' I h InrISottery' andleaves.ButMayadoesnot nred te second '>0mananymore.Shehasalreadywonher \;ctorv asa man"Thall>'>, 111'ereIreof a woman starts only rhen when a man has lnedhimsIf fiI her IeOrler.Thismancouldheeither her husband or OVer.'(Lam,103) Bhuvane.sva'd inar sunersrandingof manandwomanasenpgf'd \lie ..... battle witheach ocher is very similar co Srnndberg's onthis._ :/qy WithF:matter,asrefl ectedInthe dramas tbt F.llhn-.188. Interprc1892,orDanceofDeuth,1900, and a.lltiClpa.res ASk's A.- tatlonofh >>d "joDidi(tIS Iss ueinthe playsT.:IIJi("(ToiW't'4),1943, an there isITheElderSisterAiijo),1955.InASk'sdramas..though, hno eternal.I Usband tnangle.The 'battle of the saes' concemJ on De,. andwifiI"'> 11('1,and'e.11 Strindberg'sPUl' 'rimFtrtandm Dt .., OfInShu , ...oneWovanesvar'spla)'swefindthe samt rontellanon 'llSc::111anad-, hussrh.nt\\'oIllen.80thh;l\'f'thtlrhrn)m 113bCittda..L_ ilr) ..antiswI .trOllS/lipSwithotherme-n(rwh".'1(htnnr 'l\\I'llChis_.._ J eSter]]Ianother InStaller ofrht" mflutnC't"o{'stnrJU C talllalie r-r.ldll ioll0 11 modernHmdldum.&in .... 378Modem Indion Theatre respect, BhuvancSvar's portrayal of the female characters and their freedom to choose or change a partner is unprecedented in modern Hindi drama, where it is normally men who are depicted as enjoying moral sexual freedom. Bycontra5t, women are presented as waiting forthemat home, inchastity and with devotion.14 Bhuvanesvar's portrayal of women does not reflect the objective reality of Indian society of the1930s and1940s, but israther an expression of the author'S artistic quest. Thedramatistdoesnotdepictwomanonlyasavilecreature and amenace to men, as Strindberg did.Bhuvanesvar also shows muchsympathy andunderstanding forhisfemalecharacters.In ROll1til'l5:romanc,Amarnathconsiders womanaproblemforman andsaysthat [heonly waytoavoid[his problemistomakeher pregnant. Theplaywright, however, implies that he does not agree with this view by letting the main protagonist, Mr Sirrh, say that ' I consider womana power, sheisthe one who makes life complete. Without her life would be like leaning on a blind man for support: (Roman5: Romanc, 92) The author sees the problems as resulting from the antagonism betv.'een the sexes.He considersthe primordial sexual instinct an an-pervading and oftendestruCtiveforce, especially inthe age of sexualfreedom. The playUsar(FallowLand),1938, dealswiththe power of this sexual drive. It can make one ilt or unhappy, although one does not know the real reason for iL Sometimes hidden wishes or true facts, known onl y to our subconscious mind, can be revealed involuntarily. Theopeningscenebeginswithaconversationbetweena and a [Utor. The man had been married for twenty-twO years.It is vaguely suggested that his wife does nor feel verywell. The host ridiculesthe young mallbecause heconsiders himself superior to the other inhabitants of the house and charges hh 'd '. \h .....-rhe t3.te IS conuctlng anIntellectualexperiment WIt 1tc,,,-) householder'Swife (grhasviimini),afatyoung woman (mortUIII(l1 ,. Thf;til'.d oy twO ucepuotls I could think of as regardS the periO ptrlf areAtk'.oneactplayKlnrlu(Window)andiUke!;'sAdheAdhure d' H41I/ltJ).Itlbothpbys,Itissuggf;5tWthatfemalecharacterl' re\auonsh,p with another man. DionaDim and three youn.IifnJwro.w decidetoplaya gaglr COme home from a w. wordsandthegmheln ordertopassthetalk In the park_"M._ .aD OtershIme. Oneof hassociatewiththaveCowriceimmdcem menuOru f'ewords'elacelythh ' sex.The husband's aroom,''electric;"ecmgsthry and 'science' res.nSwers are ' respons'b'Y,;perambulator' and ' bpectlvelyHI1 10/ "b." athroom' 'el...IS WIfeassoc,ram, ,eccncny'. h 'latesthe wd'O' and'sex' wich'ShahWItdarkness,' 'peramOrrOOm' with husband..Nazaf Road.' ThbuJacor' with 'baby' AllfISvery disqUieted.eyare allperplexedandh oasuddenchet, h'tUtor ap asseenhis diccionapears and asksthe tUtor has beenry.Theboy isSurriMdboyhe hasta1ked toveranda allthe ri!e. Heourche thar the cominger. tUtor answers that h.whether he matte,generatIonwouldbebISather hut said rWlecher theaerrer one thh' awayto..y werecatsor snakeS'an[ell'S,no )Olnthe orhs.urpnsedhboy stage, lighting a.ers.Thefinalscene shows 001'th egoes Thew'clgarecte.y tetUtor on homan sansw er sexua1dreams0ersrhatchereissomethin herhusbdrmamed hfethat shehkgabout sube.an.Shehastriedtoasept a secm &om 1"h mind, but th her[houghrsinher 1"h ereISsomething inh.author doesnoerlifemacmakes her unha telatio",hi; :a;;,e "elm wheth" it is a 'Ost baby theerhusbandThdmanor sexuaJreal:esenrarion th: psychoanaJyticapprmchin her seOlsonforher feelingfsmnerworldImplieschatme OnlytUa/ and marrid.0lSconcem is{heincompleteness of PI,yeepto herself'T abo.ut which she cannot talk,but can ellabl.eJOsernfh slip>hesthe authon0te game m tht' n' te ortoemlh. te s1.. .ulleonsciop or te techmque of the Freudian 10uveoususe of w_.1. ',onnscious md.On.ISmotivated by andm't'allng of tsInInordd' "'-qUes'.,er toISclosethe Inner _t10ll aris losIis"r,es about rh . S Of aborfallowbeI1Icanmg ofche whr ISrhe pu, ab'arren1:\d 'i" .Yor isitr.' 11Ifri'fi."tfarhl' "')dro (rue ( This stare of Iran sirionh,l5 cfl'.!rt.odmany grt';lt\h... rJ..l :n ou: Ollntl)'.\Varchinsa play b,Ginsh Karnad or Kambar1\L_ Salif: 'r . loUh... "sactl onov,,wlngourp.l.Sr:tndourroourhrollgh.J.\11'ind.rr 4nModemIOO;onTheatre hpresentItisanimportantbridge mat definitelybelongsto[eeand where we are coday.It .ds of where wecom sUM Karnad and Mr Kambar haveusedthe is mteresttng that bothr .cwogems' Nagamandalaand Sin Knada folktale to gIVeus. sameanhd'erent from one another and yct they share 5pig