Modernism in Vijay Tendulkar's "Ghashiram kotwal".

Vijay Tendulkar (1928-2008) is ranked as one of the three maestros of Indian theatre–Girish Karnad and Badal Sircar may be taken as the other two. Tendulkar has been persistent in incorporating new form and techniques in his theatre to make it both philosophically thought provoking and aesthetically satisfying. His theatre is appealing both to the common audience and intellectual theatre critics.

Vijay Tendulkar, the well-known playwright has written Ghashiram Kotwal in Marathi (first published, 1973). It has been translated into different languages-the Hindi translation was done by Vasant Dev (Delhi, 1974). Jayant Karve and an American professor Eleanor Zelliot have jointly translated Ghashiram Kotwal from the Marathi into English (Calcutta, 1984). 

The play was first performed on 16 December, 1972 at Bharat Natya Mandir, Pune by the Progressive Dramatic Association. But after nineteen successful performances, the play was banned on the grounds that: the portrayal of Nana Phadnavis's character was a distortion of historical facts, the play was anti-Brahman; violent audience reaction was feared. 

List of Awards: Tendulkar won Maharashtra State government awards in 1969 and 1972; and Mahārāshtra Gaurav Puraskār in 1999. He was honoured with the Sangeet Nātak Akademi Award in 1970, and again in 1998 with the Academy's highest award for "lifetime contribution", the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship ("Ratna Sadasya"). In 1984, he received the Padma Bhushan award from the Government of India for his literary accomplishments.

In 1977, Tendulkar won the National Film Award for Best Screenplay for his screenplay of Shyām Benegal 's movie, Manthan (1976). He has written screenplays for many significant art movies, such as Nishānt, Ākrosh, and Ardh Satya.

Ghashiram Kotwal is set in eighteenth century Pune at the time of the Peshwa rule. The play is a Marathi play written by playwright Vijay Tendulkar in 1972 as a response to the rise of a  local political party, in Maharashtra. This play is a political satire, written as historical drama.  It is based on the life of Nana Phadnavis (1741–1800), one of the prominent ministers in the  court of the Peshwa of Pune and Ghashiram Kotwal, the police chief of the city. Its theme is  how men in power give rise to ideologies to serve their purposes, and later destroy them  when they become useless. It was first performed on 16 December 1972, by the Progressive Dramatic Association in Pune. Jabbar Patel's production of the play in 1973 is considered a classic in Modern Indian Theatre. 

Society and politics are strongly highlighted in Tendulkar’s plays. Tendulkar had Leftist views. In particular, he was against Hindu social groups, especially against Brahmins; most of his dramas show Brahmins in a bad light. The play features the Peshwa's chancellor Nana Phadnavs and when it was first staged it came up against a lot of criticism of or showing the revered Nana's character in a derogatory light. According to Tendulkar: 

This is not a historical play. It is a story, in prose, verse, music and dance set in a historical era. Ghashirams are creations of socio-political forces which know no barriers of time and place. Although based on a historical legend, I have no intention of commentary on the morals, or lack of them, of the Peshwa, Nana Phadnavis or Ghashiram. ne moral of this story, if there is any, may be looked for elsewhere… In my view Ghashiram Kotwal indicates a particular social situation which is neither old nor new. It is beyond time and space. Therefore 'Ghashiram' and Nana Phadnavis are are also beyond space and time'. ('Introduction,' Ghashiram Kotwal). 

Ghashiram Kotwal is set in eighteenth century Pune at the time of the Peshwa rule. The story is about Ghashiram, a Brahman from the North, who comes to eighteenth century Poona. It was at that time that the Peshwa's chief minister Nana Phadnavis ruled supreme. Implicated in a false charge of theft, Ghashiram is insulted and humiliated by the Poona Brahmans and he vows to take revenge. His moment comes when the ageing lecherous Nana takes a fancy to his beautiful-young daughter Lalita Gauri. He sacrifices his daughter's virtue to the Nana's lust and manages to become the Kotwal of Poona. Now he unleashes a reign of terror on the Brahmans.

His cruelty crosses all limits and the death of 22 innocent Brahmans results in his downfall and leads to his ignominious end when he is stoned to death. The Nana who has used  Ghashiram's daughter and discarded her when he moves on to frees pastures goes scot free.  After Ghashiram's death, he announces public rejoicing for three days. The play is a satire on a society which shields. The powerful and the corrupt and punishes people like Ghashiram.  Justice is seen to be done, and the equilibrium of society seems to be restored. 

In Ghashiram Kotwal, the Brahmins are shown as enjoying tremendous power and dominance in society. Since power and corruption are related issues, they indulge in material pleasures and sensuality. The red-light area Bavannakhani is a symbol of moral degradation.  It means fifty one rooms. It has an ironic juxtaposition with the birth place of Lord Krishna. It shows how the sacredness of love is reduced into the vileness of debauchery and sexual promiscuity. The play begins with a religious hymn and the popular gods dancing on stage. The Brahmans are seen going to Bavannakhani to see the dancing girls and say they are going 'to the temple' to give a sermon on 'Vishwamitra and Menaka'. They justify their decadence  by comparing Bavannakhani to holy Mathura. The 'abhanga' or devotional song is often sung with the 'Iavani' or love song in his play. Scenes of violence and cruelty are alternated with devotional song. When Nana tries to seduce Gauri in front of the statue of the holy Ganapati, he simply dismisses her fears saying: 

Nana (voice of lust): Child, what do you want? (She turns around, startled.) All your dreams this Nana will fulfil. (He puts a hand, on her shoulder. She pulls back.) Oh, don’t be shy. This is our house. This is a private hall. No One will see. No one in Poona today has the audacity to watch the great Nana Phadnavis!  

Girl: He will see.

Nana: He will see. Who?

Girl: (pointing to Ganapati). He.

Nana: That idol of holiness? That all holy Ganapati? The maker of Good? Look, he has two wives. One on this side, one on that side. If you sit on our lap, he would not say anything!  (Act One 378) 

Further on in the play when Gauri is dead and the distraught Ghashiram confronts the Nana and accuses him of his daughter's death, the latter reassures him:

'He - the Omnipresent - He makes everything happen ...... We are merely instruments ......' He then urges him to 'forget whats happened. All merges into the Ganga Thou shall not grieve over what is gone. The Vedas have said that' It is a case of the devil citing scriptures to suit  his purpose?

Here we see how religion becomes a useful excuse for cover people’s misdeed. By invoking religion, all kinds of evils are glossed and even sanctified. Moreover rituals are encouraged to fill the pockets of the greedy Brahmans.  

Further in the play one can see how caste is used as an instrument of power. The Sutradhar reports that according to Ghashiram 'to eat with a lower caste person is a crime' (GK 26). To sleep with a 'Mahar woman' (a lower caste among the untouchables) is also considered a crime. On the other hand, the Brahmans, have no hesitation in chasing and pestering a white Sahib for money. This shows that race and colour constitute a higher position in the social hierarchy. And the white Sahib ranks higher than the privileged Brahman who is feasted and showered with gifts in the Peshwa's Poona. 

Ghashiram Kotwal is a serious play, a satire on the hollowness of society. Tendukar himself admits, „The criticism has a point .... the form had a certain inevitability'(45). Trust the tale and not the teller, we are often told. And as we are aware the play has been considered extremely disturbing. In this play we have seen that laughter can be as much an element of subversion and change as anger. The grotesque figure of the Nana dancing effeminately demystifies the power he represents and thereby shows the hollowness of what he represents so that we are made aware of the fact that the possibility of change exists. The form and content subvert logical and authoritarian structures. We have seen in the play how folk forms with the abusiveness represent irrepressible vitality and freedom. 

Women too, have become a pawn in-the power game. In fact there is a close nexus between sexuality and power. The Nana's statement with reference to Lalita Gauri: 'Our grandeur's gone if she's not had' (GK 20). A man's self-image, identity and machismo is definable only, it seems, relation to the conquest and oppression of women. There is a close connection between sexuality and religion as lavanis (love song) and abhangas (devotional song) are sung at the revelries in Bavannakhani which is likened to Mathura and the erotic dances to Krishan Lila.

Ghashiram Kotwal is a serious play, a satire on the hollowness of society, and which has use dance and music to showcase all the modes in the play. 

Brahman Oy. Oy. You son of a bitch. Don't you have eyes and ears?

Sutradhar I'm sorry, 0 priestly Brahman.

Brahman Don‟t you have any manners?

Sutradhar I'm so sorry, 0 lordly Brahman.

Brahmin Dont you have any brains?

Sutradhar I'm very sorry, 0 honoured Brahman.

Brahmin You bumped me, you son of a bastard.

Sutradhar I touch your feet, 0 Brahman.

Brahmin 'Oh you monkey! Is this the Peshvai or the Mughal Kingdom. Bumps a holy Brahman'  

Sutradhar But not a Brahman's wife! (p. 4).

One may note the sarcasm and insult intended in this exchange. Thus laughter can be seen as a political mode. Thus laughter can be seen as a political mode. Music and dance has not been used for its own sake. The songs sung or hummed by the chorus establish the appropriate mood and comment on the action. There is blend of folk forms with mainstream urban drama which has created a unique landmark in the history of Indian theatre.

The human wall is an innovation and takes the place of a curtain in a conventional stage. The stage is stark and empty without any props and when the members turn their backs, to the audience, the human wall helps in the transition from one scene to another. The chorus is a convention also found and used very effectively in ancient Greek drama. It was usually a group of village elders, dressed in masks, who gave an account of the event that had happened offstage or a long time ago. In Greek drama, the chorus moved from left to right and back again. In Ghashilam Kotwal the 'chorus' of twelve men comprising the human wall sways in unison. Not only do they sing and dance establishing a link with folk theatre but they also comment on the action of the play. The Brahmans make a curtain with backs towards the audience. The curtain sings and sways:

Ram Shiva Hari ....

The Street of Bavannakhanni, became for a while

The garden of Krishna. (GK,6).

The song exposes the debauchery of the Brahmans who in the name of God Krishna wish to justify their erotic dancing with the courtesan.  

Thus we have seen that along with its tremendous potential as spectacle, the human wall performs several functions controlling and enhancing the flow of the story. In addition, the use of the human wall makes it as easy to put up the play on a conventional stage\or in any open space in a village. 

“Ghashiram Kotwal” is a dramatic expose of the latent savagery of human being, i.e., treachery, violence, sexuality and power mania. It presents the power politics between Nana Phadanvis and Ghashiram---the former being hungry for sex and the latter, for power. From a common man Ghashiram becomes a beast in his speech of power. The play is a glaring example of the saying that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. It succeeds in presenting political power and revenge are so strong that one can go to the basest of things. This signifies the present political scenario so well!

References

Primary References:

 Patra,Mintu. “Vijay Tendulkar’s Ghashiram Kotwal: Theme of Power and knowledge” Veda’s Journal of English Language and Literature JOELL, Vol.5, no.1, 2018, pp.218-224.

 Rachana. “Theme and Dramatic Technique in Ghashiram Kotwal” New Man International Journal Of Multidisciplinary Studies (Issn: 2348-1390) Vol.1, Issue 4. April 2014 www.newmanpublication.com

 Patel, Jabbar. Gashiram Kotwal. Puna: Alurkar, 2012. video. https://youtu.be/4_Fc_e0L66I

Secondary References

 Wikipedia contributors. "Political theatre." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 8 Nov. 2018. Web. 19 Nov. 2018.

 Tendulkar, Vijay. Collected Plays in Translation: Vijay Tendulkar, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2004. Print