GOVERNMENT ARTS AND SCIENCE COLLEGE, VALPARAI

INDIAN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Unit:1 POETRY Gitanjali by Tagore, Verses 1 to 30 (Macmillan)

Unit:2 Non-detailed: Thirukkural 1 to 20 verses

Unit:3 DRAMA Non-Detailed: Aurangzeb - Indira Parthasarathy (Seagull)

Unit:4 NOVEL Chemeen - Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai

Unit:5 Sangati - Bama, Trans. Lakshmi Holmstrom – OUI

UNIT-1

Summary of Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali

The First stanza starts mentioning the grace of God to a human being. Tagore considers the human body as a frail vessel, God intermittently repairs it's damaged and fills up it with fresh life. God is all master of Human being, he takes care of his subjects and solves all of their problems. In that way, man is made endless withe the pleasure from God.

The second stanza says God is a great flute player or a musician and the poet is considered to a flute. The breath paid through the flute comes as a melody and it is eternally new, it lasts forever.

Tagore might have considered the poet as a flute and the poem comes out of his mouth as an eternal melody which is new forever. Poet reaches in unspeakable about the characteristic of

God. Every touch from God touches a poet‘s heart, this fills his heart with overjoy and makes him in a state of pleasure extreme to be expressed. Tagore says God‘s infinite gifts comes only to him, to his little hands. God will save me, protect me, bless me. I will be the same person even when the ages pass. My special room is my heart to store all your blessings. God continues to pour his blessings to rooms of his hearts, but still, there is room to fill. God is omnipotent and omnipresent. The beginning lines express the poet‘s admiration for God. Tagore tells God is with the poorest and the lowliest and the lost people. Poet asks where are you, what is your role, now I‘m going to offer my life and bend down on your footstool. Poet is living among the common people where he can see God. Here, the poet may be trying to explain that we can find God through the poorest, lowliest and the lost people. God won‘t leave them but definitely will help. Like a king rest his feet on a footstool, here poets tell God‘s footstool is the poor men themselves, He rests his feet among them.

In the second stanza, Tagore how deep-rooted the relationship of God with the poorest people. When the poet tries to bow down before God, his obeisance cannot reach down to the depth where God‘s feet rest among the lost people. That much deeper is God‘s touch on the common people. People with ego can never reach God. The God has worn the cloths of humbleness, and he walks among the poorest, and lowliest, and lost. Poets service is to offer his life to God, the poet is not ready to suffer as all the poets with a peaceful life. Simply remove the ego and get purified, then come to God. He never loves egoist men.

Poet is on search, he can‘t take rest in his life. He wants God always with him otherwise his life will become meaningless. In this last stanza, the poet feels so confused. He can‘t find a way to reach God, because God is with the poorest people. This makes him fear, he feels without

His presence he can‘t lead a meaningful life. The major theme in Gitanjali is devotion to God.

This paper focuses on the Indian philosophical aspects and the theme of devotion in

Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali. Gitanjali focuses on the all-pervading presence of God everywhere Gitanjali brings its readers into direct contact with the Infinite.

GITANJALI (SONG OFFERINGS) – SUMMARY AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Rabindranath’s Gitanjali is originally written in Bengali language. The

English Gitanjali or Song Offerings is a collection of 103 English poems of Tagore’s own

English translations. The word Gitanjali is composed out of git+ anjali. Git means song, and anjali means offering, thus it’s meant as “Song offerings”. The publication of the English version of Gitanjali paved Tagore a way to the world of English literature. It was in 1912 he published the Gitanjali and in 1913 he was awarded the Nobel Prize by Swedish academy.

Rabindranath Tagore is primarily and pre-eminently a lyric poet. KRS Iyengar says “He wrote the largest number of lyrics ever attended by any poet”. Tagore composed about 2000 lyrics of incomparable beauty and sweetness. Its lyrics are both rich in content and form and they are noticeable for the exquisite blending of the harmony of thoughts, feelings and melody of world.

Tagore’s Lyricism

Tagore’s lyricism underwent a gradual process of evolution. His lyrics are authentic expression of his romantic imagination through which he looked a man, nature and human life.

On the other hand, his early lyrics are characterized by romantic exuberance (extreme passion) and mainly deal with the various aspects of nature and beauty, which have been the favorite themes of romantic poets.

Tagore’s lyrics are are characterized by the versatility of themes, bu it is the manifestation of divinity in all objects and the aspects of Universe. He composed lyrics on God,

Love, Nature, Children, Love of the world and humanity and so on. No other poets even Sarojini

Naidu who has been hailed as the Nightingale of India composed lyrics of such a vast variety of themes. In his lyrics, Tagore recaptures the theme and spirits of Indian philosophy and vividly creates the Indian atmosphere and the influence of Upanishads, The Vaishnava, Poets, The folk songs of Bengal and Kalidas. Introduction

The Gitanjali Song Offerings poetry collection by Rabindranath Tagore was first published in the

Bengali language in 1910. The English version, Song Offerings, was published in 1912 with translations by Tagore, with a second edition following in 1913. Later that year, Tagore received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The English edition of Gitanjali is divided into 103 sections of prose poetry. Not all of these poems come from the Bengali version; Song Offerings also contains poems from Tagore’s previously published books.

The 1913 edition begins with an introduction by W. B. Yeats, the Irish poet who helped Tagore to find a Western audience. Yeats describes his interest in Tagore’s work and notes the poet’s ability to combine authentic feeling with spiritual concepts.

Throughout the Gitanjali collection, Tagore expresses a joyful, personalized spirituality with emphasis on devotion, faith, and an individual’s relationship with the divine in contrast with the official rules and practices of orthodox religion.

Although the poems in the English-language edition come from various collections, they still can be understood with a narrative arc. The collection begins with the poet’s joy at serving God, describes his suffering through separation from God and his re-awakening to God’s presence, shares his accumulated wisdom through song and story, and, at the end, relates his acknowledgment of his mortality and fulfillment of his life’s purpose. Plot Summary

In numbers 1 through 15 of Song Offerings, the poet presents himself as a singer who is devoted to God and expresses joy with this relationship. He seeks to develop a voice in order to carry

God’s love into the world: he says in number 4, “And it shall be my endeavour to reveal thee in my actions, knowing it is thy power gives me strength to act.”

A note of sadness enters with number 16, in which the poet expresses his desire to leave earthly existence to unite with the divine. He describes in number 18 his dismay at feeling a separation from God and his previous good spirits diminish as he struggles to cope with the mundane world:

“Clouds heap upon clouds and it darkens. Ah, love, why dost thou let me wait outside at the door all alone?” When God visits, the poet is in such a state of despair he doesn’t notice. He admits he has imprisoned himself through arrogance. Yet even in this dark state, God is still with him: he writes in number 32, “If I call not thee in my prayers, if I keep not thee in my heart, thy love for me still waits for my love.”

Themes

Nature as an Expression of the Divine

Many of Tagore’s poems are about the beauties of nature. The speaker in the poems notices the wonders of the natural world that others may overlook, such as bees buzzing beyond his window.

He sees nature as a window into the divine, and when he witnesses its beauty, it is a way to observe and meditate on the wonders and attraction of the divine presence. In his poems, he advocates pausing time and letting the worldly cares of life wait so that one can appreciate what is lasting and divine in the natural world. The Majesty of Common Life

In one of his songs, Tagore writes about a child who is weighed down by his robe and jewels. He says that the child feels these adornments as only weight, and he implores the child’s mother to remove them so that the child can enter the common world. Tagore writes about the glories of dust, a symbol of common life. In another song, he writes that one cannot find God in a dark, isolated temple. Instead, one must enter into life and surround oneself with the world. This is the way one experiences the divine.

Love for God

The narrator describes his love and adoration of God in several ways throughout the songs. In one song, he likens his love for God to that of a woman who keeps herself away from men and who refuses to part her veil. She dedicates herself only to God. This is the way Tagore feels about God, as he has saved his heart for God. He often writes about the way he feels God all around him, in the midst of his everyday life. However, he feels ashamed by his failures and feels unworthy of approaching God. He wants to surrender himself to God and feels that approaching the divine will provide him with a sense of freedom from the travails of everyday life.

Characters

Gitanjali Song Offerings was composed by Rabindranath Tagore between 1906 and 1910, a time at which he grieved the deaths of his father, wife, daughter, and younger son.

God

The collection’s dark mood is balanced by the poet’s outbursts of joy and exultation as he brings offerings of worship to his God. Gitanjali Song Offerings reflects Tagore’s continuity with the bhakti tradition in Indian poetry, which emphasizes a personal and mystical approach to God and the primacy of religious feeling and devotion over against philosophical argumentation or religious ceremonies. Such is Tagore’s God—approachable, omnipresent, immanent:

He it is, the innermost one, who awakens my being with his deep hidden touches. He it is who puts his enchantment upon these eyes and joyfully plays on the chords of my heart in varied cadence of pleasure and pain. He it is who weaves the web of this maya in evanescent hues of gold and silver, blue and green, and lets peep out through the folds his feet, at whose touch I forget myself.

It is interesting to note that Tagore’s vision of the divine is pantheistic and anthropomorphic.

God “weaves the web of this maya in evanescent hues.” Maya, according to Hindu thought, is both the visible fabric of reality, veiling the Absolute, and something illusory, even deceptive.

The poet here connects the Absolute to the relative. He can catch a glimpse of God, who has

“feet” and is clothed in the mantle of maya, the continuum of things perceived by the poet’s senses. This God, however, is not to be found in temples with their pompous rites. Rather,

He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the path-maker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!

This God is close to Tagore the singer, who is the other central character of Gitanjali Song

Offerings.

The Singer

The singer sums up his existential creed in these terse and candid words:

I am here to sing thee songs. In this hall of thine I have a corner seat. In thy world I have no work to do; my useless life can only break out in tunes without a purpose. This is not false humility. Rather, it reflects the singer’s deep conviction that he is only a guest at

“this world’s festival.” He is totally dependent on his God for life and sustenance. And though he himself is frail, God has made him endless. God empties and fills him anew with life, joy, and worship. At his immortal touch, the singer’s “little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable.” Yet the worship is not without struggle....

Analysis

Gitanjali Song Offerings is a collection of poems by Rabindranath Tagore. As the title suggests, the poems are “offerings,” or devotionals, to the Creator. Tagore was a spiritual individual, and his devotion to the spiritual life is prominent in many of his major works. However, Tagore spoke from a universal perspective. Although his spiritual roots stem from Hinduism, his song offerings can be adapted by people of other faiths or those with no religion at all.

This universality is perhaps what helped Gitanjali Song Offerings receive critical acclaim worldwide, and it would eventually win Tagore a Nobel Prize for literature. The devotionals are visionary in nature, and the collection illustrates how humans try to connect with the supreme cosmic being. Because the poems are praises to the supreme being, many of the poems are ecstatic in nature; they are expressive and emphasize the role of the mortal on Earth in relation to the Creator.

In terms of technical aspects and themes, Tagore’s writing style was inspired by the past works of Vyasa atavistic mystics. Tagore read these works as a young student, and they influenced both his writings and his spiritual development. The lyricism of the collection is somewhat similar to the rhythm of the Upanishads and the major works of other mystics. The lyricism is also influenced by the ballads of the past, which are an integral part of the Bengali culture which

Tagore came from. There is a musicality to the poems, which is not surprising, considering the verses are framed as devotionals. The collection of verses focuses on the spirituality of the individual—what lies within oneself— rather than the complex and political nature of organized religion. Tagore wanted to focus on the inward journey towards the divinity every human being possesses inside them rather than the supreme being described by out-of-touch theologians. This makes the collection transcendentalist in nature with a touch of rebellion, and it is partially why it became universally lauded.

The Work

Gitanjali Song Offerings is a collection of 103 prose poems, selected by Tagore from among his

Bengali poems and translated by him into English. The collection brought Tagore international attention and won him the Nobel Prize in Literature. Although Tagore later published more than twenty additional volumes of his poetry in English translation, Gitanjali Song

Offerings remained one of his most beloved works.

Western readers immediately noted similarities between Gitanjali Song Offerings and the biblical Song of Songs, which most theologians insist deals not with a human union but with

Christ’s love for his church. Though Gitanjali Song Offerings also is filled with sensual imagery, there is no doubt that Tagore’s subject is the relationship between a human being and the divine.

When Tagore mentioned his admiration for Vaishnava poetry in an essay published in 1912, undoubtedly he had in mind the Gita Govinda, a long poem written in the twelfth century by the

Bengali poet Sri Jayadev, which Westerners have often called the Indian Song of Songs.

The Gita Govinda shows the god Vishnu, in his incarnation as Krishna, in passionate pursuit of the cowgirl Radha. Since Vaishnavism, or the worship of this very human god, was especially popular in Bengal, Bengali poets often wrote about Krishna’s love for Radha. Though Tagore himself, reared a theist, did not adhere to Vaishnavism, he drew upon the Vaishnava tradition for his imagery because he saw the many similarities between the pursuit of a lover and a human being’s pursuit of the divine or the reverse. The Vaishnava tradition also accounts for variations in the poetic voice.

UNIT-2

A, as its first of letters, every speech maintains;

The "Primal Deity" is first through all the world's domains

Explanation

As the letter A is the first of all letters, so the eternal God is first in the world.

Tamil Transliteration

Akara Mudhala Ezhuththellaam Aadhi

Pakavan Mudhatre Ulaku.

No fruit have men of all their studied lore,

Save they the 'Purely Wise One's' feet adore

Explanation

What Profit have those derived from learning, who worship not the good feet of Him who is possessed of pure knowledge ?.

Tamil Transliteration

Katradhanaal Aaya Payanenkol Vaalarivan

Natraal Thozhaaar Enin.

His feet, 'Who o'er the full-blown flower hath past,' who gain

In bliss long time shall dwell above this earthly plain Explanation

They who are united to the glorious feet of Him who passes swiftly over the flower of the mind, shall flourish long above all worlds.

Tamil Transliteration

Malarmisai Ekinaan Maanati Serndhaar

Nilamisai Neetuvaazh Vaar.

His foot, 'Whom want affects not, irks not grief,' who gain

Shall not, through every time, of any woes complain

Explanation

To those who meditate the feet of Him who is void of desire or aversion, evil shall never come.

Tamil Transliteration

Ventudhal Ventaamai Ilaanati Serndhaarkku

Yaantum Itumpai Ila.

The men, who on the 'King's' true praised delight to dwell,

Affects not them the fruit of deeds done ill or well

Explanation

The two-fold deeds that spring from darkness shall not adhere to those who delight in the true praise of God.

Tamil Transliteration

Irulser Iruvinaiyum Seraa Iraivan

Porulser Pukazhpurindhaar Maattu.

Long live they blest, who 've stood in path from falsehood freed;

His, 'Who quenched lusts that from the sense-gates five proceed' Explanation

Those shall long proposer who abide in the faultless way of Him who has destroyed the five desires of the senses.

Tamil Transliteration

Porivaayil Aindhaviththaan Poidheer Ozhukka

Nerinindraar Neetuvaazh Vaar.

Unless His foot, 'to Whom none can compare,' men gain,

'Tis hard for mind to find relief from anxious pain

Explanation

Anxiety of mind cannot be removed, except from those who are united to the feet of Him who is incomparable.

Tamil Transliteration

Thanakkuvamai Illaadhaan Thaalserndhaark Kallaal

Manakkavalai Maatral Aridhu.

Unless His feet 'the Sea of Good, the Fair and Bountiful,' men gain,

'Tis hard the further bank of being's changeful sea to attain

Explanation

None can swim the sea of vice, but those who are united to the feet of that gracious Being who is a sea of virtue.

Tamil Transliteration

Aravaazhi Andhanan Thaalserndhaark Kallaal

Piravaazhi Neendhal Aridhu.

Before His foot, 'the Eight-fold Excellence,' with unbent head,

Who stands, like palsied sense, is to all living functions dead Explanation

The head that worships not the feet of Him who is possessed of eight attributes, is as useless as a sense without the power of sensation.

Tamil Transliteration

Kolil Poriyin Kunamilave Enkunaththaan

Thaalai Vanangaath Thalai.

They swim the sea of births, the 'Monarch's' foot who gain;

None others reach the shore of being's mighty main

Explanation

None can swim the great sea of births but those who are united to the feet of God.

Tamil Transliteration

Piravip Perungatal Neendhuvar Neendhaar

Iraivan Atiseraa Thaar.

The Blessing of Rain

The world its course maintains through life that rain unfailing gives;

Thus rain is known the true ambrosial food of all that lives

Explanation

By the continuance of rain the world is preserved in existence; it is therefore worthy to be called ambrosia.

Tamil Transliteration

Vaannindru Ulakam Vazhangi Varudhalaal

Thaanamizhdham Endrunarar Paatru.

The rain makes pleasant food for eaters rise;

As food itself, thirst-quenching draught supplies Explanation

Rain produces good food, and is itself food.

Tamil Transliteration

Thuppaarkkuth Thuppaaya Thuppaakkith Thuppaarkkuth

Thuppaaya Thooum Mazhai.

If clouds, that promised rain, deceive, and in the sky remain,

Famine, sore torment, stalks o'er earth's vast ocean-girdled plain

Explanation

If the cloud, withholding rain, deceive (our hopes) hunger will long distress the sea-girt spacious world.

Tamil Transliteration

Vinindru Poippin Virineer Viyanulakaththu

Ulnindru Utatrum Pasi.

If clouds their wealth of waters fail on earth to pour,

The ploughers plough with oxen's sturdy team no more

Explanation

If the abundance of wealth imparting rain diminish, the labour of the plough must cease.

Tamil Transliteration

Erin Uzhaaar Uzhavar Puyalennum

Vaari Valangundrik Kaal.

'Tis rain works all: it ruin spreads, then timely aid supplies;

As, in the happy days before, it bids the ruined rise

Explanation

Rain by its absence ruins men; and by its existence restores them to fortune. Tamil Transliteration

Ketuppadhooum Kettaarkkuch Chaarvaaimar Raange

Etuppadhooum Ellaam Mazhai.

If from the clouds no drops of rain are shed

'Tis rare to see green herb lift up its head

Explanation

4 If no drop falls from the clouds, not even the green blade of grass will be seen.

Tamil Transliteration

Visumpin Thuliveezhin Allaalmar Raange

Pasumpul Thalaikaanpu Aridhu.

If clouds restrain their gifts and grant no rain,

The treasures fail in ocean's wide domain

Explanation

Even the wealth of the wide sea will be diminished, if the cloud that has drawn (its waters) up gives them not back again (in rain).

Tamil Transliteration

Netungatalum Thanneermai Kundrum Thatindhezhili

Thaannalkaa Thaaki Vitin.

If heaven grow dry, with feast and offering never more,

Will men on earth the heavenly ones adore

Explanation

If the heaven dry up, neither yearly festivals, nor daily worship will be offered in this world, to the celestials. Tamil Transliteration

Sirappotu Poosanai Sellaadhu Vaanam

Varakkumel Vaanorkkum Eentu.

If heaven its watery treasures ceases to dispense,

Through the wide world cease gifts, and deeds of 'penitence'

Explanation

If rain fall not, penance and alms-deeds will not dwell within this spacious world.

Tamil Transliteration

Thaanam Thavamirantum Thangaa Viyanulakam

Vaanam Vazhangaa Thenin.

When water fails, functions of nature cease, you say;

Thus when rain fails, no men can walk in 'duty's ordered way'

Explanation

If it be said that the duties of life cannot be discharged by any person without water, so without rain there cannot be the flowing of water.

Tamil Transliteration

Neerindru Amaiyaadhu Ulakenin Yaaryaarkkum

Vaanindru Amaiyaadhu Ozhukku.

UNIT-3

History and Politics in Parthasarathy's Play Aurangzeb Taking into account the impact of modernism(s) on Indian literatures and the historiography of Indian language literatures, I propose to link the regional, national, and global sites for an analysis of a dramatic/cultural text. I interrelate the use of history in a dramatic text, the underlying politics and ideology of a literary product, and the modes by which the materials are shaped in a drama through dramaturgy. In order to do so, I analyze Renganathan Parthasarathy's (aka Indira Parthasarathy) 1974 play Aurangzeb. The play was written in one of the recognized Indian languages, Tamil, and was awarded three of the most prestigious literary awards along with almost all the major regional literary awards. Parthasarathy was born in 1930 in Chennai, to a traditional Iyengar family. He has published about thirty-five novels, plays, and collections of short stories and essays and he awarded prizes including the Sahitya Akademi prize for Kurudhippunal (Blood Stream, 1977), the Saraswati Sammam Prize (1999), and the Sangeeth Natak Academy Award (2004) for his play Ramanujar (Ramanujar: The Life and Times of Ramanujan). Parthasarathy is one of the most eminent and critically acclaimed playwrights in Tamil and his work resonates with contemporary world trends: he has infused modern Tamil drama with vitality and sensibility drawn from both the Native and outside sources. In Nandan Kathai (The Story of Nandan)

Parthasarathy depicts the stigmatized world of the Scheduled Caste Dalit communities and it not only challenges existing forms of Tamil theater, but also questions the socio-political situation in

Tamil Nadu. For example, in Kongai Thee (Kongai Fire) he portrays two female protagonists of the Tamil epic, Kannagai and Madhavi, and attempts a psychological study of characters. Eruthi

Attam (The Last Dance), on the other hand, is an adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear in the fashion of Beckett's Endgame as done by Peter Brooks in the London RSC production, based on

Antonin Artaud's theater of cruelty. Taking into account unresolved problems of the 1970s,

Parthasarathy's historical parable juxtaposes Aurangzeb's dream of Hindustan as a homogeneous demographic space and entity with other dreams such as Shah Jahan's dream of building a black marble Mahal on the other side of the river Yamuna facing Mumtaz's Taj Mahal and Dara

Shikoh's dream of a secular nation based on ideals of truth and spirituality, a vision shaped on emperor Akbar's political legacy of intra-religious friendship and mutual respect. In his analysis expressed in his play, the conflicts that haunt an astute politician like Aurangzeb amidst a crumbling empire, Parthasarathy weaves his narrative from the intricate interplay of historical forces and suggests how events lead to the war of succession and how ideologies and delusions make or mar the protagonists. In a decadent, bourgeois society, the opportunistic upper and military classes make the most of the situation in seeking, retaining, and augmenting their own powers (on this, see, e.g., Patil). G.P. Deshpande in the "Introduction" to Modern Indian Drama:

An Anthology (2000) places Parthasarathy's Aurangzeb among "texts which are the best examples of Post-Tendulkar modernity" (xviii). Deshpande argues that the play's negotiation with modernity takes a different form while "taking a look at the principle concerns of contemporary Indian society" (xviii). However, I do not find any mention of the play in A.N.

Perumal's book Tamil Drama: Origin and Development (1981). Nevertheless, in the section devoted to "kinds of drama" in Tamil, Perumal mentions "Historical Plays" and even quotes

"time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future" (189) handing down, like

Eliot, an important tool for analysis. The play was regularly performed between 1975 and 1989 and I have come across a few contemporary productions in different Indian languages. Natwa — a Delhi theater company which made a mark on the Delhi theater scene in 2005 through its innovative production of Othello presented a unique contemporary interpretation of the historical

Aurangzeb. Parthasarathy's Aurangzeb, translated into English by T. Sriraman and to Hindi/Urdu by Shahid Anwar, was used for this performance. K.S. Rajendran, whose first language is Tamil, performed the play in Hindustani as he wanted the characters to come alive and create the period in the language of the Mughals. K.V. Ramanathan's English translation was published, for example, in Modern Indian Drama: An Anthology (2000). Bangla playwright Mohit

Chattopadhyay's 2008 play Aurangzeb, produced by the Kolkata theater group Rangapat, has also been inspired by the translated version of Parthasarathy's play. Subroto Ghosh, while reviewing the play for the journal Desh in 2008 refers to Khirodprosad Shubh Brat Sarkar,

"History and Politics in Parthasarathy's Play Aurangzeb" page 3 of 7 CLCWeb: Comparative

Literature and Culture 14.2 (2012): Thematic Issue New Work in Comparative Indian Literatures and Cultures. Ed. M.G. Ramanan and T. Mukherjee Vidyabinod's play Alamgir (1921) written for the Cornwallis Theatre and draws a similarity between these two plays in the portrayal of

Aurangzeb as a "tragic hero of the Mughal Empire" (75). Through the above mentioned representations of a dramatic text one can trace a process of impact and negotiation which involves, among others, the treatment of history and politics and the use of dramaturgy.

Parthasarathy draws from the rich tradition of plays based on history as was popularized by

Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights like Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Webster or by the plays based on history enacted on the Indian stage by Dwijendra Lal Ray, Utpal Dutta, Girish Kannad, and others. Parthasarathy follows Chekhov's indirect action plays and Brecht's epic and dialectical theater, especially Brecht's use of "historicization" (see, e.g., Kleber and Visser;

Willet). In the context of theater and performance the playwrights have been seen accepting new theatrical modes rather than writing against the grain or working under any anxiety of being influenced by previous works in the similar field. Indian playwrights and directors have acknowledged their indebtedness to European influence and some even claim almost an equal and reciprocal relationship. Some directors, like Badal Sircar, have worked as collaborators with

European innovators of theater and some playwrights have adapted European plays and theoretical frameworks while others translated theories to their own languages. European influence on Indian theater reveals admiration, dependence, and acceptance rather than an

"anxiety" of being influenced by an earlier work or being burdened with a past tradition.

Newness in Indian theater is not a product of any "wrestling" with European innovators; rather, it results from a wider interplay of dramatic theories and new techniques of playwriting, staging, and performance. The appropriation of European themes, languages, and ideas to the Indian context often manifests a complex situation worth studying. Written in at a time when political opponents in Tamil Nadu were engaged in a struggle for succession, Aurangzeb offers a critique of the "one country, one language, and one religion" theory. Debate over identity politics in

Tamil Nadu dates back to the emergence of Dravidian linguistic identity in the 1920s under the leadership of E.V. Ramaswamy (1879-1973) who "began to organize constant campaigns against the imposition of Hindi, stressing the theme of Dravidian/Tamil nationality … and in 1939 the

Dravida Nadu Conference for the Advocacy of a Separate and Independent Dravidastan, demanded a separate country along the lines of Pakistan" (Omveldt 59). In 1944 Ramaswamy formed Dravida Kazhagham and declared its goal to be a "sovereign, independent Dravidian

Republic" (Omveldt 59) and influenced post-independence identity politics. Annadurai's controversial secessionist speeches in parliament in which he advocated the secession of the four

South Indian states including Madras brought him into prominence. He opposed prime minister

Jawaharlal Nehru's concept of an unified India and exposed the discrimination against the southern states and revolted against the imposition of the Hindi language. The 1970s in Indian history was an era of turbulence and Tamil drama became intertwined with crisis and unresolved questions. This enabled theater's greater involvement in society and in a politicized society like

Chennai — constituting a large Tamil-speaking population developing in the hands actors/directors/playwrights who are closely involved in politics — is another field of interest.

C.N. Annadurai, a central figure in the state's political history, was a political communicator par excellence. He and his lieutenant M. Karunanidhi used theater and film to propagate their ideas, questioning the validity of religious traditions, and resuscitated the glories of the Sangam Age.

Maruthoor Gopal Ramachandran (aka MGR) then emerged as an icon and Karunanidhi took over the leadership of the party. Using the popular support he enjoyed, MGR broke away in 1972 to from the party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) to form the Anna Dravida Munnetra

Kazhagam (ADMK) — which later became AIADMK (All-India ADMK) to avoid any hint of separatism — and became minister in 1977. The leadership of the Dravidian movement had capable authors and literati in Annadurai and Karunanidhi, who utilized popular media of stage plays and movies to spread its political message and soon Tamil drama/film served the propagandist project of the ruling party. MGR who later became minister of Tamil Nadu, was one such stage and movie actor. In the political arena he also decided to oppose the "expansion of the Hindi culture" in Tamil Nadu and started the demand for a separate homeland for the

Dravidians in the south. The demand was for an independent state called Dravida Nadu (Country of Dravidians) comprising Tamil Nadu and parts of Andhra, Karnataka, and Kerala. In 1965 and 1968, DMK led widespread anti-Hindi agitations against the plans of the Union Government to introduce Hindi in state schools. There were several such protests around Tamil Nadu and many

Shubh Brat Sarkar, "History and Politics in Parthasarathy's Play Aurangzeb" page 4 of 7

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 14.2 (2012): Thematic Issue New Work in

Comparative Indian Literatures and Cultures. Ed. M.G. Ramanan and T. Mukherjee people went to jail. Several people were injured when police used force to disburse the protesters. Matters came to a boil in January-February 1965 and the events showed the pent-up frustration and anger of the Tamil public in general against the imposition of Hindi. Unlike most of the previous demonstrations, these were organized by Tamil Nadu students of the Anti-Hindi Agitation

Council on 25-26 January 1965. The public at large rose up against Hindi imposition across party lines, caste differences, religious divides, and economic-social strata. The central government sent security forces to Tamil Nadu to crush the unarmed agitation. The action was so brutal that even the United Nations took note of the situation and discussed it. It is in this context that

Aurangzeb can be said to be a play written for the times. Aurangzeb begins with a conversation between two of Aurangzeb's spies in Fort Agra who tell of others spying on them thus indicating

Aurangzeb's suspicious nature, as well as his attempt to be in control. The play telescopes, selects, and fuses events to capture the fissures, as well as the peaks of a period of history. In the war of succession to the throne the major protagonists represent issues and ideologies: Shah

Jahan symbolizes decadent, self-indulgent, romantic aestheticism; Aurangzeb articulates and fights to establish an Islamic fundamentalist state; and Dara projects himself as a philosopher- statesman striving to preserve a pluralist society and nation. Shah Jahan dreams about a black marble Mahal for himself, Aurangzeb dreams of "one nation, one language, one religion," while

Dara fears that Aurangzeb will destroy the precious heritage of Akbar. The play commences with a crisis: two soldiers discuss the future of Hindustan and the confusion over Dara's brand of religious pacifism they think might lead to the disintegration of the Mughal empire. Shah Jahan has fallen ill and a war of succession has become imminent among Shah Jahan's four sons, Dara Shikoh, Shuja, Aurangzeb, and Murad. The father lost authority, anarchy and power struggle has taken into its fold the issue of identity politics. The prologue gives premonitions of a disastrous and chaotic future where a Macbeth-like universe is created amid fog and mist of confusion over fair and foul, breaking into parodistic snigger: "Soldier 1. Yes, yes. When it is a question of self- interest, there is no such thing as a Hindu or a Muslim. / Soldier 2. A Shia or a Sunni. / Soldier 1.

After all, they are all our countrymen. / Soldier 2. Hindustan hamara! / They laugh. Silence for some time" (430; unless indicated otherwise, all translations are mine). This silence is broken by another sinister revelation: at a time of crisis suspicion is in the air as the first soldier says, "One man to spy on another — a third to spy on the second – and so on!" (430). Shrouded in this sense of skepticism the dynasty war is unfolded in full view of the audience. Amid such topsy-turvy political order we hear the lyrical outburst of a dreamer who escapes into the romantic vision of the "Taj Mahal bathed in the rays of the setting sun." (432), clinging to the remnants of a decadent past. Although the empire is gradually destabilizing, the aging emperor is reluctant to shed his old clothes. Abdication of power and authority becomes imminent, yet the transfer of power is preconditioned by an obstinate romantic dream which has lost its relevance and utility like Madame Ranevskaya's "orchard" in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard. Shah Jahan wants an assurance from his sons that his dream plan of building a black marble palace (Mahal) on the other side of river Yamuna facing Mumtaz's Tajmahal would be fulfilled. The artifice stands between the transfer of power and authority and the main contenders to the throne, Dara and

Aurangzeb, differ on this issue while Shah Jahan's two daughters Jahanara and Roshanara, support Dara and Aurangzeb. The emperor himself weighs his feeble support on his eldest son

Dara, who, alone of the four brothers, is present at Agra and sympathetic to Shah Jahan's dream.

Jahanara and Roshanara are more vividly portrayed than the male characters: they are stronger, vocal, and more faithful to their political aspirations. Roshanara appears in the opening scene as an antithesis to Jahanara and Shah Jahan's dream while exerting her force behind Aurangzeb without fear of earning her father's wrath. Shah Jahan's preference for Jahanara evokes in her a sense of sibling rivalry which becomes visible in Aurangzeb's love/hate relationship with Shah

Jahan. Shah Jahan lives in the past, Dara in the future, and Aurangzeb in the present. The historical milieu of the play provides the basis for an exploration of the mind of the protagonists where hidden uncertainties and fears come to the fore and as the situation becomes more grim.

With the help of historicization the familiar and predictable historical events are shown afresh to produce a startling effect, jolt the spectators with surprise and illuminate the new significance. In

Aurangzeb history becomes a subject of central concern with protagonists drawn from history speculating on the course and outcome of history itself. This can be seen as a postmodern Shubh

Brat Sarkar, "History and Politics in Parthasarathy's Play Aurangzeb" page 5 of 7 CLCWeb:

Comparative Literature and Culture 14.2 (2012): Thematic Issue New Work in Comparative

Indian Literatures and Cultures. Ed. M.G. Ramanan and T. Mukherjee theatricality that allows a conscious self-reflexivity to the act of making history and show how the dominant discourses are produced. Thus the play is also about how history is consciously written by those in power to eternalize their wistful and often whimsical thoughts at the cost of others' suffering. In the first scene Jahanara tries to dissuade her father from pursuing such an expensive dream: "I agree that it is human nature to cling to life desperately. But is it proper, Your Majesty, to sacrifice the well being of your subjects in order to satisfy your desire that history should not forget you – in fact, in order to satisfy your self esteem?" (433). But Shah Jahan is more bothered about the eternity of his name enshrined in the minds of the people as the composer of "two elegies in stone" (433).

Jahanara justifies her support for Dara by citing the claims of legitimacy for succession — "What is wrong in the eldest son becoming king, Roshanara?" (439) — but her logic is countered by

Roshanara's reminder that Shah Jahan "cannot have forgotten history. Ask him if he was his father's first son" (439). The burden of taxes is levied on the common people for fulfilling "the dreams of foolish kings" so that they can go down in history. In Scene 2, the protagonists debate the historical consequence of cherishing such dreams at a time demanding more positive social action: "Roshanara: ... why should hunger and starvation be rife everywhere in Hindustan except for a few cities? Is it good government when kings do not bother about the people but are worried only about their private, personal dreams? Jahanara: What else is Aurangzeb's ideal but a dream? Roshanara: It is not a private, personal dream. It is a political dream — related to the people. Jahanara: History has shown that the people pay even more for the political dreams of their rulers than for their private, personal dreams. Don't you know that?" Roshanara: The people must be prepared to pay any price for the fulfillment of a noble ideal. Jahanara: Is this your reply to the question whether ideals are for the people or the people for the ideals?" (445). And in the climactic moment in Scene 4, the trial of Dara, Aurangzeb becomes furious when Dara says that a "time will come when Aurangzeb will rue every thing that he is doing now" (470). Antithetical ideas are therefore set as political debates that are relevant even today. Although Aurangzeb cannot accept that his present action will someday turn into a historical blunder or that he will be finally defeated by the course of history, Dara reminds his brother of this eventuality by saying,

"I have read history" (470). This knowledge of history makes Dara a noble character. His downfall is caused, ironically, by his profound anticipation of the future. His faith in this, however, dislocates him from the exigencies of the present political crisis. Dara's concept of a unified India rests on his faith in the unification of all religions on the philosophical plain. As

Jahanara observes, it is Dara's "misfortune" that he is "trying to be an Akbar even before becoming king" (432). Dara's power of "sympathetic logic" is inappropriate to the volatile political situation. He is wise enough to accept that "power can lend weight to any doctrine."

Like his ineffectual father, he too is trapped in the past while philosophizing the future and ignoring the present and Dara's faith in the voice of the people is almost a fanciful thought in this tumultuous time. Shah Jahan is trapped in the memories of the past and lives in an equally fanciful world of dreams. Roshanara rightly points out that Shah Jahan's real enemy is "His own dream" (442). His hamartia like that of Ozymandias or Kubla Khan lies in his belief that he can eternalize his existence through an artifice. With his succession secured, Aurangzeb keeps Shah

Jahan under house arrest at the fort: there are numerous legends concerning this imprisonment, for the fort is ironically close to Shah Jahan's great architectural masterpiece, the Taj Mahal.

Dara's premonition comes true at the end of the play when Aurangzeb encounters the Feminine

Voice that accuses him of causing the country's misfortunes: "When the rulers who create a myth based on religion or ideology for the people to cling to start believing the myth themselves, it is then that a country's misfortunes begin" (474). A lonely man devoid of music, love, poetry, or even a sense of beauty is unguarded for the first time in the finale of the play. Aurangzeb appears as a soliloquizing tragic hero half certain about the acts committed in the past. His sons are conspiring against him, and his dream of a unified Hindustan has collapsed. Aurangzeb stands on the threshold of a new history preparing to accept defeat and challenges the preconceived notions of the spectators regarding history, mimesis, and performance. He does not tempt the audience to fling itself into the story and with empathy in order to identify with the character. Instead, he stands in juxtaposition to the spectator's assumptions and judgment. This conscious theatricality can allow the actor playing the role of Aurangzeb to remind the audience about the continuity of history, myth, and literary discourse. The last words spoken by Aurangzeb alludes to

Shakespeare's Macbeth: "I go carrying a heavy burden of Shubh Brat Sarkar, "History and

Politics in Parthasarathy's Play Aurangzeb" page 6 of 7 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and

Culture 14.2 (2012): Thematic Issue New Work in Comparative Indian Literatures and Cultures.

Ed. M.G. Ramanan and T. Mukherjee sin. All the waters of Jamuna will not be enough to cleanse my hands of its bloodstains ... What was it that induced me to kill so many people? (Silence.) It is not my responsibility to reason why. Only history can answer. The events of my life flash before my eyes. I am old, old, on the verge of extinction. I have myself become a part of history"

(476). Thus Macbeth and Aurangzeb speak scripting their own histories from a personal perspective reminding the audience of the rise and fall of a great but ephemeral life. In the director's note, Rajendran comments that in "this masterly analysis of the conflicts that haunt an astute politician amidst a crumbling empire, the playwright (Parthasarathy) weaves his narrative from the intricate interplay of historical forces leading to the war of succession, and the ideologies and delusions that either make or mar the historical characters" (1). Through historicization an effective parable for the contemporary social history is shaped. Aurangzeb's imposition of the "one language" theory to rule the "flock of sheep" under a reign of terror remind the audience of the anti-Hindi protests which gripped Madras amid the speculation that the central government would replace English with Hindi as the official language. In the political actions of Aurangzeb one finds traces of Gandhi: Ramachandra Guha refers to Indira Gandhi as

"truly the monarch of all she surveyed" (84) in the early 1970s when Parthasarathy was collecting materials for his play. When Roshanara in the play says "Only the Aurangzebs can save Hindustan," she reminds the audience about the "ascendency of populist politics" and

"dynastic principle" (467). It is also a reminder of the political battles taking place on the streets everywhere in the southern states in the early 1970s when identity politics assumed political shapes taking into account the linguistic, ethnic, religious, and cultural identities in the post- independence period. In Parthasarathy's play history is re-enacted in front of an audience removed from the particular historical space and time and history is translated into theatrical action contextualized against contemporary social milieu. Thus, historicization helps the audience to see the content of things and "episodic collage" is not necessarily a chronicle. A major point of Parthasarathy's presentation of history is that he shows the past as past and then goes on to show the crisis of history as contemporary. True to the spirit of the Brechtian epic theater which attempted to alienate the spectator by maintaining a psychic distance, the spectators here are engaged to participate in the debate and to seek a solution to the crisis outside the theater. At the end of the play, Aurangzeb presents himself as "a part of history" left awaiting the judgment of history. The spectators are divided into opposing forces, the problem is left unresolved, and the spectators seek to solve problems outside the theatre. Instead of proposing a solution to a problem, the actor, after raising a problem, seeks "solution(s)" from the audience.

The contradiction finally invites the audience to think about "solution(s)" to the problems raised and infer "synthesis" once the performance is over. Through historicization the "detachment of the spectator" is invited so that the spectators can understand the dialectical structure of the play and deduce their own synthesis. In Aurangzeb Parthasarathy offers insights into the material conditions of real life by making theater a laboratory with visible apparatus to scrutinize history:

"Who is responsible for this? Am I a religious fanatic? Or an orphan who yearned for love? I do not know … I have myself become a part of history" (476). In conclusion, Parthasarathy's

Aurangzeb is dialectical, open-ended, and objective. The play offers materials drawn from history which emerge more important than critical inferences or value-based judgments.

Relevant information drawn from history allows the playwright to explore the archaeology of knowledge rather than a judgment-based hierarchy of knowledge. The play uses a parable drawn from history in order to safeguard a literary text from succumbing to the pressures of ideology and power politics that history in general is subjected to. Parthasarathy gives due importance to the process of documentation of historical facts, source materials, cultural texts, artefacts, and other information. As the dramaturgy implied in the text avoids explicit references to any overt theatrical form, the play evolves gradually like a parable play for the complex seeing of a critical spectator. The playwright endeavours the challenge historical metanarrative and liberate the historical "truth" from the confines of dominant ideological state apparatus that tend to control the cultural product like drama. In Aurangzebe the historical "text" is liberated from the practice in political and some scholarly views which preserve historical accounts to validate the politics of domination and control along religious, casteist, linguistic, or racial lines. History is replanted within the context of contemporary political contingencies and allows to foreground important issues on the public forum for discussion. Such an attempt at linking politics and historicization adds social relevance to any literary work by offering neutrality, dynamism, and contradictions and follows the course of an ever-changing history of cultural artefacts.

UNIT-4

Introduction One of the most renowned Malayalam novels Chemmeen by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai has been translated into more than nineteen languages. The theme of the novel is a myth among the fishermen community along the coastal of Kerala State in the Southern India. The myth is about chastity of women. When a married fisherwoman ass infidel, her husband was taken into the sea by „Kadalamma‟, the Sea Goddess (literally means Mother Sea). Here the sea is mythologized as „Kadalamma‟ a generous goddess to the fisheries and to scare the people who is adulterous. Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai wrote this beautiful tragic novel with this myth of the fisher folk using the Sea as an archetypal symbol. Generally the sea is well thought-out as the mother of all life, spiritual mystery and infinity, death and rebirth, timelessness and eternity.

These assumptions are being found in the novel Chemmeen. Similar kind of myth is also found in Greek Literature. The following example from the criticism of Fiona McHardy clearly shows the myth of Odyssey that “The idea that those who have displeased the gods will be drowned while voyaging at sea is apparent in a number of myths. The punishment is associated in particular with those who have insulted the gods in some way, but it is also connected to sexual offences”(6). Similar myth is clearly found in Chemmeen too. The following myth in Chemmeen clearly echoes that of Odyssey. While a fisherman goes to the sea for getting fortune, his faithful wife, facing the west should stand on the shore and wait for her husband‟s safe return. If she isn‟t loyal to her man, Mother Sea will get angry with her and she‟ll take the life of the woman‟s husband and will send many venomous creatures like snakes to the shore and there will be an enormous destruction to her place with her nature force. Karuthamma questions Nallapennu about a woman who had been punished by the Mother Sea in the shore there before. Nallapennu answers Karuthamma that there had been so in most tales of the old sea deities, which tell that when woman fell from grace caused the waves to rise as high as a mountain and climb onto the shore. “Dangerous serpents foamed and frothed as they slithered on the sands. Sea monsters with yawning mouths chased the boats to swallow them whole. It was an old story”(104). The folk song often reminds Karuthamma about the myth of the sea shore. Pareekutti, the Muslim lover of Karuthamma also sings every night about the fallen woman who lived on this shore once.

Karuthamma wakes up in sudden and she forgets herself and the rest whenever she happens to hear that song. She loves Pareekutti and his song too. She becomes a slave to the song of

Pareekutti. The song represents the memories of their love. House is considered as the symbol of power structure in the society. House as a symbol, plays a pivotal role in the lives of all human beings in search of Identity. Likewise, in the novel Chemmeen, Chemban Kunju and his daughter long to own a house. Chemban Kunju, the greedy father of Karuthamma plans to buy a new land to build a house for him after buying a boat and net of his own. In the same way, after getting married Karuthamma also proposes her husband that they should also have their own house. The archetype of the family set up is clearly depicted here however the married couples‟ desires to make their own identity in the society. Blue is usually positive, associated with truth, religious feeling, spiritual purity, security. The common belief of the fisher, when the colour of the sea is normal there will not be any problem but if it is changed, it is a bad omen. The change in the sea is portrayed beautifully in Chemmeen: “All of sudden the colour of the sea changed. A

Denseness. The waters of the sea were tainted red. It was that time of the year for the mother sea.

For some time hereafter she would be unable to bless them. The sea would be barren”(64). When the sea turns red other fishermen stay ashore believing that the Mother Sea is menstruating. Red stands for blood, sacrifice, violent passion and disorder. Black (darkness) signifies disorder, mystery, the unknown, death, primal wisdom, unconscious, evil and melancholy. When Palani, husband of Karuthamma goes to the sea with anger, the bad sign of black is portrayed as follows:

“From the west, a giant wave that covered the horizon came rolling. He felt a great desire to cut through the heart of that wave and go across. But the wave...... Calm. But the sea was tinged with black” (230). The entire life of the fishermen is set at the backdrop water and generally the water stands for the mystery of creation; birth-death-resurrection; purification and redemption; fertility and growth. Water is the most common symbol for the unconscious. As the water (sea water) is the living source of the fishing folk, the fishermen like Chemban Kunju and Palani unconsciously think of water and their catch. Serpent (snake or worm) signifies the symbol of temptation in Christianity; evil, corruption, sensuality; destruction; mystery. The symbol of destruction is given in the story of Palani when he moves towards the deep sea and the poisonous snakes enter into his boat. This is depicted in the novel through the following lines: “Sea snakes slithered into his boat. They were gliding over the silver talismans on the blue expanse. At the edge of the boat, they stood on their tails, dancing. And then they slithered back into the water again. Two snakes coiled around each other within the boat”(230).At the end of the novel some sea snakes move on the sea shore and the waves had come as far as the doorsteps of some houses. This happens after the reunion of the lovers Karuthamma and Pareekutti. The sea waves signify the unlimited power of nature. When Palani is rowing his boat into the sea with pride, he is drowned by a giant wave. Whenever man tries to compete with Mother Nature out of his pride, he faces failure. The wave could be a tool of „Kadalamma‟ and it could be sent to stop his interior sea voyage in order to stop the destruction. But men do not realise the sign of nature now a days. The fish as a symbol of life, denotes man‟s struggle with nature. Palani baits a shark and he puts all his strength to control it amidst the sea. He struggles until his death into the whirlpool.

He speaks to the shark and he becomes mad on the catch. Similar sequence is being found in

Ernest Hemingway‟s The Old Man and the Sea. Santiago, the old man also goes alone into the sea and catches Marlin, a big fish and struggles with it. Santiago speaks with the fish in order to motivate himself. Likewise Palani in Chemmeen speaks with the shark when it draws him into the whirlpool. Palani shouts; “Stop it! It isn‟t time yet for you to take me to the sea mother‟s palace!...Ha... that is the way, my boy!”(235). But this speech is the outcome of the fear on death. Hemingway says through the character of Santiago that man is not made for defeat; a man can be destroyed but not defeated. In the same way even though Palani dies in the whirlpool, he is not defeated by the shark but his bait kills the shark at the end of the novel. The boat and the net symbolise pride. After owning a boat and a net, Chemban Kunju becomes prejudiced. Having all wealth in a sudden, he forgets everything around him including his family, friends and Pareekutti who helped him to buy the boat. But when Pareekutti asks Chemban Kunju to sell his fish to him, Chemban Kunju demands money from him. Greed catches him tightly. All the people including his wife Chakki begin to hate him because of his insatiability. He feels shame on going to sea in other‟s boat. The payment of bride price is in the Arayan community in the fisher folk. It should be paid to the bride‟s Shore Master which he determines it. Usually the bride groom will be given dowry by the bride‟s family. But it is just the opposite that the readers could find in Chemmeen. The capability of the bride groom will be calculated with this bride price. This will show whether he is in good economic condition or not. The Shore Master will take his share from the money and the rest will go to the bride‟s family. This is their custom they follow during their marriage ceremony. It brings out the cultural understanding of a particular mother-rooted society. The readers also find this custom in the conversation of Karuthamma and

Pareekutti which gives a double meaning. „When you have a boat and nets, will you sell us the fish?‟; „If you give us a good price, we will (59).‟-Here „a good price‟ signifies the bride price.

Indirectly their conversation is about their dream on marriage. Both Karuthamma and Pareekutti are described with the symbolic significance of their dress code in the first chapter of the novel.

As a Hindu Arayan community woman Karuthamma wears with a sheer mundu; Pareekutti, a

Muslim man wearing a pair of trousers and a yellow shirt, with a silk handkerchief knotted around his throat and a tasselled cap. The appearance itself signifies that they both are from different controversial religions. The dress code symbolises the tradition and practices of each other Clouds and the stars take part in the novel and the stars (Arundhati, a guiding star of fishermen and symbol of chastity) are considered as the navigating tool for the fishermen to find the way of shore. But on Karuthamma‟s reunion with her lover, the stars are covered over by the dark clouds. Far from the shore Palani finds no stars in the sky and he loses his way. After the whirlpool draws Palani into the sea the clouds uncover the stars. “One star was visible. It was the star that fishermen navigated by. The fisherman‟s guiding light. But its radiance seemed to have dulled”(238). Out at sea, Palani struggles with a huge shark he has baited and looks in vain and a giant whirlpool forms and waves become mountainous. He cries out to his wife (the fisherman's traditional guardian angel) to pray for him: "And so it was to her he was appealing for prayers as that first fisherwoman had prayed for the safe return of her husband”(237). But Karuthamma is in the arms of Pareekutti, and Palani is dragged down to the abode of the Sea Mother.

Karuthamma and Pareekutti, the lovers also face the death by the sea at the end of the novel.The secret meeting of those lovers in the moonlight is often being found almost in all the literatures of the world. Their meetings take place at the moonlight. The only witness of their secret meeting is the moon. Their love also symbolizes the desire to realize the primordial, cosmic union of Shiva and Shakti. Shiva Purana not only praises Shiva as “manifested light” but also says that Shiva and Devi (or Shakti) are identical and inseparable as moonlight from the moon.

So it is that Pareekutti and Karuthamma consummate their long-denied love by moonlight. Using myth and symbols, the archetypal pattern in the novel Chemmeen leaves a moral caution to the people that they have to keep individual morality, selfdiscipline with self-control. Though the punishment of Sea Mother is terrible, the purpose is to lead the men in a good path. Finally there is a dilemma in among the readers of the myth that „Is the chastity meant for only the women? Is not to men?‟

Introduction

Chemmeen, a Malayalam novel by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, was translated into English by

Anita Nair. It is a story of passionate love that set in the backdrop of the coastal area of Kerala.

‘Chemmeen’ is the tale of young fisher woman, Karuthamma, the daughter of Hindu fisherman

Chembankunju, falls in love with Pareekutty, the son of a Muslim whole sale fish trader. Due to their religious and social differences and rules of the Sea, Kadalamma, their love is nipped in the bud and Karuthamma marries Palani, an orphan fisherman.

Discussion This paper explores how Chemmeen advocates traditionalism. Not just Karuthamma and

Pareekutty who defies traditional beliefs, social taboo and customs. Chembankunju,

Karuthamma’s father, who defies the rules, lay out by his community to own a boat and net, and he saves up money, which is against the custom of the fishermen, who don’t believe in hoarding money. Finally, he ends up alone and ruined. His wife, Chakku who supports him resently, ends up dead. Chemmeen is centered on a myth by which the fishing folk of that area live. The myth says that a fisherman’s life is protected by the chastity of his wife. If his wife is infidel, the mother Sea (Kadalamma) will take his life. The men at Sea should be courageous and honorable.

The women on Sea shore must be uncontaminated and uncorrupted to assure the protection of their men on Kadalammaa’s dangerous waters.

A Clash Between Traditionalism and Modernism

The novel Chemmeen is a clash between traditionalism and modernism. The novelist recommends conventional norms and advocating traditionalism. The characters in the novel are all transgressing the traditional beliefs and customs. It depicts Chembankunju’s life and his fall.

He neglects moral conduct and his life turns greedy. He wants to buy a boat and net despite the fact that as per the customs; is not to own boat and net. Bribing his way through the customs, he finally owns a boat leading to a devastating end where he loses his sanity. Karuthamma trespasses against laws of her social taboo and traditions by falling in love with a Muslim Whole sale trader, Pareekutty. At last, she confronts the scorn and her hate of the villagers including her father. As Narayana Menon comments, Thakazhi tempers realism with a new romanticism. “This novel has a quality of table in which the lives, the superstitions, the inner beliefs, the traditions and the sufferings of the community of fishermen are portrayed way of life a deep and significant moral”.

Both are playmates since their childhood. They love each other and express romantic love. Since

Karuthamma belongs to the fishing community and she cannot be married to any outside her caste. So, she sacrifices her love for Pareekutty and she married a poor orphan fisherman Palani due to Chembankunju desire. In the novel, he has given several examples in terms of giving description of traditional beliefs and customs portrayed by characters that transgress them; and draws a contrast between what should be done and what should not be done. Karuthamma, and her father are significant characters in the novel as symbol of transgressor of social taboo, tradition and customs.

Vindicates the Tragic Characters

Chemmeen vindicates the tragic characters who have transgressed. Karuthamma tries to resist temptation and love, loses her husband Palani who is at the sea, at the same moment as she conjoins with her lover, the fact that novelist has not portrayed characters, who challenge the customs as victors but instead gave them only loss and tragedy. The novelist is advocating traditionalism by showing the consequences. They trust strongly that prosperity of shore heavily relies on the values of women. Chakki, mother of Karuthamma and Nallapennu, her relative often tells her the story of fallen women whose deeds wreaked havoc for the shore. Her heart yearns for Pareekutty but her concerns for the sea shore, abstain her from any drop from her virtuous pedestal. She often reminds herself of the story of fallen women. The whole plot revolves around his chastity perception and myth moves the story. Every now and then reference to the fisher women’s purity come into question and even women does not questions his myth, on the other hand, often women are held responsible for any chaos and mayhem on the shore. In order to safe guard her shore, she gives consent to marry Palani. The love story of Pareekutty and

Karuthamma heard by her husband Palani and his people and time and again Palani is taunted and derided for that. They remind him that him that he has married a fallen woman and they impose a kind of ostracism on him by avoiding him in their fish catching travels. Palani makes a boat of Plank and goes alone to the Sea. Each time he returns safe, he convinces himself that

Karuthamma is not fallen. By this time Pareekutty comes to meet Karuthamma and their passion is rekindled. She forgets for a moment the vows of chastity she had given to her husband. Palani had gone to the sea and he is seen caught in current of water as if the timely punishment for

Karuthamma is transgression.

Conclusion The novel Chemmeen has a tragic end of the sad tale of the protagonists. All characters trust in destiny and they struggle against odds. Tradition and taboos are very powerful for them. The novel is a complete understanding of the disintegration of tradition, social and religious beliefs in fisher folk.

UNIT-5

Abstract

This paper examines the varied underlined, invisible ways of sufferings embedded in the lives of the Dalit community, particularly women and their lived experiences portrayed in Bama’s

Sangati. It also discusses how Dalit women are constantly exploited by the powerful Caste-

Hindus and experiences faced by the two protagonists: Maariamma and Maikkanni in the novel.

In the light of this background, the paper delineates how Bama analysed and characterized many individual stories in Dalit life. Sangati is an autobiography of Bama, which highlights the struggles of Paraiya women and it unlocks the physical and mental sufferings experienced by the suppressed, discriminated and marginalized Dalit women.

Dalit Literature

Dalit literature is a revolution against exploitation and humiliation of Dalits. Equality, justice and freedom are the basis of Dalit literature. These have been denied to Dalits. The touch of Dalit, the shadow of Dalit and the voice of Dalit treated as impure. After the independence, Dalits became aware of their self-respect and equality it is because of the movement of Dr. Ambedkar.

A common man is the real hero of this literature. He revolts against inhumane oppression and wins in his struggle of self-respect. This is the real beauty of this literature. The emergence of political leaders from Dalit community and their identities, which coincide with the emergence of Dalit literature. The term ‘Dalit’ means the oppressed, broken and downtrodden. It is not a new word. It was used in Hindi in 1930 as ‘depressed classes’ Dalit literature was disregarded for a long time and not taken seriously in the literary circles. The publication of translations from modern Marathi literature entitled ‘Poisoned Bread’ edited by Arjun Dangle ignited debates in the literary circles. Then, Arun Prabha Mukherjee who translated Omprakesh Valmiki’s

‘Joothan’ into English that gave a wider acceptance and circulation of Dalit literature in and outside of India. There is an anthology entitled ‘No

Alaphabet in Sight’ edited by Suche Tharu and K. Sathyanarayana opens up new debates on the long history of Dalit literature and its current prominence in the contemporary scene of literature and politics. It also shows how Dalit literature moves beyond the other forms of literature.

Sangati The novel Sangati (Events) deals with several generations of women. The older women belong to narrators narrating the grandmothers’ generation, VelliammaKizhavi’s generation and downward generation. If a woman belongs to Dalit community, she has to suffer in two ways.

The first being a woman and second is belonging to the lowest community. Bama’s Sangati is a unique Dalit feminist narrative carrying autobiographical elements of the whole community. It focuses the double oppression of females. The novel has several individual stories, anecdotes and memories that portray the events taking place in the life of women in Paraiyar community in

Tamilnadu. Women are presented in Sangati as daily wage earners. They earn less than men do.

However, the money earned by men, can spend as they please whereas women have to bear the financial burden of running the family. Women are also regular victim to sexual harassment and abused in the place of work. In this novel Marriamma tells a lot about the sexual assault faced by her and her community women and their inability to stand up against it. The physical violence is realistically portrayed in this novel like lynching, whipping and canning by fathers, husbands and brothers.

Thirty-Five Characters Sangati was written in Tamil then translated into English by Laxmi Halmstrom. The whole narrative is divided into twelve chapters having more than thirty-five characters. The word

Sangati means events. It carries an autobiographical element in its narrative, but it is the story of a whole community and not an individual. The condition of Dalits was very vulnerable as they were not allowed to enter into temple and schools for education. In Indian social hierarchy,

Dalits get the lowest status. Observing all, Bama expresses caste and gender problems both outside and inside the community. According to Bama “All women in the world are second class citizens. For Dalit women the problem is grave. Their Dalit identity given them a different set of problems. The Experience a total leak of social status. Even they are not considered dignified human beings. My stories are based on these aspects of Dalit culture….” (Ranjana 2-3)

Psychological Stress Bama expresses the psychological stress in this novel. “The subject matter of the novel is ‘human relationships…’in which are shown the directions of men’s soul,” As

Dorothy van Ghent (1953) says in the book The English Navels: Form and Function. Her language is different from other Indian writers. She uses more Tamil Dalit slogans and addresses the village women as Amma such as Vellaiamma, Maarriamma and Pecchiamma. She uses various Tamil words to name the places, months, festivals, rituals, customs, clothes and occupations. In this novel, women address one another and share their everyday experiences sometimes with anger or pain. The language of this novel is full of sexual references. She bridges the spoken and written styles of Tamil by breaking the rules of grammar and spellings. She also says that “man can humiliate woman many times, he can disrespect a woman, it is very normal.

But in this partial double minded society woman has no right to spoken out anything. This is acceptable to all”. She feministically voices out the grievances of Paraiya women. Characters like VellaiyammaPaati and a small girl and the narrator herself, who learn the story from her grandmother.

Ways of Women and How They are Treated Sangati examines “the difference between women and their different ways in which they are subject to apportion and their coping strategies”. Bama focuses the protests against all forms of oppression and sufferings faced by

Dalit women in the first half of Sangati. But later part of Sangati moves away from the state of depression and frustration. Instead, it presents a positive identity to Dalit women focusing their inner strength and vigor. The writer attracts our mind towards the education system about Dalit community. She gives the example of Pecchiamma belonging to Chakkili community studied up to fifth class. The girls of that community don’t go to school that much.

Child Birth

This novel is introduced with the capability of Patti in attending every childbirth in the village.

She can even handle the most difficult cases “It didn’t matter if the umbilical cord was twisted round the baby, if the baby lay in a breech position, if it was a premature birth, or a case of twins.

She delivered the baby safely, separating mother and child, without harming either”. (1-2). Most people know Patty very well and like Patti very much because of this. People themselves feel in and around of villages that she had a lucky hand. However, the upper caste people don’t approach Patti in attending the childbirth even the situation is worst because “ she was a

Paraichi”. (1)

Sexual Exploitation

Maarriamma faces sexual exploitation in the hands of the upper caste land owner

KumarasamiAyya. One day, Maarriamma gathered firewood as usual and returned home in the burning heat carrying her bundle. Seeing water in the nearby irrigation pump-set, she goes to drink water. When she goes to drink water, KumarasamiAyya seizes her hand and pulls her inside the pump set. However, she escapes and says it to her friends; they said “That landowner is an evil man, fat with money. He’s upper caste as well. How can even try to stand up to such people? Are people going to believe their words or ours?” (20) However, KumarasamiAyya gets afraid of his reputation and so he hurries to the village and complains to the headman of the

Paraiya community named the Naattaamai by saying “Just today that girl Maariamma, daughter of Samudrakani, and that Mnukkayi’s grandson Manikkam were behaving in a very dirty way”.

(20) During the inquiry in the village, Maariamma and Manikkam come to the centre of the circle and then greet the elders by falling down and prostrate themselves at full length. Hence then, they are asked to stand each to one side with folded arms. At last, Mariamma falls down and asks for forgiveness and so the Naattaamai asks her to pay Rs 200 as fine and ManikkamRs

100. The Naattaamai ends the proceedings by saying “It is you female chicks who ought to be humble and modest. A man may do a hundred things and still get away with it. You girls should consider what you are left with, in your bellies”. (26)

Suffering of a Young Girl

The seventh chapter portrays the inconsolable sufferings faced by eleven years old little girl

Maikkanni. Perhaps she was born unlucky because soon after her birth, her father becomes friendly with another woman and so the family responsibilities fall on her shoulder. Her mother is pregnant for the seventh time therefore she finds very difficult to go for a job. However, if she is laid up at home, the children will starve to death. She says that when “Maikkani has grown up a bit and can go out to work”. (69) The day Maikkanni learns to walk, she starts to work as well.

When her mother goes out to work in the fields, it is Maikkaani who looks after all the tasks at home. “From the time she woke up, Scrubbed the cooking pots, collected water, washed clothes, gathered firewood, went to the shops, cooked the kanji. She did it all, one after the other”. (70)

Whenever her mother has a baby, Maikkaani goes off to work in the neighbouring match factory in the town because her mother cannot go for a job. The family is managed on what she earns.

After her mother delivered a baby, she goes to work and Maikkaani takes care of the children. “It was Maikkanni who brought up all the five children who were born after her; her mother delivered them into the world and could do no more. Just as soon as one child began to walk, she was ready to deliver the next” (73).

Bama’s Feminism As a feminist writer Bama’s feminism is focused in the Dalit community. As women are powerless, they accept the patriarchal role of men in their life. All her women characters are never empowered with education. Therefore, they are treated as social victims and easy to attack by whoever wishes. As Prasanna Sree says “through the centuries, women in Hindu tradition are depicted as silent sufferers; they have been given a secondary status both in the family and society”. Maariamma and Thaayi have faced inexplicable shame in their family life. Their husbands regularly beat them up and also feel that it is their birthright to humiliate and kill their life partners. Maarriamma is unlucky in her whole life. When she was with her parents, she didn’t get the love and affection that she expected for. She began to cry when her marriage was arranged with Maanikkam who is a drunkard and does not go for a job and often goes to jail.

When Maariamma knew his character, she refused a lot to marry him. Finally, she was compelled to accept him. Since she got married with Maanikkam, she suffered with beatings every day. She was completely made as a scapegoat that people watched helplessly. The Paraya men were speechless when she was victimized for molestation by KumarasamiAyya. They get afraid of losing their favours especially jobs and don’t have the power to question the upper class person. So, Bama Says in her book Sangati “we must be strong. We must show by our own resolute lives that we believe ardently in our independence. I told myself that we must never allow our minds to be worn out, damaged, and broken in the belief that this is our fate, just as we work hard so long as there is strength in our bodies, so too, we must strengthen our hearts and minds in order to survive” (59).

To Conclude

This paper presented the sufferings faced by Dalit women from their childhood. Women are considered inferior to men and given less care. Their consciousness of ignorance burns in the heart of Bama. Samundrakani and Pechiamma are the prime victims of marginalization. From the readings of Sangati, the similar issues have been identified in the form of sufferings in many chapters. Through Sangati, Bama holds the mirror up to the heart of Dalit women and makes an appeal for a change and betterment of the life of Dalit women in different fields including sex, gender discrimination, equal opportunity in work force, education rights, etc.

. By celebrating the women despite their outward crude ways, Bama appears to make her stand that the women are more deserving of her commitment as a writer than the male Paraiyars.

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