KAMALA

By Vijay Tendulkar
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vijay Tendulkar was one of India’s most influential and renowned playwrights
of the 20th century, particularly in the Marathi language.

Tendulkar was born on January 6th, 1928 into a Brahmin family in Kolhapur,
Maharashtra. He left school at age fourteen because he was involved with
Gandhi's anti-British Quit India movement. He read voraciously, attended
numerous theater performances, and began writing for newspapers. In the
early 1970s, he turned to cinema, writing screenplays in what became India’s
new wave cinema movement.

Tendulkar said of his love of writing, “Give me a piece of paper, any paper and
a pen and I shall write as naturally as the bird flies or a fish swims. For the last
50 years, I have been writing...at roadside restaurants and on the crowded
local trains. I have written on the sick bed in the hospital in spite of the
doctor's advice... It was a great relief. It was joy."

Vijay Tendulkar was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer,
literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in
Marāthi. He is best known for his plays, Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe (1967),
Ghāshirām Kotwāl (1972), and Sakhārām Binder (1972).Many of Tendulkar's
plays derived inspiration from real-life incidents or social upheavals, which
provides clear light on harsh realities. He provided his guidance to students
studying "Playwright writing" in US universities. For over five decades,
Tendulkar had been a highly influential dramatist and theater personality in
Mahārāshtra.

A DRAMATIC READING FROM KAMLA BY VIJAY

TENDULKAR
KAMALA, written in the naturalistic mode, is a topical play inspired by a real-
life incident - the Indian Express exposé by Ashwin Sarin, who actually bought
a girl from a rural flesh market and presented her at a press conference. By
using this incident as a launching pad, Tendulkar raises certain cardinal
questions regarding the value system of a modern success-oriented generation
which is ready to sacrifice human values even in the name of humanity itself.
The innate self-deception of this standpoint is exposed dramatically by the
playwright. At the center of the play is a self-seeking journalist, Jaisingh Jadav,
who treats the woman he has purchased from the flesh market as an object that
can buy him a promotion in his job and a reputation in his professional life.
Jadav never stops to think about what will happen to Kamala after this exposé.
Tendulkar makes a jibe at the modern concept of journalism which stresses the
sensational. For this, he uses Kakasaheb, a journalist of the old school, who runs
a small paper with his own resources. Kakasaheb provides the true ideals of
journalism and in contrast to these, Jadav's reporting is shown in a critical light.
KAMALA also explores the position of women in contemporary Indian society.
Through Sarita, Jadav's wife, who is in her own way as exploited as Kamala,
Tendulkar exposes the chauvinism intrinsic in the modern Indian male who
believes himself to be liberal-minded. Though Tendulkar suggests that Sarita
cannot unlearn what she has come to realize, at the end of the play there is a
faint hope of her attaining independence sometime in the future.

Portrayal of Women in Vijay Tendulkar’s Kamla

This article concern the exploitation of women is well as women’s victimization
by male-dominated society. Sarita’s speech in the play, Kamala focuses on the
evolutionary process of Tendulkar’s women. The women characters in
Tendulkar’s dramas suffer a lot as the victims of the hegemonic power
structure. The female body is the object of male sexual fantasy and desire, is
theatrically presented by Tendulkar. All women characters in his plays are the
marginalized objects in interlocking system of sexual politics and power
politics. Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak’s study of the unhappy lot of subaltern
people in Can Subaltern Speak? has great similarity with Vijay Tendulakar’s
female characters. Michel Foucault views that women in our society fall into an
extremely complex system of relations and this system is based on ‘highly
intricate mosaic’ (power/knowledge) of man-woman relationship.

Kamala
In the play ‘Kamla’, Tendulkar portrayed the woman in a quite realistic way.
The character of Kamla, the victim of flesh business, who sold to Jaisingh
Jadhav is shown as a practical and she has accepted the truth of life and trying
to adjust her life. She is fond of her master although she knew he is not going
to marry her and unaware of the reality of that he is just going to use her for
his own professional profit. She also see Sarita, wife of Jaisingh as an another
slave whom her master bought and trying to live with her.
Kamla: can I ask you something? You won’t be angry?

Sarita: no. Go on

Kamla: How much did he buy you for?

[Sarita is confused at first]

Sarita: what?

Kamla: I said how much did he buy you for?

Sarita: [recovering]. Me? Look here, Kamala. [Changes her mind, and sits down beside her]
For seven hundred.

Kamla: My god! Seven hundred?

Sarita: why? Was it too little?

Kamala: [pauses]. it was an expensive bargain, memsahib. If you pay seven hundred, and
there are no children …

[Sarita assumes a sad expression]

Then he has to pay for clothes, and for food. He must be very unhappy really.

Here the simple side of the Kamala can be seen .The relationship between
Jaisingh and Sarita is of master and slave and from Kamal’s view if women
can’t give child to their master then they are worthless. Kamla has influence of
patriarchal thinking on her personality. Through the play until her exist the
character of Kamla is shown as a simple, Patriarchal thinking women who is
fond of her master while unaware of his intention.

Sarita
In play ‘Kamla’ Vijay Tendulkar did fabulous job to show the role of women in
patriarchal society through the character of Sarita. Sarita is wife of a successful
journalist Jaisingh Jadhav. She is a well-educated lady but it doesn’t any
difference to Jaisingh who treats her as inferior and does not give her any
chance to take a decision on any subject or matter. Jaisingh: [handling the
bundle to kamala, says to Sarita] its I who takes Decisions in this house, and no
one else. Do you understand? Chalo Kamala. [to Sarita] I will be back tonight –
if there are any Phone calls, say I’ve gone straight to the office, and write them
down.

From that scene it proves that Jaisingh doesn’t value the opinion Sarita. It is
also questionable that whether he gives Sarita as status of his wife. For Jaisingh
Sarita is only needed for satisfying his physical, mental, social needs, and for
household works. He doesn’t treat her as human being rather he treat her as
his personal slave. Jaisingh exploits her in every way. But due to Sarita is
married to Jaisingh in patriarchal society she has to bear that torture of
Jaisingh because in patriarchal society the females are considered as inferior to
males and they have to listen to their husband, or father [6,7]. The portrayal of
the patriarchal society in the play is very much common in particularly in
Indian cultural. The wife or women have to listen to male, even the male is
considered as a characterless, or without any great achievements. It’s the sad
reality which has been depicted through the play and through the character of
Sarita Tendulkar trying to show the feminist perspective in Indian society.
Kamla: Can I ask you something? You won’t be angry?

Sarita: No. go on Kamla: how much did he buy you for?

At this moment Sarita starts to realize that her life and Kamla’s life is not so
different. she has been bought by Jaisingh and Sarita herself is sold by Her
father gave her to Jaisingh with giving lots of dowry. From above conversation
with Kamla she understands that she is living like a slave. Tendulkar in realistic
way make audience to realize that even a married woman can exploited like a
victim of flesh business. When this torched gets unbearable then rebel will
happen. Her frustration and pain about this slavery can be seen in following
conversion.
Sarita: listen to the story of how he bought the slave Kamala and made use of her. The other
slave he got free- not just free – the slave’s father shelled out the money – a big money. Ask
him what he did with it.

In this conversation Sarita is in deep pain, but now she wanted to become free
this slavery and had a great determination in her eyes. Sarita is well educated,
married to a successful person, but ultimately gets treated as a slave because
she is a woman in patriarchal society. Through the Play the Character of Sarita
shows the harsh place of Indian women in Indian patriarchal society. Women
are always considered to be an inferior, unintelligent and rather subordinate to
the males. Even after marriage the husband treats the women as object which
is there to satisfy him. Thorough the play Tendulkar shows the Mirror of reality
to Patriarchal society and as well to the audience who is mostly influenced by
Patriarchal Society.

Human Relationships in Vijay Tendulkar’s Kamala

Today our society is becoming more and more complex. Industrialization,
globalization, capitalism, science and technology have made the life of man
more mechanical. Life of the modern man has lost all sense of coherence and
has become fragmented. All this resulted in the human relationships. In the
total network of human relationships, man -woman relationship has always
occupied a central place. The theme of man-woman relationship is universal
theme in the world literature. Depiction of the human relationship in any
literary work stands with cultural, social, economic, moral and political issues
of the age. Today’s society is becoming more complex in the context of
psychological, sociological and patriarchic society. In the patriarchic society,
woman’s position is bad. Women have no ways to express her feelings, love
and emotions in the patriarchic society. Beauvior describes the bad condition
of woman to man upon both the old and new testaments in The Second Sex:
“For the man is not of the woman but the woman of the man. Neither was the
man created for the woman but the woman for the man……… for the husband
is the head of wife even as Christ is the head of Church. Therefore, as the
church is subject upto Christ, So let the wives be to their husband in
everything.”(110) It shows that the man is not created for woman but the
woman is created for man. In the context of psychology, marriage is the most
significant and socially recognized form of man-woman relationship. Marriage
is a social institution supported by tradition, custom and social morality. The
theme of human relationship deals with the major aspects of marital,
premarital, post marital relationship and adolescent love. This type of
relationship appears to be inexhaustible and the changing times and social
situations have served to bring out its amazing diversity. In this context of
premarital relationship, A.A. Khatri says: “There are two kinds of involvements
in Pre-marital relationship-unilateral and bilateral. In unilateral involvement, a
spouse prior to his/her marriage was romantically attached and/or erotically
attached to another member of the opposite sex but latter did not reciprocate
by love and/or erotic response. In another type of unilateral involvement, a
spouse was an object of romantic love and/or sexual attraction of a member of
the opposite sex but he/she did not reciprocate. In bilateral involvement, a
spouse, prior to his/her marriage and another member of the opposite sex
were mutually involved-romantically and/or erotically.”(120) Human
relationships in Kamala: Vijay Tendulkar’s Kamala (1995) is the most tropical
drama inspired by a real life incident-the Indian Express expose by Ashwin
Sarin, who actually bought a girl from the market of rural area and presented
at a press conference. By using this incident, Tendulkar raises certain issues
regarding the present condition of a modern society which is ready to sacrifice
human morality in the name of humanity. The central character of the play is
Jaisingh Jadhav, journalist, who treats the woman, Kamala to whom he has
purchased from the flesh market as an object that can buy him a promotion in
his job and a reputation in his professional life. Jaisingh bought Kamala for two
hundred and fifty rupees but he has not thought about what will happen to
Kamala after this expose. He sells Kamala who is poor and illiterate woman.
Jaisingh discards Kamala in an orphanage. He exploits not only Kamala but also
his wife, Sarita. Through the treatment to Kamala, Jaisingh makes Sarita realize
that she is also a slave of him. Sarita observes how he refuses a bath to Kamala
and takes her in clumsy clothes to the press-conference for his professional
profit He uses both the woman, Kamala and Sarita as pawns in his game. He is
the persecutor. For the stability in the society and reputation in the society, he
uses Kamala as a slave. After his achievement in the job, he throws out Kamala.
For this purpose, he uses Kakasaheb, a journalist of the old school, Kakasaheb
provides the true ideals of journalism and in contrast to these, Jaysingh
Jadhav’s reporting is shown in a critical manner. Jaisingh believes himself to be
liberal-minded. At the end of the play, there is a hope that Sarita will get
independence in the future. The play Kamala indicates male dominated society
in which women are only stepping-stones in a man’s quest for power and
reputation. In the play, there is the strange world of human relationships
which are inherited. In this play, Tendulkar has shown human relationships
such as husband-wife relationship between Jaisingh and Sarita, exploiter-
exploited relationship between Jaisingh and Kamala and the relationship
between Kakasaheb and Sarita. Through the relationship between Jaisingh and
Sarita, Tendulkar depicted Sarita as a sympathetic, kind and passionate but
Jaisingh treats her as a slave in his home like Kamala. Thus the relationship
between Jaisingh and Sarita is not cordial relationship as a husband-wife. The
relationship between Jaisingh and Kamala is called exploiter-exploited
relationship. Jaisingh exploits Kamala as a slave. He has purchased Kamala
from the flesh market. He wants to show her in the press-conference as a
slave. He has to show the condition of women in the slum area. So he doesn’t
give any facility to Kamala in the home. He refuses a bath to Kamala and takes
her in clumsy clothes to the press-conference because he has to show the
condition of slaves in the modern society. After the achievement in the job, he
throws out Kamala from home. He doesn’t care about her future. He only uses
her for his promotion in job. As a human being, he has no sympathy, kindness
about Kamala. So the relationship between Jaisingh and Kamala is not cordial.
Kamala brings not just variety of social station but also a broad range of
emotions in the play. Tendulkar has also shown such types of relationship in
his play which happens in the society. In an interview, Tendulkar said: “I have
not written about hypothetical pain or created an imaginary world of sorrow. I
am from a middle class family and I have seen the brutal ways of life by
keeping my eyes open. My work has come from within me, as an outcome of
my observation of the world in which I live. If they want to entertain and make
merry, fine go ahead, but I can’t do it, I have to speak the truth.” (3) Tendulkar
also deals with themes that unravel the violence in human relationships. In an
introduction by Arundhati Banerjee in Collection of Five Plays, Tendulkar
noted: “…the basic urge (to write) has always been to let out my concerns as I
perceive it.”(p. x) Thus, Vijay Tendulkar’s plays concentrate on different aspect
of the human character and complexity of the human relationship. He shows
the position of women in contemporary Indian society through his woman
characters. In this play, he depicts women as loyal, docile, hardworking, and
tenderhearted. He deals with the existence of human being, human mind,
human psychology and human relationship through his plays. The issues of
violence, sex, illicit human relationships, power, stability in the society and
social issues point out in all his plays in English translation. In this context.
C.Coelho rightly points out: “In his portrayal of human relations and tensions,
Tendulkar depicts the violent tendency of egotistical man and equally self-
centered society. He liberated Marathi stage from the tyranny of conventional
theatre with its mild doses of social and political satire for purpose of pure
entertainment.”(34) It shows that Tendulkar has shown different types of
themes in his plays but the theme of human relationship is very complicated.