COMMUNAL TENSION AND GENDER BIAS IN MAHESH ...

COMMUNAL TENSION AND GENDER BIAS IN MAHESH DATTANI’S PLAY FINAL

SOLUTIONS

SUCHISMITA BHATTACHARYA

Ph.D Research Scholar

Department of English

VISTAS (Vels University)

Chennai,Tamil Nadu.

[email protected]

DR P. SURESH

Research Supervisor & Associate Professor

Department of English

VISTAS (Vels University)

Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

[email protected] ABSTRACT

India is the country of varied heritage and culture. It is one such country where all the religions are

followed and respected as well. The great saints of India have already preached the people that God

is one and the same. The paths of all the religions, lead us to the same destination, the God. Though

God is worshipped and addressed differently in all the religions, mankind must realize and

understand that the Supreme Being is one and the same. In India people especially the Muslims and

the Hindus fight with each other and in the result, communal tension takes place. The reason of the

fight is trivial and flimsy most of the times. India is known as a secular nation and such type of

communal tension and communal riots that often take place, spoils the peace of the minds and lives

of people. Final Solutions is one such play, where the playwright Mahesh Dattani, has portrayed the

picture of India during the communal riots. The play speaks about the sufferings of both the Hindus

and the Muslims. The play also talks about male dominance in the life of a woman in the Indian

family.

KEY WORDS: Communal Tension, Communal Riot, God, Hindus,Muslims, Male Dominance, Gender Bias, Sufferings

of Women.

INTRODUCTION

Communal tension and communal harmonyare such terms which are familiar to everyone in

India.Communal harmony is seen sometimes in many things between a Hindu and a Muslim but

sometimes it shows its absence. Mahesh Dattani, has mentioned about both communal tension and

harmony beautifully in his play Final Solutions. The plays of Dattaniemerged as the fresh arrival in

the field of Indian Drama in English at the end of the twentieth century and they have won the hearts

of the people not only in India but throughout the world. The plays of Dattani deal with the

contemporary issues of the Indian Society and they are wriiten in such a manner that they can be

staged anywhere in the world as they have a universal appeal.

Mahesh Dattani won the SahityaAkademiaward for his play Final Solutions in the year 1998. This

particular play is considered as the magnum opus of Dattani out of all the other plays.Dattani has

mainly shown certain things in the play which can be considered as the themes of the play and they

are selfishness, weakness of a human, patriarchal dominance, fear and hatred. The playwright in the

play talks about the problems of both the minority and the majority communities, where the minority

is the Muslims and the majority is the Hindus. The play is not confined only to the problems of

minority and majority, but it also talks about patriarchal hegemony in an Indian family. Dattani

deserves appreciation for his immense courage because the particular play was written after the

demolition of the Babri Masjid.

International Journal of Pure and Applied MathematicsVolume 119 No. 16 2018, 2447-2455ISSN: 1314-3395 (on-line version)url: http://www.acadpubl.eu/hub/Special Issue http://www.acadpubl.eu/hub/

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The play talks about the sufferings of both the Hindus and the Muslims. The Hindus had to suffer in

the hands of the Muslims and the Muslims had to suffer in the hands of the Hindus. Hardika or

Daksha (both the names are of the same person) symbolizes the majority whereas Javed symbolizes

the minority. The mob mentioned in the play symbolizes the hatred of each and every individual.

The play at one side speaks about the communal tension and on the other side it speaks about

friendly relations as well.

The plot of the play moves from the past to the present and vice versa. The story revolves around the

lives of people in a Gujarati family, where the characters speak about three generations. Hardika the

grandmother who is known as Daksha as well (in the past), Ramnik, son of Hardika and Smita,

grand-daughter of Hardika. Memory plays a vital role in the play as Hardika is often seen

recollecting her past memories. In the play the mob or the chorussymbolizes the communal hatred of

the minority and the majority.

COMMUNAL TENSION IN THE PLAY

Communal riot is such a war which is actually not fought between two different nations, rather it

takes place between two different religious groups. Dattani focuses mainly on the communal

disharmony between the Hindus and the Muslims. The play talks about the condition of India during

the post partition riots.

The play is about a Gujrati family where the head of the family is Hardika, who has a strong hatred

for the Muslims because her father was killedby the minority people. She protests against her son

when he gives refuge to two Muslim boys Javed and Bobby in her house.

Hardika: How could he let these people into my house?

Hardika: They killed his grandfather! (Collected Plays, 179)

The above quote shows the hatred of Hardika which she had in her heart for the Muslims. She says

those things to her son Ramnik when he allows the Muslim boys Javed and Bobby to stay in their

house.

The story of the play moves between the past and the present and vice versa. Hardika symbolizes the

present whereas Daksha, (another name of Hardika) symbolizes the past. Ramnik, son of Hardika, is

a very liberal minded person and he doesn’t support the hatred of his mother towards the Muslims

because he knew the truth which his mother was unaware of. Hardika had the hatred for the Muslims

because they killed her father but she did not know that her husband and father in law ruined the life

of Zarine who was her friend when she was young. Hardika’s father in law and husband had set the

shop of Zarine’s father on fire and Ramnik knew this truth but he did not reveal this to his mother

because he did not want his mother to suffer more. He just tried to atone the sins committed by his

father and grandfather and hence proves himself to be a true secularist.Ramnik even thinks of giving

a job to Javed so that he can earn his livelihood and in this way he can get rid of the guilt.

And we burnt it. Your husband. My father. And his father. They had burnt it in the name of communal hatred.

Because we wanted a shop. Also they learnt that . . . those people were planning to start a mill like our own. I

can’t take it any longer. I don’t think I will be able to step into that shop again . . . When those boys came here,

I thought I would . . . I hoped I would be able to. . . set things right. I-I wanted to tell them that they are not the

only ones who have destroyed. I just couldn’t. I don’t think I have the face to tell anyone. (Collected Plays, 226)

Final Solutions can be considered as a problem play as it speaks about the communal tension and

communal riot. Dr. Deepti Agrawal, talks about the Hindu Muslim communal riot in her book and

she also discusses about Final Solutions in one of the chapters. She says that,

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The very insightful and sharp analysis of the nationalist conceptualization of India’s Islamic legacy is taken up

by Dattani in his well performed play Final Solutions. In this play, Dattani bemoaned the takeover of the

symbols of his religion, by proponents of Hindutva. (The Plays of Mahesh Dattani, A Study InThemtaic

Diversity And Dramatic Technique,237)

Dr. Deepti also says that the play has presented different shades of the communalist attitude which

were/are prevalent among the Hindus and the Muslims in the attempt to underline the stereotypes

and the cliches that influence the collective sensibility of one community against another. The writer

discusses about the plot of the play as well where she says it(the play) is about aa simple Hindu

family who are suddenly faced with lots of questions when two Muslim miscreants seek refuge in

their house during the communal riots.

Dr.Beena Agarwal dicusses about the play in her book. She says that,

Dattani represents two communities through the change of masks. This device of changing the mask is quite

significant. Behind the mask each member of the chorus is a human being and here lies the roots of dramatic

tension in the play Final Solution. The mob frenzy of Muslims, is vitalized in the second appearance of

mob/chorus. Sacrificing their humanity and religious faiths, they make a mockery of Gods and Goddesses.

(Mahesh Dattani’s Plays, A New Horizon in Indian Theatre, 47)

Dr.Beena expresses her thoughts about the plays in her book and she says that in the play, anger is

not an expression of aggression but a method of self defense. She says with reference to Final

Solutions that Javed, the Muslim boy offers his services to Aruna and tries to help her by filling the

bucket of water but it was of no avail.

Aruna, wife of Ramnik, is a typical Indian house wife and a Godfearing woman as well. She tries to

maintain balance with her modesty when the two Muslim boys take refuge in the house. She did

have sympathy for the boys but at one point of time, it becomes difficult for her to compromise with

them. Javed tries to help her out in her work but she says,

We don’t allow anyone to fill our drinking water. No outsiders. (Collected Plays, 209)

Dr.Bipinkumar Parmar talks about the play in one of the chapters in his book and he says that,

The play is bifurcated into three acts for the presentation of the events in a systematic way. Structurally, they

can be considered as the exposition, climax, and denouement or solution. The first act introduces the situation

and people involved in it showing communal riots as the background of the play. There is a gradual

development of action leading to the climax in second act. The third act is very important from structurally and

philosophically. The dramatist presents cross examination Javed and Bobby for arriving at final solution of the

communal hatred. (Dramatic World of Mahesh Dattani, Voices and Visions, 87-88)

Dr Pramod Kumar Singh discusses the play Final Solutions in the second chapter of his book. He

says that the particular play is the true representative play of the observations of Dattani and the

observations deal with the burning issue of communal riot. Dr Singh says that Dattani shows in the

play how the seed of riot is sowed and some vested groups reap its fruit.

Dr Singh also says that,

Mahesh Dattani is the true observer of society and he writes only what he sees and not what should be. All his

plays are filled with matter and manner which he observes. Each and every play of Dattani raises some

prominent issues concerning the various maladies contaminating the healthy tissues of the society and in doing

so he is never seen didactic in his attitude. (Social Maladies in the Works of Mahesh Dattani, A Critical

Assessment, 59)


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Dr. Singh dicusses further and says that Dattani is a different kind of writer who shows the reality of

the society directly through his play. He says that the older generation in the play had borne the

burnt of communal violence and they are not ready to accept any solution but the younger generation

in the play they have a different perspective. They think the same issue in a different way and they

kind of want a solution for all this.

Dr. Singh also says that the basic reason of communal riot is not always because of religion but

sometimes the reason is socio-economic as well which prevails in tha matter. He says there are some

vested groups who always search opportunities and utilise it fo their own interest as Ramnik’s father

does in the play. Dr Singh says that the class struggle is also one of the causes of such type of

violence which is misinterpreted most of the time by the groups.

HARDIKA

Hardika is the mother of Ramnik. She is also known as Daksha in the play when the play revolves

around the past. Daksha writes down everything in her diary because diary is her best friend. Right

from her first day at her in laws house to making a new Muslim friend namely Zarine, she writes

down everything in her diary. The diary symbolizes the past and the present. Daksha as a young girl

in the past writes down everything on the pages of her diary and Hardika in the present, teaches

things to her family about the past, from her diary.

Hardika, known as Daksha at her young age, had a Muslim friend whose name was Zarine. Zarine’s

house was the only place for Daksha where she could found some solace and freedom. Daksha was

fond of the Noor Jehan songs and she could hear the songs only at Zarine’s place. Zarine and

Daksha were good friends, but their friendship was not meant to be last forever. Daksha’s father was

killed by the Muslims in a riot and from then onwards Daksha started to hate the minority people.

Infact she lost all her faith from her Lord Krishna as well.Hardika or Daksha is a such a character

who symbolizes the majority or the Hindus and their sufferings as well.

JAVED

Javed is a Muslim boy in the play. He is a young baffled boy who becomes a victim and a terrorist.

The politicians exploit him in the name of Jehad, the Holy War. Javed takes training for the terrorist

activities. He goes rather he is sent to a street where the Hindus live. The street is also known as

Mohalla. The Rath Yatra procession comes on to the street and there comes many people who join in

the procession.

Javed feels happy as he comes there to work for the holy war. He throws a stone at first to the

procession to create a chaos. He had the responsibilty of murdering the pujari or the priest of the

Ratha Yatra. Javed moves towards the pujari with a knife in his hand, he gets mingled in the crowd.

Though Javed has the responsibility to kill the pujari, he fails to do so. The knife fails down from his

hand and he feels nauseous and thinks in his mind that what is he doing in the procession. This state

of mind of Javed clearly shows that, though he is a terrorist, he has heart of a human being as well.

Moreover he doesn’t have the courage to kill a person who is innocent. Javed is not the actual

murderer of the pujari, infact the knife fails down from his hand and he clearly beholds that someone

else takes up the knife from the ground and kills the pujari. He becomes the victim of his fate. The

charge of the murder comes on him though he did not murder.

I moved to the chariot, pushing people away. And I saw him. I saw the pujari ringing a bell. There was chaos all

around. I saw the poojari’s frightened face as he turned away. And . . . I was in a carnival again on that giant

wheel, screaming with pleasure. And I came crashing down, down. I wanted to get off but I couldn’t! The

poojari backed away, his last words were his god’s name. He looked up at the knife in my hand as I lifted it


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above the heads around me. He begged for me mercy but I couldn’t hear him at all! There were screams all

around and I was screaming too, but no longer with joy as fear came faster and faster confusing me! I got

nauseous and I cried, ‘why am I here? What am I doing here?’ Get me off… The knife fell down to the ground,

the joyride was over.

I couldn’t hear noises anymore. I watched men, fighting, distorted faces not making a sound. And I watched

someone pick up the knife and pierce the poojari . I watched while people removed a part of the chariot as

planned. The poojarifell to the ground. The carnival continued. (CP, 207-208)

Javed talks about the police department who never arrest the main culprits when it is necessary to do

so. He says that police always harass the innocent and common people and that is the reason the

victims lose their faith from them. Mahesh Dattani through the character Javed, bringsforth the true

nature of the police department who show negligence to the work.

Arrest me? When they have been looking the other way all along. How do you think we got into the street? In

their vans. They will arrest me. Don’t worry. To please people like you. And a few innocent Muslims to please

everyone. (CP,204)

SMITA

Smita is a girl who believes in liberal ideology. She does help her mom in her pooja work because

she loves her mom but she doesn’t personally support all the things from heart. Rather at one point

of time she gets tired of her mother’s prejudices and conveys her feelings to her mother.

Please, mummy, don’t try so hard! You are breaking me. Ever since I was small, you have been at me to go to

the temple, make garlands, listen to you reading from the Gita. I love you, mummy, that’s why I did that. I

listened to u and I obeyed you. I tolerated your prejudices only because you are my mother. Maybe I should

have told you earlier, but I’m telling you now, I can’t bear it! Please don’t burden me anymore! I can’t take it!

(CP, 213)

BOBBY

Bobby whose original name is Babban, is a friend of Javed. Though he is also a Muslim like Javed,

he doesn’t want to show that off to the world and that is the reason he changes his name from

Babban to Bobby when he goes to college. Unlike Javed , Bobby has a control over his temper and

he doesn’t react angrily in all the situations. He is the one who saves Javed from the Ratha Yatra

procession and takes refuge in the house of Ramnik Gandhi.

Bobby is the one who makes Aruna, wife of Ramnik, to understand that God doesn’t differentiate

between people. To Him all are equal. This is evident from the following quote,

See, Javed! He doesn’t humiliate you. He doesn’t cringe from my touch. He welcomes the warmth of my hand.

He feels me. And he welcomes it! I told Him who is sacred to them, but I do not commit sacrilege. (To Aruna)

You can bathe Him day and night, you can splash holy waters on Him but you cannot remove my touch from

His form. You cannot remove my smell with sandal paste and attars and fragrant flowers because it belongs to a

human being who believes, and tolerates, and respects what other human beings believe. This is the strongest

fragrance in the world! (CP, 224-225)

Bobby also believes in believing one another. He feels and says that if people believe in one another,

then nothing can be destroyed.

RAMNIK

Ramnik Gandhi, son of Hardika, is a very liberal minded man and he doesn’t support the communal

hatred. He even gives refuge to the two Muslim guys in his house because he wanted to atone the sin

committed by his father and grandfather in the past. He even thinks of helping Javed by giving him a

job in the shop, so that he can earn his livelihood in an honest and peaceful way.


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ARUNA

Aruna, wife of Ramnik Gandhi, is a typical Indian house wife who is a Godfearing person as well.

She has spent her whole life in pooja path and she doesn’t like to compromise with anything that is

related to her God. She also believes that everybody has their own way to woeship God. She

strongly dislikes the decision of her husband, the decision of allowing the Muslim boys to stay with

them under the same roof. Aruna did have sympathy for the two boys, but at the same time she was

scared of them as well. Infact, when Javed tries to help her out by filling up the drinking water, she

clearly tells him that outsiders are not allowed to fetch or fill water in their house.

WOMEN IN THE PLAY

Dattani has always given importance to women in his plays. The women in his plays are sometimes

meek, submissive, calm and cool in nature. Whereas sometimes they are intelligent, brave,

courageous and protest when required. In this particular play Dattani talks about three different

women who represent three different generations. Hardika represents the first generation, Aruna

represents the second generation and Smita represents the third generation. Hardika,is also known as

Daksha in the play, who has seen the partition of India and the communal tension as well. Hardika

even talks about her father’s dream of an independent India. Hardika is such a woman who did love

the Muslims until they killed her father in a communal riot.

Aruna, daughter in law of Hardika is a typical Indian house wife who is seen busy in doing pooja

and household chores most of the time in the play. She even teaches her daughter to learn the works

of God and the household chores as well. Aruna is very particular about her God and she can never

really compromise with anything when it comes to her God. Smita, daughter of Aruna and grand

daughter of Hardika is a girl of modern period. She believes in liberal ideology and she doesn’t

support her mother’s activities from heart, though she helps her in all the household chores and work

of her God. She loves her mother but at one point of time she feels stifled and expresses her feelings

to Aruna. She requests her mother not to bind her with prejudices any more. She even did not have

hatred for the Muslims as her close friend is a Muslim girl whose name is Tasneem.

PATRIARCHY AND GENDER BIAS IN THE PLAY

Patriarchy is such a term which can never be removed from the history of India. Patriarchy is

inseparable from the Indian society. Almost all the families in the Indian society are run by the male

members of the family and hence they dominate on the family as well. The head of the family

usually holds immense power and he exercises certain rules and regulations in the family. The rules

must be followed by each and every member of the family especially the female members of the

family are bound to obey all the rules.The freedom of choice is hardly given to the members of the

family especially to the female members. The head of the family usually takes all the important and

trivial decisions in the family and he expects everyone to obey his decision.

Mahesh Dattani mainly speaks about gender bias in almost all his plays.Final Solutionsis one such

play that not only speaks about the communal tension but it showcases the patriarchal hegemony and

sufferings of a woman as well. Daksha also known as Hardika in the play, gets married to a guy

namely Hari at a very tender age. Daksha’s name is also changed after she comes to her in laws

house. Hardikais the new given to her which matches with the name of her husband. Daksha is not

allowed to take education, she is not allowed to listen to her favourite Noor Jehansongs. She

becomes a typical Indian housewife after her marriage who is not allowed to step out of the house

without covering her head.

Daksha writes everything in her diary. Diary acts as a symbol throughout the play as it is present in

Daksha and Hardika’s life from the past till the present. Diary is not just an object or entity in her


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life, but it is her best friend where she writes down each and everyting that happens in her life. She

shares all those things which she cant share with anyone else as she did not have any friends in her

new house. She feels bad as all her dreams are shattered after marriage. She says,

All my dreams have been shatterd . . . I can never be a singer, like Noor Jehan. Hari’s family is against my

singing film songs. His parents heard me humming a love song to Hari last night. And this morning they told

him to tell me . . . (CP, 166)

Mahesh Dattani has made use of irony in the play. The setting of the play is during the time when

India received its independence. Daskha exactly got married with Hari at that period. Dattani has

tried to show here in the play, that, at one side independence or freedom is achieved by India but on

the other side Daksha loses her freedom. She loses her freedom of singing, humming songs to her

husband and she even loses the freedom of dreaming in life. She leads her life like a bird in the cage

with shackles in the legs.

Daksha gets befriended with a Muslim girl whose name is Zarine. She did visit Zarine’s house as

well because there she could get some freedom; freedom to breath properly, freedom to talk and she

even did listen to her favourite Noor Jehan songs which she is not allowed to listen to her in laws

house, but unfortunately, her destiny did not allow her to have this freedom also anymore. She was

deprived from going to Zarine’s house as her in laws accused her of eating together with Zarineand

her family.

The accuasation is totally fake which Daksha understands well. They just wanted her to stop going

to her friends house somehow. Hari, her husband, hits her for meeting Zarine at her house as she is a

Muslim girl. He also shows his anger because she did not take his permission before going to her

Muslim friend’s house.

Daksha protests with anger and asks her husband not to hit her. She even says that she has not taken

food with Zarine but her husband doesn’t believe to her words. She pleads him to leave her alone

and also promises him that she would not to go to Zarine’s house again in life.

Ah! Don’t hit me! (Angrily.) Don’t do that! I swear I didn’t eat anything! Aah! Stop that! Stop it! All right. I

won’t go there again. Please leave me alone. (Crying.) Please! Stop! (Lies on the floor sobbing.) (Collected

Plays,222)

Daksha had a tough living after this incident. She could not match anymore with her husband Hari,

the only thing that did match are the two names Hardikaand Hari. Daksha becomes the victim of

male dominance and she represents a woman who is imprisoned or tied with shackles inside the

house in an independent country like India.

CONCLUSION

Mahesh Dattani’sFinal Solutions is a problem play that talks about the socio-political aspects of a

society in India. Two different types of community live in India, one is the majority and the other

one is the minority. Each of the communities has hatred for each other and the reason of the hatred is

actually silly and baseless. God is one and the same but people do fight on God and each and

everyone claims that God is mine, God is ours, whereas God loves everyone like parents love all the

children, if there is more than one child in a family. Dattani, the playwright, has shown the true

colours of the politicians and the police department very well through his play. The politicians force

the innocent people to work for them in the name of religion. Javed in the play, has been shown as

such a character who works for the politicians who did brainwash him in the name of Jehad, The


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Holy War. Like Javed, there are many people who become the puppets in the hands of the politicians

and later suffer like anything as they become the victims.

Dr. Dipti Agrawal says that Dattani has made use of the mob or the chorus as a stylistic device to

enhance the presentation of Hindu and Muslim people in the play. She also says that Daksha’s diary

ascertains the history of division, the sense of us and them, the one and other by linking personal

experience with the political and social hatred. We all must understand each other and must stop

hating each other as well. It is the responsibility of people of India, to make it a secular country in

the true and real sense. The conflict of the minds must be stopped first, then only the conflict or the

fight that takes place outside can be stopped.

Dattani also focusses on patriarchal hegemony and gender bias, which is the other side of the play.

He has tried to show with the help of the character Daksha, that, gender bias and sufferings of

women have not totally swept away from India. Though India has got its independence or freedom,

the Indian women in most of the families, still live like caged birds with shackles in the legs. India

shall receive its true independence or freedom only on the day when women will be receiveing their

due respect and freedom. Also, the people must start loving and accepting each other, rather than

hating and misunderstanding.

WORK CITED

1. Collected Plays, Penguin Books India,2000, New Delhi.

2. Dr. Agarwal Beena, Mahesh Dattani’s Plays, A New Horizon in Indian Theatre, Book Enclave, Jaipur, India.

3. Dr. Singh Kumar Pramod, Social Maladies in the Works of Mahesh Dattani, A Critical Assessment, Sarup Book

Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

4. Dr. Parmar Bipinkumar, Dramatic World of Mahesh Dattani : Voices and Visions, Aadi Publications, Jaipur,

India.

5. Dr. Agrawal Dipti, The Plays of Mahesh Dattani, A Study In Thematic Diversity And Dramatic Technique,

Discovery Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi-110 002.


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