Anita Konwar

English Literature Crying in the Wilderness: The Social Issues in Mahesh Dattani’s Seven Steps around the Fire

Anita Konwar

Abstract:

Literature is the mirror of society. It can be a powerful medium to represent the voice of the oppressed. In spite of the rapid progress in the 21st century at national level, the attitude of society towards the weaker sections has not changed and their cry for equal rights becomes a cry in the wilderness. The ‗hijras‘ do not find a space in the mainstream society and they are marginalized and neglected. At the national level, sincere effort to represent the voice of the ‗hijra‘ is seen in playwrights like Mahesh Dattani. Mahesh Dattani, one of the exponents of modern Indian drama, is a renowned playwright and an active theatre practitioner. This paper aims at analyzing the social issues in Dattani‘s Seven Steps around the Fire. The play has raised many questions regarding the rights and social status of the ‗hijra‘ community. The methodology applied in the paper is analytical method. In Seven Steps around the Fire, Dattani has focused on the marginalized ‗hijra‘ community who do not find a place in the writings of other playwrights.

Key Words: Oppressed, Wilderness, Marginalized, Hijra, Rights

Introduction:

It is not always a story that Dattani wants to tell his audiences across the world. It is sometimes a cause, a point of view, a sense of contemporaneity and a social message that he tries to convey through his plays. The various plays that he has written deal with some issues prevalent in the society and expose it most honestly and candidly. Dattani makes an abundant use of Indian mythology, rituals and traditions and contemporary problems, India is beset with but he elevates these themes to a higher level, touching the human chords that emanate love, happiness, sexual fulfillment and problem of identity.

Objective & Methodology:

This paper aims at analyzing the social issues in Dattani‘s Seven Steps around the Fire. The play has raised many questions regarding the rights and social status of the ‗hijra‘ community. The methodology applied in the paper is analytical method. In Seven Steps around the Fire, Dattani has dealt with the subaltern issue. He has focused on the marginalized ‗hijra‘ community who do not find a place in the writings of other playwrights. The ‗hijra‘ community can be compared with the subalterns and it has to be examined how the suppressed and rebellious voice of the subaltern has been highlighted in the play.

Analysis:

Seven Steps around the Fire dwells on the theme of ‗hijras‘ and their identity-crisis. Society has denied them the rights and opportunities to live like a normal human being. Postcolonial writer, Gayatri Chakravarty Spivak in her essay ―Can the Subaltern Speak?‖ adapts the notion of the subaltern, meaning the oppressed class in order to theorize the condition of the native within colonialism and the woman in postcolonial state. Spivak argues that the structure of colonialism prevents any speaking. This structure is doubly strengthened in the case of the native woman, who is silenced through both patriarchy and colonialism. The concept of ‗Subaltern‘ can be applied to the ‗hijras‘. Like the subaltern subject, the ‗hijras‘ are oppressed class and they are also silenced in the dominant regimes of society. They have been deprived of their rights both by Nature and society. The mainstream society would never allow the ‗hijras‘ to be a part of social ceremonies. Uma Rao, the sociology scholar, becomes the mouthpiece of the playwright, who fights to establish the identity of a eunuch, Kamala, during her research on the class and gender-related violence and crime, its justice in the nemesis of the play. The play is about the marriage of a beautiful hijra Kamla to a son of a wealthy government minister named Subbu. This shocking revelation culminated into the murder of Kamla. The society accepts a hijra for gracing the ceremonies of marriage and births but would not allow them to partake of such ceremonies. The author has ironically portrayed this aspect which would not have been given any heed, for any matter related to them is of no importance to anyone. The heart rendering story about a hijra that she is murdered simply because she had fallen in love with Subbu a young man having a status of importance in society, fills us with horror and sense of injustice.

In the very beginning of the play we see how the hijras are treated like non-living things; they are given the pronoun ‗it/its‘ by characters like Munswamy who has a strong grudge against them. On the other hand Uma, the protagonist always behaves sisterly with them and uses the words ‗she/her‘ for them. In another important conversation between Uma and Champa, the readers/ spectators find how being absolutely hated and neglected, the hijras generally develop a sense of frustration and isolation and that they are not the bonafide members of society. Their inner yearning for being the members of society is seen in laconic speech of Champa: ―Champa: Please excuse me, madam. I did not know that… You see us also as society, no?‖(Seven Steps Around the Fire, p.23).The play expresses the identity-crisis of the hijras and their heart-felt longing for being treated as a social being in an indifferent society where people like the government minister seldom feel a qualm of conscience in getting a hijra burnt to death.

It is seen that the voice of the hijras are suppressed. Their cry for a position in society becomes a cry in the wilderness as society has a biased attitude towards them. They have been deprived of their natural rights to live as human beings. From time immemorial, the problems faced by them are the same. They have been exploited and marginalized. The death of a ‗hijra‘ is a trifle matter for society. As the crime was committed by a powerful person, the law cannot punish him. This is the irony as law becomes a pawn in the hands of power games. Uma Rao, the protagonist, is doing her research on the origin and contemporary status of the hijra community. Her genuine search for truth bears fruit by her sheer effort and will. Yet she is not powerful enough, in spite of being the daughter-in-law of a deputy commissioner and the wife of a superintendent of police, to bring this truth to light: Kamla, a beautiful hijra, is murdered on a minister‘s orders and Subbu, Kamla‘s lover and the minister‘s son commits suicide. Both the incidents are hushed up and the real culprit remains omnipotent and beyond reach. At the end of the play, Dattani exposes the dark aspects of the law-makers through the voice-over of Uma:

Anarkali, Champa and all the hijra people knew who was behind the killing of Kamla. They have no voice. The case was hushed up and was not even reported in the newspapers. (Seven Steps Around the Fire, p.42).

Like Uma, everyone in society becomes a silent spectator to the injustices meted out to the hijras. Though the secret was revealed, they did not get justice. Dattani has beautifully treated this sensitive issue that most writers dared not to do.

Traditional norms of society always encourage people to find fault with women whenever there is a problem of barrenness. Everyone raises his/her finger at the woman as if there cannot be any problem with the male. In such case, compassionate feeling and sympathetic understanding on the part of the husband can help the woman to overcome the affliction. But lack of understanding on the part of the husband aggravates the situation and his role as the silent spectator shows his oneness with the biased attitude of society. In the play we observe how the police officer refuses to subject himself to any medical examination to rule out the barrenness of his wife due to his impotency. This bias of squarely blaming the woman for her barren state is another societal phenomenon that Dattani exposes.

Conclusion:

After analyzing the play, it is seen that Dattani has raised some very pertinent issues regarding the social position of the hijras. Since the play does not end on a positive note, it compels the readers to think over the injustices meted out to the hijras. The question arises in the mind of the readers whether the hijras can speak or not. It is seen that though they want to speak, they are forced to remain mute under circumstantial compulsion. They are the weaker sections of society, being deprived of a space of their own. It is ironical that Uma, the central female character who stands in favour of the hijras becomes helpless in the power game and could not do anything to give them justice. Uma herself is a victim of the traditional patriarchal society. She does not dare to protest openly. Uma and the ‗hijras‘ become identical as we see that they lose their voices in the power politics of society.

Works Cited:

 Dattani, Mahesh. Collected Plays. New Delhi: Penguin 2000.  --. ‗‗Contemporary Indian Theatre and Its Relevance.‘‘ Journal of Indian Writing in

English. Vol. 30, No. 1, Jan 2002.

 Dhawan, R.K., and Tanu Pant, eds. The Plays of Mahesh Dattani: A Critical Response.

New Delhi: Prestige Books, 2005.  Iyengar, K.R. Srinivasa. Indian Writing in English. New Delhi: Sterling, 1985.  Naik, M.K. Dimension of Indian English Literature. New Delhi: Sterling, 1984.  Nayar, Pramod K. Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory: from Structuralism to

Ecocriticism. Delhi: Dorling Kindersley, 2010.