Comment on the ending of the play Ghashiram Kotwal.

 The coming of the Telangi Brahmans; the final downfall of Ghashiram.

1. Ghashiram’s stated motives about imposing such a strict code of conduct are allegedly reformist: “I’ ll straighten out this adulterous city in six months,” he says. His real motives are however to treat the Ponna brahmins with ruthlessness similar to the kind with which was treated earlier. The strated earlier. The strategy impinging of power-politics is evident as we are told: “Gauri ordrs, Nana does, Ghashiram’s reign is here.” As Gauri and Nana symbolize the complicity between sexuality and poltical power, ghashiram stands for the deputation of that power: the executive authority.

Such an exercise of power on the part of ghashiram leads to what is commonly3known in our times as the “licence redime,” that is, securing pemits before doing anything. Ironically, it is stated that with a permit in one’s hands one can even indulge in immoral acts. “No whoring a permit,” we are told. The point is stressed again when it is stated “Do no wrong, without permit.” Permits are required even for walking in the streets at night.

While the absurdity to which such a strict rule leads is made clear to us by the Sutradhar and the Brahmin, There are two specific incidents that highlight this point: these are, the interrogation of the Sutradhar, and that of the seventh Brahmin. While the former indicates the suppression of one’s liberty, the latter is an example of invasion in one’s private life by the state machinery.

The extremity of Ghashiram’s rule is clear as he tells the Sutradhar that he should have been aware when his wife was going to deliver and should have accordingly obtained a permit. The socially sanctioned relationship between another Brahmin and his wife is invaded by ghashiram and held up to public scruitiny in the middle of the night. The absurdity of his rule is brought to its logical conclusion when ghashiram sends the Brahmin and wife to prison depite their legally married. There is very little difference between strict governance and whimsical dictatorship, the play seems to suggest. 

Caught up in such a situatio, the Poona community had bo one to turn to. “Behind ghashiram is Nana,“ they fell so any complaint againsr Ghashiram will be taken as a personal affront by Nana. If on the other hand, They quietly submit to ghashiram’s whims, they will continue to suffer under his revengeful rule.

2. Blissfully ignorant and uninterested in the condition of his people, Nana is busy in personal pleasures, as we see him celebrating the Range Panchami festival with gauri and his wives. This episode corresponds in essence to the rejoicing and indulgence we noticed at Gulabi’s house in Act of this play. When viwed in the light of the earlier scene, this episode makes a sharp comment on the attitude of the statesmen who have on regad for the sufferings of their people. Pleasureseeking and power go hand-in-hand in this play. 

 Ghashiram’s brief statement in this scene is in sharp contrast to the action on the stage. Here, we view Nana. Gauri, nana’s wives and gulabi: all throwing colours at each other. Ghashiram, on the other hand, wishes to establish the rule of law in arresting anyone who is throwing “power” at others. He further asserts, “morality must be respected.” In reality his power rests on the most immoral of the characer of the play, namely, Nana. Thus, words such as ‘morality,’ ‘law’ and ‘order’ become rather hollow, devoid of any actual significance, a situcation having resemblance with present day reality.

A woman’s complaint relating the corpse of her father-in-law not being allowed to be cremated is yet anothe example of the arbitrariness of Ghashiram’s rule: it reveals an ego which seeks to assert itself even in maters such as death. The tragedy of the woman is further heightened by the fact that Nana considers his pleasure to be more importance than the woman’s complaint, which is his official duty to attend to. Ironically, the complaint is referred to the same authority against whom complaint is made. Obviously, ther is no hope of justice as long as Nanas and Ghashirams remain in power, the play seems to suggest.

3. The theme of injustice, ruthlessness and revenge is further mainfest in the Dakshina ceremony. This cermony too, in many respects corresponds to the Dakshina festival witnessed by us in Act I of the play. The primary difference between the two, however, is that whereas in the earilier scene of Act I, hashiram was pushed around and beaten by the soldiers even he was innocent. Here, in Act II, it is Ghashiram who has the charge to enforce law and order. The rivalry and decadnece within the Brahmin-class is evident in this scene as it was in the Dakshina scene. It is not justice or morality, but purely a revenge motive which makes ghashiram subject the innocent Brahmin to the “ordeal.”

4. This ordeal of the innocent brahmin brings to the fore the extent to which bestiality in human nature can take complete sway over himself. Interestingly, this scene also has a parallel scene in the first Act: the scene of Ghashiram being in prison with the Sutradhar. But whereas the earlier prison had focused on the complicity between the criminals and the police, the present incident under discussion is a strong comment on the third degree torturous methods used by th epolice to prove the guilt of the innocent.

This scene highlights the tyranny inherent in religious as well as temporal systems. 

Ostensibly, the Brahmin is made to pass the ordeal because ghashiram believes him to be guilty of stealing. However, the justification given by ghashiram is based on a religious belief, “the true are never undergoing physical ordeals. Sita’s “Agni-Pariksha” or test by fire, in Ramayana is one famous example.

5. Ghashiram-Nana agreement falls apart in this part of the play, but not before Ghashiram has paid a heavy price for being the Kotwal.

This section of ddthe play has three parts to it: Ghashiram planning for the wedding of his daughter, the celebration of Nana’s seventh marriage, and thirdly, the death of Gauri and Ghashiram’s further degeneration.

Ghashiram, as he planes for the daughter’s wedding, appears to us a fulfilled person. Interestingly, he also appears to have got over the guilt about his daughter being used by Nana. Like a true man of the world, he now beliees that it is to find a match for his daughter when one has position and power and money. He also hopes to use his power to silence any loose talk that may arise about his daughter’s sexual relationship with Nana. Our sympathies, if any, towards Ghashiram, being to weaken at his point.

6. This episode begins with the Sutradhar describing that things go on as before. Ghashiram, however, has turned more violent, making the entire city uneasy. The kotwal’s style has “changed for the worse” as he goes about the business of preserving “reputation” and “authority” Once again we sympathze with ghashiram as we are told: “The way a wounded tiger become addicted to blood, so the Kotwal has come to love the smell of human blood.” The Sutradhar further remarks, “Satisfaction he’ll never find, but nothing else delights his mind.” 

Significantly, this section of the play contains the utmost violence, without any of it actually being dramatized on the stage. Firstly, we are told about the veolent acts of Ghashiram making everyone insecure in poona. Then we hear ghashiram killing people off stage. The South indian Brahmins who newly cone to Poona are arrested and tortured and finally, we violence of the mob against ghashiram. 

Against this overwhelming violence of ghashiram is juxtaposed the decadent sexuality of Nana and the poona Brahmins who find “the red light district” full of “fun and games.” Significantly, at the beginning of this act (second Act) the prostitutes’ streets were seen as being “desolate,” but now, as the personal vendetta of Ghashiram takes complete control of his actions, the Brahmins once agains become loose. The dramatist stresses this point by indicating that “the Bhavannakhani scene is like the earlier obe.” In the backdrop of “moaning, shrieks, hubbub” of people, Nana and Gulabi are busy enjoying their lavani along with other Brahmins.

It was Ghashiram who was introduced to us as an outsider to the poona community in the first Bavannakhani scene. At the end of the second Bavannakhani scene we see the South indian Brahmins coming to Poona in search of happuness and fortune. It is to be noted that both Ghashiram and the South Indian brahmins have similar motives in coming to Poona. Like Ghashiram these Brahmins too, are the victims of a tragic fate. 

The Brahmins, newly come to poona and, unware of Ghashiram’s ways and whims, are arrested for stealing fruits from his garden, locked up in the prison cell, and die of suffocation. The Sutradhar, who has become an important link and actor in this section of the play information us of the dark deeds done during Ghashiram’s rule where both the innocent as well as the guilty are sent to prison, so much so, that there is no place in the cell for the twenty-two newly arrested Brahmins. These had come to Poona in search of happiness and fortune, as Ghashiram did. Through their tortutous death, they become the immediate cause of ghashiram’s death.

Ghashiram’s downfall at the end of the play is effected through three stages: the role of Sardar Phakade, the mob pressure on Nana, and Ghashiram’s final execution.

The role of Sardar Phakade becomes significant when viwed in the Brahmin-Maratha rivaly described in Act I of this play. We have seen eariler while brahmins are busy in merrymaking at Bavannakhani, the marathe-lovers are engaged in illicit relationships with the brahmin-wives. The Brahmin-Maratha rivalry suggested through this episode was a historical fact in the Maratha rule during the end of the eighteenth century. Sardar phakade, we are told, holds a grudge against ghashiram due to this old rivalrys. In the torture and death of the twenty-two Brahmins, he finds a fit occasion to manoevrte the Peshwa’s power against Ghashiram. The Peshwa, prompted by the Maratha Sardar summons Nana. The equations of the power-game are clear from the fact that through Nana owes his power to the authority deputed in him by the Peshwa, in reality it is Nana who is shown to be more powerful of the two. Thje Peshwa, throughout the play is presented as the symbol of the absolute power which is but a shadow vis-a-vis the power enjoyed by its acyual executers: such as Nana and ghashiram. It is this superiority of Nana in actual terms which makes him dismiss the Pesha’s summons by merely: “Tell his Highness we’ll finidh our morning prayers and come”. 

The power implicit in the mob fury however, is not so easy to brush aside. Therefore, when the Sutradhar comes and informs Nana that “ngry brahmans have gathered in front of the place,” Nana becomes perturbed. He considers the situation serious enough as to warrant a special prayer to the gods. “Do a special Puja. Pray to the Gods. Make a deal with the gods. Promise them anything.” Nana’s shallow respect for religion, evident earlier in the play, can be once again noticed here. He belives that gods can be brought by striking a deal as human beings are so often brought by him. 

Being a shrewd manipulator, nana uses even this mob fury to his advantage by signing the order “to behead Ghashiram Lotwal.” When alone on stage, Nana let his cunning nature be revealed to the audience: “Use a thron to take out a thron. That’s great. The disease has been stopped, any way, he was no use any more.” For statesman such as nana, individuals are mere conveniences to serve short time needs. 

The public excution of Ghashiram is not dramatized on stage, but narrated to the audience by the Suutradhar. The hidden violence, the dramatist appears to suggest is more dangerous than the manifest one However, the detailed manner in which the execution is described by the Sutradhar is a device through which the dramatist enlists out sympathies for ghashiram. His final speech, too serves to achieve this end. “Hit me. Brat me. Beat me some more Hit me!” It is the death of his daughter which is foremost on his mind even now: “I danced on your chests but I wasted the life of my little daughter. I should be punished for the death of my daughter.”

Ghashiram is killed for his evil deeds, but the greated evil Nana still lives on and even finds a justification for ghashiram’s execution: “A threat to the city of Poona has been ended today . . . A disease has been controlled. The demon Ghashya Kotwal, who plaugued all of us, has met his death. Everything has happehed according to the wishes of the gods. The mercy of the gods is with us always.”. 

With Ghashiram’s death, the play comes full circle. The status quo (as it was at the beginning of the play) is restored as nana Gulabi Nana’s wives, and ddBrahmins, all dance together. Even within the decadence, there is an inverted sense of harmony here, ghashiram, an outsider, tried to disturb the harmony of this corruptand hypocritical society. He, in turn, was repeatedly vicitimized and ultimately lead to his final banishment from the world. Itself. After his death, the ruling class is secure in its unquestioned power and returns to the chants with which the play began.  

Thus, through its circular movements, the play exhibits a stagnant world order: an order where class hierarchies and sexual domination play an important role. At the center of this circular play, we see two characters: Nana and Ghashiram who are mainfestations of domination and victimization at various levels.

The play has sic important episodes in the first Act, and an equal number in the second. In essence and themes, these episodes correspond to each other in many ways. Despite the episodic natue of te play, it is a well-structured work, which uses various elements from the conventional Marathi and the western modern theatre.

The movement of this play rests on two central characters: the simpleton Ghashiram and the wordly-wise Nana phadnavis. A sense of injured leads the former from being a victim to an avenger and then to his ultimate downfall. The lustful Nana and the pleasure-loving Brahmins continue to exist as before for, forces symbolized by these are a constant factor of any decadent, corrupt, and hypocritical society. In Tendulkar’s own words, it issues and not individuals which from the central focus of this play: “Broadly speaking, I had in mind the emergence, the growth and the invitable end ofthe Ghashiram: also those who create, and help Ghashirams to grow; and the irony of dtoning to death a person pretending that is the end of Ghashirams . . . The decadence of the class in power (the Brahmins, in incidentally, during the period which I had to depict) also was incidental, through not accidental.” 

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