Vijay Tendulkar, a great Indian playwright
Vijay Tendulkar, one of the outstanding Indian playwrights, was born in Mumbai on 6thJanuary 1928. He started writing at an early age, and as a writer he has excelled in manydepartments of literature: essays, short stories, criticism, screenplay writing and drama. Inthe beginning he appeared as a controversial writer, but his works showed him as anhonest artist. His honesty and skill won him reputation and recognition. Today, he iscelebrated as a great Indian playwright.
Satire, Sarcasm and Reality in Silence!
The Court is in SessionIn Silence! The Court is in Session, Tendulkar has depicted the plight of a youngwoman, who is betrayed by the male dominated society. A traditional male dominatedsociety cannot relinquish its paralyzed values and customs. The society does not like toperceive or receive any social change. Tendulkar presents a treatment of those ugly waysof society in this play. It is a bitter satire against the social ills and an interesting attemptto criticize the follies that prevail in our society.
The Background and Story
I’d consider Silence! The Court is in Session to be Tendulkar’s best play. In it we find agroup of teachers who were planning to stage a play in a village. It so turned out that oneof the members of the cast did not show up. A local stagehand was asked to replace him.A rehearsal was arranged and a mock trial was staged to make him understand the courtprocedure. A mock charge of infanticide was leveled against Miss Benare, one of themembers of the cast. Then the pretend-play or game suddenly turned into a grim chargeand it emerged from the witness that Miss Benare did kill an illegitimate child by Prof.Damle, the missing member of the cast.
Charges
It is important here to note that these charges became verbalized only in the absence ofDamle. If he were present, the typical backbiting attitude of the self-righteous Indianmale would not have helped reveal the truth. Miss Benare was thrown into the dock andthere she remained trying to joke herself out of it, but trapped too murderously, by themale vultures around her. Witness after witness, charge upon charge was heaped uponher. The defense lawyer was so frightened that he only asked for a little mercy on herbehalf. Miss Benare who is on the offensive at the beginning found herself trapped at theclose of the play.
The Plight of Miss Benare
Benare is an educated woman about thirty-four years old. She worked as a schoolteacher.She was also associated with an amateur dramatic alliance, whose prime purpose was toeducate the public with social and current issues. The association chose to educate peoplewith procedures of a court of law. They arrived on the spot quite early, thus they decidedto have a rehearsal of mock court. Benare was reluctant to perform the role of an accusedbut this reluctance was ignored. The playwright endeavors to create a game-like non-serious atmosphere. But soon the imaginary charges led to personal dilemmas.Benare is seen in a cheerful mood of flamboyance, but she gets her first blow, whenPonkshe, a scientist, says, “She runs after men too much.” Karnik, one of the characters,says that Benare was in love with her maternal uncle but the affair ended in fiasco. Hefurther “reveals’ her past life by saying that she first proposed to Ponkshe and then triedto deceive Rokde, a young boy.
The Judgment
Mr. Kashikar, the presiding Judge, reads out the charge and pronounces:“Prisoner Miss Benare, under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, you have beenaccused of the crime of infanticide. Are you guilty of the aforementioned crime?”Benare says: “I couldn’t kill even a common cockroach. I’m scared to do it. How could Ikill a newborn child?”This falls deaf on the ears of men in the court. Benare’s views are rejected by all of them,and it seems like a pre-planned conspiracy. Benare herself observes their odious natureby saying, “ You’ve all deliberately ganged up against me! You have plotted against me.”
Literally Trapped
Benare tries to leave the court but becomes upset when all doors all automatically boltedfrom outside. In fact, she is trapped and can’t escape. Furthermore, Mrs. Kashikarexecutes physical violence to drag Benare to the dock. She has another damaging viewagainst Benare. She does not hesitate to say that these young unmarried girls geteverything without marrying. She shows her doubt, how can Benare remain unmarried tillthe age of thirty-four?
Accusations Not on File
Thus, the main charge is wholly forgotten during the trail. All the characters try toimpose their personal comments and accuse Benare of wrong-doing and immoral acts, inone form or another. The game of mock trial, which started for entertainment, turns intoBenare’s tragedy. Benare is totally devastated. She is also stricken with a sense of fearlike a trapped animal, and has been dismembered morally and socially.Benare utters only these words, after her failure in love with her maternal uncle: “Life isa poisonous snake that bites itself. Life is a betrayal. Life is a fraud. Life is a drug. Life isdrudgery… Life is a very dreadful thing.” She wanted to die, but she could not.
Destroy the Child!
The judgment itself seems more absurd. Mr. Kashikar says: “The crimes you havecommitted are most terrible. There is no forgiveness for them…No memento of your sinshould remain for future generations. Therefore this court hereby sentences that you shalllive. But the child in your womb shall be destroyed."
Mockery of Trials, Judges and Justice
A judicial court is supposed to be a seat of Justice, seriousness and decorum. Throughthis play, Tendulkar also makes a review of the present day court procedures, and pointsout the problem of degradation and the loss of the dignity of the court. It is a matter offact that a witness has to take an oath keeping his hand on the Gita or some such religious scripture, during the court procedures.In the play, the witnesses take oath touching the Oxford English Dictionary. What is more, Mr. Kasikar, the judge, also jumps into the witness box in violation of all courtprocedures and decorum, and declares his personal views from the witness stand: "A sinful canker on the body of society- that’s my honest opinion of these grown-upunmarried girls.”
Who Is Under Attack Here?
Tendulkar has criticized the middle-class morality that throttles the tender desires ofBenare, a middle class woman, to mother a child in the play. Tendulkar seems to leavethe play without suggesting any solution to the problem. None in the play is ready tosympathize with Benare. Only Mr. Kashikar, the judge, feels that they are going too far intheir mock-trial but, then, he immediately silences his conscience. After all the Court is insession, and everyone is expected to keep silence! Tendulkar covertly pleads forsympathy for the victims of the society through this flash of humanity for a moment inthe heart of Mr. Kashikar.6Silence! The Court is in Session is not a propaganda play. It grapples with severalproblems of the Indian society—such as the degradation of the judiciary system,pretentious institutional social service organizations, and forceful male supremacy inIndian society, in a masterful way. However, the fact is that we look at the world and ourfriends, relatives, et al., and value their roles only from their utility towards our ends.Conventional morality is only an imaginary issue..
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