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Avart (Whirlpool) ist ein Stück von Datta Bhagat, geschrieben 1986. Es handelt sich dabei um einen vielschichtigen Einakter. Es sind in diesem Sstück mehrere Themen ineinander verwoben: traditionelles Tamasha, traditionelle Bhakti, Bal Thackeray und die Shiv Sena, das Stück "Ghasiram Kotval" von Vijay Tendulkar, die Bewegung von Dr. Ambedkar, die Geschichte vom Shudra Shambuk aus dem Ramayana, Greueltaten gegen Dalits, die Bedeutung des Dorfrates und die Macht des Patels, etc.
Das Stück hat einen Staatspreis erhalten und wurde als Pflichtlektüre für den B.A.-Kurs in Marathi der Marathvada-Universität ausgewählt. Es wurde in einer Hindi-Übersetzung in der Anthologie „Dalit Rangmanc“ publiziert. Die folgende englische Übersetzung ist in ihren Grundzügen von mir. Ich habe als Zielsprache Englisch gewählt, da zum einen diese Übersetzung auch als Diskussionsgrundlage in den Gesprächen mit meinen indischen Informanten dient, und da ich zum anderen so eher auf Hilfe beim Übersetzen hoffen konnte. Diese Hilfe habe ich glücklicherweise, nach einem Ansuchen um Unterstützung in der internet-newsgroup sci.lang.translation, in Person von Prof. Eleanor Zelliot selbst, der führenden Autorität in Dalit-Studien, gefunden, die ihre Kontakte in Indien mobilisiert hat und auch selbst viel Zeit investiert hat, um die losen Enden meiner Rohfassung der Übersetzung zusammenzuführen. Ich habe die Kommentare von Prof. Zelliot in die Fußnoten übernommen, und es wird sich zeigen, das sie für das Verständnis des Stückes meist essentiell sind. In dieser internet-Fassung des Stückes stehen die "Fußnoten" mitten im Text. Das erschien mir günstiger, als die Fußnoten mit links zu realisieren, da sie so auch auf einem Ausdruck noch auffindbar sind.

 AVART (Whirlpool) a one-act play by Prof. Datta Bhagat
[The stage is empty. The voices of  the dholak (small drum) and the tuntuni (stringed instrument) resound. Slowly the rhythm quickens. To the increased rhythm the sutradhar (stage manager) and behind him the vidushak (jester) enter the stage. They are one with the rhythm. They together cry out “ha, ha, ha” make a gesture and stand fixed in the middle of the stage. The background music stops.]

Stage-manager:

Johar, Mai-Bap, Johar.
I am the Mahar of Your Mahars.
I am so hungry I come for Your leavings.
I am full of hope; I am the slave of Your slaves.
Cokha says: I have brought a bowl for Your left-over food.

(Johar ist der traditionelle Gruß eines Mahar gegenüber Höherstehenden. Hier wird Gott Vitthal mit Mai-Bap ( Mutter und Vater) angesprochen. Der ganze Vers ist eigentlich ein abhañga (Bhakti-Lied) von Cokhamela, einem Heiligen der im !3. und 14. Jahrhundert in Maharashtra lebte. Siehe Eleanor Zelliot, From Untouchable to Dalit, S.7.Der Gruß Johar  deutet außerdem an, daß ein Mahar bereit sein muß, sich für die Höherstehenden aufzuopfern. Traude Pillai-Vetschera gibt in ihrer Studie über die Mahars folgende Erklärung des Wortes: „The interpretation given for this word was that the sati-institution, i.e. the ancient custom whereby the widow burnt herself on the funeral pyre of the deceased husband, was called johar. By greeting a Maratha with ‘johar’, a Mahar would indicate that he was prepared to even die for him.“ Pillai-Vetschera, Traude: The Mahars. A Study of Their Culture, Religion and Socio-Economic Life. S. 45)

Jester:  Hey, hey, hey!
Stage-manager: Why, what happened?
Jester:  Why are you harping on that same old theme again?
Stage-manager: It’s not like that at all. Johar  is ancient, but its meaning is modern.
Jester: Fine! And what is its  meaning?
Stage-manager: Johar is ancient, but there is a new meaning.
Jester: Oh yes, I got that! But what is the new meaning?
Stage-manager: New meaning? Now, why am I supposed to know that? Nowadays this is called Dalit literature.
Jester:  What kind of affliction is that?
Stage-manager: You don’t know of Dalit literature?
Jester:  No, not at all.
Stage-manager: I don’t know either.
Jester:  Very well.
Stage-manager: A definition cannot be given, but whatever happens, there is this
Dalit literature.
Jester:  I don’t understand.
Stage-manager: You don’t understand? Even if you have understood, what will you do? Definition is just definition.
Jester:  All right. And yet, if I knew, it would be better.
Stage-manager: It’s a belch, isn’t it?
Jester:  Is this something to ask about?
Stage-manager: Now tell me . . .
Jester:  Hey, everybody knows that.
Stage-manager: Even so, give a definition, won’t you?
Jester:  Oh no, a definition cannot be given.
Stage-manager: But belching you do understand, don’t you?
Jester:  Oh yes, now I have understood.
Stage-manager: What have you understood?
Jester:  That what the meaning of Dalit literature is. [The jester looks to the right side of the stage.]
Stage-manager: You have understood, haven’t you? Very well. Hey, what are you looking at over there?
Jester:  I’m waiting.
Stage-manager:  For whom?
Jester:  Who should I be waiting for? Hey, the greetings and salutations are finished, so why haven’t Radha and the Gopis appeared yet?
{Greetings and salutations, Radha and the Gopis, refers to certain conventions of the folk theater Tamasha, in which Mahars predominated.}

Stage-manager: Oh my, how backward are you ?
Jester:  Meaning what? Has Radha appeared before I came?
Stage-manager: No, it’s not like that at all. Nowadays the revered Datta Bal has forbidden the Radha-Krishna tale.
{“Datta Bal means Bal Thackeray, the founder and leader of the Shiv Sena, a Maratha chauvinistic organisation which is Anti-Muslim and Anti-Dalit. The context of the play is that Thackeray attacked the publication of Dr. B.R. Ambedkars’s „Riddles of Hinduism“, a previously unpublished essay that questioned the morality of Krishna and Rama in their relationships with Radha and the Gopis on the one hand and Sita in the case of Rama. The publication was withdrawn but reinstated after great protest by Ambedkar’s followers.“ (Eleanor Zelliot) }

Jester:  What Datta Bal is this that prohibits the entry of the God?
Stage-manager: Not the God! He has prohibited making fun of Radha and Krishna.
Jester:  Very well.
Stage-manager: What’s very well?
Jester:  Who prohibited that? Datta Bal , is it?
Stage-manager: The revered Datta Bal.
Jester:  How can Bal understand such a meaningful matter?
Stage-manager: It’s not like that! Ridiculing God Krishna is unacceptable to him.
Jester:  Ridiculing God Krishna is unacceptable to him?
Stage-manager: Oh yes, it’s unacceptable to him.
Jester:  That’s really very nice.
Stage-manager: What do you mean?
Jester:  Now that God Krishna will not appear, I’ll have the chance of teasing Radha.
Stage-manager: What terrible things you say.
Jester:  In my college, teasing the girls angered the principal a lot, and now you speak about teasing Radha in a play as if it was something very terrible. As if you were the principal’s father!
Stage-manager: Now it’s enough of your chit chat. Keep quiet, won’t you?
Jester:  Let me speak a little louder now. During the nineteen month of the Emergency I kept quiet, didn’t I?
“The Emergency was a period of total dictatorship enforced by Indira Gandhi in 1975-77, when her rule as Prime Minister was threatened. Many people kept quiet; others protested; many were jailed.“ (Eleanor Zelliot)

Stage-manager: Take care!
Jester:  What happened? Has she come? [Looking for Radha.]
Stage-manager: Be quiet, that’s the meaning of take care.
Jester:  I thought Radha has come when you said take care.
Stage-manager: Stop that crazy talk. [The dialogue becomes rhythmical.]
Jester:  Done so.
Stage-manager: Begin telling the story.
Jester: Done so.
Stage-manager: We will go a little further. [They both advance four steps. They stop and look at each other.]
Jester:  Further we cannot go. We cannot go beyond this row of lights.
Stage-manager: We will go back a little. [Both go four steps backwards and then stop suddenly. Having turned around they look at each other.]
Jester:  We cannot go back any further. We cannot cross the back curtain.
Stage-manager: Why do you behave like that, my lion (=my hero)?
Jester:  All these circumstances have done me in.
Stage-manager: What’s the meaning! What’s the matter?
Jester:  The Yeshibai-Tamasha has come to the village.
(Tamasha is considered to be something vulgar.)

Stage-manager: So let it be.
Jester:  It has slunk into the theatre.
Stage-manager: So let it be.
Jester:   It’s called loknatya (people’s theatre).
Stage-manager:  So let it be. What is so wrong about that?
Jester:   Why are you so disturbed? It’s like getting a bubbly high drinking lemon soda. But look, all friends look down on that Vithabai’s act [A song is sung in the style  of Vithabai, the female performer]
Stage-manager:  If Tamasha becomes a little high class, what’s wrong with that?
Jester:   High class? What mother’s son can refuse that? But then it will be a drama, not Tamasha. [He sings in a rhythmical voice.]
Going forward we burn on the stage lights, going backwards we hit the wall.
Stage-manager: So where shall we go? What shall we do? Tell me your opinion.
Jester:  We cannot stay here.
Stage-manager: We cannot stay here.
Jester:  We must go back.
Stage-manager: We must go back.
Jester:  We must go forward.
Stage-manager: We must go forward.
Jester:  We must not go forward, brother, we must not go backwards.
Stage-manager: We must not go forward, brother, we must not go backwards.
Jester:  We must move in circles.
Stage-manager: Oh yes, we must move in circles.
Jester:  We must move in circles, move in circles.
Stage-manager: We must move in circles, let’s go together.
[ They begin to dance in circles.]
 
Stage-manager: Hey, stop, stop my friend. Look, we have come a long way.
Jester:  Oh, fine.
Stage-manager: Then hey, is that Sonapur?
Jester:  Is it near Bamani?
Stage-manager: Definitely it’s near Narsi-Bamani.
Jester:  Narsi-Bamani, that means our Namdev’s  Narsi-Bamani ?
[Namdev ist der Name eines Heiligen aus dem 14. Jahrhundert, der die Tradition der Pilgerfahrt nach Pandharpur begründet hat. siehe Eleanor Zelliot, A Historical Introduction to the Warkari Movement. S. 39-43. Er wird Namdev Maharaj genannt. Namdev kann auch ein Vorname sein.]

Stage-manager: Do you think Namdev was your class mate?
Jester:  Why not? Wasn’t a Namdev in the BA course?
Stage-manager: Will it break your tongue if you call him Namdev Maharaj?
Jester:  To address a gentleman only by his name is today’s fashion.
Stage-manager: You are talking about future things, but actually we have come to a point in time very long past.
Jester:  Past? How long past?
Stage-manager: We have travelled thirty-one years backward.
Jester:  Is it so?
Stage-manager: Do you think I’m lying? Look at this, this dindi (group of devotees, G.N.) is probably the pava of Thakur Maharaj.
[“The dindi is part of a palkhi, a procession on its way to the pilgrimage center of Pandharpur. The main dindi carries the footprints of the saint celebrated by that group. ‘Thakur Maharaj’ seems to be another reference to Bal Thackeray.“ (Eleanor Zelliot)]

Jester:  Hey, yes, my friend. Today his stopping-place is here in Sonapur. Tomorrow it will be Bamani, and the day after tomorrow it will be Narsi. In Narsi all the tents will be gathered together and from there all will go to Pandharpur- hey! Will we go to Pandharpur?
Stage-manager: What?
Jester:  [in a devotional mood] To meet with God Vithai. Nowadays she resides in Pandharpur.
{“Vithai (Marathi) or Vithabhai (Hindi) is the feminine version of Viththal or Vithoba. Sanits and Gods are often referred to in either feminine or masculine form.“ (Eleanor Zelliot) }

 [He sits down suddenly and is about to talk about Vithabhai. The stage-manager stops him halfway. . .]
Stage-manager: Yes, yes, yes.
Jester:  What happened?
Stage-manager: Hey, this is not that Tamasha dancer Vithabhai. The meaning of Vithabhai is Mother Vithoba.
[They namaste to the invisible Vithai and sing:] Mother Vithai is the devotee’s mother.

[“Jñanraj Mavli, Tukaram ”, with this cheers the dindi enters. In front there is the maharaja, behind him the bearer of lights, behind him the banner-bearer, who is a very old man. The jester and the stage-manager go and meet with the dindi. When the bhajan singing has stopped the maharaja comes forward.]

Maharaja: Sidnak! [A man comes forward from the dindi.]
Sidnak: Yes please. [Having touched the maharaja’s feet he politely stands a little aside. Afterwards all in turns follow Sidnak’s example.]
Maharaja: Sidnak, we have arrived in Sonapur, haven’t we?
Sidnak: Yes maharaj, every year we stop here, by the Pipal tree at this crossroad. Tukaram Baba always comes here to join us.
{“Tukaram is another saint-poet. He lived in the 17th century, and is the most beloved of all the bhakti saints. His name is a common first name.“ (Eleanor Zelliot) }

Jakhu: My goodness, how can we ever forget this Pipal tree? This railway track didn’t exist then.
Jester:  You keep very old matters in mind.
Stage-manager: What did you think, that this old bone is of today? (= He is  very old man.)
Jakhu: It was a very bad season, you weren’t born yet, I was a youth then, do you understand?
Jester:  That means fifty or sixty years ago, doesn’t it?
Jakhu: Why fifty or sixty years? It’s exactly sixty years since. This Tukaram, who’ll come here to join us, he was ten years old then. At the time of this affair this ox-cart’s track didn’t exist yet. The dindi of Cintaman Maharaj comes down this road. And on this road Tukaram’s father came along, and he went straight to touch the feet of the maharaja.
Jester:  Brother, this was a time of devotion to the saints.
Jakhu: What, you’re talking about devotion? Tukaram’s father was beaten up.
Jester:  He was beaten up? How did that come about?
Jakhu: Hey, Cintaman Maharaj is a bhamburda, and this yeskar low caste grabbed and touched the feet of the maharaja . . .
{“A Yeskar is a watchman, a traditional job of a Mahar.“ (Eleanor Zelliot)}
Jester:  Oh, when Tukaram’s father got beaten up, nobody did anything?
Jakhu: He did, didn't he? He got beaten up, but why? Because he abandoned the customs of his caste. Hey, Tuka says, when you’re low caste, you’ve got to eat dirt.
Jester:  But why did he lower his head to the feet of the maharaja?
Jakhu: What can we do? Pandurang himself appeared before him in a dream.
{„Pandurang is another name for Vithoba, the God of Pandharpur, who often appears to devotees in dreams.“ (Eleanor Zelliot)}
Jester:  And why in that case Pandurang didn’t save him?
Jakhu: The God was putting him to trial.
Jester:  What was the trial?
Jakhu: The test was still to come . . .
Jester:  What happened then?
Jakhu: The cholera broke out in the village.
Jester:  The cholera?
Jakhu: Yes brother, cholera comes like a curse.
Jester:  And else?
Jakhu: What else? On the first day Cintaman Maharaj departed for the other world.
Jester:  Alas! And then?
Jakhu: In two days the whole village was finished.
Jester:  What happened next?
Jakhu: What should have happened? There was a message from the Goddess through the mouth of the bhakta (devotee, worshiper), saying that she demanded Tukaram’s father as a sacrifice.
Maharaja: Oh my God, your will is unfathomable.
Jakhu: Oh maharaja, in this well over there Tukaram’s father threw his body. Brothers, he was a great devotee.
Maharaja: Pandurang, Pandurang  . . . .
Jakhu: From that time onwards the Bhamburda Maharaja never again travelled this road. He has taken the upward road. (i.e. has gone to heaven, G.N.)
Maharaja: Sidnak, has Tukaram not yet arrived?
Sidnak: I will go to the village and look for him.
Maharaja:

The warkaris of Pandhari,
Who keeps count of piety?

[While he says that all stand in a row as before. Sidnak walks around them and comes to stand behind the back of one of them. Those who are included in this dindi stand with their backs to the audience.]

Sidnak: Tukaram baba, what has happened? Tukaram baba, Tukaram baba . . .
Tukaram: [stepping out of the row] Who is there? Who is it at this time of the evening?
Sidnak: Why, Tukaram baba, have you forgotten what day it is today? Won’t you come to Narsi this year?
Tukaram: [steps out of the house] Heaven forbid! How could I possibly forget that?
[ Suddenly he lowers his head to Sidnaks feet.]
Sidnak: You forgot it just like that. The maharaja did worry.
Tukaram: The joshi (astrologer) of our village said that today’s lunar mansion is Tuesday. Therefore I was of the opinion that you will come on Sunday, but now you are two days early.
Sidnak:  The lunar mansion is not Tuesday’s but Sunday’s, and on Sunday we have to go to Narsi.
Tukaram: It seems as if Joshi Baba got something wrong.
Sidnak: We will look into that later. It’s getting late. The maharaja is sitting and waiting at the other side of the village.
Tukaram: Oh yes, I will call together everybody. Piramama, hey Piramama, who is there? Tell the dindi has come, go quickly.
Gopala, hey Gopala
[ One person emerges from the row touches the feet of Sidnak and stands away politely.]
I don’t see Manohar, so call him, Piramama. . . .
Piraji: Tuka, Manohar is not listening to anyone. Who knows what someone who has been to Pune and Bombay has learned there. And then he sits here and teaches it to the boys . . . .
Gopala: Piraji, but he won’t tell them something bad, will he?
Piraji: He tells them to give up the work in the village. He is following Bhim Baba (Dr. Ambedkar, G.N.) now.
Manohar: What’s wrong with that?
Piraji: God gave you two hands. So toil and labour. And who will remove the dead cattle of the village? (a traditional duty of the Mahars, G.N.)
Manohar: The one to whom it belongs. Who calls for a Bhangi (sweeper) to wash the bottoms of the children.
Piraji: But why? Why should we change?
Manohar: People say that you don’t live cleanly and that you therefore contaminate them. That you eat fish and meat and that you will desecrate the deity. I instructed the children of all the nearby villages. They live cleanly. They don’t eat fish and meat – therefore we are fit to go to the Hanuman temple.
Piraji: That’s what I’ve heard, too. It’s true.
Manohar: What have you heard?
Piraji: That we will desecrate the Hanuman deity.
Manohar: Oh no, we will go to the temple. We will worship the deity.
Piraji: What if the big people get to know?
Manohar: We will tell them. Not today, but on the day the dindi will come.
Piraji: The dindi has come already, Manohar. The maharaja is already on the road. The maharaja is waiting for our arrival.
Manohar: How did that happen? The Joshi said that today’s lunar mansion is Tuesday.
Gopala: It means that the Joshi Maharaja has deceived us.
Manohar: It doesn’t matter. For this task I needed his help, but without his help, anyway, we will enter the temple.
Piraji: Tuka, make this child of yours understand. This will set the village afire.
Tukaram: What is his fault? Jñanoba, Cokhoba, Savata, didn’t they all sit in one row? (with the upper caste people, at a meal, G.N.)
Piraji: But these were saints, mahatmas!
Manohar: Therefore their conduct should be exemplary for us. We should follow in their footsteps. Going to the Pandharpur temple together with my people, I will worship the deity, God lives in all of us. So how can our touch desecrate the God?
Piraji: But don’t you know your village?
Tukaram: What can they do? They will boycott us, like they have done before. But there is no tyranny now. They chief sahab will set everything right.
{„Chief sahab“ bedeutet den lokalen Regierungsbeamten. }

Sidnak: Tukaram baba, we can talk later. How long has the maharaja been waiting there?
Tukaram: Hey, Gopal Baba, take the water-pot and now let’s go quickly. . . Let’s go, Piramama . . .
(A song ”You noble pilgrims”)
All:  “Merciful mother and father.”
Tukaram: “How much kindness you have given us, oh God.“
All: “What can we say, you are far above us”

[Shouting “Jñanoba Mavli, Shantaram Mavli, Tukaram” they all form a dindi and the procession goes its way. Lights dim and all stand with their backs to the audience as before. The jester and the stage-manager step in the middle of the stage.]

Jester:  My lion (=my hero), we have come a long way.
Stage-manager: Yes, we have arrived in Sonapur.
Jester:  Have you heard what Piramama and Manohar were talking?
Stage-manager: Yes, heard it.
Jester:  Yes, and the public heard it, too.
Stage-manager: That’s true.
Jester:  This mad Tukaram sides with his son.
Stage-manager: Yes, and what can be done?
Jester:  He will be beaten up for nothing.
Stage-manager: Yes, he will be beaten up. But why is this so important?
Jester:  What?
Stage-manager: Don’t worry, the village people have come to beat him up.
Jester:  The village people have come to beat him up? Where are they? [ He acts as if he were running away.]
Stage-manager: Stop. Hey brother, think for a moment, if the village people have come to beat him up, then what is going to happen to us? [He mimes running away.]
Jester:  Very well. And then we will go to the hospital. Ravsahab Shriman Dheknaji Dhamdhere, the president of the welfare society, will visit the injured. A splendid picture in the newspaper.
Stage-manager: Whether there is something else or not, now I have understood the politics behind it . . .
Jester:  He one wheel of Baba’s chariot. The wheel turns, and politics turn with the wheel. Well now, tell me, what did Tukaram say about the chief sahab in the meantime?
Stage-manager: It was during Mughal rule. Will you listen?
[“Somewhat unfairly, ‘Mughal rule’ is a concept used in Marathi theatre to imply a cruel and dictatorial regime.“ (Eleanor Zelliot)]

Jester:  Don’t tell it to me, tell it to the public.
Stage-manager: Well now, listen. [singing]

I heard the tale of what happened in Sonapur.
The tale of the quarrel between Baji the goldsmith and Candar Patel.
It was not a big matter, but enough for a quarrel.
In the struggle of the two Tukya got caught up.
Sonar claimed the embankment, the Patel was besides himself with rage.
He seized Sonar’s fields and wrought havoc on them.
They summoned Tukya , he came, the village council was convened.
“Speak in my favour” the Patel said to him, with threats.
Bear in mind that we have the accounts of your debts of many generation.
Speak, to whom does the field belong?
Your speech will tell that your master is the Patel.
The superintendent came to the village.
He summoned Tukya.
The superintendent said: I’m taking an oath before God.
To ensure the respectability of the law.
Tukya spoke the truth,
And favoured Sonar.

Boiling with anger the Patel said that the Mahar’s Baluta is finished.
[“Baluta is a relationship between the Mahar and the village, i.e. certain prerequisites such as a little land, grain, etc., for specific duties, in this case, land boundary decisions.“  (Eleanor Zelliot)]
Nobody protected them, and they got beaten up.
Jester:  Therefore Tukaram had called the Chief Sahab?
Stage-manager: The Chief Sahab scolded Candar Patel, trashed his servants (Patel’s servants who conspired with him, G.N.) and went the way he had come.
Jester:  When Tukaram was beaten up, what were the other people doing?
Stage-manager: What were they doing when Tukaram’s father was thrown into the well? That very – [Upon the last word the standing dindi turns around and begins to sing a bhajan: ”Let the head be cut, let the body break . . .( . . .but the truth must be told, G.N.) “ The jester and the stage-manager are included in the dindi. The people of the dindi stand with their backs to the audience as before when two persons step out as if they have met on the road.]
Kisan: Ram Ram Mahadubhai.
Mahadu: Ram Ram.
Kisan: Today you are early going to your field.
Mahadu: Yes, I’m thinking of going to Narsi tomorrow.
Kisan: Has it reached your ears what nonsense Tukaram’s son is speaking?
Mahadu: What has happened?
Kisan: He has been away from the village for four years . . .
Mahadu: I know that.
Kisan: He has gone to Dehu, to Pune, to Bombay. Having seen some half wrong, half right things he has come here and now tells these things to everybody.
Mahadu: What is he telling?
Kisan: Well, the untouchable Mahar boys listened to him and now are bent on entering the ViThoba temple of Pandharpur.
Mahadu: Hey hey! Is it so? Has the Kali yug come?
Kisan: Therefore Tukaram Maharaj said, - listen, the fruit of Kali yug is the origin of future misfortune.) Four classes, eighteen castes  will dine all together.
Mahadu: What is going to happen next?
Kisan: What do you expect? The Pujari will lock the temple and he will run away.
Mahadu: What a good thing to do.
Kisan: There will be no benefit in it.
Mahadu: Why?
Kisan: They’ll break the padlock and then they will push inside.
Mahadu: When the deity is enraged it’ll become known. When Tukaram’s father had touched Cintaman Maharaja’s feet the whole village was shaken because of the cholera.
Kisan: I was too little at that time.
Mahadu: But I understood a bit.
Kisan: What happened then?
Mahadu: What should have happened? Police Inspector Candar Patel is a very dangerous man. He was feared even when there was the tyranny (of the British). He summoned the Potraj  . Through the Potraj there was a message from the Devi, and the message was: “I want Tukaram’s father offered as a sacrifice. He is at the root of all the sins.”
Kisan: The Mother Devi really said so?
Mahadu: How stupid are you? What Mother Devi . . ? The Patel had intimidated the Potraj. What power has the Potraj to contradict the Patel?
Kisan: Well, well. And then . . . ?
Mahadu: And then what? With array and pomp, striking up music, they all went to Tukaram’s house. There Piraji tied his hands and his feet and threw the sinner into the deep well there.
Kisan: You destroyed that sin. Now what are you going to do with that other sin?
Mahadu: With what other sin?
Kisan: With the sinful Manohar. I heard he’s going to enter our temple.
Mahadu: What we did to his grandfather, that’s what we’re going to do to him. There, he has made full preparations. Sit here, keep talking.
Mahadu: Kisan?
Joshi: This lad, Manohar, just today has gathered four boys together. (starts moving)
Mahadu: Where are you going right now?
Joshi: We’ve also made some preparations, haven’t we, some preparations for going to the cremation ground. The dindi will come, and the lads took the firm resolve to enter the temple that day.
Mahadu: That means today . . . ?
Joshi: No, the day after tomorrow . . . I told them the wrong day of the week, so they’re two days late. The story of our village must have arrived in Pandharpur.  All their preparations will be useless, as the dindi has come early.
Mahadu: It doesn’t seem so. Their intention was to enter the temple.
Joshi: This rascal called not only the lads from Sonapur, but from all the surrounding villages. They were all coming. Now come. We have made complete arrangements for the day after tomorrow.
Kisan: Joshi Maharaja, you acted very shrewdly.
Joshi:  What shrewdness is there in what I did?
Kisan: What else can it be called than shrewd? You alerted all the villages.
Joshi: Yes, you’re right. But that wasn’t because of my shrewdness. I only followed Candar Patel’s orders. My goodness, how could we dare to disregard his orders?
Mahadu: He is as trustworthy as Piraji was.
Kisan: But the Patel has . . .
Joshi: . . . .no idea of all this? The arrangements for later on are already complete, too. The  work left with us now is only to start the fireworks.
Kisan: Whose . . ?
Jakhu:  Nobody’s. His plan was to enter the temple, wasn’t it? That’s what we’ve heard from himself, right?
Mahadu: Look, these people have just come.
[Piraji, Tukaram, Manohar and Gopal step out from the row, singing a bhajan. Seeing the Joshi Maharaja they are taken aback and remain standing a little away.]
Kisan: Where are you going, brothers?
Piraji: Thakur Maharaja’s dindi has come, hasn’t it?
Joshi: But that means that they’re two days early. It seems as if they’ve confused the lunar mansions (= the days of the week).
Tukaram: The maharaja would never make a mistake regarding the lunar mansions (= the correct date).
Joshi: Hey, why? What do you mean to tell us? Do you mean to say that we can’t read the calendar? (pluralis majestatis. He refers to himself.)
Mahadu: Tukya, you’ve become very proud.  Is it your maharaja who performs the village joshi’s duties?
Kisan: Do you mean to insult our Joshi Maharaja?
Manohar:  Why do you accuse us? Who did we insult?
Kisan: Shut up, rascal. You don’t understand a thing. Tukya, has your father ever read the calendar?
{“The implication is that Manohar is so arrogant he thinks his father can perform Brahmanical astrological duties.“ (Eleanor Zelliot) }

Manohar:  Don’t bring in my grandfather, Patel.
Mahadu: Yes, yes, don’t mention that matter, Kisan. Have you forgotten how the cholera has knocked down the village? If you bring out that matter again the cholera will strike once again.
Tukaram: Why do you speak about my father, Patel? He  suffered the fruits of his own deeds.
Kisan: And today you will suffer the fruits of your son’s deeds.
Tukaram:  What has he done?
Kisan:  As if you didn’t know.
Mahadu:  Hey, Kisan, if you go too far he will possibly call the chief sahab. And it’s still the chief  sahab’s rule here.
Kisan:  He won’t live until the chief sahab gets here.
Manohar:  What are these threats good for? Tell me my faults.
Kisan:  You know your faults quite well. You contrived a plan.
Manohar:  Are you talking about us entering the temple?
Kisan:  Now you’re talking straight.
Manohar:  And that’s why the Joshi Maharaja told us the wrong lunar mansion?
Kisan:  That’s the truth.
Manohar:  After all the preparations had been finished I himself was the one to tell everything.
Kisan: Which preparations? You mean to desecrate our deities?
Manohar:  If we enter the temple will it desecrate your deities?
Kisan: As if you didn’t know.
Manohar:  Your deity is that impotent? It will be polluted?
Kisan: But why don’t you have your own temple?
Manohar:  Isn’t that temple ours, too?
Kisan: Oh no, it isn’t.
Manohar:  Is God the patrimony of any one caste?
Mahadu: This lads won’t teach us brahmajñan (divine knowledge). You’re defiling us.
Manohar:  You’re all talking about bodily impurity. But the soul is pure and enlightened. Bodily impurity originates from the body. Show me that religion that teaches that the body is born pure.
Mahadu: Hey, Tukya, look, your son is full of wisdom, take care of him, otherwise . . .
Manohar:  What’s wrong with knowledge in this society?
Mahadu: What is to be must be plenty. Now say “I won’t go to the temple”, beg Joshi Maharaja’s pardon and then go . . .
Joshi: Yes, beg forgiveness, and do so by rubbing your nose on the ground ( i.e. with abject entreaties, G.N.)
Piraji: Let us pass by, mai-bap. He made a mistake, we beg your pardon, and now let us go home.
Manohar:  What for do you beg their pardon, Piraji dada? As yet we didn’t commit a sin.
Joshi: No sin? You mean saying that we don’t read the calendar right is not a sin?
Mahadu: You mean to say our religion is debased?
Manohar:  We didn’t say all these things.
Joshi: How falsely he speaks!
Piraji: Beg their pardon, Tukya, that’s what I beg from you, rubbing my nose on the ground.
Sidnak: The maharaja is waiting, make haste, Tukaram baba.
Manohar: What maharaja? Devotion to whom? Do what you think is right for you. Shall we look on silently, whatever happens? A deity that is desecrated by our touch is not our deity. That religion that keeps us away is not our religion. It’s better to live one day the life of a lion than to live a thousand days as a mere sheep, that’s the message that was given to us.
Mahadu: Pinya, tie his hands and feet . . . .
Manohar: That’s not necessary. We will go wherever you tell us. But I want to make it known that it is not in your power to make a decision on justice and injustice. Not even the goddess who is pretending to enter the body of the potraj, not even she has the power to decide on justice or injustice. It’s the people who rule, that’s what Gandhi and Nehru say.
Mahadu: That may be the case there, but here it’s Candar Patel who rules. Pinya, have you tied them or not?
[Piraji acts like tying them. Sidnak emerges from one side, the rest from the other side, then they stand in a row as before. When they’ve formed the row they sing a bhajan. Slowly the dindi joins them in this song.]
Where does my baba stop. Pandhurang of Pandhari....
In your court are hol middlemen making people’s lives miserable
Society becomes meaningless
Only fear is left
Oh master, stop your self satisfaction
Deny the false worship.
 [When the song is finished only the dindi is in motion. Sidnak steps out, panting heavily.]
Sidnak: Maharaja, there are dire difficulties. [This debate is going on while cheering shouts of “jñanba tukaram” begin in a low voice.]
Maharaja: Why, what happened?
Sidnak: Tukaram baba has been brought before the pañcayat (village council or village court).
Maharaja: But why?
Sidnak: His boy has been talking about entering the Hanuman temple.
Maharaja: The Bhamburda temple?
Sidnak: Yes, my maharaja.
Maharaja: Who is this rascal?)
Sidnak: Tukaram’s Manohar.
Maharaja: Tukaram’s Manohar?
Sidnak: Yes, my maharaja.
Maharaja:  [beginning a bhajan]
Hari, Hari, what can we say now? How can we say it? Hey,
We have the right only of left overs.
The bhakti of the saints is very good.
ViThoba’s name is easy to chant.
My only wish
Is to be without caste, says Cokha.
God will fulfill my wish life after life
Pundlik varda Hari’ri Vitthal. Jñanoba Mauli Jñanraj Mavli Tukaram.
{“A chant of all the names of the Vithoba cult.“ (Eleanor Zelliot)}
[Delighted the dindi leaves. Only the stage-manager and the jester remain on stage. They’re dancing.]
Jester: Jñanoba Mauli Jñanraj Mauli Tukaram.
Stage-manager: Jñanoba Mauli Jñanraj Mauli Tukaram.
Jester: Manohar Mauli Piraji Mauli Tukaram.
Stage-manager: Manohar Mauli Piraji Mauli Tukaram.
Jester: Piraji Tukaram.
Stage-manager: Piraji Tukaram.
Jester: Tukaram, Tukaram.
Stage-manager: Does he become a Ghasiram?
{“Another Maharashtrian contemporary phenomenon is brought in here. ‘Ghasiram Kotval’ is a play about the Brahmin police chief of Pune during the height of the Peshwa period in the 18th century. He was a cruel enforcer of orthodoxy, but in the end was destroyed by an even crueler orthodox Brahmin, Nanasahib Phadnis, the power behind the Peshwa. Vijay Tendulkar wrote a very popular and controversial play titled Ghasiram Kotval, using many of the folk and tamasha themes that Datta Bhagat uses in this play.“ (Eleanor Zelliot) „Vijay Tendulkar (1928): One of the most outstanding of Marathi dramatists [ . . .]. He has so far written 20 plays including  the highly acclaimed [. . . ] “Ghashiram Kotwal”. His plays are notable for their uncompromising realism, merciless probing of human nature, candid scrutiny of individual and group psychology and experimental technique.“ (http://www.indiagov.org/culture/literature/marathi.htm#vijay)}

Jester: Ghasiram, Ghasiram.
Stage-manager: [holding himself up suddenly] Hey, why are we talking about this Ghasiram? He is the kotval (chief police officer), isn’t he?
Jester: Oh yes, definitely. The one kotval who takes revenge on Nanasahab in Tendulkar’s play.
Stage-manager: How did this fellow come here?
Jester: He didn’t come here, but he was brought here.
Stage-manager: But what for?
Jester: There’s no meaning in it.
Stage-manager: No meaning in it? Why, what happened?
Jester: Tukaram wilol never become Ghasiram.
Stage-manager: Meaning what?
Jester: That means I’m asking what else can there be? Is Tukaram now captured and tied up or not?
Stage-manager: They have taken him, haven’ they?
Jester: But why?
Stage-manager: Because he has insulted the Joshi Maharaja.
Jester: Who told the wrong lunar mansion?
Stage-manager: Joshi Maharaja did.
Jester: To whom?
Stage-manager: To Tukaram, devotee of Vithoba.
Jester: So who is at fault?
Stage-manager: Joshi Maharaja is. [He is alarmed.]
Jester: Yes, yes. Don’t panic. The punishment is nineteen month in jail . . . Have you understood?
Stage-manager: Yes, yes. Got it.
Jester: Tukaram called the chief sahab to the village. The distribution of the Baluta  to the Mahars began, but what did Tukaram get?
Stage-manager: He got beaten up.
Jester: Now that Manohar talks about entering the temple, what’ll he get?
Stage-manager: [silent]
Jester: Wherever one goes, the dhak leaves remain three (there is poverty and helplessness, G.N.). Tukaram’s father, Tukaram, Tukaram’s son Manohar, they are always the victims.
Stage-manager: Meaning what?
Jester: In what manner does the bhamvra beetle move? gar, gar, gar, but on one spot only. Tomorrow Manohar’s child will move around like that, too.
Stage-manager: I don’t understand.
Jester: Tukaram is a very straightforward, honest person, isn’t he?
Stage-manager: It seems so, yes.
Jester: Just like Tukaram, Sakharam and Gangaram are straightforward and honest.
Stage-manager: Maybe, maybe.
Jester:  Whosoever’s name is –ram, that person is straightforward and honest.
Stage-manager: Oh, I understand. Go on.
Jester: Then instead of being named Tukaram or Gangaram, why wasn’t he named Ghasiram?
Stage-manager: I have no objection.
Jester:  I haven’t either, ...
Stage-manager: Why?
Jester: Because beginning with Shambuk, it seems to everybody as if Rama’s killing of Shambuk was to his own good.
Stage-manager: Now you’re moving into very deep waters.
Jester: Oh no, I’ve gone into the Ramayana. [A throne is brought quickly. There are cheers of “Ramacandra ki jay” (May Ramacandra be victorious). The jester seats himself in the manner of Ramacandraji. From the cheering crowd two servants come and stand waiting to either side of him. One holds a royal parasol. The jester accepts with great dignity the cheers from the crowd.]
Ministers, friends, people –
[A man makes an effort to enter.]
One: Have pity, my Lord, have pity.
Jester: Gatekeeper, give wayet to this petitioner. Let him come in.
One: My Lord, I was looted. Rescue me. [kneeling in entreaty]
Jester: Why, petitioner, speak out, what’s the matter?
One: My Lord, I’m a poor brahman.
{This passage refers to the story about Shudra Shambïk in Valmiki’s Ramayana. According to this story, in Lord Rama’s time only the three upper castes were allowed to do tapasya (penance and meditation) Yet a Shudra undertook penance in order to attain divinity, as a result of which a Brahman boy died. The bereaved father complained to Lord Rama, who after learning of the cause of the boy’s death, went in search of the Shudra. When they met, Lord Rama severed the head of the ðudra with his sword. Then Rama asked the gods to restore the life of the Brahman boy, and he was told that he had already been revived the moment the Shudra ascetic was killed. cf. Sen, Makhan Lal (Übersetzer): Ramayana, S. 699-712}
Jester: What’s the matter, brahman? We will rescue you. Which kind of difficulties have befallen you?
One: My little son has died, my Lord. In this Ramrajya (the kingdom of Rama: a perfect world) I was made wretched.
Jester: For what reason?
One: In the kingdom there is such a sin perpetrated that my son has died.
Jester: Brahman, give us your blessing, we’ll free you from your worries. We’ll search for the origin of this evil. We’ll search every corner of the kingdom and find for the cause of this evil.
Stage-manager: As you will, maharaja. . . .
Jester: The responsibility for the distress of this poor brahman is ours. I order that you now go. Search every part of the kingdom.
Stage-manager: Your order, maharaja.
[In the meantime the tied Manohar is dragged in forcibly.]
Jester: What’s going on, my servant.
Servant: Maharaja, this Nishada (a low-caste man, an outcaste) practiced ascetic penance in a wood near Ayodhya. And this unfortunate creature wasn’t ready to come here.
Jester: What’s your name?
Manohar: Shambuk.
Jester: You’re a Nishada?
Manohar: Yes, sir. . .
One: Vishva Samrakshak (All-protector) Bhagvan (worshipful Lord) he is the sinner because of whom the son of this poor brahman has died. The wrongful penance of this Shudra is at the root of this evil.
Jester: You were practising ascetic penance?
Manohar: Yes, I was.
Jester: You also know that this is wrong?
Manohar: Yes, I do.
Jester: [standing up] Counsellors, remove this sinner from here. And then behead him. [ He descends from his lion’s seat (throne). With cheers of “Ramacandra ki jay” (May Ramacandra be victorious) all exit. The throne is still in its place. While the crowd is cheering, a chair is brought and placed facing the throne. It’s a chair of an old type. The jester seats himself on this chair and spreads his legs.]
Jester: Attendant, hey, attendant . . .
Stage-manager: Yes, master.
Jester: Hey, why do you stand there pitched like a pole of a collapsing roof ?
Stage-manager: I’m just waiting for Mahadurav and Kisanrav.
Jester: Hey, they will come, won’t they? Is Joshi Maharaja worried because of that?
Stage-manager: Now they’ve all come, haven’t they?
Kisan: Ram Ram, Patel.
Mahadu: Ram Ram.
Joshi: Ram Ram.
Jester: Joshi Maharaja, why do you look so annoyed?
Mahadu: Something bad happened.
Jester: What happened?
Kisan: Hey, wasn’t Tukya’s son about to desecrate our deity?
Mahadu: Tukya said that Joshi Maharaja cannot read the holy calendar.
Jester: Have you heard that with your own ears?
Kisan: Do you think I’m telling lies?
Jester: So, why did you come with empty hands? Why haven’t you grabbed him and brought him here?
Mahadu: He’s down below.
Jester: Bring him before me.
Stage-manager: Hey, bring them here. [Piraji brings the tied Tukaram and Manohar.]
Jester: Tukya, is this your son?
Tukaram: Yes, sir.
Jester: Is it true what Kisan says? That child was about to ascend the stairs of our temple?
Manohar: It’s true.
Jester: This lad has gone to Puna and Bombay and has become very brave. Ey, look straight into my eyes and answer me.
Joshi: He isn’t ready to apologise, either.
Jester: How can he apologise? He thinks the government is his. Hey, but what is his? The government is in Delhi, and Delhi is very distant.
Joshi: Why are you silent now? You used to speak very arrogantly to me.
Jester: [getting up] Throw these two into the vat with the boiling sugarcane juice immediately. And yes, the Joshi Maharaja will go to the city and tell the doctor that our two workers fell into the sugarcane vat while they were making sugar and burnt to death. Go quickly. [All go. Manohar cries out loudly]
Manohar: That’s injustice. We are innocent. The people of the village will throw us into the sugarcane vat and burn us to death.

 [Only the stage-manager and the jester remain on the stage. One more chair is brought for the nyayamurti (embodiment of justice, the judge). The jester seats himself on this chair in the manner of a nyayamurti . In front of the chair there is a table. Two witness boxes are brought.]
Stage-manager: The complainants Manohar and Tukya are present. The accused Manohar and Tukya are present. [Manohar comes and stands in one witness box.] The witness Pinya Saknaji is present. [Piraji stands in the witness box.] Two lawyers are present. According to the rules the oaths are taken.
Lawyer: Piraji, look, your testimony is of ultimate importance in this case.
Piraji: Yes, sir.
Lawyer: Are these accused persons known to you?
Piraji: Yes, sir. This is Manohar Savai, and that’s Tukya Savai, his brother.
Lawyer: Since when do you know them?
Piraji: We were born in the same village and we grew up there. We are related to each other and we used to serve the same master.
Lawyer: Which master?
Piraji: Raybhan Patel.
Lawyer: For how many years?
Piraji: It was twelve years.
Lawyer: Do they have a sister?
Piraji: One.
Lawyer: Your Eminence, to ask the witness questions of this kind is inappropriate in this court.
Lawyer: Your Eminence, here the witness’s testimony is of utmost importance.
Jester: Well, . . .Proceed.
Lawyer: How old is their sister?
Piraji: She may be some twenty or twenty-two years old.
Lawyer: Has she been married?
Piraji: No.
Lawyer: Why not?
Piraji: Because her family lives in great poverty. There was no money for a marriage.
Lawyer: How do you know?
Piraji: I was there when these two asked the Patel for money.
Lawyer: What did the Patel say?
Piraji: He said they won’t receive any money, maybe later they would.
Lawyer: And then?
Piraji: Manohar said to me that if the Patel won’t give them any money, he will inform the newspaper that the Patel tried to assault the honour of their sister.
Lawyer: What did you do then?
Piraji: I tried in every manner to convince them not to do so, but who has, on the one hand, done twelve years of service and who has, on the other hand, not received even five or six-hundred rupees is likely to be very angry.
Lawyer: What happened next?
Piraji: Infuriated the two of them went to the Patel’s mansion.
Lawyer: Did you see that?
Piraji: Usually I stay there overnight. On that day I was there, too.
Lawyer: What happened next?
Piraji: They knocked on the door. And then among the two of them and the Patel there was a lot of pushing and shoving around the doors.
Lawyer: Who did then tear out Tukya’s eyes?
Piraji: Nobody tore them out. He did it to himself.
Lawyer: He himself?
Piraji: Yes, he himself. The Patel had closed the doors because he wanted to avoid a quarrel, then the two were jostling against the doors. In these doors there are very big spikes. Tukya jostled himself forcefully against the doors. The doors opened but the spikes were thrust into his eyes.
Lawyer: What were you doing?
Piraji: I was holding the doors closed together with the Patel.
Lawyer:  Your Eminence, the testimony of this witness makes it utterly clear that Raybhan Patel did no harm to Manohar Savai or Tukaram Savai, but that he rather closed the doors in
order to avoid a quarrel and to protect himself. In the course of that Tukaram lost his eyes out of his own carelessness and misfortune. But the complainants gave a false account before the court and falsely accused Raybhan Patel, therefore I request you to mete out punishment to them.
Jester: [to the lawyer] Do you want to cross examine the witness?
Lawyer (2): No, thank you.
Jester: Piraji, you can go. [When Piraji has left Kisan steps into the witness box.]
Kisan: Your Eminence, justice is needed.
Jester: Are you in the record of cases?
Kisan: Yes, your Honour.
Jester: What’s your name?
Kisan: Kisan Vald Mahadu Rankhambe.
Jester: Your village?
Kisan: Urangañv.
Jester: Proceed the case.
Kisan: Your Eminence, we are poor Kurmis from Urangañv. We have never been in any sort of trouble.
Jester: Then why have you come here?
Kisan: Under provision 302 we have been accused of murder.
Jester: Really? Who did so?
Kisan: It was Uncle Bhatite, sir. His surname is Saranvare. His father was a very virtuous man. The cholera had come to the village. The people died one by one. Then this saintly man sacrificed his own life by taking jalsamadhi (drowning himself). Thus he eliminated this tribulation from the village. But now they say that we pushed him.
{“Jalsamadhi means taking death unto oneself by water. Samadhi is a word usually used for holy men when they leave this earth after their work is complete.“ (Eleanor Zelliot) }
Jester: The record says that the hands and feet of the body were tied with ropes.
Kisan: We did not tie him, your Eminence. He himself tied his hands and feet. That’s in order to keep worldly attachments from rising while taking jalsamadhi.
Jester: Oh, I see.
Kisan: Yes, sir. Now you see.
Jester:  Indicted Manohar and Tukaram, you’ve heard all the accusations that were made against you. I give to one of you the opportunity to put forward a defence. Considering your stages of life I give this opportunity to Manohar, the representative of the younger generation. Manohar, do you want to speak?
[Stage-lighting is now solely on Manohar.]
Manohar: Yes, your Eminence, today I will tell what’s on my mind. To express the anguish of an age-old inheritance of suffering is the grave purport of my speech.
I’m the world ruler of poverty. I’m the Arya Canakya  of the politics of the destitute.{Canakya, also known as Kautilya, author of the Arthashastra, a machiavellian treatise on politics of the Gupta Period.} My hopes and desires were crushed under the rock of tradition. The challenging shout of my soul has never passed my lips. Your barriers kept the Sarasvati of my tears from flowing. But today I will speak out. The words of revolt which flowed in my blood age after age are now suddenly taking shape and becoming visible. The blood clotted by sad and dire suffering gushes out today in fiery words. I’m the same sinner Shambuk who crossed the boundaries of your Aryan religion. The power of my ascetic practices was sinful in your mind. I’m the one who has never acted against the wishes of Sita, the lord of the kingdom of the fourteen thrones, the ten-necked Ravana. {Ravana is the king of Sri Lanka who stole Sita but treated her royally.}
Even though, when Yudhishtira climbed to heaven and all others fell by the way, his eyes filled with tears when he saw a sick dog. But now the Suryaputra asks for brotherhood and nobody cares. (The low caste Karna, who was refused the right to fight for the Pandavas) The poison of the traitor Indra’s abhorrence runs in my nerves. I’m that dear Mahar child carried so lovingly by Eknath. I am that Cokhamela whose bones, buried under the wall of Mangalvedha cried out the name of the Lord. Oh Lord,  - come and save me - I am the sense of hope in this song. I’m the one ( Dr. Ambedkar) who challenges the father of the nation (Gandhiji).
I’m that Savai who in exchange for speaking the truth had to give his eyes. I’m that Saranvare from Urangañv who accused those people who sacrificed my grand-father. (reference to real cases of atrocities against Dalits) I’m the spark that will set afire a storehouse of  wood five thousand years old. There were several bodily veils, time has taken many turns, but today I’ve reached here. Today I’m standing at that turn of time where I will enter the temple. If you consider this sinful, then I’m committing a sin, but I want that moving like a spinning top to come to an end. The walking in circles on one spot should be ended. Your honour, if I’ve incurred guilt, well, then that’s it. I’m a spinning top, a spinning top running in circles on one spot.
[The light on Manohar dims and the whole stage is lighted. Tukaram stands there as before. They both leave the witness-box. The assembly now takes its decision. They wear bright white caps, but there seem to be blue and ochre-coloured caps, too.]
{“Blue is the color of the Republican Party of Ambedkar; ocre or saffron is the colour of the Shiv Sena.“ (Eleanor Zelliot)}

Jester: Brothers, does it seem to you as if this father and son have incurred guilt? [The jester speaks in the manner of a leader. From the congregation “yes, yes, yes” is heard.] All right, all right. It is said that the pañcayat (village court) is supreme. There is democracy nowadays. If you say so then we will send them to the police-post, but the good name of our village Sonapur . . . .
All: No, no, no . . . .
Jester: All right, then speak, what punishment ought to be given to them?
Kisan: Expel the two from the village.
Jester: But don’t forget, they’re our brothers, whatever may have happened.
Mahadu: Banish those Mahars, if you won’t cut off their hands.
Jester: The days of tyranny are gone. Nowadays there is democracy. Say something constructive.
Piraji: [Wearing a blue cap. With lowered gaze he looks here and there. All watch him. When he gets up he says:] Sarpañc (head of the pañcayat)!
Kisan: Ey, Pinya, sit down.
Joshi: Sarpañc, it seems to me that the two ought to be punished.
Piraji: [Again standing up.] Sarpañc, send them to the police-post instead.
Mahadu: Ey, Pinya, sit down. We know you have been elected, but it doesn’t mean you’ve  become a wise and different person. Sit down.
Jester: Let him speak, let Piraji speak out. In a democracy everybody has the right to speak.
Piraji: Sarpañc, it seems to me as if we should forgive them once again.
Jester: [standing up] Brothers, [all clap] I’ve heard the opinions of all of you. Whatever has happened, Tukaram and Manohar are our brothers. [all clap] When our brothers make a mistake they are beaten, expelled from the village, punished. But these are the old, worn-out punishments. Gandhibaba says that there should be Ramrajya (the kingdom of Rama: a perfect world) now. [all clap]  We won’t judge them. We won’t punish them.
According to what Mister Piraji has said we will forgive them. [all clap] Wait - a man that is forgiven carries his head high. Again he will commit a fault. Therefore there ought to be punishment. An entirely customary punishment. In accordance with the orders of our most benign government we will dig a public well in our village. Water is to be found only two to four hands (one to two meter) deep. This well will belong to all of us. The little work which remains to be done these two will do. [all clap] That way the village will benefit, and they will benefit, too. Tukaram and Manohar, is that acceptable for you?
Piraji: [falling in] Of course it is acceptable, master, what else could they say. They don’t have any common sense left.
Jester: Now Kisanrav Patel will make all the arrangements. Won’t you, Kisanrav?
Kisan: All the arrangements will be made.
Jester: The meeting is closed. Start the work.
[All begin to dance holding hands and forming a circle. They surround Tukaram and Manohar. In the middle the two act as if they were digging a well.]
Jester: Hey, why do you but clap your hands? Shout: May Mahatma Gandhiji be . . . .
All: . . . . victorious!
Jester: Remove poverty!
All: Work hard. Work quickly. [All begin to dance, clapping hands in rhythm. Between the jester and Kisan there is a communication of signs and winks going on. Red light falls on Tukaram and Manohar.
The Jester and the stage-manager come forward. Kisan PaTel stands a little away immersed in thought. The stage-lighting dims. The singing and clapping of hands is done in such a manner as if  it was from a distance. ]
Stage-manager: [in rhythm with the applause] What have they done? What have they done?
Jester: They’re digging a well. They’re digging a well.
Stage-manager: How many workers dig the well?
Jester: Two workers dig the well. Two Mahars dig the well.
Stage-manager: To whom does the well belong? To whom does the well belong?
Jester: It belongs to the village. To all the villagers.
Jester: To whom does the water belong? To whom does the water belong?
Stage-manager:  It’s the villager’s water, not the Mahar’s.
Jester: The poor were deceived. The Mahars were deceived.
[Having ignited some sticks of explosives Kisanrav flees warning all: get out, get away, get away from here. All run away.  When Manohar and Tukaram try to come out of the well nobody helps them, but just then there is the sound of an explosion to be heard. The two of them fall down wounded. The jester and the stage-manager stand fixed stone-like. The exhilarated dindi enters, in it’s own manner. There are Vitthal-cheers: “We will wave the banner of God’s name.” The dindi goes off. Tukaram and Manohar join the dindi and they all exit.
Only the stage-manager and the jester are on the stage and there is a dead quiet. Slowly the rhythms of the dholak (small drum) and the tuntuni (stringed instrument) start.]
Jester:  We cannot stay here.
Stage-manager: We cannot stay here.
Jester:  We must go back.
Stage-manager: We must go back.
Jester:  We must go forward.
Stage-manager: We must go forward.
Jester: We must not go backwards, we must not go forward, brother,.
Stage-manager: We must not go backwards, we must not go forward, brother,.
Jester:  We must weave in circles.
Stage-manager:  We must weave in circles.
Jester:  Weave in circles, whirl around, weave in circles.
Stage-manager: Weave in circles, whirl around , weave in circles.
[As they move in circles, turning, the curtain is falls.]
The End.

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