Gender in Rabindranath Tagores trip the light fantastic Drama
Chandalika (1938)
Sutapa Chaudhuri
Dr. Kanailal Bhattacharyya College, India
Abstract
Much has been said about the way Tagore views his women in his poems, essays, novels and
drama. Yet it is the jump dramas of Tagore, a genre quite whimsical in his time and milieu, which
portray the radical spirit of Tagores c formerlyption of women and the maturation of their selfhood.
The trip the light fantastic dramas illustrate Tagores dauntless and perceptive experimentation with various literary
forms and techniques and the radical nature of his ideological orientation. Among the dance
dramas of Tagore, Chandalika has a special place as it foregrounds the theme of female desire in
an untouchable girl, a tabooed subject in his times, indeed redden now in Bengali writings. This
paper tries to show how Tagore uses the nuances of the dance form to face the
intersections of caste, class and gender as well as the ontogenesis of selfhood in Prakriti, the
Chandal girl.
[Keywords: Dance drama, Class, Caste, Gender, Chandalika]
Once a highly reckon and revered art form, Indian dance had fallen into
discredit under British colonialism.
The then improve urbanites despised dance
as an art form and did not allow dance, in any form whatsoever, in their society.
The educated elites in particular, were real much against dance of any kind
which they considered gross and unrefined. It was seen by the Victorian British
rulers as a debauched avocation fit only for prostitutes or rustic village folk. Hence,
educated middle-class Indians did not dare to allow their daughters to learn
dance any more. To perform on public stage was even a greater taboo. The
staging of Notir Puja (The Dancers requester) in 1927 marked the return of girls
from respectable middle-class Indian families to the stage as dancers. By his
efforts, Tagore dispelled the social taboo once attached to dancing...If you want to get a full essay, magnitude it on our website: Orderessay
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