Patriarchal Hegemony and Violence in Vijay Tendulkar’s Sakharam Binder

S. Vennila
Assistant Prof. of English
Sarah Tucker College
Palayamkottai
vennila@tjells.com

The plays of Tendulkar present women as victims, and in his plays one can observe gender stereotyping. The women play domestic roles as daughters, mothers and wives in an Indian society. A female child takes the negative reinforcement of her vulnerability for granted. According to Manu - a girl in her childhood is under the protection of her father, then she is under the protection of her husband, and then she is taken care of by her son. Even from her childhood, the female child’s mind is set to believe the importance of ‘family values’. She accepts herself to be passive and patient, and unselfish. This kind of sociological conditioning ultimately restrains the growth of women.

Women are subjected to violence in the male chauvinistic society. The socio-economic conditions of women are poor and only if women are economically free, their intellectual creative ability will be recognized. Women may be subjected to physical and sexual violence at home. T.V. shows and films project women as the weaker sex and often they are showcased as sexual objects. Media also presents women’s issues ruthlessly sensational.

Women are the prime resource for the development of any civilization, culture and race. Economic and social status of women fail to take full advantage of the rights. The main causes for the violence against women are the existing social structure, powering, lack of value system, discrimination against women, economic dependence, etc. M.A. Sami Siddiqul in his Preface to the book Violence in Indian English Drama, says, “Violence, physical or psychological, has been a source for subjugation and exploitation on one hand and a means of protest and social transformation on the other” (V).

Drama invariably serves as a vehicle to expose man’s inherent desires. Some of the plays present existentialistic inner psyche with social norms that expose man’s reaction towards life and his longing for identity. Obviously some of the plays of Tendulkar epitomize the existentialistic views of life. The violence in the contemporary society is due to lack of meaning in life. He reiterates that one has to live in the drudgery of absurdity. Existentialism projects man’s perplexity and dread with regard to death. To an existentialist, life is absurd as it vacillates between unfathomable aspirations and finite possibilities. Kierkegaard states, “Human existence is irremediable finite: its stand point is incorrigibly partial and limited” (61). He further adds that man is an embodiment of “a sympathetic antipathy and an anti-pathetic sympathy” (42).

One among the few issues that disturbs the harmony in a family or society is patriarchal hegemony that promotes the dominant social position of men and subordinates the position of women. This has brought in disparities, dislocations, displeasure and discomfort. Hegemony is seen in history, literatures and in all cultures. It is of the idea that men are better than women - smarter, more accomplished and dominant. It treats women as subjugated being. The Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary gives the meaning of hegemony as leadership, authority, influence, especially of one state in a group of states and patriarch as the male head of a family. Patriarchy is a system which traces the familial and economical inheritance down the male line. This system held women under men’s control, stifling their voice for centuries. The patriarchal society gives various images for woman such as ‘mother earth’, Goddess’… ‘child bearer’ and matriarch. She is vulnerable to the power of man and so man exerts patriarchal power and makes her a victim. In literature also, in general, writers reflect this in their writings.

Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin in their book Post-Colonial Studies say:

Hegemony as a term referring to the dominance of one state within a confederation is now understood to mean dominance by consent. The broader meaning was coined and popularized in the 1930s by Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci, who investigated why the ruling class was so successful in promoting its own interests in society. Fundamentally, hegemony is the power of the ruling class to convince other classes that their interests are the interests of all. Domination is thus exerted not by force, nor even necessarily by active persuasion, but by a more subtle and inclusive power over the economy, and over state apparatuses such as education and the media, by which the ruling class’s interest is presented as the common interest and thus come to be taken for granted. (106-107)

The desire for self-determination is suppressed by hegemonic notion in terms of social order, stability and advancement. Antonio Gramsci’s analysis of class relations states:

The cultural dynamic by which a group claims and sustains a leading position in social life. At any time, one form of masculinity rather than others is culturally exalted. Hegemonic masculinity can be defined as the configuration of gender practice, which embodies the currently accepted answer to the problem of the legitimacy of patriarchy, which guarantees the dominant position of men and the subordination of women. (236-237)

In Sakharam Binder, even when her husband throws Laxmi out of her house, she worships him. But Champa is a foil to Laxmi. Laxmi upholds the patriarchal value system and hates Champa for violating the same. In this play, Laxmi and Champa are two polarities of this kind of construct. Champa’s violence shocks Sakharam because the value system of the traditional society accepts violence and foul language as the prorogate of the male community. Champa’s violence towards her husband is an outcome of physical violence inflicted by him. Tendulkar’s male characters – Sakharam, Jaisingh, Ramakant and Umakant consider woman, a chattel to be exploited.

The plays of Vijay Tendulkar portray women as victims of gender politics and violence. And one can observe gender power struggle in his plays. Tendulkar himself says:

As an individual – rather as a social being – I feel deeply involved in the present state of my society… The writer in me raises inconvenient questions. Instead of choosing his side and passionately claiming thereafter that it is always the right one… As a social being I am against all exploitation, and I passionately feel all exploitation must end. As a writer I feel fascinated by the violent exploited exploiter relationship, and obsessively delve deep into it instead of taking a position against it. That takes me to a point where I feel that relationship is eternal, a fact of life however cruel, and will never end. (15)

Tendulkar is a controversial playwright. He has imprinted real life incidents and happenings in his plays. His plays expose the hidden evils in society. Each play is about the oppression of women by men. His primary demonstration is that the patriarchal construct has made the female sex a slave for generations together.

Sakharam Binder presents man-woman relationship in the patriarchal society. Sakharam Binder, the protagonist, is a male-chauvinist. Sakharam confesses that he is a pauper, womanizer and drunkard. He leaves his home at the age of eleven, because he cannot bear the beatings of his father. He never marries a woman, but has a woman to satisfy his carnal desires. If he is dissatisfied with her, he will dispose her off and get another one. For him, woman is a commodity, which can easily be thrown away after use and can be bought again easily. In this way, Laxmi is the seventh one to enter his house.

Laxmi’s husband throws her away, as she is childless. A woman has no respect and no place in the family if she does not bear a child. Sakharam brings her to his house. He beats her mercilessly. However, she is emotionally entangled with such a cruel man. She does her duty promptly.

In the opening Act, Sakharam is introduced as a man using filthy language. He roars at the children. Sakharam is a middle aged man with an impressive personality. He brings Laxmi to his house. She is terrified and holds the bundle close to her bosom and cowers near the wall. Her gestures show that she is trembling with fright. Sakharam dictates the order of the house: “I like everything in order here. Won’t put up with slipshod ways. If you are careless, I’ll show you the door. Don’t ask for any pity then. And don’t blame me either. I’m the master here. I don’t care and they treat me like dirt outside. But a house must be a home. You understand?” (1.1.125). In the patriarchy, the relationship between woman and man is akin to master - slave relationship. The play Kamala also exemplifies it.

Laxmi has to do a number of odd jobs at home. Her duties are: if the well dries up, she has to fetch water from the river. If someone calls, she is not supposed to look up and talk. If it is a stranger she must cover up her head and answer him briefly. If her husband is not at home, she must not admit anyone inside. She is forbidden from meeting anybody. There is a similarity between this play and Karnad’s Nagamandala. In Nagamandala, Appanna, Rani’s husband does not allow anyone to talk with her. He just orders her to do this or do that. Sakharam says, “In this house what I say goes. Understand? The others must obey, that’s all. No questions to be asked” (1.1.126). This indicates the nature of man in the patriarchal set up.

Sakharam asks her to be his wife to satisfy his sexual desires and to serve him. He never bothers to understand her heart. He acts according to his whims and fancies. He proudly says that he has no fear for God or God’s father. It is quite clear that if one has no fear of God, one goes astray from the moral path and Sakharam is no exception. The family background and his frustration even at an early stage might have driven him to follow a wrong path. Even though he is born in a Brahmin family, he has no faith in God. He has his own ideology which inflicts torture upon women.

Women who come to Sakharam’s house are the outcasts or the destitutes deserted by their husbands. Sakharam critically comments that men slink out at night stealthily: “They’d like us to believe that they’re an innocent lot” (1.1.126). Here Sakharam exposes the hypocrisy of man. In Kamala , Jaisingh buys Kamala from Luhardaga Bazar in Bihar where a woman is considered a consumer product. For Sakharam also woman is a consumer product which can be consumed, thrown away or exchanged. The mind set of a man in the patriarchal construct is revealed through the conversation between Dawood and Sakharam:

DAWOOD. They say you’ve caught a new bird?
SAKHARAM. Yes. Just now. About an hour ago. How’re you getting along?
DAWOOD. So – so (peering inside) where did you get her from?
SAKHARAM. From Sonavane. I’d heard some rumour. So I went this morning. I found her in a Dharmashala. (1.1.129)

Sakharam is also doing harm to women folk by breaking the institution of marriage. For him, woman is just a commodity.

In Sakharam Binder, Lakshmi willingly accepts the thrashings of her husband and falls into the socially accepted pattern of life style. Being a hardworking person, she is prepared to do all the household chores without grumbling. She willingly undergoes any sort of suffering for the sake of ‘mangalsutra’. However, she is thrown out of her household, as an ignominious one as she has not borne her husband a child. She accepts the social value system, which puts the blame on her.

Champa, on the other hand, becomes a dipsomaniac, so that she can feel numbed least bothering about her own revulsion against her act. Laxmi sanctifies herself by wearing ‘mangalsutra’ in Sakharam’s name. She is thrown out by Sakharam also. And again when her nephew drives her out, Laxmi, once again seeks refuge in the household of Sakharam and falls at his feet.

Both in Kamala and Sakharam Binder, Tendulkar expresses his concern over the plight of women. In Kamala, Jaisingh Yadav buys Kamala in Luhardaga and in Sakharam Binder, Sakharam brings Laxmi from Dharmashala. In Kamala, Jaisingh Yadav wants to raise his voice against the exploitation of women but ironically he himself turns out to be a real exploiter. Sakharam also speaks against the inhuman treatment of these women by their husbands. They beat her, kick her every single minute of the day. According to Sakharam, they are an impotent lot who consider woman as just dirt. In reality, Sakharam is also an exploiter of woman. He says, “We’re a whole lot better than those swine!” (1.1.129).

The actions in the plays betray the degeneration of the society. Tendulkar attacks the veiled morality of the people. He says, “I tell you a whore can get to God much faster than all of us” (1.1.130). In his opinion, the society overflows with hypocrites.

Sakharam and his friend Dawood are engrossed in puffing away ganja while Laxmi folds her hands in prayer. Sakharam is happy that he is not a husband. It is yet another issue that woman prays for her counterparts and blesses them for their welfare, but they are entrapped by the evils in the society, consuming alcohol or blowing cigarette.

He criticizes the husbands of such women as well as the womenfolk in general. He mocks at women whose eyes brim with tears at the mention of their husband’s name. Even when their husbands kick and squeeze them alive, they elevate their husbands to the level of gods. Sakharam mocks at women by saying “Corpses! That’s what you are. You get kicked by your husband and you go and fall at their feet!” (1.2.133). The woman, who came prior to Laxmi, begot two children and her husband kept them with him. She pined for them and when she gasped for breath, she kept on repeating her husband’s name. It indicates how women are neglected in society and how they long to be united with their family. Sakharam speaks of his own ideology:

What is the matter? I did everything good and proper. I lit the funeral pyre. The crow wouldn’t touch the rice. So I swore that soul of hers lodged in him. I said, ‘It was that bloody husband of yours who cast you off. What do you go on pestering me for? I owe you nothing. I gave you a roof over your head. Was that a wrong thing to do? Now let me go, without any more fuss! I yelled and the crow came down at once and picked at the rice… (1.2.135)

Women are not happy when they leave their husband and children. In the Indian culture, a woman can never throw away her emotional bond with her husband. Here, even the soul of the woman clings to Sakharam and he openly declares that he has no bond between himself and the lady. It is clear that the domination is exerted not only by power but also by the social system.

In Naga - Mandala, Rani’s subjugation takes her to the world of fantasy and Laxmi’s subjugation makes her talk to ants. Laxmi speaks with ants: “You little rascal, you’re trying to trick me, are you? I put you out and you steal in again. You want me to feed you all the time?” (1.4.136).

Laxmi has no one to communicate with her in Sakharam’s house. She only answers to Sakharam. As she has no one to speak with, she starts speaking with ants. But Sakharam does not allow her to speak with ants. He says, “Remember what I told you. Don’t you dare repeat this sort of thing! All this madness must stop at once” (1.4.139). She has no freedom to speak even with the ants. Sarkharam’s verbal violence becomes psychological violence for Laxmi. Communicating with non-human creatures is a form of psychic expressiveness. In Karnad’s Naga Mandala, Rani also undergoes physical and psychological violence.

Sakaharam has no genuine concern for Laxmi. He says, “I’ll hit you now if you don’t get up” (1.5.141). He also indulges in physical violence. Sakharam asks her to laugh. He asks her to laugh and sleep later. He scolds her by saying that all women are worthless lot. Sakharam commodifies women. Laxmi is reduced to a machine, a laughing machine, and a machine which can quench his passion.

Laxmi is a sort of a traditional woman. She does not allow Sakharam and Dawood to leave before Aarti. Laxmi stops Dawood and she starts performing Aarti to Ganapathy. When Sakharam comes to know of it, he takes the belt off the peg, and lashes at her with the belt. Laxmi receives continuous beatings, which gives her gnawing pain, because her body has received blow upon blow. The violence is overt here:

SAKHARAM. Now laugh. Are you going to laugh or not?
LAXMI (moaning). No.
SAKHARAM. Are you or aren’t you?
LAXMI. My whole body is throbbing with pain. Such growing pain. [moans] You’d think my flesh was on fire.
SAKHARAM. So what? You have to laugh. You hear me? My orders must be obeyed in this house. What I say, goes. Are you going to laugh or shall I throw out. You out? Shall I? come on, get up.
LAXMI. Let me go. Oh, God? My God.
SAKHARAM. I won’t let you go till you laugh.
LAXMI. I’ll die.
SAKHARAM. Laugh, and then die. (1.8.145)

His verbal violence shatters her heart into pieces. Psychologically, she is very much disturbed. This shows how women are squeezed in the hands of men by psychological and verbal violence. He gets sadistic pleasure by torturing Laxmi. He uses his physical power and his authoritative words upon Laxmi and demands that she should behave according to his whims and fancies. And he threatens her to laugh. He says, “Laugh! Laugh this minute. Or I’ll twist your arm. I will. I’ll get the belt. Laugh” (1.8.145).

Sakharam is highly autocratic. He always puts orders. Laxmi carries water pots with a lot of efforts to the kitchen and tries to catch her breath. Sakharam without any human consideration shouts at her to make tea. He says, “Make a cup of tea quick” (1.9.146). Sakharam’s needs should be fulfilled quickly. Laxmi says, “I’m getting it. Wait. I almost died bringing the water in. You think I’m made of stone? When I’m dead, you’ll be free of me” (1.9.146). In contemporary society too, women undergo such torments. Laxmi speaks out her stored up thoughts, “You think I am afraid to tell you? How much more can a person bear? It’s a year now since I entered this house. I haven’t had a single day’s rest. Whether I’m sick or whether it’s a festal day. Nothing but work, work; work all the time. You torture me the whole day, you torture me at night. I’ll drop dead one of these days and that will be the end” (1.9.146).

Laxmi adapts herself to the world of Sakharam. Her patience and tolerance, submissiveness, tradition-bound convictions make her live under the absolute control of Sakharam. She works without rest even when she is weary. His rough nature and abusive words without a tinge of understanding makes her life meaningless. Sakharam considers Laxmi a sex object. She feels that she will die soon. Her listlessness is due to Sakharam’s oppression. When she pours out her pent up feelings, Sakharam says, “A dead hen doesn’t fear the fire! Nothing more terrible can happen to me now”(1.9.147). It confirms the view that Sakharam himself is a victim of society.

When Laxmi speaks out her pent up feelings, it is something terrible for Sakharam. According to Sakharam he has openly said everything. His woman must be ready to put up with all this, or else she shall leave.

Laxmi’s obedience, care and concern, faithfulness, have changed Sakharam a little bit and he himself acknowledges it. He drinks less, consumes ganja just twice and sits for pooja. He wears clean clothes. He asks Laxmi whether she has noticed it and he demands an answer from her. He says, “Answer me or I’ll break your jaw!” (1.9.148). The excessive use of language to undermine Laxmi’s dignity is very unfortunate.

SAKHARAM. I had six before you. I disowned my own father. I wouldn’t let anyone boss over me. But I did listen to you, didn’t I? didn’t I?
LAXMI. And you beat me in return. And cursed me and tortured me.
SAKHARAM. Then what did you expect me to do? Be your slave and lick your feet?
LAXMI. You’ll know that once I’m gone.
SAKHARAM. Then why don’t you go? When you’re forced to lead a dog’s life, you’ll come to your senses.
LAXMI. Is my life any different now?
SAKHARAM. From a dog’s? you mean that you don’t feel the difference in this house? Then get out clear out at once come on. (1.9.148-149)

Though Sakharam feels Laxmi has brought transformation in him, his innate temperament remains untouched. Laxmi, though patient and passive, expects more from Sakharam and she tells him, what he really does to her. But he is not ready to budge.

Sakharam pushes her out. As far as Sakharam is concerned, she is dead and gone. Dawood, Sakharam’s friend asks him ‘What sort of Tamasha is this? (91.9.148). Laxmi’s cry is the cry of innumerable women: “Am I a slut? A bitch? A niggling bit of cast – off woman? Then beat me? Why are you waiting? Go ahead and beat the life out of me . Burn me alive. There’s nobody I can call my own. So my life is worth nothing…” (1.9.150).

This is the plight of so many women in general. They have no one to support them morally or economically. They have a feeling that they are cast off women. They don’t have any identity. They don’t revolt against their partners. Sakharam says to her, “You can go your way. I can go mine. You don’t owe me anything. I owe you nothing either. Let’s be free of each other” (1.10.151). Though Sakharam and Laxmi are not tied together by the bond of marriage through law, she performs all the duties of a wife. Sakharam’s statement: ‘You can go your way, ‘I can go mine’ is a dictum which is followed by almost all the modern man and woman. Both man and woman never try to understand each other. They follow Sakharam’s concept and break their relationship easily. But in the traditional Indian society, it is not so.

He offers her a saree and a choli and he is ready to give her some money. Before she leaves, she wants to offer prayers, say bye to the neighbours, sweep the floor, to put sugar for the ant. Conspicuously, Laxmi’s “feminine qualities” dominate here.

Next one comes in and again Sakharam has his self-narrative that he is hot headed. When he loses his temper, he beats the life out of people. He is a rascal, womanizer, ruffian and so on. If someone comes she shall not look up and talk.

Champa, the next woman of Sakharam, has an attractive physique that entices Sakharam. Laxmi and Champa are poles apart in their character. Laxmi is docile, God fearing, obedient and conservative, whereas, Champa has no moral values. She is bold. Sakharam converses with Champa, and it shows that she is not docile like Laxmi:

SAKHARM. You like the house?
CHAMPA. No. Our house was much bigger. Besides it was new.
SAKHARAM. Well. This is not. So…
CHAMPA. Looks too old to me.
SAKHARAM. If you don’t like it, you can go out
CHAMPA. Why? Is another house outside?
SAKHARAM. No. This is all there is. And it’s not a king’s palace. It’s Sakharam Binder’s house.
CHAMPA. Sakharam Binder? Who’s he?
SAKHARAM. Me! (2.1.157)

Champa does not have fear or respect for Sakharam. She speaks boldly. Sakharam tells his name with pride, but Champa without any hesitation asks who Sakharam is. She refers to her husband as corpse. She is fed up with him. Her husband drinks and then keeps on threatening to kill himself. Champa’s husband is psychic. It shows, though man indulges himself in verbal, physical and psychological violence to subjugate women, he himself becomes a failure. Champa is also the product of the environment when she narrates the story, she says, “We used to sell liquor too. That’s where I met this dead duck, my husband. He came to raid the place and he raided something else instead” (2.1.158).

Here Vijay Tendulkar mocks at the Police Department. So many rape cases are reported against them. Liquor selling is also one of the issues of the contemporary society. Sakharam is shocked to hear the act of Champa. He can well perceive that she is beyond his whims:

SAKHARAM. What kind of a woman are you? Look, what you’ve done to him! He’s your husband. Haven’t you a heart?
CHAMPA. No I don’t have a heart. He chewed it up raw long ago. He brought me from my mother even before I’d become a woman. He married me when I didn’t even know what marriage meant. (2.2.167)

In Karnad’s Naga-mandala also, Appanna brought Rani when she didn’t even know ‘what marriage meant’.
Champa’s husband is also a sadist. He is crazy after her. He tortures her by stuffing chili powder into her body. Champa’s words briefly tell us how the young girls get married at an early stage, and how they suffer at the hands of vicarious husbands.

Sakharam is also the product of the environment. He has no familial ties. He does not want to call his father as father. No one needs to nurture cactus. It grows in a rough place surrounded by stones. He grows in such a milieu. He has not experienced the unconditional love of his parents. The absence of inextricate bond of love with parents, friends, relatives, neighbours has left him in wilderness. The milieu in which he lives is also responsible for his moral decline. He says, “See! Never called my own father, father. And as for my mother, to her I was like the son of wretched Mahar, a scavenger. I grew up like a cactus – out in the open. I don’t scare easy. From now on it is going to be Champa. Champa and nothing more…” (2.7.172-173).

Sakharam is least bothered about what people say about him. He says, “People! What do I owe them or their bloody fathers? Did they feed me when I went hungry? I lay dying in the Miraj Mission Hospital. Did anyone bother to find out whether I was alive or dead? Don’t talk to me about people, Dawood?” (2.7.173). Here, Sakharam points out the indifference of the society towards an individual. It is one of the issues in the present world, too.

Sakharam blames men who run after whores and carp at others. He is different from others. He knows that each man is soiled and filthy but they try to look clean outside, stuffed with dirt inside. Man is like a whitewashed sepulchre. He exposes the hypocrisy of his friends and tells his friend Dawood that there is not much difference between those whores and his people. According to him, whores are honest but the people are fake. As an individual, he judges the society as an embodiment of hypocrites.

In the Indian set up, a woman has to play the destined roles. Champa is in drunken stupor even on the day of Dassera. She is least bothered about the holy day. Sakharam expects the woman of the house to be clean and tidy. He tells Champa, “What will people say? Go on inside. Go” (2.8.174). Sakharam staggers up, and is stupefied to find Laxmi. He pushes her out and shuts the door. Champa has a soft corner for Laxmi. She lets her in. Laxmi’s husband drives her out because they had no children. Champa leaves her husband because he is impotent. Laxmi gives respect for the sacred rites whereas Champa is least bothered about them.

Sakharam disgustedly says, “The minute you left this place you were dead to me. It was all over, done with. That’s the rule here. Fourteen years I’ve followed” (3.1.182). When he asks Laxmi, “Who am I to you?”, Laxmi replies, “God” (3.1.182). She pathetically says that she needs a roof over her head and wants to die in his lap. It is all nonsense to Sakharam. He orders her to get out or else he would split her skull. It is only Champa who pulls Laxmi away and stands between Laxmi and Sakharam. Champa is able to understand the plight of Laxmi and she interferes to save her:

SAKHARAM. Why did you interfere?
CHAMPA. Why? Because you’ll be hanged for murder and to fill this belly of mine I’ll have to start hunting around every day for a new customer. Instead of having ten beasts tearing at me every day, I’d rather do what one says to me. (3.1.184)

For Champa, accepting a man and satisfying his carnal desire is better when compared to falling a prey to a flurry of men with voluptuous eyes. But here, Champa does not want to come out of the environment in which she lives. Nor does she want to work and earn money and lead a peaceful life with that. Champa represents a certain type of women in the society.

Sakharam cannot tolerate Laxmi’s words that she wants to die keeping her head on his lap. He insists on sending Laxmi away. Laxmi pours out her pent up feelings:

My misfortune, I couldn’t keep the man I married. For me this one was my husband. I worshipped him. Even when I was away I’d worship him in silence every day. Look at this, I wore this in his name. I belong to him. If I have to be kicked, let him kick me. If I have to die, let me die on his lap – in full glory like a married woman. (3.3.187)

Laxmi wants to die on the lap of Sakharam, whereas Champa’s husband wants to die at Champa’s hand. The man’s decry, “I’m Champa’s husband. Her real husband. The one she married. (Laxmi studders) where’s Champa? I want her. I want her to beat me. I’ve come to die at her hands. Champa, beat me. Beat me, Champa” (3.3.188). This is similar to Karnad’s Bali:

The Sacrifice, where the king goes in search of the queen who has a sexual relationship with the mahout.
Laxmi feels sorry for the wretched condition of Champa’s husband. Laxmi’s husband has sent her away because she bears no children: here Champa throws her husband away because he is impotent. Laxmi is ready to die at the hands of Sakharam, who beats her. This man is ready to receive thrashes from Champa and is ready to die at her hands. But Sakharam asks Laxmi to leave the house immediately, because Champa criticized him: “You’re not a man – not since she came” (3.5.193). When Laxmi comes to know about Champa’s affair with Dawood, she reveals the fact that Champa is unfaithful to Sakharam. She says, “She goes to him – every afternoon – when you are at the press. I’ve seen them – seen them with my own eyes” (3.6.196).

Champa’s husband dotes on her madly but she puts the blame on him. She drinks a lot and yields herself to the lecherous desires of Sakharam. She had an affair with Daawood. Sakharam comes to know of it. Unable to tolerate the infidelity of Champa, Sakharam murders her. Such instances of violence are not common in the modern society as well. Sakharam puts her hand around Champa’s neck and squeezes harder and murders Champa. In fact, Lady Macbeth stimulates Macbeth to murder king Duncan. Much in the same way, Laxmi helps Sakharam in murdering Champa:

Hush! Don’t shout. Not a word. Anyway she was sinner. She’ll go to hell. Not you. I’ve been a virtuous woman. My virtuous deeds will see both of us through. I’ll stay with you. I’ll stay with you. I’ll look after you. I’ll do what you say. And I’ll
die with my head on your lap. Yes. Now don’t be afraid. We’ll – we’ll bury her…. (3.7.196-97)

He has brought eight women to his house. At the end of the play, Laxmi comforts Sakharam, by saying that he is a good man. The play exposes the natural instinct of every man in this world to subordinate women in all ways by exhibiting violence on her through his words and deeds.

His Sakharam Binder exposes masochism, hypocrisy, jealousy, and lust of the middle and the poor class male. The play manifests complexities of human nature in three acts. The first act portrays the relationship of Laxmi-Sakharam, the second, relationship of Champa-Sakharam, and the third one, that of Laxmi-Sakharam- Champa. In other words, the play presents man-woman relationship, raw brutality and lewdness. The main character Sakharam has a streak of violence and vengeance in him. To Sakharam, women are like consumer products. Cast-off wives become slaves to Sakharam. These battered and shattered women are once again winnowed by Sakharam. He threatens Laxmi to laugh.

Works Cited

Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin. Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts. Routlege Taylors: London, 1998. Print
“Hegemony”. Def. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
Kierkegaard … .Ghashiram Kotwal. Calcutta: Seegull Seeks, 1984. Print.
Tapadia, G. Harish. “Horrifying Portrayal of Domestic Violence in Vijay Tendulkar’s The Vultures”. Violence in Indian English Drama. Ed. M.A. Sami Siddiqui. Jaipur: Vital Publications, 2014. Print.
Tendulkar, Vijay. Five Plays. New Delhi: OUP, 1992. Print.

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