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Prepared by:- Krishna Khamal

Paper:-Postcolonial study

Roll no:-15

Assignment Topic :- Comparision between ‘A Tempest’ and The Purpose

Email id:- (krishnakhamal01@gmail.com)

Submitted to:- The Department of English M.K. Bhavnagar University

Abstract:-

As we know that there are some methods through which we can understand any text very clearly. One of them is “Touch stone method ”.which means we compare two texts with each other and through that we can understand it. And because of Comparision we can easily understand the text. Here I try to compare two texts in this as under, “A Tempest” by Cesaire with “The Purpose” by T.P Kailasam. Caliban and Eklavya as subaltern character in both the text. In postcolonial theory the term Subaltern describes the lower class people and who are at the margins of a society. We find that many people are subaltern and many cast also in our India.

     Parihas and Tribal people are also marginalized or subaltern.

 

Introduction of “The Purpose by T.P Kailasam

Full name of T.P. Kailasam is Thanjavur Paramsiv  Kailasam. He was born on 29 July 1886 in Mysore, India and died on 1946 in Bangalore ,India. He was Tamil. He studied geology in London. Then he joined government geology service, he also wrote play and also worked in local theater. Kailasam wrote many plays in there. Kailasam wrote many plays in there. He wrote plays like

1) The Burden (1933)

2) Fulfillment (1933)

3) The Purpose (1944)

4)Karna : The Brahmin's Curse (1940)

5) Keechak(1949)

                        

        He wrote in English also. He was considered as “The father of modern kannada drama”, he also known as “The father of humorous plays” and known as “One and only Kailasam for Kannda”. Although all his theme and characters are mythological yet their treatment and delineation are strictly according to his vision, mission and imagination.

The Purpose  in 1944 which is based on great Indian Epic ‘Mahabharata’. In this play he focus  on main three characters like Arjuna , Eklavya and Guru Dron .

 In the story of Mahabharata ‘Arjuna’ is the hero while studying under Dronacharya  or throughout the epic. But here in The Purpose Kailasam more focus on the character of ‘Eklavya’. And he is the main hero or character of The Purpose.

Meaning of Subaltern :-

In postcolonial theory the term subaltern describes the lower classes and the social groups who are at the margins of a society. As in our India, some of the castes which we call ‘Shudra’ they all are subalterns. High castes people not except them as normal and they not even touch to those people. In Gujarati we can say ‘abhadavu’. So those all people are subalterns.

 It refers to the populations that are socially, politically and geographically outside of the hegemonic power structure of the colony and of the colonial homeland. As intellectual discourse the concept of the subaltern is problematic because it originated as a Eurocentric method of historical enquiry for Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The term “Subaltern” is used in the fields of history, anthropology, sociology, human geography and literary criticism.

 

    

 Concept of Subaltern in Purpose:-

 Eklavya as Subaltern character

                              

           In the Purpose we find that Eklavya from low caste, he was Nishada boy and Arjuna was King's boy, prince and he was Arya. So Eklavya can't study Archery from Guru Dronacharya, because he was Nishada boy. At that time only high class or King's sons learn archery, and Drona was Guru only Arjuna not any other. So we can say that Nishada is Subaltern cast or group of people and Eklavya was as a Subaltern person. Even his purpose to learn archery is good and he was smart than Arjuna yet he cannot became great archer because of his caste. He learned archery by himself, yet he compromised with Arjuna as a cost of Gurudakshina and lost his thumb it's not only lost his thumb but lost his archery also.

The protagonist of the play is Eklavya. He is nishada. He also want to become the best archer of the world as same Arjuna also want to be. Eklavya sreally like the techniques of Drona but he also recognize the Arjuna as a novice.

Ekalavya: “…..this Must be the great Drnacharya! Who else could in a few moments and with a few words turn a voice into a good archer already! Why, I am better myself for listening to him and following his words!”

       Through these type of dialogues we can see that how he love to be best archer. But only because of his caste he can’t be like Arjuna or perhaps better than Arjuna. So, after all we can say that T.P. Kailasam give the eyes to Arjuna. And he wants to highlight the character of Eklavya who is very minor character in Mahabharata. And through the archery Eklavya want to save the innocent animals from cruel animals and desire to learn archery. So his purpose is not self centre but it is for others. Wile, Arjuna wants to be the greatest archer of the world. So, we can say that his purpose is self centered. Thus, Kailasam gives the voice to the subaltern character like Eklavya. So now let’s know something about A tempest.

A Tempest  by Amie Cesaire:-

"A tempest" written in 1969 in French and translated in English in 1985 by Richard miller. The Tempest is a last play by William shakespear. These both plays are different. There is one term centre and periphery, it is applied here.  A Tempest is a postcolonial revision of William Shakespeare's The Tempest. There is one play written by T.P Kailasam,"The Purpose". This is also based on great Indian book "Mahabharata". As same in this play also we can see that thing. There are some major characters in the play like Caliban, Prospero, Miranda, Ariel etc. In both the play centre is different. In the Tempest Prospero is center character but in A Tempest Caliban is at center.  So let's know about that character.

play Aime Cesaire write A Tempest. It is a politicized take on Shakespeare’s play. It is really a “post-colonial response to The Tempest”. It story from the point of view of Caliban and Ariel. In this version Caliban is black slave and the spirit Ariel is represented as a mulatto slave. The dialogue on Caliban’s part is much harsher and more frequent. Caliban’s aggression and hate towards Prospero is a bit more evident. Prospero is also a good example of the role power plays in the story. When Caliban swears his loyalty to him he readily agree and takes advantage of this. Caliban’s character and the way Prospero treats him is a good representation of colonial attitudes towards indigenous people.

       Caliban is a rebellious black slave, who has been taught Prospero’s language only so that he can understand his orders and who asks to be called X, since Prospero has stolen his identity. In some of the scene, Ariel and Caliban argue about modes of resistance. Caliban calls him an Uncle Tom and demands ‘Freedom now’. He criticizes Prospero for using the courtiers’ hunger as a means of punishing them.  Prospero orders the arrest of Caliban and his fellow conspirators. Gonzalo attempts to convert Caliban to Christianity but fails. In his speech Caliban rejecting Prospero’s colonialist domination and threatening. Then Prospero decides that his duty is to remain on the island not to be master but the leader of the orchestra’ and to counter Caliban’s violence with violence. In a final image, Prospero is a futile old man, ruler over a population of one, and fragments of Caliban’s songs are heard in the distance.

Eklavya and Caliban as Subalterns.

 “ Eklavya”                                “Caliban’’ 

                                  

 If we think about these two characters, so these are subalterns. Ekalavya is from lower caste and because of his low caste he can’t get education. They have no right to learn. He is smart than Arjuna and yet he can’t be great archer because of his caste. Even he learnt archery by his self, without any Guru and yet powerful people not give him right to be an archer. So we can say that Eklavya as subaltern character. His intention to be archer is good and yet he can’t to do it.

       As same the character of Caliban is also represent this kind of identity. He has no power because he is black man but he raises his voice against his master because he has language. Without language he can’t do it. So if we want to be rebellious when we have language. And behind these all things power played a vital role in our society. On most of the position we can see high caste’s people. And that’s why power is in their hands. There is one dialogue in hindi movie ‘Raja ki ayegi barat’. In this movie one old person(judge) give advise to Rani Mukharaj that “ Haq kabhi manganese nahi milata kabhi kabhi use chinana bhi padata he”. And this dialogue is most appropriate here. So we can say these two characters are subalterns in The Tempest and Mahabharata. 

 Subalterns are in our contemporary society:-

In our contemporary society we can see many of the people who suffer a lot because of their caste. In our villages now a day’s also we can see some of the people are living out of village. In village those people are from low caste and that’s why they have no right to live in the society. They are cleaning our society and yet they are not clean so high caste people not touch them. So they all are subalterns of our society.

We think deeply on this topic at that time we find this type of problem in our society also, even in this 21^st century also. We find many people in village they don't use food and water of lower class people and even lower class people living out of villages they don't get proper education and also good job. Just because of their caste. Not only villages in city we see the problems of cast and class. Higher class and lower class. And many problems are create it's just because of rigid thought.

      

Conclusion:-

                       Thus we can say that  the characters like Caliban and  Eklavya are  in history and present. And these types of characters are there some characters who ruling over them. In this type of situations we can see that the power played a vital role behind these all things.

There are some poor people because there are some There are days and nights, sun and moon, joy and sorrow, etc. So if there are subalterns because some powerful people are there and that’s why it happened. If there is some question so defiantly there are some reasons behind this. But question is that we are not thinking like that or we are not habituated to think like that.

Works Cited

contribuutors, Wikipedia and Subaltern (Postcolonialism) free. Wikipedia contributers,''Subaltern (postcolonialism). Ed. contributers.

 (google)

cgoogle. https:// images.google.com/.

 (kailasam)

kailasam, t.p. https://t.p kailasam .blog. <https://www.google.co.in/search?q=t.p+kailasamblogspot.in&oq=t.p+kailasamblogspot.in&aqs=chrom>.