Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL)

A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Vol.6.Issue 1. 2018

RESEARCH ARTICLE

A FEMINIST APPROACH TO TENDULKAR’S SILENCE! THE COURT IS IN SESSION

Dr.SUPRIYA
Associate Professor, PG Department of English, Ranchi Women’s College,
(An Autonomous Constituent Unit of RanchiUniversity)
ABSTRACT
Drama,as one of the highest forms of artistic expression, is not only a delightful
source of entertainment but also a powerful vehicle of instruction and illumination.
The Indian dramatists have effectively presented contemporary socio-cultural
problems and conflicts in their plays. Vijay Tendulkar has continuously raised his
voice against injustices meted out to the poor and the victims of structured violence
in a brilliant manner. Women make an essential part of the disadvantaged group in
his dramas. He exposes the hypocrisy of the male chauvinists and severely attacks
the sham moral standards of the patriarchal middle class society of contemporary
India.
In the Silence! The Court is in Session, a stage-worthy play set in an environment of
intrigue, hypocrisy, greed and brutality, the victimized individual happens to be a
woman who dared to defy the socio-moral code of sexuality framed by men in order
to control the body of women. It is interesting to appreciate the play from the
Indian feminist perspective. The play focuses on Indian middle-class life in urban
society, male hegemony, psyche of suffering women, and selfish, hypocritical nature
of men. The absence of any apparent solution at the end of the play underlines the
gravity of the complex situation in which a contemporary educated Indian woman is
denied her individuality and freedom.
Key words: Feminism, patriarchy, trial, prosecution, hypocrisy, defence.
.
Of all the literary genres, drama can be history, folk literature, and Indian as well as Western
considered as one of the most appealing and dramatic traditions, not only for inspiration but also
splendid form of visual art in which an actual reality for effective presentation of contemporary socio-
can be transformed into an excellent aesthetic cultural and political problems and conflicts in their
experience. As the highest form of artistic plays. The influence of Western thinkers and
expression drama is not only a delightful source of playwrights such as Sartre, Camus, Brecht, G.B.
entertainment but also a powerful vehicle of Shaw, Ibsen, Chekhov, Eliot, Ionesco, Pirandello,
instruction and illumination. Drama in India has a Pinter and Beckett is also evident in Indian
rich and glorious tradition. Being hailed as the “Fifth playwrights. The synthesis of all the three
Veda” it encompasses the “whole arc of life, ranging distinguished traditions namely, classical, folk and
from the material to the spiritual, the phenomenal contemporary Western, has resulted in the
to the transcendental and provide[s] at once discovery of a new form as well as a new style of
relaxation and entertainment, instruction and production.
illumination” (Iyengar: 1). The Indian playwrights In the world of Indian English drama Vijay
have delved into Indian myths, epics, legends, Tendulkar is among the few playwrights like

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A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Vol.6.Issue 1. 2018
Impact Factor 6.8992 (ICI) http://www.rjelal.com; (Jan-Mar)
Email:editorrjelal@gmail.com ISSN:2395-2636 (P); 2321-3108(O)
GirishKarnad, HabibTanvir, BadalSircar and Mahesh happens to be a woman who dared to defy the
Dattani who write about contemporary issues and socio-moral code of sexuality framed by men in
themes in a brilliant way. Tendulkar is a keen order to control the body of women. It is interesting
observer of social reality of post-colonial India with a to appreciate the play from the feminist perspective,
humanist attitude. He has continuously raised his as a drama with the dominating elements of Indian
voice against injustices meted out to the poor and feminism. The play focuses on Indian middle-class
the victims of structured violence and in his dramas life in urban society, male hegemony, psyche of
women make an essential part of the disadvantaged suffering women, and selfish, ambitious and
group. Regarding the dramatist’s interest in gender hypocritical nature of men. Like their feminist
issues, N.S Dharan comments, “…though not a self- counterparts all over the world, feminists in India
acknowledged feminist [Tendulkar] treats his seek gender justice in terms of access to health,
women characters with understanding and education and economic equality and demand
compassion, while pitting them against men who are respect for a woman’s urge to have individual
selfish, hypocritical and brutally ambitious.” identity. In addition to these, Indian feminists have
(Dharan: 28)The women characters in Tendulkar’s also to fight against culture-specific issues deeply
plays undergo a series of sufferings and torture as entrenched in the patriarchal society of India, such
the victims of the hegemonic power-structure.Plays as religion sanctioned superiority of a male offspring
like Kamala (1981), Silence! The Court is in Session to a female one, dowry system, Sati pratha (the
(1967), The Vultures (1961), Sakharam Binder practice of self-immolation at the pyre of dead
(1972), Kanyadan (1983), Encounter in Umbugland, husband), child marriage, etc. Feminism, as a social
MitrachiGoshta (2001) and His Fifth Women (2004) movement, is also about creating awareness and
bitterly critique the patriarchal values and consciousness among women themselves, along
institutions which are based on the exploitation of with the society, who need to recognize their right
women. He exposes the hypocrisy of the male to have ‘wholeness’ of existence that encompasses
chauvinists and severely attacks the sham moral all three – body, mind and soul. And for this
standards of the so-called civilized urban middle recognition, the feminists seek to force a ‘rethinking’
class society of contemporary India. Very often on the idea of masculinity. Jasbir Jain’s statement
women from the lower and middle classes play effectively sums up the present state of feminist
central roles in Tendulkar's plays. They are struggle in India:
housewives, teachers, mistresses, daughters, film …while feminism has generated awareness,
extras, slaves, and servants thereby bringing in not created space, intervened in legislation,
just variety of social situations but also a broad values and structures continue to be
range of emotions into the plays, “ . . . from the patriarchal and tradition continues to
unbelievably gullible to the clever, from the define roles and respectability, especially in
malleable to the stubborn, from the conservative to traditional societies like ours (Jain: 91).
the rebellious, from the self-sacrificing to the Feminist concerns are central to the play
grasping.” (Gokhle: 81) However, unlike the activists Silence! The Court is in Session. Smita Paul writes,
of the confrontational theatre of the late 1980s, “The women characters in Tendulkar’s theatre
Tendulkar never believed that an evening at the undergo a series of sufferings and tortures as the
theatre would change the mind-set of the society, victims of the hegemonic power-structure. In the
but his efforts did raise the hope that an effective male- dominated theatre-world they are constantly
play could help create public awareness. being ‘other-ed’. In Silence!the focal point of
Silence! The Court is in Session, a stage- interest lies is the struggle between women like
worthy play set in an environment of intrigue, Benare and her antagonists headed by the orthodox
hypocrisy, greed and brutality, “combines social Kashikar and his associates.” (Paul: 34). The action
criticism with the tragedy of an individual victimized revolves round the female protagonist, Miss Leela
by society” (Banerjee: xviii). Here the individual Benare, and her role eclipses the roles of her male

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A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Vol.6.Issue 1. 2018
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Email:editorrjelal@gmail.com ISSN:2395-2636 (P); 2321-3108(O)
counterparts. In her early thirties, the unmarried Tendulkar has used the technique of ‘play
Benare desperately fights her lone battle against a within a play’ in which the set of actors represent a
typical Indian middle class oppressive power small cross-section of contemporary society. All the
structure in which not getting married at an characters have come to stage to perform a play and
‘appropriate’ age for a girl naturally attracts moral the play ends before the anticipated originally
suspicion. scheduled play begins. The locale of the play is a
Leela Benare is introduced in the drama as small town and all the actions of the play take place
a vivacious character with a spontaneous “joie de in a single room. By using the techniques of
vivre”, to borrow Arundhati Banerjee’s expression, dramatic irony and satire the playwright effectively
but is transformed into a beleaguered victim under portrays how a young woman undergoes deep
the brutal societal pressure towards the end of the mental agony when she is betrayed by her co-artists
play. She dared to fall in love, and is cheated twice; of an amateur theatre group which claims to
first, seduced as a teenager by her maternal uncle perform in order to educate the public with current
and later cowardly abandoned by Prof. Damle, her social problems and issues which affect
‘intellectual God’. In her first incestuous emotional contemporary society seriously. Ironically, the
involvement, the punishment is inflicted in private, characters, taking advantage of Miss. Benare’s
but in the other which involved a married man, she momentary absence from the scene, decide to set a
is caught in a trap by her own companions, for her mock trial on her, in the name of a rehearsal, for the
love affair has been exposed by her pregnancy. She ‘offence that she has committed against the
revolts like Sarita in Kamala, Laxmi in Sakharam society’. Quite significantly all these people, except
Binder, Vijaya in Encounter in Umbuglandand and Benare, are a bunch of worthless frustrated beings
fights against the male dictates in the name of ready to pounce upon the unsuspecting Benare.
morality for her self-liberation and individuality. She They produce her as an accused in the court before
reminds us of the character of Alka in Mahesh the judge Mr.Kashikar, who happens to be one of
Dattani’sBravely Fought the Queen, who ignores the the prosecutors as well.
social norms and dictates, only to be accused as a Violence that characterizes most of
‘bad’ woman by the orthodox society. Miss Benare is Tendulkar’s plays makes its appearance in
suspected of having an illicit relationship with Prof. Silence!The Court is in Session at the psychological
Damle who remains absent throughout the play. level. All other characters except Samant have failed
Society cannot tolerate this unmarried expectant to achieve their aims and thus their desired social
woman, ‘a canker on the body of society’.(Silence!, position. Mr. and Mrs. Kashikar remain childless,
Act three) but not even once is Prof. Damle, a Ponkshe could not become a scientist, Sukhatme is
married man with children, condemned for being an unsuccessful lawyer who “just sits alone in the
responsible for Benare’s wretched condition. It is Barrister’s room at court, swatting flies with legal
through her consciousness that the hypocritical precedents! And in his tenement, he sits alone
double standard of the male-dominated middle- killing houseflies” (6). Karnik has failed as an actor
class society and its brutal hostility against women is and considers himself as an expert on “Intimate
exposed. In the words of Gail Omvedt, “‘Feminism’ Theatre”. BaluRokade remains economically,
is not a form of social science nor is it a single psychologically and emotionally dependent on
consistent ideology. It can best be understood as the Kashikars. In their attack on Benare, their sense of
developing self-consciousness of women as an failure or defeat surfaces as they try their best to
oppressed section struggling for liberation”. have sadistic pleasure in her discomfiture. In
(Omvedt: 177-178) The play with its radical subject psychological terms, the defeatism of the
of unwed motherhood is aggressive in tone as the unsuccessful, frustrated men forces them to seek
accused woman effectively questions the vicious pleasure in inflicting miseries on others,
established values of the orthodox society. particularly those who are weak and helpless. Miss
Benare becomes an object of ridicule among her

390 Dr.SUPRIYA
Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL)
A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Vol.6.Issue 1. 2018
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companions who pose as the upholders of moral throwing me out? Who are these people to
values of society. She is accused of foeticide and say what I can or can’t do? My life is my
made to suffer at their hands for the offence she has own – I haven’t sold it to anyone for a job!
not committed, and ironically enough she actually My will is my own. My wishes are my own.
gets the punishment of killing the child in her womb. No one can kill those -- no one! I’ll do what
She refuses to comply. In the words of Arundhati I like with myself and my life! I’ll decide
Banerjee, “Their characters, dialogues, gestures and ….”(58).
even mannerisms reflect their petty, circumscribed [Unconsciously, her hand is on her stomach.
existences fraught with frustrations and repressed She suddenly stops.]
desires that find expression in their malicious and The voice of self-assertion and individuality
spiteful attitudes towards their fellow beings” (viii). endows Benare with the identity of a “new woman”
As they torture a helpless woman the sadist emerging against the coercive attacks of patriarchy
tendencies of these prejudiced men are revealed. which tend to control the body of a woman with all
These actors represent the patriarchal mind-set of its might.
the given society with its blatant double standards. In the mock trial, a deliberate shift
N. S. Dharan rightly says, “Tendulkar brings them is effected from make believe to the real world and
together under the banner of an amateur theatre, in Benare’s private life is exposed and dissected
order to highlight the hypocrisy latent in this publicly. The ‘mock-trial’ offers Tendulkar a lot of
microscopic cross-section of the milieux of the scope to comment on the sordid realities and the
metropolitan Bombay (Mumbai) middle class.” hypocritical urban life. The urban middle class, with
(Dharan: 50) its sham morality, cannot tolerate Benare’s strident
Leela Benare and Samant are the first to independent ways, and it is satirically presented
arrive at the village hall where the actors are to through Benare’s lone but utterly nonchalant
stage a “Mock Law Court”. We hear about her defence of herself in the face of interrogation at the
teaching career as she tells Samant: “In school, hands of malicious Sukhatme who is bent on making
when the first bell rings, my foot’s already on the Rokade admit that he witnessed the scene of Benare
threshold. I haven’t heard a single reproach for not and Damale making love. All the members launch a
being on time these past eight years. Nor about my concerted attack upon her revelling in the sadistic
teaching. I’m never behind-hand with my lessons! pleasure of persecution. Benare’s private life is
Exercises corrected on time, too! Not a bit of room nakedly exposed and undergoes a thorough post-
for disapproval -- I don’t give an inch of it to any mortem throughout the play. One of the characters
one!” (3-4). She tells Samant that because of her is made to read aloud pages from the pornographic
efficiency in her teaching work and the enviable novel which he was reading as substantiating
attachment of her students to her, other teachers evidence against Benare. The pressure is such that
and the management are unjustifiably jealous of she finally breaks down and confesses how she was
her. Her statement is fraught with dramatic irony seduced by her uncle and she tried to commit
when she says: suicide. She also declares her love for the ‘runaway’
“But what can they do to me? What can intellectual person whose child she is carrying and at
they do? However hard they try, what can the same time she declares that she is not going to
they do? They’re holding an enquiry, if you abort the child. But when the court gives the verdict
please! But my teaching’s prefect. I’ve put that she should be forced to abort, she collapses
my whole life into it – I’ve worn myself to a down. The game of rehearsal is over and everyone
shadow in this job! Just because of one bit becomes normal except Benare who is wounded to
of slander, what can they do to me? Throw the core. She lies prostrate and the play ends there.
me out? Let them! I haven’t hurt anyone. SuchismitaHazra rightly states that
Anyone at all! If I’ve hurt anybody, it’s been “Tendulkar’s Silence! is a critique of patriarchal
myself. But is that any kind of reason for values and institutions and shows how law operates

391 Dr.SUPRIYA
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A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Vol.6.Issue 1. 2018
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as an instrument in silencing the voice of women. was of the body, for the body! ...This body
The word ‘silence’ in the title has different levels of is a traitor! [She is writhing with pain] I
significations. Literally it means the judge’s order for despise this body – and I love it! I hate it. . .
maintaining silence in the court-room but .” (118)
metaphorically it implies legally silencing the weaker For her sexual relationship with Prof. Damle she is
sex’s plea for justice. The urban middle class society looked down upon and despised in male chauvinistic
which Tendulkar presents in this play enforces law environment where her body is controlled and
to subjugate women by maintaining a hypocritical regulated by others according to patriarchal
moral code”. (Hazra: 1) If a teenage girl is seduced dictates. After being rejected by Damle, her
by her own maternal uncle then in whom the girl feminine desire for motherhood takes her to plead
should believe? Her uncle praises her and misleads Samant and Ponkshe, her co-artists, to marry her so
her to a social crime of incest. She admits, that her child gets a legitimate identity. But she is
“It’s true, I did commit a sin. I was in love refused by everyone. As she realizes the sexual urge
with my mother’s brother...” But in our of the body she calls it as a traitor, but she wants to
strict house, in the prime of my unfolding retain her body only for her child to be born.
youth, he was the one who came close to A tender little bud – of what will be a
me. He praised my bloom every day. He lisping, laughing, dancing little life – my son
gave me love. . . How was I to know that if – my whole existence! I want my body now
you felt like breaking yourself into bits and for him – for him alone. (118)
melting into one with someone – if you felt Defending Benare for her unwed motherhood
that just being with him gave a whole ShantaGokhle remarks:
meaning to life – and if he was your uncle, Men aren’t superior beings by definition.
it was a sin! Why, I was hardly fourteen! I They must prove themselves so before they
didn’t even know what sin was . . . I insisted can command her respect. The man she has
on marriage. So I could live my beautiful had a passionate relationship with and
lovely dream openly. . . I swear by my whose child she is carrying, is one of the
mother . . . and my brave man turned tail few men she has respected for his fine
and ran.” (117) mind and apparent integrity. . . . He does
She is too young to differentiate between not have the strength to stand by her and
infatuation and pure love. This relationship shows own his child. She has made a desperate
how incest operates in the traditional society and bid to get one another of the unattached
how the female child abuse always results into her men in her group to marry her in order to
injured psyche. Leela Benare’s mother reacts in a give the coming child, a name. Predictably,
typical patriarchal manner and prefers to victimize not one has agreed to her proposal. It is in
her own daughter in order to honour the norms of this delicate state body and mind that she
tradition that does not allow the marriage. is trapped by her colleagues into being the
About her second affair with Prof. Damle, accused in the mock trial. (Gokhle: 32-33)
Benare says, Though Benrare shows her independent spirit in the
“Again, I fell in love. As a grown woman. I beginning of the play and tries to resist the personal
threw all my heart into it; I thought this will attack on her by making fun of their personal
be different. This love is intelligent. It is love failures and thus to denigrate their authority, she
for an unusual intellect. It isn’t love at all – falls into the pattern of the centuries of learnt
it’s worship! But it was the same mistake. I unconscious when she is hounded by each and every
offered up my body on the altar of my member of the theatre group. Instead of attacking
worship. And my intellectual God took the those vultures of patriarchy, feeding and having fun
offering – and went his way. . . He wasn’t a on her miserable self, she starts feeling handicapped
God. He was a man. For whom everything because of her being a woman. Even Mrs. Kashikar

392 Dr.SUPRIYA
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A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Vol.6.Issue 1. 2018
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doesn’t spare her but gangs up with the rest of the freedom has been curbed in order to control her.
judges and complements their torturous attitude: But Prof. Damle, the man responsible for her
MRS KASHIKAR: … That’s what happens condition, escapes any judgment for he is a
these days when you get everything male.And Sukhatme, the barrister, expresses the
without marrying. They just want comfort. prevalent double standard of our society that tries
They couldn’t care less about responsibility! to find solution to all ills of society in the crucifixion
… It’s the sly new fashion of women earning of its women:
that makes everything go wrong. That’s SUKHATME: … No allowance must be made
how promiscuity has spread throughout because the accused is a woman. Woman
our society. (99-100) bears the grave responsibility of building up
Mrs. Kashikar who follows her husband like a the high values of society. ‘Na
shadow is incapable of any independent thinking striswatantryamarhati. ‘Woman is not fit
and is always snubbed by him. Unlike Benare she for independence.’ . . . (115)
has readily accepted man-made social codes and There are several such quotations from the
rigidity of patriarchy perhaps as a shield for her Manusmritiin the play. Patriarchy bases its
inability to bear any children that is a torment arguments on such ancient texts and tends to judge
enough in an Indian society. She is both a victim as the woman of today. Arvind Sharma significantly
well as an extension of patriarchal thinking.The says that “The Manuvada presentation of Manu is
Kashikars represent a conformist couple voicing for me an illustration of how information without
against the modern onslaught on the traditionally context can lead to, or at least contributes to
accepted model of the Indian Women. Despite alienation” (Sharma: 205). The famous rhetorical
different educational background they are one in soliloquy of Benare in self-defence, at the end of the
their approach to the social problems.Except play, is presented in such a way that it creates an
Samant, all the characters try to exercise their impression that she does not say it aloud. Actually
power on Benare. In this context, Kashikar’s no one is supposed to hear her. It echoes the irony,
comment is very shocking: sorrow and lampoon present in the Indian society.
KASHIKAR: … What I say is, our society Though she is educated and articulate, she is unable
should revive the old custom of child to present her feelings to her prosecutors. The child
marriage. Marry off the girls before in her womb and her attempts at suicide speak for
puberty. All this promiscuity will come to a her.
full stop. (98) Benare has become the victim of cultural
Sukhatme’s accusation against Benare is equally sadism in which “one is not born, but rather
damaging: becomes a woman”. (Beauvoir: 301) With a bruised
SUKHATME: … Her conduct has blackened self and utter despair she attacks men whose
all social and moral values. The accused is “bellies are full of unsatisfied desires”. (117) The
public enemy number one. If such socially tormentors take recourse to the Indian tradition
destructive tendencies are encouraged to which considers motherhood as something divine.
flourish, this country and its culture will be But in her reaction to the biased imposed morality,
totally destroyed. (114) Benare rejects the traditional idea that “Marriage is
They lash out against Benare in the most ruthless the very foundation of our stability. Motherhood
and inhumane manner. These ‘fathers’ of society must be sacred and pure”. (118) She is not ready to
give verdict on the behaviour of women and accept that motherhood is endangered because of
consequently curb their freedom. The situation her ‘misconduct’.Jasbir Jain’s comments are very
exemplifies how the frustrated male members of significant in this context when she stresses that
society try to subjugate women to prove their power “motherhood subjugates the female body and is
and superiority in the social hierarchy. Benare is primarily an asexual relationship without power. The
stigmatized and sacked from her job. Her economic whole burden of tradition is thrown upon Benare

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and women like her. She is the sufferer, not the Benare’s fingers and her locking herself into the
males. She is accused of not being the perfect room suggest the forced confinement of her
woman, who has the superhuman ability to ignore individuality inside the social trap.G. P. Deshpande,
the self, like Sita” (Jain: 87). in his article entitled Shantata! Court ChaluAhe,
The play satirizes the so-called values significantly points out,
these male-chauvinists profess. They praise The play Silence! The Court is in Session is
motherhood with bombastic phrases but try to highly symbolic in nature. During the court
destroy Benare’s infant in the womb. In his proceedings of the mock-trial, such animals
judgement Mr.Kashikar declares, “No memento of as dogs, a hen, etc., enter the hall. These
your sin should remain for future generations. animals symbolize an imbroglio of innocent,
Therefore this court hereby sentences that you shall simple and straightforward woman like
live. But the child in your womb shall be destroyed” Miss Benare (i.e., the hen) by cruel persons
(119). Benare refuses boldly to allow it and cries, “I with dual personality (i.e., the dogs). So,
won’t let it happen” (119) and then in a paroxysm the pursuits of the hen by the dogs
she collapses with her head on the table. Arundhati symbolically represents Miss Benare’s
Banerjee compares it with Nora’s declaration in inhuman hunt by her fellow-companions.
Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. She says that Benare’s (Deshpande: 15)
monologue is reminiscent of Nora’s declaration of The lock-and-key held by Samant represents the
independence but lacks the note of protest that age-old construct in which Benare is imprisoned.
characterizes the speech of Ibsen’s heroine. It The man holds the lock and is also in possession of
appears to be more a self-justification than an attack the key. The imagery gets symbolic meaning as
on society’s hypocrisies. It is poignant, sensitive and Ponkshe calls her later as “a different prisoner”. The
further highlights the vulnerability of women in our exhausted Miss Benare who is on the offensive at
society. the beginning finds herself trapped at the close of
Benare, the heroine of the play reminds us the play.
of the narrator in Kamala Das’s “My Grandmother’s Significantly, Tendulkar offers no solutions
House” whose quest for love has made her as such, only this that women must awaken to their
wayward. She is driven to the doors of strangers to rights and that too does not reach its end in his
receive love at least in the form of ‘a tip’. Kamala plays. The play exhibits how women in our society
Das asserts how a woman has to move in the maze are victimized, tortured and exploited. Evidently
of male monopolistic chauvinism, and beg for love in there is a conflict between the Indian tradition and
the form of change. Benare’s situation is even more the modern feminist theory. KapilKapoor proposes
complicated. Her search for true love has been that we should take a look at the validity,
thwarted by the doctrines of morality and the applicability and efficacy of the Feminist Theory, and
dictates of tradition. Her feminine urge for at what it would ultimately amount to in terms of
motherhood is weighed against her failure to bear Indian social structure and social goals. We should
the burden of maintaining the moral fabric of the also examine the foundational sociological thinking,
society. She is punished with abject social the Dharmasastras, to grasp the rationale of the
humiliation and her economic independence is existing social practices, and also evaluate this
snatched on the pretext that the teacher who is thought in the context of changing social reality.
adored by the children will exert corrupting Finally, we should look at the contemporary legal
influence on them because the father of her foetus and societal position of women (31). As a work of art
refused to own it. the dramatist’s piercing social commentary
A feminist interpretation of various symbols entertains while simultaneously making us aware of
used by Tendulkar reinforces the vulnerability of the our hypocrisies.
likes of Miss Benare in our society which is still
guided by patriarchal norms. The door-bolt hurting

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REFERENCES Paul, Smita. Theatre of Power. Kolkata: Books Way
Tendulkar, Vijay. Vijay Tendulkar: Five Plays. New Publishers & Distributors, 2010.
Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995. (All Sharma, Arvind. “How to Read the
textual references from Silence! The Court Manusmriti”.Feminism, Tradition and
is in Sessionare from this edition. The page Modernity.Ed. ChandrakalaPadia. New
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