summary of the play 'Ghashiram Kotwal' --
Vijay Tendulkar's play Ghashiram Kotwal narrates the story of a typical Brahman Ghashiram Savaldas to the position of 'Kotwal -the Chief of Police of Poona, in the Peshwa period when Nana Phadnavis was the powerful figure in the political happenings, the chief administrator of Poona. The play is divided into two acts; the first act tells the tale of the rise of Ghashiram to the position of Kotwal, while the second acttescribes his fall from that high position. Using the devices of folk theatre, the play proceeds like a folk play, but it does not have the structure of a folk play as it does not have three or five acts with the traditional dramatic action spread over the space. This play, after running a full vicious circle of action and events, comes back to the same position that it stars with. At the centre of this circle stands power around which moves the story of an individual 'Ghashiram', the places of amusement, the heavy rituals, the systems of investigation and questioning, death, wanton killing and a 'sanctioned' venting of 'mob fury'.
The fusion of the folk idiom with the modern language of the theatre makes the play immensely powerful in putting across the thematic complex. Ghashiram Savaldas, a Kannoj Brahman, arrives in the city of Poona with his beautiful daughter Lalita Gauri, in the hope of earning his living. One day he reaches a place where the royal favours are being bestowed on the Brahmans of Poona. He pleases Nana by supporting his sprained foot on his back and then holding it in his hands. Being pleased with him, Nana throws his necklace to him as reward for his services, which Ghashiram catches deftly.Ghashiram begins to go with the reward, when Gulabi, the courtesan comes out and blocks his way. Binding the end of her sari around her waist, she demands the necklace. But he refuses to give the necklace saying that it was given to him by Nana as a reward. Gulabi argues that she hired him as a dancer and that was why he could get a glimpse of Nana, and so the necklace belongs to her. At her gesture, two or three thugs snatch the necklace from Ghashiram, beat him and throw him to the front of the stage. Then there come the soldiers who take Ghashiram to be a thief and a scoundrel. A Poona Brahman alleges that his pocket has been picked by Ghashiram. The soldiers, holding him responsible for the pick-pocketing catch him, insult him and throw him down. He protests, pleads for mercy, cries out to be taken to Nana but for all this he gets kicking and filthy abuses, and is thrown out of the city. He now takes a vow to take his revenge: "You have made me an animal; I'll be a devil inside. I'll come back like a boar and I'll stay as a devil. I'll make pigs of all of you. I'll make this Poona a kingdom of pigs. Then l'll be Ghashiram again, the son of Savaldas once more." And Ghashiram gets his chance as luck favours him. He realises that Nana is very fond of young girls and that Nana has fallen for his daughter Lalita Gauri. He strikes a bargain with Nana: he offers Gauri to Nana and in exchange gets the Kotwalship of the city of Poona. Thus, Ghashiram gets what he has been yearning and hungering for - the power with which he will be able to have his revenge upon the city of Poona where he was humiliated, dragged, beaten and from where he was thrown out. After becoming the Police Chief of Poona and getting the power to rule over the citizens of the city, Ghashiram unleashes a reign of terror over them. He introduces permit system in the city, with result that nobody is allowed to cremate his dead relative in the cremation ground without getting the permit from the officers of Ghashiram, the Police Chief of the city. With the play plunging into the second act, the Sutradhar proclaims to the people the arrival of Ghashiram to the city of Poona as its Kotwal and also informs of Nana's bewitchment with the charming Gauri. So much so that Nana has gone blind to his duties of administration and Ghashiram's reign has begun. Ghashiram as a Kotwal means business and has passed an order that his rulings should be taken in letter and spirit and t land would be severely punished. The citizens become aware that a permit raj has descended on the city of Poona, and nobody can indulge in any activity or business without a permit. Henceforth, permit will be required for cremation, for inter-dining, for killing a pig, for an abortion, for stealing, for remarrying, for hiding one's caste, for even committing suicide, and so on. Taking up his job very seriously, Ghashiram begins to go on rounds of the city at night randomly checking people and subsequently whipping or arresting them if they are found doing something wrong. As a result, the number of prisoners in the State's prison begins to swell. These is so much terror of the Kotwal that people stop venturing out at night, Brahmans cannot sell, the prostitute houses are deserted, pimps turn into beggars, and, as the Sutradhar sumps up the situation, 'all of Poona loses heart'. Nana is still bewitched by Lalita Gauri's charm and so Ghashiram is still the sole ruler of Poona and the city still bleeds under the terror of Ghashiram. One night even the Sutradhar is caught and whipped for not having a permit. The days pass by like this and a time arrives when the Poona gentry meet and gather in a special garden for royal favours. Ghashiram is there pulling and chiding to maintain discipline and keep the line straight. All of a sudden, one of the Brahmans cries out that his pocket has been picked and his money is gone. The Brahman standing next to him panics and runs. Looking for an opportunity like this, Ghashiram grabs him and rebukes him calling him a misbegotten bastard who was born a Brahman but indulged in stealing. All the entreaties and mercy appeals of the Brahman have no effect on Ghashiram who is bent on teaching him a lesson. A heated red-hot steel ball is placed on his hands and the Brahman yells in pain and shouts that he is not the culprit. Ghashiram smiles and the says that the ball will not harm him if he is not guilty. The ball is once again brought to his hands to make him confess. The Brahman curses Ghashiram of a fate worse than this. This incident makes the city of Poona tremble at Ghashiram's name. Ghashiram is seen smoothing his moustache and boasting that the hard and proud Brahmans of Poona have been made as soft as cotton by him. Ghashiram now muses that to find a suitable bridegroom for his daughter Lalita Gauri will not be difficult for him, as he has got the money and the reputation and the power. But Ghashiram's musing turns out to be ironical as just now Nana is preparing for the seventh marriage as Gauri is dead. Ghashiram has got the power by staking the chastity and reputation of his daughter. Nana, by granting the power to Ghashiram, has not only produced the charming daughter Gauri but has also exercised check on the Brahmans conspiring against him. Nana is far-sighted enough to see that the slighted and humiliated outsider Brahman of Kannauj will be effective in controlling the Poona Brahmans and so he gives power to Ghashiram. By adopting this strategy, Nana has killed two birds with one stone: he has checked the Poona Brahmans and all his bad deeds have gone to the credit of Ghashiram and not to Nana. On the other hand, Ghashiram gets all the power but loses hold on the life of his daughter. Now that he has got hold of power and wealth, he thinks of finding a good bridegroom for his daugher. But he comes to know that his daughter with Nana is dead due to abortion. He becomes beside himself with rage and chokes to death the mid-wife Chandra at whose hands his daughter is dead. Then he marches into the palace of Nana with a sword and demands action against the killer of his daughter. Here again he becomes a prey to Nana's strategic cunningness and is pacified by Nana by quoting scriptures and citing verses from the Bhagwad Gita on the nature of death. In order to regain his trust, Nana gives Ghashiram the power to behead anyone who indulges in gossip about Gauri. Saddened deeply at the death of his daughter and armed with the new weapon of beheading. Ghashiram literally spills blood in the streets of Poona. The People of Poona dare not oppose his brutalities for fear of being victimised. He does not pay any heed to the mounting resentment in the people and thus once again plays into the hands of Nana. One day a Maratha sardar give him the death-blow when Ghsahiram imprisons some Brahmans on charges of pilferage and one of them dies of suffocation in the narrow cell. The matter is reported to Nana by the Maratha sardar who also manages to collect a good crowd to throng to the palace demanding Ghashiram's head. Nana is confused but he soon collects his wits to realise that the mob vill not spare him too. He pacifies the mob by signing the death warrant of Ghashiram. The agitated mob goes and gets Ghashiram and starts throwing stones at him, Ghashiram now realises his mistake of allowing his daughter to live with Nana. He is filled with remorse and exhorts the crowd to hit him hard with stones to punish him for the wrong he 'has done to his daughter. Thus, comes the tragic end of Ghashiram who is here not tragic hero but not the villain too.
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