Gender, Power, and Patriarchy in Modern Indian Drama: The Representation of Women in Vijay Tendulkar’s Silence! The Court Is in Session and Ghashiram Kotwal

लेखक

  • Mr. Amol Jadhav Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University image/svg+xml Author
    • Writing – Original Draft Preparation
  • Dr. Santosh Wankhede Swami Vivekanand Senior College Mantha Dist. Jalna Author
    • Writing – Original Draft Preparation

संकेत शब्द:

Vijay Tendulkar, Patriarchy, Feminist Literary Criticism, Gender and Power, Leel Benare, Gauri, Caste, Political Authority, Modern Indian Drama

सार

This paper compares the representation of women and patriarchal power in Vijay Tendulkar’s Silence! The Court Is in Session and Ghashiram Kotwal. Through Leela Benare and Gauri, it examines two related but different forms of gendered control. Benare’s private life is turned into a public trial by people who claim to defend morality, while Gauri becomes vulnerable within an exchange shaped by her father’s political ambition and Nana Phadnavis’s authority. The paper uses feminist literary criticism, particularly the analysis of sexual politics and institutional forms of patriarchy, alongside comparative close reading. It considers dialogue, dramatic structure, the distribution of speech, the role of the chorus, and the relationship between private conduct and public authority. The discussion argues that the plays expose patriarchy not only as individual male dominance but also as a system supported by social judgement, family interests, caste hierarchy, and political patronage. Existing scholarship has discussed gender and morality in Silence! and caste, marginality, and power in Ghashiram Kotwal. This paper builds on that work by comparing how public moral policing and political exchange place women’s dignity and agency at risk. The comparison does not treat Benare and Gauri as identical figures; instead, it examines how their different dramatic positions shape their opportunities to speak and resist.

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Author Biographies

  • Mr. Amol Jadhav, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University

    Research Scholar

  • Dr. Santosh Wankhede, Swami Vivekanand Senior College Mantha Dist. Jalna

    Research Guide

References

1. Kumar, Suresh. “Voicing the Suppressed Female Voices in a Male-Chauvinistic Society: A Study of Vijay Tendulkar’s Silence! The Court Is in Session.” Smart Moves Journal IJELLH, vol. 9, no. 7, 2021, pp. 119-29. https://doi.org/10.24113/ijellh.v9i7.11129

2. Millett, Kate. Sexual Politics. University of Illinois Press, 2000.

3. Sam, V. Immanuel. “Chastity and Emancipation: A Reading on Vijay Tendulkar’s Silence! The Court Is in Session through the Lens of E. V. Periyar’s Why Were Women Enslaved?” ILN Journal: Indian Literary Narratives, vol. 1, no. 2, 2024, pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.70396/ilnjournal.v1n2.a.01.

4. Singh, Lata. “Making of ‘Modern’ Theatre and Actresses’ Question: Negotiation and Contestation.” Indian Historical Review, vol. 35, no. 2, 2008, pp. 3-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/037698360803500202

5. Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, edited by Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg, University of Illinois Press, 1988, pp. 271-313.

6. Tendulkar, Vijay. Ghashiram Kotwal. Translated by Jayant Karve and Eleanor Zelliot, Seagull Books, 2002.

7. Silence! The Court Is in Session. Translated by Priya Adarkar, Oxford University Press, 2017.

8. Walby, Sylvia. Theorizing Patriarchy. Basil Blackwell, 1990.

9. Yadav, Poonamlata. “Gender, Caste and Marginalization in Vijay Tendulkar’s Ghashiram Kotwal.” Journal of Educational Research and Policies, vol. 6, no. 12, 2024, pp. 5-6. https://doi.org/10.53469/jerp.2024.06(12).02

10. Yadav, Hitesh, and Mercy George. “A Feminist Critique of Vijay Tendulkar’s Silence! The Court Is in Session.” RESEARCH HUB International Multidisciplinary Research Journal, vol. 12, no. 12, 2025, pp. 14-18. https://doi.org/10.53573/rhimrj.2025.v12n12.002

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प्रकाशित

2026-10-30

अंक

खंड 2 No. 05 (2026): September- October 2026

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Copyright (c) 2026 Mr. Amol Jadhav, Dr. Santosh Wankhede (Author)

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Gender, Power, and Patriarchy in Modern Indian Drama: The Representation of Women in Vijay Tendulkar’s Silence! The Court Is in Session and Ghashiram Kotwal . (2026). Aethel Research Digest Juncture: An International Journal, 2(05), 17-27. https://ardjij.com/index.php/ardjij/article/view/60