LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 18:7 July 2018
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
         Dr. S. Chelliah, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

Language in India www.languageinindia.com is included in the UGC Approved List of Journals. Serial Number 49042.

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2016
M. S. Thirumalai

Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
11249 Oregon Circle
Bloomington, MN 55438
USA
Custom Search

From Periphery to Center: The theme of the Marginalized in Seven
Steps Around the Fire by Mahesh Dattani

Dr. Rahulkumar Bhogilal Panchal, M.A., M. Phil., B.Ed., Ph.D.


Abstract

In our country, the term hijras (transgender) has no respectable identity in public. They are on the margins of the society and not given much importance. They have no protection, no acceptance and no security from the prejudices of the people of the Society. They are discriminated all over the world and the term for them is ‘It’. They are accepted in society on two occasions, invited to Child birth and Marriage to sing and dance. The discrimination against them is often turning into violence. In society, male and female - these are the only two categories which are approved by society, so there is no space for hijras. Those who do not fit into the two classes, have to suffer from social exclusion, contempt and isolation from society. The community of Hijras is socially, legally and politically marginalized and victimized in society. They are on the periphery of society and trying to come in to the center. They are not permitted to carve their own way beyond the patterns recommended and accepted by society. Mahesh Dattani gives a chance to the hijras community to articulate their feelings and predicaments in the English theatre, through his play Seven Steps Around the Fire. Mahesh Dattani presents the harsh reality and the status of the hijras community, presenting how they are placed on the margins of society. The whole play revolves around the mystery of the murder of a hijra named Kamla, who secretly married a minister’s son. The role of the police, politicians and the society, is questioned.

Keywords: Periphery of society, Hijras (transgenders), The Marginalized, Seven Steps around the Fire, Mahesh Dattani

The Plight of The Hijras in Indian Society

Mahesh Dattani, a well-known personality and a Sahitya Academy Award winner, needs no introduction in Indian English Drama. In his play Seven Steps Around the Fire he has highlighted the plight of the hijras in Indian society. In our society, there are only two sexes recognized, male and female. The hijras are the neglected gender. It is an irony of life that the hijras who are welcome on two occasions – once, at the time of marriage and second, at the time of childbirth – to sing and dance, are themselves deprived of marriage and childbirth. Maybe homosexuality is one way for them to live. We have to accept the reality of life, however, painful that might be. People give them money, otherwise people are afraid they might put a curse on them. They are considered as the ‘chosen of God’ and the curse by them cannot be revoked. The author has ironically portrayed this aspect that would not have otherwise received any attention, for any matter related to the hijras is of no importance to anyone. For many Indians – both upper and middle class – hijras exist at the periphery of their concern, making themselves visible only on certain occasions. Dattani is probably the first playwright who has written a full-length play about them. For the very first time they get a depiction in the theatre as human beings with their individuality, craving for a space in the society.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.


Rahulkumar Bhogilal Panchal, M.A., M. Phil., B.Ed., Ph.D.
rahulpanchal86@gmail.com

Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.