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घासीराम कोतवाल [Ghasiram Kotwal]
इस नाटक में घासीराम और नाना फड़नवीस का व्यक्ति-संघर्ष प्रमुख है लेकिन तेन्दुलकर ने इस संघर्ष के साथ अपनी विशिष्ट शैली में तत्कालीन सामाजिक एवं राजनैतिक स्थिति का मार्मिक चित्राण भी किया है। सत्ताधारी वर्ग और जनसाधारण की सम्पूर्ण स्थिति पर समय और स्थान के अन्तर से कोई वास्तविक अन्तर नहीं पड़ता। घासीराम हर काल और समाज में होते हैं और हर उस काल और समाज में उसे वैसा बनानेवाले और मौका देखकर उसकी हत्या करनेवाले नाना फड़नवीस भी होते हैंµयह बात तेन्दुलकर ने अपने ढंग से प्रतिपादित की है। घासीराम एक प्रकार से एक प्रसंग मात्रा है जिसे तेन्दुलकर ने अपने वक्तव्य की अभिव्यक्ति का एक निमित्त, एक साधन बनाया है। नाटक में नाटककार का उद्देश्य नाना फड़नवीस और तत्कालीन पतनोन्मुख समाज के चित्राण द्वारा शाश्वत सच्चाइयों को उजागर करना है और उसमें वह पूरी तरह सफल हुआ है। यह नाटक एक विशिष्ट समाज-स्थिति की ओर संकेत करता है जो न पुरानी है और न नई। न वह किसी भौगोलिक सीमा-रेखा में बँधी है, न समय से ही। वह स्थान-कालातीत है, इसलिए ‘घासीराम’ और ‘नाना फड़नवीस’ भी स्थान-कालातीत हैं। समाज की स्थितियाँ उन्हें जन्म देती हैं, और वही उनका अंत भी करती हैं। राजिन्दरनाथ, बृजमोहन शाह, ब.व. कारंत, अलोपी वर्मा, अरविन्द गौड़ तथा कमल वशिष्ठ आदि विभिन्न ख्यातनामा निर्देशक इसके अनेक सफल मंचन कर चुके हैं।
98 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
39 people are currently reading
457 people want to read
About the author
Vijay Tendulkar
98 books68 followersVijay Tendulkar (Marathi: विजय तेंडुलकर) (7 January 1928 – 19 May 2008) was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marāthi. He is best known for his plays, Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe (1967), Ghāshirām Kotwāl (1972), and Sakhārām Binder (1972).Many of Tendulkar’s plays derived inspiration from real-life incidents or social upheavals, which provides clear light on harsh realities. He provided his guidance to students studying “Playwright writing” in US universities. For over five decades, Tendulkar had been a highly influential dramatist and theater personality in Mahārāshtra.
Early life
Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar was born on 7 January 1928 in a Bhalavalikar Saraswat brahmin family in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, where his father held a clerical job and ran a small publishing business. The literary environment at home prompted young Vijay to take up writing. He wrote his first story at age six.
He grew up watching western plays, and felt inspired to write plays himself. At age eleven, he wrote, directed, and acted in his first play.
At age 14, he participated in the 1942 Indian freedom movement , leaving his studies. The latter alienated him from his family and friends. Writing then became his outlet, though most of his early writings were of a personal nature, and not intended for publication.
Early career
Tendulkar began his career writing for newspapers. He had already written a play, “Āmchyāvar Kon Prem Karnār” (Who will Love us?), and he wrote the play, “Gruhastha” (The Householder), in his early 20s. The latter did not receive much recognition from the audience, and he vowed never to write again . Breaking the vow, in 1956 he wrote “‘Shrimant”, which established him as a good writer. “Shrimant” jolted the conservative audience of the times with its radical storyline, wherein an unmarried young woman decides to keep her unborn child while her rich father tries to “buy” her a husband in an attempt to save his social prestige.
Tendulkar’s early struggle for survival and living for some time in tenements (“chāwls”) in Mumbai provided him first-hand experience about the life of urban lower middle class. He thus brought new authenticity to their depiction in Marathi theater. Tendulkar’s writings rapidly changed the storyline of modern Marathi theater in the 1950s and the 60s, with experimental presentations by theater groups like “Rangāyan”. Actors in these theater groups like Shreerām Lāgoo, Mohan Agāshe, and Sulabhā Deshpānde brought new authenticity and power to Tendulkar’s stories while introducing new sensibilities in Marathi theater.
Tendulkar wrote the play, “Gidhāde” (The Vultures) in 1961, but it was not produced until 1970. The play was set in a morally collapsed family structure and explored the theme of violence. In his following creations, Tendulkar explored violence in its various forms: domestic, sexual, communal, and political. Thus, “Gidhāde” proved to be a turning point in Tendulkar’s writings with regard to establishment of his own unique writing style.
Based on a 1956 short story, “Die Panne” (“Traps”) by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Tendulkar wrote the play, “Shāntatā! Court Chālu Aahe” (“Silence! The Court Is In Session”). It was presented on the stage for the first time in 1967, and proved as one of his finest works. Satyadev Dubey presented it in movie form in 1971 with Tendulkar’s collaboration as the screenplay writer.
1970s and ’80s
In his 1972 play, Sakhārām Binder (Sakhārām, the Binder), Tendulkar dealt with the topic of domination of the male gender over the female gender. The main character, Sakhārām, is a man devoid of ethics and morality, and professes not to believe in “outdated” social codes and conventional marriage. He accordingly uses the society for his own pleasure. He regularly gives “shelter” to abandoned wives, and uses them f
Early life
Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar was born on 7 January 1928 in a Bhalavalikar Saraswat brahmin family in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, where his father held a clerical job and ran a small publishing business. The literary environment at home prompted young Vijay to take up writing. He wrote his first story at age six.
He grew up watching western plays, and felt inspired to write plays himself. At age eleven, he wrote, directed, and acted in his first play.
At age 14, he participated in the 1942 Indian freedom movement , leaving his studies. The latter alienated him from his family and friends. Writing then became his outlet, though most of his early writings were of a personal nature, and not intended for publication.
Early career
Tendulkar began his career writing for newspapers. He had already written a play, “Āmchyāvar Kon Prem Karnār” (Who will Love us?), and he wrote the play, “Gruhastha” (The Householder), in his early 20s. The latter did not receive much recognition from the audience, and he vowed never to write again . Breaking the vow, in 1956 he wrote “‘Shrimant”, which established him as a good writer. “Shrimant” jolted the conservative audience of the times with its radical storyline, wherein an unmarried young woman decides to keep her unborn child while her rich father tries to “buy” her a husband in an attempt to save his social prestige.
Tendulkar’s early struggle for survival and living for some time in tenements (“chāwls”) in Mumbai provided him first-hand experience about the life of urban lower middle class. He thus brought new authenticity to their depiction in Marathi theater. Tendulkar’s writings rapidly changed the storyline of modern Marathi theater in the 1950s and the 60s, with experimental presentations by theater groups like “Rangāyan”. Actors in these theater groups like Shreerām Lāgoo, Mohan Agāshe, and Sulabhā Deshpānde brought new authenticity and power to Tendulkar’s stories while introducing new sensibilities in Marathi theater.
Tendulkar wrote the play, “Gidhāde” (The Vultures) in 1961, but it was not produced until 1970. The play was set in a morally collapsed family structure and explored the theme of violence. In his following creations, Tendulkar explored violence in its various forms: domestic, sexual, communal, and political. Thus, “Gidhāde” proved to be a turning point in Tendulkar’s writings with regard to establishment of his own unique writing style.
Based on a 1956 short story, “Die Panne” (“Traps”) by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Tendulkar wrote the play, “Shāntatā! Court Chālu Aahe” (“Silence! The Court Is In Session”). It was presented on the stage for the first time in 1967, and proved as one of his finest works. Satyadev Dubey presented it in movie form in 1971 with Tendulkar’s collaboration as the screenplay writer.
1970s and ’80s
In his 1972 play, Sakhārām Binder (Sakhārām, the Binder), Tendulkar dealt with the topic of domination of the male gender over the female gender. The main character, Sakhārām, is a man devoid of ethics and morality, and professes not to believe in “outdated” social codes and conventional marriage. He accordingly uses the society for his own pleasure. He regularly gives “shelter” to abandoned wives, and uses them f
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 7, 2019
There are a few texts for which one passes the rest of their days in grief; this grief is not as much for its content as it's for its widespread reach. I wish more people could read it and live their harsh lives in it. Vijay Tendulkar's theatrics has won me a thousand times over.
Ghasiram Kotwal is about a lot of things and I am still clueless as to how to do justice to a play which contains so much in such numbered pages. No matter what period we are in, it will always be contemporary. The abuse of power, the division in society, the treatment of women, a relay of a disturbed simultaneous existence between state and individual - Ghasiram Kotwal, in less than hundred pages, deals with all these and more. Within the framework of tamasha, the play weaves a tale of corruption and power with memorable characters. The attention to minute details is unforgettable and the connection between the begining and end, porous.
Ghasiram Kotwal is about a lot of things and I am still clueless as to how to do justice to a play which contains so much in such numbered pages. No matter what period we are in, it will always be contemporary. The abuse of power, the division in society, the treatment of women, a relay of a disturbed simultaneous existence between state and individual - Ghasiram Kotwal, in less than hundred pages, deals with all these and more. Within the framework of tamasha, the play weaves a tale of corruption and power with memorable characters. The attention to minute details is unforgettable and the connection between the begining and end, porous.
September 24, 2017
One of the finest satire in Marathi Literature, the ploy is staged in Poona when the Brahmins ruled the society. Tendulkar has used a well know story involving historical figures to comment on the creation of monsters for temporary gain, leading to inequity, brutality, and ultimate destruction. Using Nana and Ghashiram, Tendulkar weaves a political allegory, and critiques the current political scenario. Folk art is the very soul of this play. It belongs to the Sangeet Natak genre of Marathi folk theatre. Ingredients borrowed from folk theatre include the Tamasha, Lavani (love ballads), Abhanga and Kirtan (devotional songs).
November 14, 2016
(Very witty satire). Again this play will definitely make you think about the actual notion of the term "poetic justice". The very intense look of Nana can be taken as an instrument of torment and on the other hand, the innocent demeanor of Gauri plays a crucial role in the drama and Ghasiram is oscillating between the two. An interesting read!
July 17, 2024
So, I read this drama because we're acting it in our workshop and it was definitely an intriguing one, dealing with very real themes of power politics and the changing dynamics between people that come from a change in their situations. The story, itself, is very straightforward but it does make one think about the world around them and perceive it through an, at least somewhat, altered lens.
I would say though that while it's a very good drama and brings forth very real world topics of discussion, reading it does not do justice to it (which, I suppose, is the case for any drama, really) and it would definitely be interesting to watch it in a theatre.
I would say though that while it's a very good drama and brings forth very real world topics of discussion, reading it does not do justice to it (which, I suppose, is the case for any drama, really) and it would definitely be interesting to watch it in a theatre.
December 29, 2025
Witty, ironic and tragic satire. Will get you enraged and thinking about the society.
February 6, 2017
Theatre drama dated to Peshwa days. Power games between a disgruntled Brahmin & Nana Phadnavis, where the former pimps his own daughter to gain power and ultimately falls a prey to his own greed.
Bandopadhyay says in his foreword - Tin Gods often crumble. In their short career they vitiate the politics to an extent where political focus veers around personalities - a dangerous trend for any polity that claims to be a democracy.
How true that rings till date!
That's what defines the timelessness of Tendulkar's work, that it remains relevant & relatable.
Bandopadhyay says in his foreword - Tin Gods often crumble. In their short career they vitiate the politics to an extent where political focus veers around personalities - a dangerous trend for any polity that claims to be a democracy.
How true that rings till date!
That's what defines the timelessness of Tendulkar's work, that it remains relevant & relatable.
September 5, 2018
An extra star for not using props and being culturally rich. 'Ghashiram Kotwal' provides a controversial, yet, a different perspective on the life of Nana Phadnavis and the court of the Peshwas. Reading from a feministic perspective, the play serves authenticity portraying women and their life during that period within the historical context. It is unique as it includes folk culture and political witty satire.
August 24, 2016
This was the first play I've ever read and studied--which in retrospect seems very unfair for any other play to live up t0--and it's still as magical and lyrical as it was nine years ago. I remain in awe of how much Tendulkar's sutradhar is able to convey in so little.
November 16, 2017
This play is one of the most landmark and controversial plays in India. I was happy to get a chance to read for it examines how corruption permeates all layers of civic society and how quickly power corrupts.
March 27, 2020
विजय तेंडुलकर जी के नाटक अपनी सामाजिकता के लिए बहुत जाने जाते हैं और उसी का बहुत अच्छा उदाहरण घासीराम कोतवाल में दिखता है। कैसे पुणे का ब्राह्मण समाज एक परदेसी ब्राहमण को पहले तो पदवी देता है और फिर उसे खत्म कर डालता है वो इसमे बहुत अच्छे से दिखाया गया है।
February 3, 2015
A witty satire that highlights the oppression of the ruling class. Lyrical, humourous. Highly recommended.
January 20, 2020
Ghashiram Kotwal and Nana Phadnavis both characters are real. GK's suspicious appt, his behaviour, the wrongful death of the South Indian Brahmins also real. But the depiction of NP is wrong. One could say that his appointee above the kotwal erred. But NP, original descendant of Satara, ignored Pune and was involved in the larger politics. He was based in Kanpur and was adopted by the last Bajirao. He held the Peshwai together. He was loyal, remained the favoured minister, administered the large Empire, he wasn't seditious, he along with a band of loyalists kept the Empire together. Also he, Manikarnika newalkar, Tatya tope, etc were part of the first freedom uprising, joining the sepoy revolt of 1857. Ofcourse, the entire country had not then been awakened to this consciousness, the EIC won small battles to rule for 100 yrs more.
Having said this, the reality of uncaring, inhuman main authority remains true even today. The encouragement of sychophant, wrong ruling due wrong decision-makers. All of this is true in small formats in companies and in large formats in countries.
The talk by the music director between acts is right on many counts, where he pointed out the similarities by UK and USA , and their installation of puppets
Having said this, the reality of uncaring, inhuman main authority remains true even today. The encouragement of sychophant, wrong ruling due wrong decision-makers. All of this is true in small formats in companies and in large formats in countries.
The talk by the music director between acts is right on many counts, where he pointed out the similarities by UK and USA , and their installation of puppets
September 11, 2020
Marathi literature is a class of its own.
Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar was a Marathi playwright, political journalist and social commentator. He weaved this violent Tamasha (a Marathi folk theatre form), that is Ghasiram Kotwal. The form satirizes the contemporary society often at the expense of politicians and businessmen, priest and prophets, under the guise of historical or mythological stories. A distance is achieved through the historical frame of the story - dealing in socio-pol issues but transplanting them all to a historical distance in order to achieve a defamiliarizing effect- similar to Brechtian epic theatre.
Nineteen performances after the first in 1972, the play got banned on the grounds that it was anti-brahman and portrayed an inaccurate picture of Nana Phadnavis.
Tendulkar claimed, it is not a historical play, it is a story, in prose, verse, music and dance set in a historical era.
On being asked whether the play sought to expose Brahman corruptions and pretensions, he replied "The decadence of the class in power (the Brahmans, incidentally, during the period which I had to depict) also was incidental, though not accidental."
A homegrown badass.
Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar was a Marathi playwright, political journalist and social commentator. He weaved this violent Tamasha (a Marathi folk theatre form), that is Ghasiram Kotwal. The form satirizes the contemporary society often at the expense of politicians and businessmen, priest and prophets, under the guise of historical or mythological stories. A distance is achieved through the historical frame of the story - dealing in socio-pol issues but transplanting them all to a historical distance in order to achieve a defamiliarizing effect- similar to Brechtian epic theatre.
Nineteen performances after the first in 1972, the play got banned on the grounds that it was anti-brahman and portrayed an inaccurate picture of Nana Phadnavis.
Tendulkar claimed, it is not a historical play, it is a story, in prose, verse, music and dance set in a historical era.
On being asked whether the play sought to expose Brahman corruptions and pretensions, he replied "The decadence of the class in power (the Brahmans, incidentally, during the period which I had to depict) also was incidental, though not accidental."
A homegrown badass.
February 19, 2022
The use of music and especially the chorus in this play is really awesome. The chorus is used in multiple ways. At times it becomes a curtain behind which characters can hide, at another time it becomes a street full of houses etc. The story is also a great political allegory. How a demon is created by the powerful to serve their purpose and when the demon starts getting bigger than those who gave it power then it is discarded.
August 26, 2019
This is one of the best Political and Social satires ever , on level with some of the others like Animal Farm and 1984. The nexus between religion, money and the power it exudes is brilliantly depicted by the playwright. This is an iconic Indian play and a terrific read.
July 23, 2023
I loved how contextual and lyrical this text was. The commentary of class discrimination and the lust for power was thoughtful.
July 29, 2022
Every police person must read this book or watch this drama.
How the political leadership use and throw police and police officer, is deeply depicted in this drama.
How the political leadership use and throw police and police officer, is deeply depicted in this drama.
August 1, 2020
Ghasiram Kotwal (Hindi Edition by Vijay Tendulkar- The play is a political satire, written as historical drama. It is based on the life of Nana Phadnavis (1741–1800), one of the prominent ministers in the court of the Peshwa of Pune and Ghashiram Kotwal, the police chief of the city. Its theme is how men in power give rise to ideologies to serve their purposes, and later destroy them when they become useless. The play begins with an invocation to lord Ganesha. Then the Brahmins of Pune introduce themselves and we can see the morally corrupt state of affairs in Pune. Nana Phadnavis who is the Diwan (Chief Secretary) of Pune is also corrupt and visits the lavani dancer. Ghashiram is working with the lavani dancer. Ghashiram being a Brahmin goes to collect alms at the Peshwa's festival the next day. However he is ill-treated there and is charged with pick-pocketing and imprisoned for the offence. He then decides to take revenge. So the play continues on to reach the next part of this play. Ghashiram barters his own daughter to get the post of Kotwal (police chief) of Pune from Nana. Having got the post he begins to enforce strict rules in the city. He starts asking for permits for everything and starts throwing people in jail for the smallest offences. In the meantime, Ghashiram's daughter becomes pregnant by Nana, and dies during childbirth. The situation goes out of hand when a few brahmins visitors to the city are put in the jail, and die from suffocation due inadequate ventilation in their custody. The Brahmin of Pune then complain to the Peshwa. The Peshwa summons Nana who orders Ghashiram to be killed in the most inhumane way possible.The play is notable for the use of the "Tamasha" form in Marathi folk theatre. Singing and dancing are used here to good effect. "Abhangas" (devotional songs) are mixed with "Lavnis" (love songs). Plays are to witnessed to visualise their effect. I have viewed the drama version. it is a class leading play. It is a goodread drama for all.
November 12, 2023
The quintessential Indian play. Using a historical context, Tendulkar adeptly presents a compelling commentary on socio-political and cultural issues. Blurring the lines between fiction and reality, he skillfully juggles between themes of class, violence, power and rebellion. The characters in the play are larger than life and serve as noteworthy symbols mirroring the real.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews