Caste system in India is an age-old system. Many writers before Vijay Tendulkar’s Kanyadan have written about caste-system. One of the famous writers is Mulk Raj Anand ,who is known as a writer of downtrodden and under-privileged people. His Untouchable, published in 1935, portrays the life of a young Indian sweeper, Bakha. U.R Ananth Murthy’s Sankara: A Rite for a Dead Man (1965) was translated by A.K Ramanujan. The book was written in Kannada.It is the study of the progressive dissolution of a respected Brahmin challenged in his orthodoxy. The World of Premchand (translated by David Rubin) was published in 1969.The story presents the thoughts and tragic exploitation of Dukhi, an untouchable by a Brahmin. Another book by Urmila Pawar, The Weave of my Life: A Dalit Woman’s Memoir was published in 1988 in Marathi. The writer writes about the experiences of dalit women in this book.

This shows that there were many writers who had already written about this social ill. Vijay Tendulkar’s Kanyadan is unique in the sense that it not only talks about the exploitation of the dalits but also shows how a victim of exploitation, himself becomes an exploiter when he gets an opportunity.

Despite of strict laws untouchability persists in our society. Not only in rural areas but even in urban areas the attitude towards Dalits is not always positive. The educated people pretend that they are modern and do not follow caste system but when their children want to marry a dalit, theyrefuse. There is hypocrisy in our society regarding caste-system.

Vijay Tendulkar (1928-2008) was among the handful of playwrights along with Girish Karnard, Habib Tanwar and Badal Sircar, who gave a new dimension to Indian theatre. He wrote about the contemporary issues of our society. Through the play Kanyadan, Vijay Tendulkar exposes the hypocrisy of the modern people. Kanyadan was originally published in 1996.Vijay Tendulkar was awarded the Saraswati Samman for this play. This play was critically acclaimed in the world of literature. In this play we find the protagonist Nath Devalikar is a M.L.A and his wife Seva, is a social worker, who works for the upliftment for the women and the downtrodden class. In the opening Act we see that Nath and Seva are busy in their political and social work. They do not have time to spend together. They have two children Jyoti and Jai Prakash. Jyoti is impressed by the poetry of a dalit boy, Arun Athawale and wants to marry him. When she discloses her wish in front of her parents, Seva is shocked while Nath rejoices. Nath is a man who lives in a world of idealism. He wants to eradicate the caste-system and has no objection of his daughter marrying a dalit. He thinks that this is the sole way of abolishing untouchability. He looks this marriage as an experiment. Seva is a realistic woman and understands the difference of the culture between Arun and Jyoti. She says to Jyoti:

But your life is patterned in a specific culture. To erase or to

change all this overnight is just not possible. He is different in

every way. You may not be able to handle it.[1]

Seva works for Dalits, and she knows very well the environment in which they live. Domestic violence and abusing is a part of their life because they are brought up in such atmosphere. They do not get an opportunity to get education. Lack of education has made them uncivilized. Arun is doing B.A but his background is of a scavenger family where violence and abusing each other is normal. When Arun comes to Jyoti’s house, isscared. He asks Jyoti to sit with him as he was feeling lonely in that big house. Arun is a real man who knows that it will be difficult for Jyoti to live with him aftermarriage. He tells her about the reality of his forefathers. Hesays:

Our tongues always tasting the flesh of dead animals, and with relish!

Surely, we can’t fit into your unwrinkled Tinopal world. How can there

be any give and take between our ways and your fragrant, ghee spread,

wheat bread culture?[2]

He warns Jyoti before marriage. Arun feels himself a misfit in the high caste people. He knows that high-caste people look down scavenger caste in which Arun is born. He knows Jyoti will get fed up with her life with Arun because of their cultural differences.

Jyoti’s parents and brother have different opinion about Arun. Nath is happy to meet Arun and agrees for the marriage. But Seva and Jai Prakash object the proposal. Arun has misbehaved with Jyoti and Seva.JaiPrakash and Seva realises that Arun is a frustrated man and Jyoti will not be happy with him. Arun is not only violent but arrogant also. He hates upper-caste, and it seems that Jyoti is a kind of trophy for her. When Seva complains against Arun, Nath says that Arun is born amid poverty and hatred, and it will take time to change Arun. He further adds that we should not judge Arun on this basis and should try to understand him though it is difficult. Seva is reluctant to marry her daughter to Arun. But Nath insists and supports the alliance saying that this marriage is an experiment.

 Look Seva, society cannot be transformed through words alone.

We have to act as catalysts in this transformation. The old social

reformers…Many of them actually married widows. That was also

an experiment, a difficult experiment. But hey dared to risk it.[3]

This shows that Nath wants to risk the life of his daughter just to experiment. He encourages Jyoti to marry Arun despite of knowing about his violent nature.

In Act Two of the play, we find Jyoti is married. She is looking very weak and has become silent. There are also marks on her body that depicts the violence of Arun on her body. Jyotiis a working woman while Arun remains idle, He is not able to purchase one room set for them. Therefore, Jyoti lives with her parents. Nath proposes that Arun being Jyoti’s husband should move with them but Seva objects. She does not want a man like Arun to stay with them. She knows his harsh behaviour towards her daughter. Jyoti also tells her father that she has left Arun. Onhearing this Nath feels his dreams to be shattered. When Jyoti forgives Arun and leaves her parents’house, Nath feels proud of his daughter.

Nath understands that his calculations about Arun has failed but he does not accept it. In scene Two of Act Two we find Nath reading the autobiography of Arun. He appreciates the style and language of the book. While Nath was appreciating the book Seva informs him that Jyoti has been admitted to hospital due to excessive bleeding. Jyoti is pregnant and she is in her sixth month. Nath asks the cause and Seva tells the reason is, Arun’sbeating. Arun kicked pregnant Jyoti on her belly. Nath is shocked to listen. He is not able to believe that a man who has beautifully written the story of is humiliation can torture his own pregnant wife. Seva gets irritated and states there is no use of wasting time but there is a time to take decisions. She is angry with her husband and speaks against Dalits. She says:

By now it is clear that this man doesn’t want to work,

he wants to remain a burden on Jyoti. It is also obvious that

he will never feel grateful for her support. If you ask me,

I have my doubts as to whether these dalits understand

what gratitude means.[4]

Nath tries to pacify her and stop her speaking against dalits, but Seva does not stop. She says that after marriage with Arun their daughter has completely changed. She has refused to come to their house instead she intends to go back to Arun’s house.Nath becomesdistressed. Suddenly a phone rings and someone invites him to speak for Arun’s book, but he refuses. Seva further tells her that the neighbours told her that Arun teases Jyoti for being born in a high caste, and he speaks against her parents. Jai Prakash enters while Seva and Nath were discussing the character of Arun.Jai Prakash is reading news of Israeli forces against Palestian.Through this news he speaks a truth.

But this means that the very victims of violence may go on to

perpetrate the same brutal violence upon others. Perhaps they

get a peculiar enjoyment out of it.Perhaps those who are hunted

derive great pleasure in hunting others when they get an opportunity

to do so.[5]

In other words, yesterday’s victim is today’s victimizer. The words are perfectly applicable to Arun. Arun belongs to a scavenger family. He and his forefathers have been oppressed by upper -caste people. He has a rage and hatred against them. He was a victim but when he is married to Jyoti, a high caste girl, he becomes a victimizer. He beats and abuses Jyoti and thus take a revenge for the oppression done to him by the high caste people. He torments her, abuses her parents and thus vent his feelings towards upper- caste. Arun is a hypocrite. In his autobiography he presents himself as a victim and talks about the hardships and humiliation for being born as a scavenger. The same Arun victimizes his pregnant wife by beating her. He has a dual personality. In his book he writes about his own sorrow and at the same time give sorrow to his wife. A victim should understand and feel the sorrow of other person, but Arun has a different nature. He is a violent person. After the success of his book his arroganceincreases, and he comes to Nath’s house with two other people. They invite him to speak about Arun’s book. When Arun arrives Nath’s house, he boasts of his success and indirectly threatens Nath so that he cannot refuse the invitation. Nath is very much upset on the behaviour of Arun towards his daughter. He was the person who had advocated Jyoti’s marriage with Arun. But now all his hopes of Jyoti’s future seemfutile. His age-old hatred towards dalit is roused and he starts shouting after Arun leaves the room. He in an anger says that the whole room is stinking, and he wants the room, furniture, and floor to be cleaned.Seva tries to control his anger and suggests him to preside over the function and speak about Arun’sbook. Seva is worried about Jyoti. Shesays that Arun will punish Jyoti if you refuse Nath speaks about Arun’s book. Thespeech of Nath is hollow. Though he appreciates the book Infront of everyone but he himself is not satisfied. Nath has started hating Arun but for the sake of his daughter, he pretends to be happy. Jyoti is also present in the speech. She understands that her father has unwillingly delivered the lecture. After the function when Nath returns home, he feels guilty of letting his daughter to marry a dalit. He repents that his daughter sacrificed her life to fulfil his whims. While Nath and Seva were discussing Arun, Jyoti enters the house. She seems to be weary and weak. She behaves in a formal way as if she has visited a stranger’s house. She comes to talk to Nath. Shemakes Nath realize his hypocrisy towards Arun. Jyoti says that Nath has always showed them the world of idealism and not reality. He is faced with reality after marriage. She came to know about the reality of struggle after marriage. She now realises how a man with beastly side can have a soft heart to write poetry and love. She confesses that Arun is both a beast and a poet and both are inseparable. Nath is perplexed to listen to Jyoti’sstatement, but she was right. The world of reality is different from the world of idealism.

In the end of the play, she asks her family not to visit her home. Jyotirealises that her family does not like Arun. When her parents ask her for support, she says that she is married and now she is not Jyoti Devalikar but Jyoti Athavale.

I am Jyoti Arun Athavale, ascavenger. I don’t say harijan.

I despise the term. I am an untouchable, ascavenger. I am one

of them. Don’t touch me. Fly from my shadow, otherwise my fire

will scorch your comfortable values.[6]

The conclusion of the play proves the significance of the titleKanyadan. In Hindu tradition a girl adopts her husband’s surname. Thus, according to Jyoti, her parents have given her to Arun so she has also become an untouchable and her presence will pollute the atmosphere of her parents’ house. Vijay Tendulkar through his play Kanyadan has been successful in portraying the situation of dalits in our society and the attitude of people towards them.To quote Gawri Ramnarayan:

He has been criticized for exaggerating the spiritual bankrupty

of the degenerate socio-cultural milieu in which we live. He has

been accused of non-realistic projections of squalor, poverty, crime,

disorder and mental perversions to titillate the viewer/reader and

worse of promoting defeatist apathy. But he has also been acclaimed

as one of India’s best living playwrights.[7]