THEME OF THE BABU’s OF NAYANJORE

“CLASS AND CASTE CONFLICTS”

Babu’s Of Nayanjore, a short play written by the famous Rabindranath Tagore,

highlights the plight and demise of a man named Kailas Babu who was one of
the most reputed people in Nayanjore.The conflicts between different classes
and the generation are thrown light on in various parts if the story.It depicts
the story of Babu’s at Nayanjore and the conflict between classes is illustrated
vividly in the very first lines.

Colonialism, especially British Colonialism had a great impact on Indian culture,

more prominent in Bengal as Calcutta was the British Capital in India during the
colonial period.Rabindranath Tagore, took a difficult step to depict Bengali
Culture and he deliberately broke the rotten social norms through his literary
piece.Rabin Thakur depicts the Bengal society in two ways-comparatively
economically backward and the rich Bengal society.

In the colonial period, the Bengal society rapidly changed itself to English but
not fully.Bengal is famous for so called Babu culture.These so called Babu’s
created a kind of class and caste differentiation which they thought is a matter
of pride and hierarchy in the society.In the story, the narrator clearly depicts the
situations where some people show extravagance towards Kailas Babu due to
his ancestral history.The thought process of people has been like showing
respect to the class and caste irrespective of the man’s character.The narrator
didn’t like Kailas Babu due to his false pride and the reputation of his
family.Though people know the exact situation of Kailas Babu, they never put
him down valuing his ancestral history.The narrator is a self-made and an
independent man and prides himself from the fact that he did not inherit any
great family wealth.Rabindranath Tagore clearly depicted the problem that’s
revolving in the society where people with high class and caste are valued more
than people who are individual and successful.Everyone in the society seemed
to be very influenced by Kailas Babu due to his family history. The most
important part of the story which breaks the shackles and remained as the main
key to bridge the two different systems-higher class and caste and also
modernity through a female character Kusum-grand daughter of Kailas Babu.
From this play, and from all the remaining themes that are observed(
Forgiveness,Seeking Validation, Jealousy and Appearance vs
Reality),Rabindranath Tagore has very sensitively spoke about the differences in
class and castes.We observed that irrespective of a man’s appearance and
behaviour, the society always values the background where the caste and class
play a prominent role .Concluding on a positive note, it depends on the thoughts
and mindsets of every particular person differently.However, it creates thinking
in the mind of people because of which they judge people on the basis of the
upper and lower class.