International Multidisciplinary e–Journal. Author: Anuragsinh D. Puvar.

(176-184 )

A Study of Mahesh Dattani’s Tara from the Perspective of

Gender Discrimination

Anuragsinh D. Puvar
Assistant Professor, Shri T. S. Arts College, Kothamba.

Ph. D. Scholar, Faculty of English,

Pacific Academy of Higher Education and Research University, Udaipur

Abstract: To look son and daughter with biased and discriminating eyes has been traditional
and age old custom in India and it has been tagged with rites and rituals of life. Parents think
their daughter of alien home as one day she would be married and would live her husband.
They have superstitious and mythical beliefs of being ultimately emancipated at the hands of
their son. This fact pertaining to illusion life is optimally exploited by Dattani in this play.
The drama circles around one dark secret and its revelation.

The themes of gender discrimination are all dominant in the drama, Tara. The issue
of cultural discrimination with women has been elaborately and comprehensively dealt by
Dattani in the play wherein female is subjugated and underestimated by patriarchal society
and she remains only a care taker for household utensils, children, husband, other domestic
requirements and tasks of fatigue. Thus Dattani’s drama showcases the stark reality of life
and warrants the attention of the world towards the pressing needs of the time.

Key Words: Gender Discrimination, Patriarchy, Marginalised

Mahesh Dattani is one of the best contemporary playwrights in India who occupies a
very distinct and unique place in the realm of Indian English drama. His plays are performed
and read almost everywhere in India and abroad. One of the reasons for Dattani‟s success as a
dramatist appears to be his artistic response to the problems of our time. Mahesh Dattani has
sensitively identified the problems troubling Indian society and has creatively presented these
problems in his plays. His presentation of problems from real life situations is significant
contribution to Indian English Drama. Among modern Indian playwrights, he stands forth

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 International Multidisciplinary e–Journal. Author: Anuragsinh D. Puvar. (176-184 )

with singular distinctness, striking artistic perception, and immense dramatic guts. He is the
most serious contemporary dramatist in Indian drama in English. He takes up serious
problems prevailing in urban India. He, very successfully, gives voice to the problems and
sufferings of the marginalised people of our society.

The success of Mahesh Dattani as a dramatist rests upon his themes and his unique
way of treating them. He is an experimenter who loves to consistently experiment with the
stage space. The subjects of most of his plays are hitherto unexplored. The audience gets
startled to know about the undercover reality of the society. These plays make readers
sensible to the happenings around them.

It is argued, “Every work of art is a projection from the interior realm into exterior
1
space where in becoming incarnated it achieves consciousness of itself”
(Olney, James, p. 44). It signifies that self-confessional mode of elucidation of eternal reality
has a greater authenticity and significance. In order to reconstruct the concept of „self‟ within
the limits of a literary work, a creative artist must keep his „creative self‟ apart from his
creative work. Beena Agarwal observes:
A dramatist in comparison of poet has a better opportunity to eliminate his
personality from his work and the issues taken in the literary text be developed
through the consciousness of the characters. Dattani possesses an exceptional
sensibility for the suffering in society born out of gender discrimination. His vision
is not confined to socio religious myths only, but he delves deep to examine the
2
psychic reactions of those who are the victims of them. (Agarwal, Beena, p. 76)

In India, literature of all languages have penned down the pathetic plight of
women. And thereby have raised voices against this inhumane treatment to women. Indian
writing in English is no exception to this. One thing should be noted here that feminism has
got mixed responses from all over the world. Feminism has given birth to two opposite
attitudes namely pro-feministic and anti-feministic attitude. The writers who possess
favorable attitude towards feminism are called pro-feminist and those who oppose this
attitude are designated as anti-feministic. Mahesh Dattani belongs to the former category, i.e.
the writer with the pro-feministic attitude.

So far Mahesh Dattani‟s perception of women is concerned, it is quite

unconventional. In fact, he has no specific agenda of feminism to pass on viewers. He tries to
discover different facets of feminine psyche. His works depict the constant battle between the
feminine psyche and patriarchal order. To the question, asked by Laxmi Subramanyam,
Dattani replies:

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 International Multidisciplinary e–Journal. Author: Anuragsinh D. Puvar. (176-184 )

They are humans. They want something. They face obstacles. They will do
anything in their power to get it. All eyes focus on in the powerlessness of these
people……. And I am not going to change my sensibility for political
correctness either. My only defense is to say that I am not biased against
3
woman (Subramanyam, Laxmi, p. 134).

Tara is the most touching three-act stage play by Dattani. It presents a tale of Siamese
twins namely Tara and Chandan. The play oscillates between the past and the present events.
Most of the plays of Dattani have family and home as the locale. So is the case with Tara.
The play Tara, directed by Dattani himself, was first performed as Twinkle Tara at the
Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Bangalore, on 23rd October, 1990 by Playpen Performing Arts
Group, which is established by Dattani. It was later on performed under the directorship of
Alyque Padamsee as Tara at Sophia Bhabha Hall by Theatre Group. Bombay, on 9th
November, 1991.

The themes of Dattani‟s plays bear the testimonial of varying tone, temperament and
treatment. Dattani expanded his range and canvass of creativity from stage Plays to radio and
screen Plays. He has an ability to amalgamate the traditional beliefs with ultramodern
disposition and conviction. His plays are heavily charged with socio-political, emotional,
physiological and psychological issues. The theme of family covers the large chunk of plays
wherein its members are found to be struggling and wrestling with one another. The best
example of such play is Tara which circles around the grave and traditional issues of gender
bias. The son and daughter delivered from same womb are preferentially treated by no less
than parents themselves in the intoxication of superstition and ancestral beliefs and the
daughter is sacrificed for the short term benefit of the son. The play is contextual and relevant
in the light of the burgeoning incidents of feticide and widening gap in the sex ratio of male
and female child.

The play Tara is basically related with the issue of gender bias. It is a pathetic
dramatic representation of the suffering of two Siamese twins. Tara is about a boy and a girl,
Siamese twins. Mahesh Dattani observed:

I have taken medical liberty over here because Siamese twins are invariably of
the same sex and they are, surgically separated at birth. It was important for
4
their survival and the play deals with their emotional separation.
(Sachidananda, Mohanty, p.171)

Tara and Chandan are Siamese twins. Though they are twins, they don't resemble with
each other. They are separated after the three months of their birth. Actually, they were

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 International Multidisciplinary e–Journal. Author: Anuragsinh D. Puvar. (176-184 )

conjoined from the chest and were having three legs. The chances of survival of the third leg
were more with of Tara. However, it was given to Chandan, avoiding medical report, which
reflects gender discrimination. In fact, the decision to give third leg to Chandan was taken by
Mrs. Bharati Patel and her politically powerful father. Mr. Patel had no role in this injustice.
The surgery was done in Bombay. Thus, Tara is the victim of sex discrimination in
patriarchal society. It is an unpleasant fact that a woman's life is always structured and
governed by patriarchy since time immemorial. Dattani seems to assert that the power of
wealth often joins hands with power of patriarchy for the subjugation and oppression of the
women in our society. Tara‟s grandfather uses his political and money power to convince the
doctor for giving third leg to Chandan instead of Tara. Critically, trinity of patriarchy,
capitalism, and political power join forces together against the existence of a girl. It has been
attributed:

Tara centers on the emotional separation that grows between two conjoined
twins following the discovery that their physical separation was manipulated
by their mother and grandfather to favour the boy (Chandan) over the girl
(Tara). Tara, a feisty girl who isn’t given the opportunities given to her
brother (although she may be smarter) eventually wastes away and dies.
Chandan escapes to London, changes his name to Dan, and attempts to
repress the guilt he feels over his sister’s death by living without a
5
personal history. (Mee, Erin, p. 319)

To look son and daughter with biased and discriminating eyes has been traditional and
age old custom in India and it has been tagged with rites and rituals of life. Parents think their
daughter of alien home as one day she would be married and would be of her husband. They
have superstitious and mythical belief of being ultimately emancipated at the hands of their
son. This fact pertaining to illusion of life is optimally exploited by Dattani in this play. The
whole drama is circling round one dark secret and its revelation. The twin: Tara and Chandan
are successfully operated and separated by Dr. Thakkar. The twin had three legs between
them and the third leg was supplied by Tara‟s blood system. The probability of the leg‟s
survival was greater with Tara. But Bharati and her influential father were hand in glove to
undertake the risk of supplying the third leg to Chandan. In the pursuit of procuring this
malicious design the doctor was bribed with a plot of land in Bangalore by Bharati‟s
powerful and political father. Patel couldn‟t object muscularly enough and he also ultimately
became accomplice of this nasty conspiracy. The leg that had survived only for two days with
Chandan could have been accompanied Tara‟s forever. Tara is devastated by this revelation

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 International Multidisciplinary e–Journal. Author: Anuragsinh D. Puvar. (176-184 )

that has been ultimately revealed by Patel himself. Further elucidating the context of gender
discrimination in the drama Dattani speaks in an interview:

Well, I think it is the revelation in the end about, you know, Tara’s love for her
mother which uptil then was unquestionable. She suspected her father for having
done something, you know, was in some way, but she had no idea what it was, but
her love, her mother’s love was unquestioned and she did not question that, so
when she comes to know of the truth of what we, I mean, we only have the father’s
version. We don’t know whether that is the real truth or not, again, but it does
sort of break her away like a shooting star from the mother, and I think with that
she-that’s tragedy, she dies. We don’t know how she dies, but we know that’s the
end of Tara, and I think that’s somehow all the attitudes towards Tara and the
relationship between her mother, her father and her brother, which we see
through the play. In hindsight you could see where it was coloured or where it was
6
blinkered or where it was being compensated for. (Multani, Angelies, p. 130)

The play Tara provides bitter commentary upon gender discrimination and forces of
social apathy towards injustice done to even a girl baby under the cloak of gender dichotomy.
So it is not just a story about gender identity nor is it a story of medical phenomenon. It
presents how women are marginalised to the extent of distorting herself. The play is, in
broader sense, a gruesome tale of injustice done to a woman by the patriarchal society.
Despite the civilization and development in the human field, we are same at the root of our
mind. The play shows how the devil of gender discrimination kills all other bonds of familial
relationship and how socio-cultural myths and conventions control and construct the course
of the human life. Bharati‟s love for Tara is pure and unceasing, but her maternal love is
marginalised as a woman and her subalternity compels her to sacrifice her maternal love to
cope up with social expectations. The patriarchal code pushes mother-daughter relationship
on the periphery. Adrienne Rich aptly observes:

Though motherhood is the experience of women, the institution of motherhood is

under male control and the physical situation of becoming a mother is disciplined
by males. This glorious motherhood imposed on women, conditions her entire life
7
(Rich, Adrienne, p. 45).

The play revolves around the theme of favoring the boy and frowning upon the girl
with exceptional originality of conception. Mahesh Dattani, in one of his interviews with
Laxmi Subramanyam, says:

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 International Multidisciplinary e–Journal. Author: Anuragsinh D. Puvar. (176-184 )

I see Tara as a play about the male self and female self. The male self is being
preferred in all cultures. The play is about the separation of self and the resultant
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angst. (Subramanyam, Laxm,i p. 134)

Tara is revelatory in nature. Dan feels the pressure of the past. He is weighed down
with the pressurising tension resulting from past deeds. They are of his mother and
grandfather. At the time of the gruesome decision of giving third leg to Chandan, the doctors
opined that chances of survival of leg were more with Tara than Chandan. Gender
hierarchisation comes in the way of science. Bharati and her politically powerful father
without taking Mr. Patel in confidence decided to give the third leg to Chandan. The doctor
was persuaded by giving some acres of land in Bangalore by Bharati's MLA father. As Patel
explains “A scan showed that a major part of the blood supply to the third leg was provided
by the girl.” (CP: 378)

The leg with Chandan could survive only for two days, while it could have survived
forever with Tara. It doesn't mean that Mr. Patel is devoid of fault. He is also a party to
gender discrimination. He appears to be more concerned about the future of Chandan than
Tara.

Bharati realises her committing of sin and stigmatising motherhood by doing injustice
with her daughter. Consequently she suffered nervous breakdown and metamorphosis. She
abruptly cultivated disproportionate compassion for Tara in an effort to seek salvation from
unforgivable sin. She exhibited pretentious sympathy and empathy towards Tara and did all
attempts to bring ill repute for Patel in the eyes of her daughter. How can males be well
wishers of females once women‟s enemies are only women? Females are discriminated not
only biologically but also culturally. The biological difference has been more or less created
by Nature but cultural difference is solely manipulated by patriarchal society. Women and
girls are trained to remain confined to kitchen and courtyard. Such an aura and atmosphere is
created for them so that they could do nothing other than quenching the carnal thirst of their
husbands and nursing their age old in-laws, elders, husbands, children and youngsters. For
Dattani biological differences is bearable for time being but cultural differences are totally
fabricated and can be curtailed, contained and averted.

Bharati‟s excessive love for Tara results from her past guilt. She feels the pangs of her
past guilt. She, allying with her father, did great injustice to Tara. Now she wants to give
more and more love and comforts to Tara. It is because of this that she wants to give her own
kidney to Tara when there is another donator available. She wants to give part of herself and

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 International Multidisciplinary e–Journal. Author: Anuragsinh D. Puvar. (176-184 )

craves satisfaction out of this. She shows her concern to the extent that she and only she loves
Tara. Nobody else! But Patel disapproves her idea of giving her kidney to Tara. So, she
pretends that it will involve expenses. Mr. Patel disapproves her view saying that her father‟s
wealth has always been her strength against him.

Bharati: (Pleadingly) Why won't you let me do it?

Patel: (Controlling) Need I tell you? Because I do not want you to have the
satisfaction of doing it.

Bharati: I will do it!

Patel: You will have to obey me. It's my turn now.

Bharati: I want to give her a part of me! (CP: 344)

Bharati tries to assert her moral superiority over her husband. She struggles hard to
carve out her space in the family. Bharati's final decision of giving her kidney to Tara may be
seen as an act of expiation. Bharati said that her deceased father is responsible for the
inhuman act of denying third leg to Tara. After her father‟s death, Bharati's condition grows
worse. She tries to make up through taking excessive care and immense exposure of her love
for Tara and great concern for her future. This is also the result of her past grave blunder. She
is quite conscious of her past wrong deed and feels full pressure of her guilt. Her efforts to
compensate loss, caused to Tara by her, causes conflict with her husband and this ultimately
leads her to the mental breakdown. Thus, Bharati keeps striving to construct her maternal
love until she undergoes mental breakdown.

The play, Tara is not an expression of Dattani‟s dramatic art alone but it is a
realisation of the complexity of human relationship in a society where life controlled by
gender bias takes its own course. The horrors of the forced harmony and man‟s inborn
subjugation to cultural inhibitions dominate the course of life of all the major characters in
the play.

The relationship of Chandan and Tara is a breaking of the myth that the play Tara is a
protest for subalternism of females. The brother and sister relationship of Tara and Chandan
is a realisation of the identity of distinctive selves working in union in the comprehensive
scheme of things. The psycho-pathetic trauma of Chandan after the death of Tara and his
escape to London is a justification to the argument that male and female are not separate
entities representing domination and subordination in social order.
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 International Multidisciplinary e–Journal. Author: Anuragsinh D. Puvar. (176-184 )

Dan receives acute pain and develops psychological trauma. The play also can be
deemed as the tragedy of human self. Dan realises wretchedness and misery of his existence
which is the outcome of the crime done to Tara. His soul is aching. It has come closer to the
observation of Beena Agarwal:

The pathetic confession of Dan by the end of the play “forgive me Tara, forgive
me, for making it my tragedy”(CP 380) is the manifestation of Dattani’s own
9
anguish at the exploitation of an innocent girl. (Agrawal, Beena, p. 93)

There is an unprecedented development in the field of science and technology. It has

blessed mankind with speed, pleasure and perfection. If we look at the other side of coin, we
shall come to know that it is also used to cause suffering and pain in the lives of many people.
After all, it is the man who operates the machine for his own motives and desires. The play
Tara shows us how technologically enhanced equipments are used to subjugate the woman.
Dattani establishes that it is not machine, but human motives that matter much. Dattani holds
red torch against pitfalls of advancement of science and technology.

Mahesh Dattani shows how the women are gasping under the evil clutch of
patriarchy and gender bias. To build premise of strong and unshakable nation, sound
construction of family is very necessary as it is like the brick in the premise of the nation.
Moreover, family is our first society. If this first community or society exists on falsehood of
prejudice and conventions, the nation, the larger society, cannot survive longer, cannot
flourish and progress. It is observed:

Mahesh Dattani frequently takes as his subject the complicated dynamics of the
modern urban family. His characters struggle for some kind of freedom and
happiness under the weight of tradition, cultural constructions of gender, and
repressed desire. Their dramas are played out on multi-level sets where interior and
exterior become one, and geographical locations are collapsed – in short, his settings
10
are as fragmented as the families who inhabit them. (Mee, Erin, p. 319)

The play also indicates that the patriarchal social set up also deprives women from
gaining economic stability. Along with the tragic tale of gender discrimination, an unpleasant
document of material discrimination against the woman folk is also woven in the fabric of the
text of the play. Since, Bharati was the only child of her father; he has bequeathed Tara and
Chandan with house in Bangalore. However, Tara is excluded from the bequest of money by
the grandfather. Chandan inherits a lot of money.

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 International Multidisciplinary e–Journal. Author: Anuragsinh D. Puvar. (176-184 )

Dattani dramatises the angst of the urban family. There is a sense of unrest
among the members of Patel family in the play. Tara and Chandan are subjected to physical
deformity, whereas Mrs. Bharati Patel is suffering from the disease of hysteria. There is no
familial concord between husband and wife. Some unrevealed mysteries cast their dark
shadows upon their lives. It has been assumed:

This is thus a play about the injustices done in the name of construction of gender
identities – this hierarchisation and demarcation of roles does as much harm to
men as to women. Dan carries as much harm of the unfair burden this imposes as
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Tara. (Prasad, G J V, p. 141)

Works Cited:

1 Olney, James, “Conditions and Limits of Autobiography”, Autobiography:

Essays, Theorical and Critical, (ed.), Princeton University Press, 1980, p. 44
2 Agrawal, Beena, Mahesh Dattani’s Plays A new Horizon in Indian Theatre, Jaipur, India:
Book Enclave, 2008 p.76

3 Subramanyam, Laxmi (edi.), Muffled Voices: Women in Modern Indian Theatre, New
Delhi: Shakti, 2002, p.134

4 Sachidananda, Mohanty, “Theatre: Reading out to People: An Interview with Mahesh

Dattani” (ed.) R.K. Dhawan, The Plays of Mahesh Dattani, OP. Cit., p.171)

5 Mee, Erin, “A Note on the Play”, Tara in Collected Plays Mahesh Dattani, New Delhi:
Penguin Books, 2000. p. 319

6 Multani, Angelies, A Conversation with Mahesh Dattani, the Journal of the School of
Language, Literature and Cultural Studies (JSL), IV, p. 130)

7 Rich, A., Of Women Born, New York: Bantam, 1967. p. 45

8 Subramanyam, Laxmi (edi.), Muffled Voices: Women in Modern Indian Theatre, New
Delhi: Shakti, 2002, p.134

9 Agrawal, Beena, Mahesh Dattani‟s Plays A new Horizon in Indian Theatre, Jaipur, India:
Book Enclave, 2008 p.93

10 Mee, Erin, “A Note on the Play,” Tara in Collected Plays Mahesh Dattani, New Delhi:
Penguin Books, 2000 p. 319

11 Prasad, G J V, “Terrifying Tara : The Angst of the Family” in Mahesh Dattani‟s Plays
Critical Perspectives, Angelie Multani, New Delhi: Pencraft International, 2007. p. 141

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