International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)

ISSN: 2319-7064
ResearchGate Impact Factor (2018): 0.28 | SJIF (2018): 7.426

Thematic Study of Vijay Tendulkar‘s The Vultures

Dr. Santosh Kumar
Assistant Professor, Department of English
Dr. Ambedkar Rajkiya Snatakottar Mahavidyalaya, Unchahar, Raebareli. (U.P.), India

Abstract: Vijay Tendulkar is one of the leading contemporary Indian playwrights. His thirty full length plays have a unique place in
modern Indian theatre. The play The Vultures (Gidhade) (1971) deals with the issue of violence and sex. The theme is built on a middle-
class milieu, through interactions in a hopelessly divided family. Violence and evil are the main element in the play. The scenes of
violence, the illegitimate sexual relations, and the abusive language shock the sensibility of the conventional audience. Ramakant and
Umakant are greedy characters, their father is a degenerated and, their sister Manik’s gross sensuality—all add up to a naturalistic
depiction of those vulture aspects of human character. All these characters show the fundamental evil inherent in human character.

Keywords: Vultures, Domestic, Violence, Exploitation, Torture, Psychological

Early plays in India were written in Bengali by Bengali English. The title, The Vultures attracts many and thought
writers which were mostly translated into English from provoking of the rationale behind this title selection by the
Bengali in the 19th century. But drama in English failed to writer. Tendulkar himself has once said in this context:
serve a local theatrical habitation, in sharp contrast to plays
in the mother tongue (both original and in the form of The paradoxical quality of human nature is not only
adaptations from foreign languages); and the appetite for the rejection of their evil mentality, but also the
plays in English could more conveniently be fed on exhibition of manipulated outward behavior.
performances of established dramatic successes in English Outwardly they are saints, but inwardly they are
by foreign authors. Owing to the lack of a firm dramatic sinners and sadists.1
tradition nourished on actual performance in a live theatre,
early Indian English drama in Bengal as elsewhere in India Tendulkar‘s observation is not philosophical or theatrical but
grew sporadically as mostly closet drama; and even later, practical. He was influenced by some unforgettable
only Sri Aurobindo, Ravindranath Tagore and Harindranath memories witnessed in his childhood days. For him
Chattopadhyaya produced a substantial corpus of dramatic violence is all around. It is the culmination of festering
writing. Between 1891 and 1916 Sri Aurobindo wrote five elements in many areas. There are professionals who
complete and six incomplete verse plays. survive by regularly killing other people. The value of life
has degraded in the modern days. Money has dominated
Regional drama in India is getting the status of ―National human values and ethics.
Theatre‖ which in turn will make Indian English Literature
rich and varied, forging a link between the East and West, When Tendulkar was asked why there are scenes of atrocity
North and South. Major Indian language theatres in India - and bizarre sadism in some of his plays such as kicking a
Hindi (Mohan Rakesh), Marathi (Vijay Tendulkar), Bengali pregnant woman in the belly (The Vultures), Tendulkar
(Badal Sircar), and Kannada (Girish Karnad) have made reacts:
fruitful experiments. In Gidhade, the cruelty is great because it deals with
an exceptional family. As for what you call
Vijay Tendulkar is the representative of the contemporary perversion, let us accept that human existence is full
modern Indian drama. One can find varied characters – of it. We shut our eyes to it……I know many
criminals coming out of the jail, exploited women, people who enjoy torturing their wives; it can be
precarious life of middle class couples, broken promises and physical or mental. They are outwardly decent folk
adamant decisions creating turmoil in the emotional world and you don‘t suspect they have this dark side. So,
etc., picked up from extraordinary situations. when I deal with masochism or homosexuality, I am
drawing your attention to something near you.2
Tendulkar‘s themes are woven round the characters that are
always the dregs of society, the debased, the fringe people Tendulkar believes that people are so unconscious of evil in
and persons leading life not in keeping with the accepted the society. It is in their families, in the neighbourhood and
norms and values of society. He deals with social themes in capturing the family members in front of one‘s eyes. Man
naturalistic or realist manner. His plays do not deal with the has lost social consciousness. When one reads news papers
rich or the elite class and their sophisticated life style but one can find new ways of violence spreading cancerously.
down to the earth characters. He has changed the form and The power of the play, The Vultures lies in its most central
pattern of Indian drama and was noted for criticizing the idea: can an individual or society live with complete
hypocrisies, promiscuity, dishonesty and such other vices disregard for moral values? Tendulkar writes this play with
existing in the society.Vijay Tendulkar, who started his the conviction that the vulturine instinct in man is deeply
career as a journalist turned to full time play writing in rooted.
Maratha. He finished 30 full length plays, 24 one act plays,
several articles, editorials and 11 plays for children. For By attempting to explore the meaning of man‘s life
almost 40 years he stood as a stalwart in Indian writing in victimized by sinning nature, Tendulkar seems to be totally

Volume 8 Issue 7, July 2019

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Paper ID: ART20199983 10.21275/ART20199983 1752
 International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN: 2319-7064
ResearchGate Impact Factor (2018): 0.28 | SJIF (2018): 7.426
against to the basic belief of Indian mythology ‗aham own sister about her affair with the Raja of Hondur, they use
Brahmi‘ which means I am Brahma, the ultimate goodness, obscene language, which is suggestive of their incestuous
upholding the ultimate goodness in human nature. nature. Their suspicion that their father still has some
Tendulkar has taken Pitale‘s family as the microcosm and money stacked away somewhere leads them to have a cruel
shows how each member is responsible for its breakdown. plot against their own father. Though they receive their share
of the father‘s wealth, their plan to squeeze him to his best
By using analogy of vultures, the play dramatizes deep- penny and planning a murderous assault on him to drive him
seated unmitigated depravity, perversity, greed and diabolic out is a kind of heinous honour that could be given to a
villainy in the ravenous members of the family. The family father. It is a rare incidence one could witness in human
of human vultures consists of Pappa vulture(Pitale), his history.
illegitimate son (Rajaninath),his elder son (Ramakant), his
daughter (Manik), his second son (Umakant), his daughter- Like Rama, Rajaninath has a sensitive personality. His deep
in-law (Rama, wife of Ramakant). Almost all the characters empathy for the victims of human viciousness flows like an
in the play are corrupt and violent except Rajaninath and undercurrent throughout the play. If one recalls Tendulkar‘s
Rama. The characters symbolize sensuality and domestic ambivalent ‗ethics‘, the split between the social self and the
violence. more individualistic writer self, one can read something of
the ‗writer‘ in Rajaninath, who watches the violent
The second scene opens with uproars, shoutings and sounds disintegration of the family, and bears witness to it.
of blows and beatings. Through these voices audience can
understand the antecedent of the story. Pappa Hari Pitale Manik appears to be a hysterical type. She smokes and
and his brother Sakharam build up a huge business firm drinks liquor. Her attitude towards money and other
called ―The Hari Sakharam Company‖ — a construction members of the family reveals her character. Manik is an
firm. It is through sheer hard work they achieve this feat. embodiment of materialism. Her craving for money to
As days pass by Pappa takes the company from his brother purchase a thousand-rupee necklace at the cost of her life
by means of treachery and false law suits. As a result, gives a kind of public demonstration of the bestiality and
Sakharam Pitale finds himself on the street. As the saying— monstrosity of people in a family living in a nauseatingly
‗as you sow, so you reap‘ — Pappas‘ sons and daughter plot consumerist world. Perhaps nowhere in Indian English
against their father and are waiting to drive him out one day. literature one sees a woman like Manik. No Tendulkar‘s
woman character is so uglily portrayed as Manik‘s character
Hari Pitale is a smoker. He has a habit of working with his does. She pursues poor substitutes in pleasure with
toothless mouth. He doesn‘t have any respect for his two diminishing returns. Tendulkar reminds, through her
sons. He expresses his disgust for his selfish children. character, how the meaningless pursuit for pleasure makes
PAPPA: If I die, it‘ll be a release! They‘re all her of easy virtue. She prowls and scavenges relentlessly
waiting for it. through a variety of life styles in search of that all-fulfilling
But I‘m your own father. After all! If I die, I‘ll treasure. She seems to have forgotten that this hyperactive
become pursuit and empty-hearted feelings are not new to the human
a ghost. I‘ll sit on your chest! I won‘t let you enjoy a experience. Her pleasure jeopardizes the sacred rights of
rupee of it. I earned it all. Now, these wolves, these Rama. She, later, gives an instance to support her fear,
bullies! [209] ―when I had typhoid last year, far from looking after me,
you‘d all plotted to put poison in medicine!.‖ [208] Manik‘s
He is considered as a ‗confounded nuisance‘ by his sons and intention of being alone which results out of her feeling of
eats other‘s food and ‗tries to act smart.‘ His diseased wife insecurity is the essence of modern man.
is an enemy to him and left three children with him. But he
becomes a burden to them. Pappa says it has been his The fact that both Ramakant and Umakant want to get rid of
stupidity to produce bastards like them. Ramakant tells his their sister becomes clear. Playing game of cards by the
brother Umakant that ―a mangy dog would have made a members of family for serious transaction of money not
better father.‖ [213] Umakant is only too ready to agree with only stuns the audience but also alerts them how human
his brother. And all these in the presence of their own relations have been gradually taking the shape of
father! However, the old man, hardened by his own past commercial dimensions. At the game of cards, Umakant is
crimes, remains nonchalant. He doesn‘t want to pay his about to choke Manik to death. Watching these Ramakant
servant. goads on Umakant saying:

Fifth scene dramatizes the most violent incident in the play. RAMAKANT: Don‘t bloody let her go. Uma! Drag the
After driving away, Sakharam, Ramakant, Umakant and bloody
Manik make their Pappa drink to extract the truth about the money out! Look, how she‘s wriggling! Squash
money. The sons pretend to fight each other with the father her bloody neck! Twist it!‖ [235]
getting trapped between them. Pappa gets injured. In order
to escape from further assault, he admits to them that he has His words reveal the inherent violence in him. Discussing
deposited some money in the Punjab Bank. Ramakant and Manik‘s love affair with the Raja of Hondur, Umakant tells
his brother hate each other. They both hate their own sister Ramakant that he might marry her ―If her belly swells out.‖
Manik. For him lying for business is a convenience. He (236) If it happens, they can blackmail the Raja of Hondur
believes that money can buy anything like lawyers, courts for money. This reveals that there is no healthy atmosphere
and justice. Even when Ramakant and Umakant talk to their
Volume 8 Issue 7, July 2019
www.ijsr.net
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
Paper ID: ART20199983 10.21275/ART20199983 1753
 International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN: 2319-7064
ResearchGate Impact Factor (2018): 0.28 | SJIF (2018): 7.426
at home but they can go to any extent just for the sake of Raja of Hondur who is in love with Manik and by whom she
money just exposing modern attitude of ‗money maniacs‘ becomes pregnant. So, in order to prevent her from meeting
her lover further and informing her lover about their
If Manik is one of the vultures, then Rama is the exact blackmailing him, they hatch a plot to break Manik‘s leg.
opposite. The contrast between Manik and Rama is black They ruthlessly execute the plan and hope to get twenty five
and white respectively. Rama cannot bear a child despite thousand rupees from the Raja of Hondur. However, a
her almost divine goodness, because the seed that should phone call informs them that the Raja of Hondur has died of
bring it forth is ‗rotten‘. Her infertility is a symbol of the heart attack. As a result, their plan of black mailing Manik‘s
putrid evil that her husband Ramakant, his brother and father lover is vanished.
fill the air with. It is also symbolic that the two brothers
kick the growing life out of Manik. To quote a few of So, they break Manik‘s room open and Ramakant kicks
Rama‘s utterances with regard to her survival in the house of Manik‘s belly hard. She aborts, and in sheer agony runs
vultures. away. Thus, one vulture leaves Pitale‘s house. This is the
most violent of scene in the play.
RAMA: Every day, a new death. Every minute a Ramakant, in utter despair, caused by drunkenness behaves
thousand million deaths. A pain like a million like a mad man. He sings and dances. He doesn‘t allow
needles stuck in your heart. Blinding you, Umakant into his house and suspects his intention of the
maddening you with pain.‖ [240] grabbing house through black magic, he says ―Brother …
the day after one new moon. I found a lemon, a coconut . . .,
Rama intuitively knows that material prosperity may give in the bloody grounds … The ghost was in your bloody
satisfaction but cannot be a solution to despair. For her, the control! And was sucking me dry!‖[262]
house is full of individualism, competitiveness and power
games. Thus, she feels insecure and says ―I see lots of Apart from their materialism, momentary pleasures, it is
things. I hear them too. I feel so very very scared.‖ [248] clear that their mechanical religious belief has blunted their
Such a house cannot accommodate love, compassion and faculty reason. Religion, which is expected to create
joy. It is a real hell. common good, lacks moral vision in Pitale‘s family.

As individual degradation is increasing, the gradual The imagery of the play reiterates the thematic design of the
disintegration of the family is also clearly seen. Ramakant play- Images of animals and disease, images that stress the
becomes a pauper. Ramakant and Umakant quarrel for disjunction between appearance and reality. She observes:
sharing the business and property. Umakant learns that there
is a double mortgage on their house. Ramakant advises his The avaricious and vicious villains in both the
brother to go ahead with his flourishing business and leave plays are in consonance with ferocious animals like
the house to him. But Umakant demands him to settle their bloodhounds and wolves and preying birds like
account about their father‘s hidden property, their sister‘s vultures and hawk. The Duchess mentioning the
money and mother‘s jewels. ―Otherwise‖ he says ―I‘ll quit trees evinces life and continuity. Rama‘s
when I‘ve got every single paisa, you bastard! I won‘t let attachment to the Tulsi plant in Tendulkar‘s play
you get away with it! I‘ll sit on your neck. I‘ll make you also suggests the same. 3
puke it out!‖ [255] Then, he tells his brother that his wife is
carrying in her womb the child of Rajaninath. This enrages The Vultures depicts several evil traits in human nature. The
Ramakant, and he scolds Umakant and twists his hand. So, play is as special of Tendulkar‘s plays as it fully presents so
Umakant goes out. Ramakant calls Rama down and talks to many contrasting evils work within a family and the family
her tenderly only to elicit her tender feelings for Rajaninath. members have lost their sensitivity and become so rude and
crude to human compassion. Thus, man since his childhood
In the mean time, Hari Pitale, the Pappa, and Manik have is more lenient towards evil, lives in it, enjoys it, making life
been hanging around the house, thirsty for revenge. Hari hard to him and to others who are associated to him and
Pitale realizes that his legitimate children will kill him for finally dies ignorantly. Man is not giving any chance for
property. He knows that Rajaninath, his illegitimate son, is self realization and repentance but growing more and more
human. So, he seeks his protection from his own children wicked.
and promises Rajaninath to make his ‗will‘ in his favour by
back dating. Rajaninath is repulsed by the property as it has References
made the people loveless vultures. He detests the very idea
of inheriting the property. So, he cannot show any [1] Vijay Tendulkar. Criminals and Killers: A Personal
compassion to him and mercilessly asks him to get out. View. New Delhi: Sahitya Academy, 2002.
[2] Vijay Tendulkar in Conversation with Gowri
Pappa Pitale is one who has lost his guilty consciousness. In Ramnarayan: Interview, Vijay Tendulkar‘s Plays: An
spite of his rearing children in such a way that they Anthology of Recent Criticism (Ed), V.M. Madge,
attempted to kill him, he doesn‘t seem to have any traces of Pencraft International, Delhi, 2007, p. 50
repentance. Pappa collides with Ramakant who has been [3] A.P. Dharani. “Vijay Tendulkar‘s Gidhade and John
eavesdropping. So, he runs away. Webster‘s The Duchess of Malfi”: Vijay Tendulkar’s
Plays an Anthology of Recent Criticism, (Ed)
As Ramakant and Umakant exhaust their share of money V.M.Madge, Pencraft International, Delhi, 2007, p, 118.
and want some more, together they decide to blackmail the
Volume 8 Issue 7, July 2019
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Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
Paper ID: ART20199983 10.21275/ART20199983 1754