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    This paper imagines possible scenarios for the private conjugal life of Munswamy, a minor character in Mahesh Dattani's radio play "Seven Steps Around the Fire." Munswamy's marital status and home life are not described in the original work. There are two plausible interpretations discussed. One is that Munswamy exercises the same patriarchal domination over his wife as the character Suresh does, since Munswamy displays patriarchal attitudes. However, Munswamy could also be seen as a subversive figure based on his meek and submissive behavior, in which case his conjugal life may not involve the same male dominance. Ultimately, the paper acknowledges that Munswamy's

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    This article is an speculative analysis of a character's conjugal life beyond the textual domain.

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    Seven Steps around the Fire by Mahesh Dattani

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    This paper imagines possible scenarios for the private conjugal life of Munswamy, a minor character in Mahesh Dattani's radio play "Seven Steps Around the Fire." Munswamy's marital status and home life are not described in the original work. There are two plausible interpretations discussed. One is that Munswamy exercises the same patriarchal domination over his wife as the character Suresh does, since Munswamy displays patriarchal attitudes. However, Munswamy could also be seen as a subversive figure based on his meek and submissive behavior, in which case his conjugal life may not involve the same male dominance. Ultimately, the paper acknowledges that Munswamy's

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    871 views4 pages

    Seven Steps Around The Fire by Mahesh Dattani

    Uploaded by

    Avijit pal
    This paper imagines possible scenarios for the private conjugal life of Munswamy, a minor character in Mahesh Dattani's radio play "Seven Steps Around the Fire." Munswamy's marital status and home life are not described in the original work. There are two plausible interpretations discussed. One is that Munswamy exercises the same patriarchal domination over his wife as the character Suresh does, since Munswamy displays patriarchal attitudes. However, Munswamy could also be seen as a subversive figure based on his meek and submissive behavior, in which case his conjugal life may not involve the same male dominance. Ultimately, the paper acknowledges that Munswamy's

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 4

    Pal 1

    Avijit Pal

    Professor Sagar Taranga Mandal

    Postcolonial Writing: Literature

    24th December, 2019.

    Munswamy’s Conjugal Life beyond the Textual Domain

    This present paper is an imaginary expansion of the private life of Munswamy, a minor

    figure in Mahesh Dattani’s radio play Seven Steps Around the Fire (1999). Although the play

    begins with the chanting of Sanskrit marriage-mantras, it is not followed by any marriage

    ceremony. Furthermore, the play introduces a single married couple, Suresh and Uma, and

    leaves everything unsaid about Munswamy’s conjugal life. This paper, however, would offer

    possible scenarios of Munswamy’s married life substantiating as well as critiquing with the help

    of textual references.

    The space a piece of literature carves out often crosses the boundary sanctioned by the

    author. Readers often fabricate further incidents for their favourite characters. Texts no longer

    remain self-contained. Characters start living longer life off-pages. The authorial control over

    the text gets dismantled by manifold possibilities of further developments of characters

    conjured up by the readers. However, speculations about Munswamy’s private life can be

    diversified into manifold ways. One plausible interpretation is that, like Suresh, he would

    exercise the same conjugal politics of domination because he is as patriarchal as Suresh.


    Pal 2

    Another reading tends to spotlight Munswamy as a subversive figure and offers a contrary

    scenario of Munswamy’s married life.

    The way Munswamy’s first impression is projected in the play compels us to draw a

    parallel between Munswamy and Suresh. Form this point of view it can be argued that his

    patriarchal bent of mind presupposes the possibility of repeating the same matrimonial politics

    of domination as practiced by Suresh. What happens in the intimate space of the bedroom of

    Suresh and Uma is a kind of reiteration of what happens in the male section of the jail. Suresh

    takes recourse to “paternalistic dominance” (Lerner 217). Suresh dehumanizes his conjugal

    partner by asking her to “wear the purple one” (Collected Plays 9). In the same way,

    Munswamy dehumanizes Anarkali by treating her as a “worthless pig” (8). Interestingly,

    Anarkali calls Uma the wife of “the big Munswamy”(8). What is latent in her address is that no

    such difference can be located between Munswamy and Suresh. This similarity reinforces the

    possibility of Munswamy being equally dominant as Suresh in conjugal life.

    At the outset of the play, the “it-she” dialectic is introduced by Munswamy and Uma,

    the wife of the Superintendent of police. When Uma expresses her wish to talk to Anarkali

    addressing her as “she”, Munswamy chuckles and utters: “She! Of Course it will talk to you. We

    will beat it up if it doesn’t” (7). Additionally, Munswamy tries to dissuade Uma from taking up

    Anarkali’s case saying that might bring shame to her “respectable family”(7). Patriarchal society

    employs this tool of the sense of shame to control women, to limit their mobility and to restrict

    their autonomy. However, Munswamy’s attitudes towards Anarkali implicate him in gender-

    specific domination and that might find worse expression in his conjugal life.
    Pal 3

    Nevertheless, this study fails to incorporate another aspect of Munswamy’s character.

    Munswamy can be seen as a subversive figure. He exists in a limbo wavering between his

    reluctance to assist Uma and his effeminate submission to power-structure. He repeatedly

    addresses Uma as “sir” and it adds a comic touch to the play. He willy-nilly accompanies her to

    Russel market to track down the real culprit. The stereotypes of gender roles get subverted

    here. This aspect of Munswamy’s character strengthens the argument that Munswamy’s

    conjugal life would not be one of male-domination. Moreover, his servility might translate into

    mockery the way Indian Babus mimicked their colonial masters.

    Apparently, it seems he yields to power-structure but close analysis reveals that he

    succumbs to Uma’s determination. In The Swami and Winston (2000), which is a sequel to

    Seven Steps Around the Fire, Munswamy’s submissive attitude towards Uma becomes more

    pronounced. In The Swami and Winston, Munswamy’s meekness comes to the fore when he is

    found to be asking for help from Uma uttering: “Madam! Please help me Madam!” (Dattani 10).

    This happens when he is ordered by Suresh to find a dog or he will get him “transferred to

    some village” (Dattani 10). From this perspective, it can be argued that Munswamy would not

    take recourse to “paternalistic dominance”.

    However, these speculations about Munswamy’s private life are premised upon the

    dramatic exposures to his public life. It is true that public life often affects private life. But it is

    also true that for many people public life and private life remain separate. Hence, apart from

    the speculations offered in this essay, many other imaginary expansions of Munswamy’s

    conjugal life are possible.


    Pal 4

    Works Cited

    Dattani, Mahesh. Collected Plays, New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2005.

    Dattani, Mahesh. The Swami and Winston, Penguin UK, 2013.

    Lerner, Gerda. The Creation of Patriarchy, New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.

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