Description

Much has been said about the way Tagoreviewshis women in his poems, essays, novels and drama. Yet it isthedance dramas of Tagore, a genre quite unique in his timeandmilieu, which portray the radical nature of Tagore’s conceptionofwomen and the maturation of their selfhood. The dancedramasillustrate Tagore’s bold and perceptive experimentationwithvarious literary forms and techniques and the radical nature ofhisideological orientation. Among the dance dramas ofTagore,Chandalika has a special place as it foregrounds the themeoffemale desire in an untouchable girl, a tabooed subject inhistimes, indeed even now in Bengali writings. This paper triestoshow how Tagore uses the nuances of the dance form to showcasetheintersections of caste, class and gender as well as theevolutionof selfhood in Prakriti, the Chandal girl.