ABSTRACT
Vijay Tendulkar is a Marathi playwright and Ghasiram Kotwal is an exception among his plays in not being realist but positioned as a satirical musical. The play is about a Brahmin migrant to Pune Ghasiram who acquires power as the police chief under the Peshwas through the Prime Minister Nana Phadnavis, to whom he pimps his daughter. He becomes powerful, rules Pune with an iron hand but makes enemies due to the high-handedness of his police force. The play uses traditional music to an ironic purpose. Eventually Ghasiram makes one mistake too many and is responsible for the death of a group of Brahmins for which he is executed. My interest in the play is not so much that it shows the abuse of power or in its deemed anti-Shiv Sena stance. It is in what it indicates about the varna system. His ‘Kanyakubj’ Brahminhood (in which Ghasiram has faith) carries little privilege in a milieu dominated by Brahmins of another denomination (Chitpavan). The irreverent play, since it lampooned members of a dynasty who are less local/national heroes, was allowed without protest, while such liberties might not have been possible with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the Marathas.
