Rabindranath Tagore’s Chandalika: An Amalgamation of Spiritual Conflict, Liberation and Rebel against Marginality

Abstract

Rabindranath Tagore, the prominent voice of the Indian Renaissance skilfully presented the conflicts of spirituality, marginality and liberation in the form of a dance drama Chandalika. The play depicts the class consciousness and desire of a marginalised woman to liberate her inner self. She passionately yearns to challenge the social norms and rebel against the discriminations in society. The paper proposes to locate the conflicts, sense of liberation and marginalisation from the psyche of an ostracised woman Prakriti, in Chandalika. The study also focuses on the socio-cultural impulses of the playwright and the plight of a woman to break the social obstacle of marginality. The play tends the readers and the audience to rethink the idea of equality and liberation. The marginalised experience, differences are shown based on caste, gender bias and other conflicts are raised as an aesthetic exploration in the play. It questions the existing belief of caste and marginality. Tagore is imaginative and modernistic in the presentation of the play. The sequences in the play are depicted through dance. Dance in the play is a powerful symbol. Emotions, conflicts, struggles and dialogues are articulated in its true form with the help of the dance. The playwright further amalgamates the internal, spiritual conflicts of liberation against the social hegemony in the play Chandalika