The word ‘Aajir’ stands for one who has sold himself into slavery for a paltry sum. In the play, ‘Aajir’, the story of a slave held by a bond signed by an ancestor – a slavery that denies him the right to love, marry and live a life of a human being – discovering that the bond has long turned to dust, but discovering it only too late, is a metaphor for the traditional constraints that bind the individual in our country long after their legal authority has given way. Exploitation operates beyond the law and with the tacit acquiescence of an exploited class held in thrall by a load of conventional role – obligations. Legal reforms or legal defences for the exploited have rarely affected the exploitative mechanism sustained by the illiteracy and ignorance of the exploited. Paatan, the bonded slave, whose ancestor had sold himself, his family and his descendant to perpetual slavery, is a supreme example of the slave suffering forever in a historical perspective that goes on and on.

Mataang, the epitome of manipulation, relegates his wife to a position of inferiority and subjugation tantamounting almost to the bonded position of Paatan. Religious traditions, under the preponderant influence of Hinduism, provide the ideological basis for patriarchy and assign women an inferior role in the family and society.

About the Author

Mahasweta Devi (b. 1926) is one of India's leading writers. She has won the country's most prestigious literary prizes for her writing including the Jnanpith Award, and the Padmashree Award for her activist work among the tribal communities of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. She writes novels, short fiction, and plays, in Bengali, and has made a mark in all three genres. She re-creates a span of history, imbuing her narration with trenchant satire against establishment and soul-stirring poignancy for the underprivileged.

STORY: MAHASWETA DEVI DRAMATISATION: DEBASHISH CHAKRABORTY ADAPTATION AND DIRECTION: SWAPAN MONDAL PRODUCTION: SHUDRAKA HYDERABAD DATE OF PERFORMANCE: AUGUST 22, 2015 TIME: 8 PM DURATION: 1 hour 15 minutes LANGUAGE: BENGALI VENUE: LAMAKAAN

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