Character of Nandini as a political rebel in Mother Of 1084 - The Uncovered English

Mother of 1084

Novel by Mahasweta Devi

Discuss the character of Nandini as a political rebel.

E. Satya Narayan writes in The plays of Mahasweta Devi, "Life, as Mahasweta Devi has come to know through her lifelong close contact with poorest classes of village people is hard, cruel and merciless. It is to the expression of this life andmd to the exposure of a social system that makes this life a reality." This personal characteristics can be traced out in Nandini who continues to nurture hope for revolt against oppression and resolves never to "come back to the so-called tody" life from her path of revolutionary mission and social commitment . She is a sharp contrast tk another woman character of the olay Sujata who was in the beginning an apolitical mother without the knowledge of the other world of have-nots. But Nandini from her initial appearance is thoroughly political rebel in her outlook. Her spoken criticism to discover her obligation of resisting the long endured domination.

On 21st August 1969 in Deshbrati, Charu Majumdar writes addressing the students and youths, "to spread the chairman's [CPI(ML)] ideology of revolutionary politics among the masses" and to "create in every village of India of India, centres of guerrilla camp for revolutionary movements." In the play Mother of 1084, Nandini along with Brati, Sonu, Partha, Bijit is representative of those who respond to this appeal by involving themselves in the Naxalite Movement. Nandini, a brilliant student of presidency college, comes from a reputed family of Kalighat with her father being a reputed lawyer at Alipur Court. But forsaking her bright career and the world of romance, she resloutes to "train up the gurrrila's in the village, write pasters with Sanchayan and carry messages from Kalighat to Jadavpur or even learn to manufacture pipeguns with Partha." She dedicates herself for a social transformation.

The above words amply summarise our first impression of Nandini. On the face of it she will appear a bit inscrutable l, but in the course of the play sje emerges as someone who is resolute, unflinching and visionary. The way she speaks with Sujata gives her a certain aura of supremacy. She is much younger in age, and yet far richer in experience. She had by now become a seasoned campaigner in the way of the world. She does not sound like a firebrand revolutionary, but she does include a sublime uprightness and a lofty stubbornness which add some grandness to her. The play requires Nandini for a two fold purpose. One was to reveal all that remained undisclosed about Brati.

Through her accounts of Brati, both Sujata and the audience come to know about the glorious facets of Brati's life and dreams. Apart from that Nandini acts as the chief chastiser of society. Nandini came as a godsend to Sujata, she acted as an eye opener to Sujata without her battering words and plain speaking Sujata would have continued in her life of smugness and complacency and compromise.

The comments of Nandini and her harroeing experience in the police station scourged us out of our political shumber (sleep) and complacency and all her remarks and her attitude constitute tje crux of the play. Her quiet comment to Sujata - "How can you be so smug and complacent? with many young men killed, so many imprisoned? It is your 'all's right with the world leys go on nicely' that frightens me most. How can you carry on with your pujas, concerts cultural festivals, film festivals, poetry fests?" that constitutes the locus classicus of the play. The play in fact pivots around the issue of a collective negligence ir social apathy for the ills of the world. Like the prince of the Denmark Nandini speaks dagger to Sujata, so that she can shun the beaten track. Whatever Nandini reveals appear shocking, scandalising and revolting and that is exactly what Mahasweta Devi wanted. Her intention is not cushion the harsh facts of life, rather as members of society we must have the guts to be battered by the ugly visage of reality. It is only then can we think of taking measures to solve our problems.

Both the agony and the euphoria of the Naxalite Movement are buried within Nandini. Along with Brati she envisaged the emergence of a new dawn. Both of them will walk from college street to Bhowanipur talking about the ensuing changes. The world burst with delight. So, Nandini too was a dreamer, and she is a visionary as well. Experience has hardened her, now she can assess the excess of romance which jeopardised the ascent of the revolution. Being an alumini of presidency college, we can easily assume that she had a bright academic career and she hailed from a good family, and yet she abandons everything for the sake of a dream and an ideology.

From all her comments it is clear that Nandini adherred all forms of duplicacy and pretention. When she starts speaking to Sujata she began with the issue of betrayal by Anindya who was highly trusted by Brati. Nandini gets all our respects for her towering sense of commitments her integrity and her espousal of a lofty cause. She is different from her other compatriots. Even in this tender age she sounds philosophic in her remarks as she has encountered the dreary spectacle of reality. Her words are introspective and penetrating, she has acquired an unusual insight on life and the war of the world. She reminds Sujata - "It is a deadly time when people do not belong to one another by virtue of kinship or ties of blood. Everyone remains a stronger these days to everyone. It is a crime to allow this to persist. It is an obligation these days to know one's son."

Nandini can analyse the root of the socio-political maladies with incredible precision and insight. Her diagnosis of class war and social evil deserves appreciation. However inspite of this radicalism and missionary zeal, Nandini has not been presented as larger than life. Mahasweta Devi has not attempted to make Nandini as a superwoman who is devoid of any human feelings. Whenever Nandini speaks of Brati, her tenderness comes to the fare. She does not adopt any excessive or perversive ansterity or monomaniacness in her radicalism. Generally we harbour a lot of malignancy against any form of revolutionary ethos. But beneath the hard exterior, there lies a glorious spring of humanity. In this respect we may recall Nandini words - "People think that we hate whatever exists. But someday there will be people who will say that behind all our apparent cruelties lay a craving to love and to revere."

So in fine we can conclude that Nandini epitomises the image of radical humanism. She is a foil to Sujata. While Sujata too has her milk of human kindness and she too can't accept the inhuman ways of the world, yet she lacks that activism and that firy outburst which can enable her to rip through the ugly facade of society. The difference between the two comes to the fore when Nandini said - "You...my mother...you all speak the same way. (Pause) You will never understand. You have never pleaged everything you had to the cause of all, the way we had."

So more humanism will not suffice. We need the pledge and the dedication to establish that humanism Nandini suffered in the prison solitary cell, but that was something which she deliberately opted for.

---