Veteran Marathi playwright and Marxist intellectual G. P. Deshpande turns to India’s ancient past to pinpoint the historical moment of empire in the context of the history of the subcontinent. The central character of the play, Acharya Chanakya Vishnugupta, theoretician and strategist of state, is perceived to be the force behind the rise of young Chandragupta Maurya from a mere rebel to the status of Emperor of Magadha. What drives Chanakya is a historical ...
Writing on the lives of the Mahars of Maharashtra, Baby Kamble reclaims memory to locate the Mahar society before it was impacted by Babasaheb Ambedkar, and tells a consequent tale of redemption wrought by a fiery brand of social and self-awareness. The Prisons We Broke provides a graphic insight into the oppressive, caste and patriarchal tenets of the Indian society, but nowhere does the writing descend to self-pity. With verve and colour the ...