What is translation?

 Introduction: Translation is an anglicized form of a Latin word. In it, ‘trans’ means ‘across’ and ‘latum’ means ‘to carry.’  In literal terms, it is an art of carrying across boundaries and carriers without losing the material that is carried over. In literary terms, to translate means to make another language like one’s own, to preserve meanings and significances across vocabularies, grammars             and      syntaxes.  [In other word,] it is an art of carrying across the matters of one Source Language (SL) into a             Target Language (TL).

 Translation in the Present: In the past, there were few books on “Translation.” Now, it is a different scenario.  In present, there are countless theories and hundreds of books on Translation.    “The theories of translation developed from purely linguistic approach of the sixties to textual focus of seventies, have now yielded place to the culture-based theory.” The terminology debated has added to the complexity involved in the Art of Translation. Some scholars such as Theodore Savory define translation as an “art”; others such as Eric Jacobsen define it as a “craft”; while other describe it as a “science’. Horst Frenz even goes to extent of saying that “translation is neither a creative art nor an imitative art but stands somewhere in between the two.”

Translation and Translator: The knowledge of the theory of translation will certainly help a practicing translator. Yet his grounding in principles and procedures leads him to decide upon or determine or invent his own translation method. SL and TL cultures and their cultural demands and pressures, nature of the text, the dominant trends in the field are the other forces that influence a translator’s decisions.

Translation in India: In the Indian context, translation assumes added significance in view of the fact that India is a multilingual country.  Indian culture is a mosaic of different sub-cultures in their linguistic plurality comprising different lingual regions, their regional literatures, and styles. Indian literature has had a rich tradition. Without translation a large number of master pieces in each one of the Indian languages will remain locked up treasures to the readers not acquainted with the languages in which they are written. Even national integration will remain a dream if the best of the country is not circulated through translation. It is only due to translation, the thinkers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Viyasa, Tolstoy, Chekov, Isben and so many other famous writers and thinkers have come to limelight and enlightened the people of the world with their ideals.

Importance of  Translation: It is only because of translation The Ramayana, The Mahabharata, Thirukkural and Gitanjali are available to the people all over the world.  Reading the translated texts one can understand that there are so many good and best works written in other languages besides his mother tongue. Above all to catch up with the developed nations to become modern and to be ready and updated, we need translations of the latest books on Science, Technology, Trade, Business Management and so on. Moreover, translation is not, in the modern context, secondary to the original literature. It has an independent existence of its own. It is not reproduction alone but a recreation also. This is possible due to the development in the fields of Linguistics and Literary Criticism. Hence it could be stated that translation has now become “New Literature” or “Literature Three”.

Definitions:

Translation according to Sussan Bassnett, involves “the rendering of a Source Language Text (SLT) into the Target Language Text (TLT) so as to ensure that the surface meaning of the two will be approximately similar and the structures of the SL will be preserved as closely as possible but not so closely that the TL structures will be seriously distorted.

Eugene Nida says that “translation is a process by means of which a person who knows both the Source Language and the Receptor Language; decodes the message of the SL and encodes it in the most appropriate form in the RL. [Nida calls the Target language (TL) as Receptor Language (RL)]

Peter Newmark says that “translation is a craft, consisting in the attempt to replace a written message or statement in one language by the same message or statement in another language”.

The Bible Translation

 Introduction:

The Bible has been translated into more than 2000 languages. About 95% of the world’s population have access to the Bible through their respective languages. The two parts of the Bible namely ‘The Old Testament’ and “The New  Testament’ have been translated. The Old Testament talks about man’s existence - about his origin, his purpose and his end either in Heaven or in Hell. So men find an emotional connection with the pages of the Old Testament. In fact, the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew language and then it was translated into most of the world’s languages.  The New Testament contains the history of the birth of Christ, his life, his death, his resurrection and also his teachings. Therefore, the New Testament also finds a special place in the lives of people of the world.

 History of the Bible Translation:

Third Century: In this period the Old Testament was translated into Greek language from Hebrew language and was known as the Septuagint.

Fourth Century: St. Jerome was commissioned by Pope Damascus in 354 A.D. to translated the Bible from Hebrew into Latin and it was known as Vulgate. The Vulgate was the first translation of the whole Bible into Latin. It was a sense for sense translation.

Fourteenth Century: The first English version of the Bible (the New Testament) was made from Latin by John Wycliff.

Fifteenth Century: John Purvey revised the first edition of Wycliff’s The New Testament and brought out the second edition of it in an intelligent, idiomatic version.

Sixteenth Century: William Tyndale translated the New Testament from the Greek. The 16^th century saw the invention of the printing press and Tyndale printed it in 1526. The 16^th century saw the translation of the Bible into a large number of European languages.

Seventeenth Century: Coverdale completed the incomplete version of Tyndale’s Old Testament and produced the first completely printed English Bible in 1563. In 1538, Cromwell ordered that every church should contain Bible for general use. To meet the demand a revision of the Matthew Bible was made by Coverdale. It was known as the Great Bible. The first Geneva Bible which was translated by William Whittingham, John Knox and others appeared in 1560. The RC church produced their own Bible which as known as the Douai Bible.  Archbishop Parker disapproved with the puritan notes found in Great Bible and Geneva Bible and appointed a panel to edit the Bible. This was known as Bishop’s Bible and appeared in 1568. The German Bible of Martin Luther gave top priority to  meaning than grammar.

Eighteenth Century: The Authorized Version of the Bible King Jame’s Bible of 1611 became the accepted Bible. It paid more attention to the spirit and meaning of the original. Then revision of the Authorized Version of Bible was made.

Nineteenth Century:  The nineteenth century is often called the century of missionaries. The Christian missionaries first prepared word lists and grammatical descriptions of the languages of the conquered people in the colonial empire. This helped them to translated the Bible into some hundreds of languages.

Twentieth Century: The 20^th century saw the setting up of Summer Institute of Linguistics. It has 3700 members working on 675 languages in 29 countries. Linguistic research was undertaken as a first step to Bible translation. An important organization known as United Bible Societies came into existence. Eugene Nida served as its Secretary and produced three books on translation: 1. Bible Translating, 2. Towards a Science of Translating, and 3. Theory and Practice of Translating.

Function of Language in Bible Translation:

The early translators of the Bible lacked the naturalness of the style of the Receptor languages, slavishly imitated the syntax of the original and translated the same word of the original by the same word in spite of the different contexts in which it appeared. Hence Nida along with Taber goes on to underline the three basic functions of the language: 1. The informative function, 2. The expressive function, and 3. The imperative function. All these three functions are necessary for an understanding of the Bible.

The Informative Function: It is not enough to understand the message. It is important that the message should not be misunderstood. The translation should convey the information in the simple unambiguous language. For example the Bible expression ‘sons of Belial’ should be translated into ‘ wicked people’ and not into ‘ the sons of a man called Belial’.

The Expressive Function: In this, the readers should not only understand the meaning but also they should feel about what is said. The translation should convey the feeling, mood, and the tone of the speaker. For example:

                        “Thy money perish with thee”  (King Jame’s Version [KJV])

                  "May you and your money go to hell” (Good News Bible [GNB] by American                                    Bible Society)

                  “To hell with your money!” (J.B. Phillip’s New Testament in Modern English                                        [JBP])

In Hebrew the four lettered word YHWH is for God and traditionally known as Jehovah. In English tradition, Lord is preferred to Jehovah. The English Standard Version and American Standard Version used Jehovah but it did not prove popular. The Revised Standard Version has come back to the use of Lord as in the place of King Jame’s Version.

The Imperative Function: It assumes that the SL text is not an ordinary document but mean to guide humanity. This function is prominent in the translation of sacred texts not in scientific texts. The functions of language and the priorities in translation should be considered in Bible translation:

                        ‘paraloka samrajyam’ to ‘irai arasu’

                        ‘cuvi cesham’ to ‘narceythi’

                        ‘thirkatharasi’ to ‘iraivakianar’

Many translators consider it as impious to replace the Sankritized words by Tamil.

To avoid many problems, Nida makes a rather but practical suggestion that we have three types of scripture:

    An ecclesiastical translation for use in churches

    A translation in the present-day literary language

    A translation in the popular or common language which is at the same time applicable to the                     publication.

A Note on Tamil Translation: Even in Tamil Nadu, people have a feeling that the old version has a holiness and that it should not be changed. The Christian Tamil has been known for its mixture of Sanskrit words with Tamil words. The Tamil Christians are against purifying Christian Tamil. They are for retaining Sanskrit words. 

Major Themes in Far from the Madding Crowd

Unrequited Love

The theme of unrequited love exists in most of the romantic relationships in Far from the Madding Crowd. Gabriel Oak's  first proposal of marriage to BathSheba Everdene is greeted with refusal. When she refuses, telling him that it's "no use" and that she doesn't love him, he replies that he will keep loving her till his death. In the course of the novel, Gabriel keeps this promise. Despite her refusal, he becomes her shepherd. He returns after she fires him, and he offers her his friendship, advice, and support. This loyalty remains when she is expected to marry Boldwood, when she does marry Troy, and when again she might marry Boldwood. Gabriel defends her when others speak ill of her, works steadfastly to support her farm and her well-being, and he does so despite her mistreatment of him. His love, unlike the others, is rewarded ultimately. Eventually, Bathsheba returns his love. The final chapter of the novel sees them married.

William Boldwood's love for Bathsheba is in vain, and its consequences are tragic. His first proposal to Bathsheba is rejected. Despite all of the logical reasons to marry him, Bathsheba refuses. After Sergeant Troy is thought to be dead, Boldwood again pursues Bathsheba. His unrequited love for Bathsheba leads him to obsession and even murder, and subsequently, Boldwood loses his freedom and nearly loses his life.

Fanny Robin also experiences unrequited love. Sergeant Troy has treated her poorly. She is left without resources, poor, alone, and she died after giving birth to a baby in her unwed condition. Her letter to Gabriel indicates that she expects that her love will lead to happiness. However, there is no wedding. Troy's affection for her does lead him to go after her to offer her money when he sees her on the road, but by then it is too late. He has carried a curl of her hair with him, and he spends what money he has  to purchase a grave marker for Fanny. The love between Troy and Bathsheba may not be unrequited, but it is destructive. Fanny's love for Troy leads to her destruction; his after-the-fact love for her leads to his marital strife and departure.

Marriage as a Trap

The theme of marriage is also prevalent in Far from the Madding Crowd. As in many pastoral novels, love and matrimony are central concerns. In this case, marriage is a trap. When Bathsheba receives her first proposal from Gabriel Oak, she rejects it immediately. She knows that marrying would mean ceding many of her legal rights to her husband. Her refusals of the proposals from Gabriel Oak and from William Boldwood, and her intent to end her relationship with Sergeant Troy, all support this claim. Bathsheba and Troy both appear to get caught in a trap that pulls them to the altar. When Troy meets her in the field, their second meeting, his initial insincerity gives way to something genuine. This new passion pushes him to court her in earnest, and he appeals to her vanity. On the events precipitating her marriage, Bathsheba admits that Troy had told her that he'd seen a woman more beautiful than her. Troy's clever trap works, as she explains: "And then, between jealousy and distraction, I married him!" After the marriage, Troy's demeanor changes, and she begins to learn his true character. She quickly comes to regret having married in haste.

More broadly, love is described as a labyrinthine trap. The implication therein is that marriage cures people of love. That is certainly true in the case of Bathsheba and Francis Troy's marriage. They have affection and fascination between them prior to marriage, but after they wed, they have discord. Additionally, many of the characters express similar skepticism about marital bliss. William Boldwood, at 40, has been a bachelor and successful in his career. His decline comes with his pursuit of marriage. Laban Tall is something of a caricature: his wife answers for him when he is asked about work, and she is repeatedly represented as domineering. In fact, he is called "Susan Tall's husband" on nine separate occasions.

Women's Independence

The story of Far from the Madding Crowd concerns issues of women's independence, which is both a strength of the novel and a source of some of its early criticism. Bathsheba Everdene, like many of Hardy's female protagonists, is not a passive woman. When Gabriel Oak first sees her, she is objecting to paying a toll. His next encounter with her is merely watching her as she breaks from the accepted forms for a woman rider.  Gabriel also sees that Bathsheba does not ride sidesaddle, nor does she ride poorly in her seat. When there are no witnesses, she rides with the sort of grace that Gabriel compares to graceful creatures of nature. Her circumspections show that she is aware that she is not following the dictates of behavior for women. 

Likewise when Bathsheba speaks to her employees, she is overt in her statements that she knows that there will be doubts because she is a woman. At the market, the talk of her independence is dismissive, minimizing her capabilities and focusing the commentary on her appearance. Her desire to handle her farm independently is belittled as being "headstrong," but the men turn to her positive traits in their estimation: she is "shapely." Her business skills are expected to be lacking, but she is beautiful. This is all the men at the market expect of her. Bathsheba must face this stereotype about women throughout the novel—and Hardy faced the same from his critics.

Bathsheba insists on exploring the freedom of her peculiar station. Beyond her stated objection to marriage—the overt legal restrictions that a woman in the 19th century would undoubtedly face—she values the unusual enjoyment of independence.  Bathsheba exercises her rights and allows herself some pleasure in the knowledge of it.

Far from the Madding Crowd (by Thomas Hardy)

 Summary

Far from the Madding Crowd opens with an introduction to Gabriel Oak, a farmer in his late 20s who has experience with shepherding. Currently in debt, he tends his own flock to be best able to manage them and turn a profit. A wagon arrives with Bathsheba Everdene and her aunt, Mrs. Hurst. Bathsheba loses her hat, argues about paying a toll, and ultimately, Gabriel pays the two pence toll. Bathsheba, about 20 years old, is beautiful and strong-willed. When Gabriel next sees her, she rides astride a horse skillfully. They meet, exchange words, and not long afterwards, she rescues him. Gabriel has fallen asleep with the smoke trapped in his cottage; had Bathsheba not noticed and acted, the smoke inhalation would have killed him. She is calm as she does so. In short order, he decides he loves her and will propose. Bathsheba refuses his offer. Not long after she leaves for Weatherbury, his flock dies. Gabriel travels in pursuit of work, and a hiring fair leads him to the same town where Bathsheba lives. A crop fire draws him in, and for no reason beyond it being the right thing to do, he steps up and leads the efforts to save the crops. Afterwards, he learns that the farmer—a woman—needs a shepherd. The farmer is Bathsheba. He becomes her employee.

At the same time, one of her employees, Fanny Robin, vanishes. Gabriel meets the woman as she is leaving and he gives her money for her needs. As time passes, Fanny meets up with the man who has been courting her, Sergeant Francis Troy, and pursues the marriage he has promised her. As a prank, Bathsheba sends an anonymous valentine to the farmer of the adjacent farm, William Boldwood, stating "Marry me." Her identity is found out, and Boldwood begins to think of marriage. At this same time, Gabriel receives a letter from Fanny. She reports that she is going to get married and sends back his money. That wedding does not happen. Bathsheba and Gabriel continue to have a rapport, and he defends her to the locals who are less than impressed by her independence. At this time, Boldwood proposes, and Bathsheba refuses. He presses her to consider. Not long after the first, he proposes again, and they agree that she will think on it while he is away for the next five to six weeks.

While he is away, Bathsheba meets a soldier, Sergeant Troy, who flatters and charms her. He conducts a sword demonstration for her only, cuts a curl of her hair to keep, and kisses her. Soon she is in love, sends a letter to Boldwood, who is temporarily away at Bath, and continues to develop a relationship with Troy. Gabriel advises against this relationship and warns her that Troy is not the admirable man he claims to be. Boldwood returns, demands that Bathsheba answer his questions, and curses Troy. Bathsheba goes to Bath, intending to end her relationship with Troy out of fear for his safety, but she marries him instead. When they return, Troy buys his way out of the army but has little work ethic regarding the farm. He spends Bathsheba's money on gambling and brandy. Boldwood sinks into depression over the loss of Bathsheba and lets his crops rot.

Meanwhile, Gabriel sees a storm coming that will threaten the crop. He takes it upon himself to save the crops yet again (this being half the year's yield), and Bathsheba comes to help. Troy and the employees are uselessly drunk. This action occurs, notably, eight months after the night when Gabriel saved the crops from fire. Troy and Bathsheba quarrel when they see a woman (Fanny) along the road, and Bathsheba realizes that he knows her. At this point, Bathsheba doesn't realize the woman on the road is Fanny or that Bathsheba's husband is the soldier Fanny loved. Troy makes arrangements to go to Fanny to give her money several days later, but she is already dead. Bathsheba and Troy quarrel when she sees a lock of golden hair in his possession.

Word comes to Bathsheba that her former servant Fanny is dead while Troy is in Casterbridge to meet Fanny. Bathsheba sends for Fanny's body. Before Troy returns, she discovers that Fanny and her child are both in the coffin. Her husband's former lover and child arrive dead in her own house. Distraught, as is Troy when he returns and discovers the circumstances, Bathsheba argues with him, and they separate. He goes to have a grave marker made, and Bathsheba leaves the house. Francis Troy does not return. He sleeps at the churchyard, plants flowers that wash away, and has the stone set for Fanny. Afterward, he goes for a swim. The current carries him away, and he ends up being rescued by a ship with passage to America. (Later, the narrator reveals that Troy works as a "Professor of Gymnastics, Sword Exercise, Fencing, and Pugilism" once in America).

Troy is presumed dead. Bathsheba is presumed a widow. Within the year, Boldwood again proposes to her, this time with the belief that she owes him. She points out that her husband might not be dead, and it would be years until she could marry. Boldwood asks her to still be engaged, expressing that he will wait. They agree that she will decide if she can accept his proposal—and a multiple-year engagement—by Christmas. Gabriel continues to advise Bathsheba and run her farm. He takes on the management of Boldwood's farm, too. Troy, meanwhile, returns to Weatherbury. He decides to reveal himself to his wife, and he chooses to do so at Boldwood's party where Bathsheba has just agreed to marry Boldwood if her husband is, in fact, dead. When Troy reveals himself, Bathsheba, clearly stunned, lets out a cry as he grabs her. Boldwood draws a gun from above the fireplace and kills Troy. He attempts to kill himself, too, but a servant stops him. He then reports to prison.

Bathsheba has her husband's body taken home, cleans and dresses him, and collapses after the surgeon and parson come. She has her husband buried with Fanny and their child, and she has the stone that he purchased for Fanny amended to include him. The discovery of clothing and jewelry labeled for "Bathsheba Boldwood" serves as proof that Boldwood is not of sound mind, and he is spared death. Gabriel continues to run both farms. However, he tells Bathsheba that he will be quitting, possibly going to America. His resignation arrives at Christmas, a year after Troy's death and Boldwood's imprisonment. She confronts Gabriel about his resignation, and he reveals that people spoke ill of him and of her, suggesting that he was waiting around to wed her and take over her farm. In the conversation, she reveals that he ought to ask her, and soon after, they have a private, quiet wedding.

 

The Dumb Dancer by Asif Currimbhoy

 Introduction:  “The Dumb Dancer”,  a highly acclaimed Psychological play of an Indian playwright Asif Currimbhoy, is a fascinating story of a Kathakali dancer’s emotional plight in the competitive world. The central characters in this play seem to be affected with Schizophrenia. The text has elaborate footnotes and numerous illustrations to explain to a foreign reader the history and tradition of Kathakali dance. The play was written in 1961 and was staged in 1965 in United States later it was staged at the British Drama League Festival. The kathakali dance with the accompaniment of drums, cymbals, gongs and songs can easily hold the foreign audience spellbound. Currimbhoy recalls its effect on the audience when it was staged at the British Drama League Festival: The timing and the tone of the play were just right. Everything was bizarre to the point of fascination and the audiences were absolutely thrilled. I don’t think we will ever forget the experience.”

Discussion: “The Dumb Dancer” is a story of a Kathakali dancer Bhima, who plays the mythological role of Bhima and over identifies himself with the role to the extent of forgetting his own identity in this world. He gradually turns insane and becomes a patient in a mental asylum. Bhima, the kathakali dancer is under the delusion that he is the real Bhima of the Mahabharata, who had avenged the humiliation of his beloved wife Draupadi by killing Duryodhana. He becomes mentally deranged at the thought of his having become a murderer, the victim in his insane fantasy. Dr. Prema, the psychiatrist who treats him, becomes so strongly involved emotionally with his problem that, instead of curing him, she herself becomes insane. While treating him she gradually starts identifying herself with Draupadi, the beloved wife of Bhima and slowly turns insane.

The play begins with a scene in the operation theatre of a mental asylum where ‘a dance sequence from Duryodhana’s slaughter’ is enacted with the sane on one side and the insane on the other side as its audience. The surprising thing is Bhima, a Kathakali dancer but an inpatient in the hospital plays the role of Bhima. No one knows this fact till Prema, the doctor who is treating Bhima reveals it to Dilip a house surgeon. Through the conversation between Prema and Dilip, one comes to know the illness of Bhima and his over identification with the mythological character Bhima to the extent of forgetting his real identity. “Your patient is a Schizophrenic who calls himself Bhima and identifies himself with a mythological character in a historical play. The case is not an uncommon one.” When Dr. Dilip asks Dr. Prema why she had allowed the patient to enact the violent scene, Dr. Prema explains that she gives him a shock therapy which would bring back to his real-self. To give Bhima a shock treatment Dr. Prema wishes him to go through the performance again, as close to reality as possible.

Act II is a flash-back which takes us to the training center where Bhima is exposed to the strict and rigorous training in kathakali center. He often lapses into contemplation and tries to identify himself with Bhima of “The Mahabharata” who stands for courage, strength and ferociousness. He is very ambitious to achieve perfection in his art. In “thundering accents” he recites a few verses from the vow of revenge from “The Mahabharata” and performs the kathakali dance. His competency with a co-student, the singer Madhu a blind one, his intimacy with Guru’s daughter Shakuntala, his mental illness in the budding stage which from time to time is corrected by Guru, his fierce act of cutting his tongue to become greater than Madhu and also the greatest in the art field, he gradually turning insane and becoming a patient in asylum are seen in the second act. The verses chanted by Madhu, a blind pupil in the kathakali training centre, and a rival to Bhima are intended to give the background of the play. In a moment of elation, Bhima asks his Guru if he will ever attain the greatness of Madhu at all. The teacher says ‘No’. Then Bhima becomes upset and insists his Guru to explain why and how Madhu is greater? Then the Guru says, perhaps Madhu’s genius is due to his blindness, as those who lack one of the senses develop an unerring accuracy in another. He advises Bhima to – get back to work ‘since there can be no greatness without sacrifice. He also tells Bhima that his speech interferes his practice. Bhima who wants to excel Madhu is instructed by the Guru to practice dance ‘silently’. He grows restless, contorts his body into an agonizing dumb dancer and cries out. The dumb dancer…the dumb…dancer …These words electrify the situation and express the mental agony of Bhima. Immediately, he recedes into darkness, cuts his tongue and emerges again into the flickering light and throws his severed tongue at the feet of his Guru.

The III Act consists of Prema’s efforts to bring Bhima back to normalcy. She wants to place a dead corpse with torn abdomen in the place of Duryodhana to give a kind of shock therapy to Bhima to bring him back to normalcy. As a part of shock therapy, Dr. Prema keeps the corpse with a mask of Duryodhana on it when Bhima is playing the role of roudra (ferocious) Bhima getting ready to kill Duryodhana. Dr. Prema’s fascination for Bhima grows stronger and stronger and she slowly starts identifying herself with Draupadi, the beloved wife of Bhima. Her identification is interrupted by Shakuntala whom Bhima identifies as Draupadi. She feels jealous of her. Sensing that she is drawn very much towards the dumb dancer, Dr. Dilip wonders at her behaviour and asks her to come out of this illusion. In the final scene, Dr. Dilip finds Dr. Prema standing with her tresses dripping blood, on her head with the hands of Bhima who stands impassive. With wild eyes she declares that she has killed Shakuntala for her complete identification with Draupadi. The play ends with Prema turning insane, identifying herself with Draupadi. Prema, the superintendent of the mental asylum murders Shakuntala, her rival in order to own Bhima. In her ecstasy of identification, she puts Bhima’s arms around her, making his hand caress her hair.

The drama symbolically displays the indispensable struggle between the real self and the self that is projected and takes the audience to the inner depths of mind to show that alienation is an indispensable factor in the human life. Bhima the kathakali dancer and Prema the psychiatrist who treats him are the characters that show this inner struggle which in turn turns them insane. Through these two characters Currimbhoy presents the conflict between the real-self and the projected self in human mind which leads to the contemplation of human existence. Bhima feels comfortable in the dark and feels it difficult to come into light. This symbolically presents the conflict of real self and projected self in Bhima and he retreating himself into the inner depths of mind to find the real identity. As the degree of identification grows he forgets his existing identity in the world and becomes insane in the eyes of society.

Prema is another rare and sensitive individual who is aware of the conflict between the natural self and the image projected. Dr. Dilip comments on the tension in her mind. The more she thinks in terms of exercising her psychiatric skills the more she grows restless and is drawn towards Bhima. She tells Dilip about the restlessness in her mind. She develops emotional intimacy with her patient and even feels jealous of Shakuntala for her hold on Bhima who considers Shakuntala as his Draupadi and is very tender to her. Such behaviour is against her professional ethics as dictated by the society in which she lives.

Thus the play highlights conflicts in man. Currimbhoy uses one of the moods in the Kathakali dance “Distraction” it is the mood that symbolizes the man growing mad by lapsing into the inner depths of mind. When Shakuntala asks Bhima to show the mood Distraction, he immediately recedes into darkness and tells he can’t come out of it. He invites Shakuntala to come into it. Shakuntala rejects as it is a terrifying world full of darkness and so many masks hanging on the wall. Shakuntala goes back but Prema ventures, she goes into it comes with the mask. She is comfortable in. Inner depths of mind are a vertex. Once you get into it, there is no point of returning. For Prema “Distraction reaches higher than Sanity.”

The element of suspense makes the play more and more interesting. In the very opening scene one does not know why the pantomime is tried and why the psychiatrist is very anxious to make clinical assumptions about the dancer. The audience may be very much interested to know why Dr. Prema asks Dr. Dilip to conduct a shock therapy. The audiences are kept in suspense in act III where the nurse tells Dr. Dilip that a scalpel is missing. After the conduct of autopsy, one hears a scream in darkness and Dr. Prema tells Dilip that she has killed Shakuntala because she thought that she stood as a snag in reaching Bhima. In the end, she goes to Bhima and puts his arms around her. A faint echo Draupadi… Draupadi is heard and we do not know who has called out the name. Thus suspense engages the audience throughout the play.

Currimbhoy uses some effective theatrical devices in the play. He uses kathakali dance as a powerful dramatic device. Light and shadow, music, and masks are used to draw the narrow line between the two worlds – the sane and the insane; conscious and subconscious; external and inner life. By using all these modern theatrical devices and experimenting with the form and content Currimbhoy displays the universal questions related to human behavior and existence. And the play has attracted a great deal of critical attention, an interest which is certainly due to Currimbhoy’s attempt to combine the theatrical code of kathakali with western dramatic form.

Conclusion: The central characters in the play suffer from alienation. They dramatize man’s need for belongingness and the sense of identification. Thus, the play “The Dumb Dancer” portrays the frustration of the kathakali dancer, Bhima to achieve perfection in his art, his sense of insecurity, and his inarticulate groping for identity in the competitive world. And Dr. Prema identifies herself with Draupadi but in the process she finds Shakuntala as an obstacle, and to make her identification complete, she murders Shakuntala. The play ends with the sane psychiatrist turns insane.