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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
Darius Cooper
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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
other two areas revealed interesting facts about the deposed King Wajid
and the British resident Outram. The former, according to Ray,
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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
10. All English and Bengali newspapers and journals of the period
preserved in The National Library in Calcutta.
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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
The camera pulls back and we now see the two Lakhnavi landlords
Meer and Roshan Ali and Mirza Sajjad Ali (hereafter referred to as Mir
and Mirza). As Ray's camera fixes the two friends playing chess with rapt
concentration, the narrator intones:
It has been like this ever since the day the two friends
discovered this noble game. You may ask: have they no
work to do? Of course not! Whoever heard of the landed
gentry working? These are noblemen of the capital of
Oudh or Lucknow.
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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
An animation follows showing cherries and their crowns being knocked off
by Dalhousie. And as the last cherry is swallowed up, the narrator
informs us in historical tones what Indian states each of those swallowed
cherries signified:
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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
Poor Wajid! If only you knew what was in the mind of the
Resident of Lucknow, General Outram.
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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
In addition to the prologue Ray adds to his filmic text three crucial
scenes. None of these figure in Premchand's original short story. The
first is the scene between the chess players and the city's garrulous and
gracious Hindu Munshi, a character created by Ray to establish the
harmony that existed between the Muslims and the Hindus in Wajid's
Oudh); the second is the scene where Wajid, in a long monologue, accepts
before his ministers, the hopelessness of his political position; and the third
scene occurs in the study of the British Resident, where General Outram,
in a long monologue, contrasts the ideologies of someone like Wajid with
his own master's political ambitions. Let us deal with each in the order
indicated.
The chess players are about to commence their game one day,
when the city's Munshi arrives to see them. Annoyed by this intrusion,
but in keeping with the nawabi code of hospitality, they receive him in
their "hall of audience11 most graciously. In the conversation that ensues
between them, the two main topics discussed are "chess" and "the British. "
The Munshi, at first, elaborates on the "rumours" he has heard of the
"British" speculating some sort of "a takeover" of Oudh. But finding the
two nawabs casting wistful glances at the chessboard, and realizing his
own untimely intrusion, he very skillfully steers his remaining remarks to
"the history of chess" to capture their bored-and-straying attention.
Wanting to retain the "British" in his conversation, however, the Munshi
now cleverly proceeds to teach them the rudiments of playing chess "the
British way," its main contribution lying in the "Englishman's ability to
produce quick decisions" in the game. Reacting strongly to this, the
nawabs, who play chess at a more leisurely and languid pace, launch a
mighty tirade against other, similar, British qualities, which they detest.
These include the British obsession with "speed," "communications," and
"actions;" their insatiable "desire for wealth," and their "confounded
efficiency" in administration, etc. So animated does Mir become, at one
moment, that he snatches an ancient cutlass from the wall and brags about
the martial eminence of his ancestors. Since Mir has never handled a
weapon before, he cuts a very clumsy figure, ventilating empty rhetoric
with this ancient relic in his unaccustomed hands.
The inclusion of this scene is crucial for two reasons. In the first
instance, it points to similar actions, which will be performed by both
nawabs at the end of the film. Second, it allows Ray to presage the irony
and hollowness of what they profess, as will become apparent in the end
of the film. Mir' s inability to handle a hereditary weapon when
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Journal of South Asian Literature , Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
When Mir makes the remark that "whatever happens, the British
can't stop us playing chess," Mirza retaliates, "We are talking of war and
he thinks only of chess." The fact that Mirza is infected with the same
chess-virus is indicated by Ray in the scene that follows between Mirza
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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
Before Wajid Ali Shah actually speaks his monologue, Ray depicts
the monarch's characteristics through purley visual images. In a visual
resume, we see Wajid adopting several roles and expressing several
abhinayas (gestures). Ray frames him first as Lord Krishna, playing the
flute and assuming the stance of the eternal lover. Then, we see him
leading a Mohurrum procession, dressed resplendently as a uslim prophet.
This is followed by a shot of Wajid, stroking his cat, in a style very
reminiscent of a James Bond's villain, while enjoying the sensuous glances
of the kathak dancer at a lavishly performed jalsa (dance performance).
Next, we see Wajid composing a poem and reciting it loudly to his court
during a trial when he is expected to render a judicial verdict. These
expressions of Wajid's eccentric personality are crucial indices of his effort
to transcend his position as ruler/king by adopting all these different roles
of dancer/flute-player, prophet, lover, and poet. His confidence in himself
is fueled by his imaginative life, in which all this role-playing enhances the
traditional royal image. Furthermore, his ministers, his courtiers, and
even the ordinary citizens of Oudh, accept this. So, when Wajid comes
out with a poem, instead of a judicial verdict at a trial, they are not in the
least surprised.
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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
"Did you know," Outram informs Weston at the outset, "that the
King prayed five times a day?" The indicative intent here is that instead
of ruling and admintering Wajid is more interested in trivial and
non-monarchical acitivies like 'praying.' Weston's insurgent response to
this is "Five is the number prescribed by the Koran, sir. * This
immediately affirms Outram' s ignorance of Islamic religion and culture
through which he is now asked to interpret Wajid and not through the
colonial culture of the British. Acknowledging Weston's move, Outram
tries another colonial approach. Dipping into the official document,
Outram comes up with the following damaging fissures in Wajid's
personality:
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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
Since the official report leaves out the appropriate indices, Outram
expects Weston to come up with the damaging adjectives and epithets to
typify Wajid as an unfit ruler. 'Tell me Weston. . . .What kind of poet
is the King? Is he any good, or is it simply because he is the King they
say he is good?" Every effort is made by Outram in his discourse to shift
the 'accomplished' qualities of the King to the 'terrible.' But Weston will
not allow that shift to take place. Using his own authority -- for Weston
knows the Urdu language and the people and culture of Oudh firsthand -
he informs Outram that as a poet, Wajid "I think is rather good." To
prove this he not only recites a Wajid poem in translation but also
interprets it for him. To Outram' s closed militaristic British mind, the
poem "doesn't amount to much." And when he informs Weston about it,
the latter quickly counters by indicating that the poem "doesn't translate
very well, sir." Checkmated again, Outram' s next gambit is to target the
perplexing image cast by Wajid' s bizarre masculinity itself. The
nonviolent Wajid challenges not only Outram's concept of the virile,
masculine ruler, but also what Ashis Nandy observes in his brilliant review
of the film: "the dominant concept of kingship in Indian Islam as well as
the Hindu Kshatriya or soldier tradition."24 We can see very clearly here
why that Indian critic was so upset about Ray's "effeminate portrait" of
Wajid. When Weston insists that Wajid is "really gifted" as a composer
of songs, poems, and as a dancer, Outram's colonial ire rises. "Yes, so
I understand," he fires back at Weston, "with bells on his feet, like naked
nautch girls." We see very clearly here the indicative colonial intent in
operation: how can you call Wajid a King, when in addition to wearing
a crown on his head he also wears bells on his feet? Arriving rapidly at
his conclusion, Outram demands: "And what kind of King do you think
that all this makes him, Weston? All these various accomplishments?"
When the insurgent Weston slyly responds: "Rather a special kind, sir,"
Outram stops pacing, stiffens, and burstsout very sharply at Weston.
"Special? I would have used a much stronger word than that Weston. I
would have said a bad King. A frivolous, effeminate, irresponsible,
worthless King." And when Weston tries to protest, Outram, using his
official rank as British Resident, warns Weston that "any suspicion that
you hold a brief for the King" would ruin Weston' s chance for any future
promotions "once we take over" Oudh. It is a lamentable victory on
Outram's part, but the struggle between the two men and the imposition
of the two discourses by Ray brings out brilliantly the working out of the
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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
While the above scene shows Outram in his official garb, Ray in
a later scene humanizes him by showing him as a victim of his own
government's policies as well. On this level Ray shows Outram privately
expressing his anger at the British government for endorsing Oudh's
annexation without any justification. In this scene, Outram interestingly
offers his doubts to Dr. Joseph Fayrer, a young residency physician, who
unlike Weston is not Outram's inferior. Outram tells him that "we have
even less justification for confiscation here. . . . The administration here
is execrable. I don't like our fat King either. But a treaty is a treaty."
This refers to the early treaty Wajid has signed with Outram's predecessor
where the British government had insisted that Wajid disband his army and
turn over most administrative problems to the British forces that would
hereby guard his borders and maintain law and order in his kingdom.
When that treaty was conveniently abrogated in 1937, Wajid, in Outram's
words "was not informed." In giving expression to his doubts and ire,
Ray makes Outram a scapegoat of hisotry and a real-politik as well. As
a servant of her Majesty's Government, 'the soldier' Outram has to obey
the wishes of the Crown. "I'm called upon to do my damnedest to get
him to sign and abdicate." Outram feels uneasy to face Wajid and
dishonor him a second time. When the treaty was abrogated without
Wajid's knowledge or consent, it was administratively broken. Now to
appropriate his kingdom without his consent again is to commit
administrative treachery! The fate that he had spelled out for Weston
would have embraced Outram himself if he had failed to carry out his
duties. And although Ray shows him ultimately obeying 'the soldier' in
him, it is a very reluctant Outram who finally emerges as the winner in
this duel for Oudh and Wajid's surrender of his crown.
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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
what will ultimately happen to these two chessplayers who are so ignorant
about the changes taking place all around them?
Each of them, subsequently does express fear, but here again, the nawabs
are made to empathize with Oudh's sad fate only when each one finds
himself at a losing end on the chessboard itself.
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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
Their sense of responsibility does not extend to the ruler of their own
feudal lands, which have brought them thousands of rupees, the favors of
patronage, and all kinds of luxury and comfort every year. Their
patriotism, in fact, is a fiction evoked during losses and gains at the
chessboard. Thus it is appropriate that their final quarrel, which results
in each killing the other, erupts from the game of chess itself.
The last section of the story begins with Mirza accusing Mir of
"cheating." Tempers flare up, and wild words are exchanged. Most of
the insults, embedded in these wild words, refer to each man's pedigree.
Each reviles the other's most ancient Muslim ancestors. In a typically
racial, reductive pattern, Mirza's ancestors are reduced to "farmers who
all cut grass" and the Mir's to "the original cooks ... in the house of
Gazi-uddin-Hyder."28 Both men insult each other's ancestors by using
each' s other's family tree as a convenient scapegoat to gloss over their
own impotence and inadequacy in the present. And when they eventually
kill each other, we feel no sympathy for their death. They have died
defending the (ficticious) honor of their chess viziers instead of really
defending their sovereign Wajid Ali Shah against a foreign invader. They
have in fact invited their own doom and the collapse of their beloved city
by displaying a completely futile and reckless whim of aristocratic excess.
And the agent of the foreign power whose work is facilitated by such
internal rot, has only irony in his last line: the two chess-players
'companionate corpses.' In the final analysis, such an end befits the pair -
- as useless in their deaths as they were in their lives.
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Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 & 2
NOTES
1. Franz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (New York: Grove Press, Inc
1968) p. 240.
2. Fanon, p. 240.
3. India gained her independence from the British on August 15, 1947.
4. Edward W. Said, The Word, The Text, & The Critic (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1983), p. 43-44.
5. Said, p. 43-44.
7. Guha, p. 38-39.
9. Robinson, p.vii.
10. Robinson, p. 6.
11. Robinson, p. 7.
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19. E. M. Forster, A Passage to India (New York: H Brace & World, Inc.,
1952.
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