the fictitious world of gurdial singh and the theme of...

ISSN: 2455-6440, Volume I1, Issue II, (Jan- March .2017), PP 110-121

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The Fictitious World of Gurdial Singh and the Theme of Celibacy

Sarika Goyal

Assistant Professor (English)

DAV College, Abohar

(Punjab)

[email protected]

Abstract

Gurdial Singh has lived among the masses. He viewed the Punjabi life as it is

shaped over the anvil by fierce strikes and blows meted out by socio-economic and

cultural forces. Individual will is to be suppressed when the hammer blows a man

over anvil to carve out the shape desired. With the near end of feudalism, the

underprivileged and the proletariat, devoid of any material prosperity, with

awakened but muffled voices succumbed to the injuries resultant of socio-

economic disintegration. This severely affected the personal lives of many who

well below the economic and the social strata chose to remain unmarried and

continue their fickle and trivial existence till death finally takes over. But the

strugglers, the survivors have learnt to refuse charity and bear the blows over freak

bones, frail bodies and chained minds till their last breath. This socio-economic

reality of celibates is agonizing for them but a cause of mockery for the society

which in terms of Lawrence forces you to ‘eat dirt’ in their money-mindedness.

The present paper seeks to explore the abstemiousness imposed upon selves and

its social, religious, cultural and economic causes and effects. It will also compare

and contrast this frigidity among both the sexes of the society. The study is limited



Page 111 of 121 A Review Under the World Library Indexing Journal


to a few stories anthologized in collections for children and a couple of novels

written by the author.

Key Words: Marriage, Celibacy, Children’s Literature, Gurdial Singh, Marhi Da

Deeva, Bhishma, Parsa, myths.

Literary Contribution of the writer:

The writer has contributed research papers and articles on children’s literature with

special reference to Gurdial Singh. These articles and papers explore the institution

of braggarts in Punjab and the socio-economic reality of the children of Malwa in

his times. The papers also insist on studying the importance of Punjabi literature

with its culture and idiom and make an appeal to secure a readership or viewership

in the context of visual clips and episodes aired on different channels with the

digitalization of media.

Some papers are related with Chhota Bheem and Japanese aneme and explore the

glocal element in the first and samurai like attitude to fight against evil forces in

the second. The present paper has sought to trace the celibates presented in a few

stories of Singh.

Apart from this, the writer has contributed some papers in comparative literature

as well that trace the works of noted Hindi writers like Subhadra Kumari Chauhan

and Mahadevi Varma as well as Punjabi writers like women writers of the Punjabi

diaspora and chroniclers in fiction like Saadat Hassan Manto and Gurdial Singh.

Theme of the presented subject:

The paper proposes to explore the theme of celibacy in Gurdial Singh’s fiction and

seeks to explore whether it is only a socio-economic construct or has some deeper

significance. Tracing celibacy to mythical roots, Gurdial Singh exposes the social

evil that sarcastically treats its men and women if they choose to stay unmarried.

Working on the psychological nuances, he tries to delineate the personal anguish

of the protagonist and his relatives for the failure to have a progeny.





It also unwinds the social fabric where marriage is determined by economy,

maternal and paternal lineage and has an impact on one’s life not only in this birth

but also the life after death.

Introduction:

Marriage in India is determined by families and not by the needs of participating

individuals in a conjugal relationship. It is sanctified by religion in the form of

ceremonies that vary in different religions across India and validated by the society

by conferring certain duties levied on the new individual, chiefly the bride, and

accepting her as a new member. The collective community has fixed rituals and

rites for the predecessors and successors of a family lineage that secure divine bliss

for the ancestors if performed by the members of the progeny.

It is imperative therefore, that any individual not conforming to this setup be

termed outcaste or be mocked at by the better off ones or be threatened and deep

pressed by the elders of the community to maintain societal dominance, to preserve

culture and tradition and to punish the defaulters.

Mythically, there have been prototypes of man-woman relations other than

marriage, supremacy of their union as the meeting of the masculine and the

feminine, extra-marital affairs and the sudden declaration of celibacy within this

social fabric.

How Gurdial Singh expresses it all in Punjabi culture through his literary works is

the crux of this paper.

Review of Literature:

The works reviewed include children’s books composed by Gurdial Singh and his

major novels — Marhi Da Deeva and Parsa.

The critics on Gurdial Singh and Punjabi fiction like Jasbir Jain, Dr’ T R Vinod

and Joginder Rahi have also been studied apart from other minor critics.

Importance, Utility and Relevance of the Proposed Research:





The proposed work offers fresh insight into the socio-economic conditions of

Gurdial Singh’s Malwa that was fast disintegrating due to fall in land holdings,

capitalist forces with land workers having no holdings and falling prey to the

landowners for their petty needs by offering free labour.

The condition of the poor who remain unable to fetch a bride for economic reasons

and societal restrictions is portrayed.

The research can be extended to the present day capitalist forces operational in

Punjab with the decreased land holdings, immigrations to west, competition with

western brides, pressure on land exerted by the ever-expanding serpent called real

estate, poor polity leading to economic downfall, farmers’ suicides, female

foeticide and purchased brides from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh viz a viz the condition

of the celibate—willed or forced.

Research Methodology:

Some selected works of the writer Gurdial Singh were critically analyzed and

evaluated for this study. The theme of celibacy was explored in detail and the

foundation of this phenomenon was evaluated. It was further strengthened and

validated by critical comments of renowned critics and its impact on his oeuvre

was studied.

Discussion:

Marriage is a social institution. It is considered a sacred bond sanctified by the

supreme. But it’s also the basis of propagation of human race and therefore all

primitive and modern institutions endeavour to bind the individuals through

imposition of certain customs and rituals to the larger network of society resulting

in human chains to which even the posterity is bound unable to abandon the

commitments of their parents. Though it is another way of using social power to

curb individual will, it is necessary for its own reasons. The free-willed, the

celibates, are rejected and often mocked at by the same society for not conforming

to its code of conduct.





Celibacy is ‘a state of voluntarily being unmarried’¹ as a result of a sacred vow. It

is ‘an act of renunciation or religious conviction’².The religious renunciation of

worldly pleasures is integral for Buddhist monks, priests, friars and nuns as per

Christian Church and Indian sadhus and faquirs treading the path of salvation.

Ancient Hindu religion considers Brahmacharya as essential in any human being’s

path to progress. It is either practiced throughout the life to maintain austerity or is

practiced for initial years of life till a person receives education and is fit to use his

faculties of body, heart and intellect. In its literal translation, the word means

following a suitable behavior leading to attainment of Brahma or the supreme

reality but has become a colloquial expression for the state of abstention from

physical yearning.

Gurdial Singh explores the theme of celibacy through children’s literature. ‘He is

fully aware of his creation of children’s literature and considers it vital for creative

writing’³. Through it, he exposes the social reality as light-hearted, humorous satire

arising out of some social dilemma. Some thematic concerns of these stories have

been explored in ‘Gurdial Singh’s Sling of Tales’⁴.

‘There is a mutual conflict between human beings and capital in his work’⁵ and this

conflict is the cause of tragedy that befalls his protagonists—the ordinary common

folk belonging to the marginalized section but given the status of tragic heroes.

‘The tragic hero struggles for some ideal, value system, motif or vision but fails’⁶.

His heroes are not Lears blinded by passion and prestige; not Faust roaming

hungrily for wealth and Helen; not intrigued upon in Websterian fashion but

mortals whose destiny is shaped by deeds of previous births. Jagseer laments over

the karmas of earlier birth in ‘Marhi Da Deewa’⁷. Dr. Rahi does not regard him as

a protagonist because he feels that ‘instead of progress, he is in the situation of

continuous downfall’⁸ and this was what Singh wanted to project. Such deep was

his pain that Gurdial Singh expressed that ‘the people with whom I spent my

childhood pierced melancholy to my marrow as if it’s an instinctive trait’⁹. The





tragedy arises out of economic need when labourers don’t get sufficient to make

both ends meet. In such a scenario ‘the self of a human being gets alienated from

the creative elements of labour and he becomes its slave’¹⁰.

Gurdial Singh explores the theme of celibacy through the epic of

‘Mahabharata’¹¹.He depicts the character of Bhishma who took the vow of

celibacy for his father’s happiness as his stepmother did not want his progeny

(Bhishma being the eldest child out of Gandharva kind of union between

Shanthanu and river Ganga) to rule over Hastinapur. Though the epic is narrated

on a simplified tone for youngsters, Singh highlights the plight of Bhishma when

he thwarts the love of a lady (Ambika) to keep his vow intact and the man is

avenged for his austerity when the same woman takes birth as an intersex

‘Shikhandi’ and the curse befalls Devvrata whose body lies strewn over a bed of

arrows.

Devvrata, the prince was revered for his wisdom, skills, austerity and strength of

character but ordinary human beings fail to make a mark. Charles Lamb complains

in his seminal essay ‘A Bachelor’s Complaint against the Behaviour of Married

People’¹² how unmarried people are insulted by the spouses of their married

friends.

The celibates (Chhade in Punjabi) are victims of severe humiliation and

indignation in a society with stereotyped gender roles. Punjabi folk dances and

songs with special reference to ‘Boliyan’ have phrases like Chhade aaunge lassi

nu jhirkange (we will rebuke them if they come asking for buttermilk); Chhada-

chhada na kareya kar nee and songs like Chhadeyan di joon buri are a testimony

to the bleak scenario where young unmarried men are mocked at by the society that

turns blind to its lopsided culture and polity.

Talking about his narratives for children, the book titled ‘Baba Khema’¹³ presents

characters like Roda Bawa, Dhoot Singh and Barkatullah who are immensely

popular among children for their oddities. The celibates like “Jiona Aflatu”¹⁴ in the





story of the same name and Sher Jung Bahadur in the story ‘Chache Chuha

Mareya’¹⁵ boast of bravery and tell fake stories to children who make fun of them.

Jiona used to wear the same clothes again and again as there was no one to look

after his needs and with washing and cooking as typically feminine chores and

Jung Bahadur was a fugitive from war and stayed alone.

Gurdial Singh presents local idioms in his novel ‘Adh Chanani Raat’ that ‘the home

is dwelt by phantoms without a wife’ and that ‘there is no home without a woman

but someone’s wife can’t be brought forcefully’¹⁶. The society negates these truths

and the human needs are sacrificed at the altar of imaginary standards raised by the

defenders of morality and puritan but double standards of dominant class, (here the

class of landowners, themselves a victim of decadent feudalism and regressive

economy in post-independence years and slaves of casteism that severely

discriminated against their brethren) in their desire to keep the submissive under

control in Foucauldian fashion, are maintained at all costs threatening life.

Jagseer’s mother Nandi is well aware that if her son doesn’t get married, there will

be none to light a lamp at their tombs (Marhi Da Deewa). Jagseer means the seed

left in the world and he himself is unable to leave a seed. He surrenders his love,

assures his father that he will not bring disgrace by having any illicit relation with

any daughter-in-law of the village (that indicated his relation with Bhani) and dies

in the end. The novel projects the agony in his mother’s heart when she is tired of

finding a wife for him. ‘Jagseer bows before the symbol of cultural purity that is

his father and takes a vow not to tread the path against the established societal

morality’¹⁷. Ronki compares love of a woman to milk in tea that adds flavor to it

and puts energy in the man. He says, ‘Jagseya, black tea burns the bladder of a

man. Unmarried men die of this burning. Their bodies keep on boiling like tea

leaves, the burning will decrease only if milk is added. If it continues to burn like

this, the body gets dried and the pot is empty’¹⁸. Jagseer like other celibates,

presented in Singh’s works plays with Bhani’s children, brings them sugar cakes





(Patase) but dies with a burn at heart. His last wish is to have an earthen lamp lit

over his tomb. This is a humane wish that seeks permanence in memory of those

that are still alive but the question is how long. It can be equated with the desire of

perpetuation but the fate of such fond remembrance by the posterity is uncertain

especially in a world where blood relations or the performers of ceremonial rites

determined by collective cultural consciousness of ages mean much more than

emotional or sentimental ties with wife of someone. The question therefore lies

embedded and deeply rooted in the cultural ethos of rural Punjab.

As per this culture, ‘Marhi is the structure erected upon the space where an

unmarried young man is cremated after death whose desire to perpetuate himself

through male progeny remains unfulfilled’¹⁹. The lamp is lit on this tomb to avoid

any calamity from the dead turned ghost because it’s a belief that the ghastly spirit

can’t find peace for want of any male progeny to perpetuate. The myth is that while

other souls get heaven or hell as per the final reckoning of their deeds (not of this

birth only but also the previous ones), the spirit of a celibate hovers in the world

tormented by its unfulfilled desires. ‘The lamp keeps the disturbed spirit in peace

and wards off its evil effects’²⁰.

Comparing Jagseer with Bhishma, whereas the latter was austere enough not to set

eyes upon any woman, the former was bound to remain celibate first because of

social inequality as his maternal grandparents were not considered honourable,

second for his economic status of a farm labourer and third his love and attraction

towards Nikka barber’s wife, Bhani. ‘The tragedy in Singh’s works is generated

from socio-economic situation, low cultural awareness, stronghold of cultural

ethos and ties, complexity of social relations and rapidly changing economy’²¹.

The role of a woman in man’s fulfillment is further emphasized in two mythical

tales from the novel “Parsa”²². A tale of a bodybuilder and a beautiful woman

depicts how the bodybuilder (Pehalwan) develops leprosy in the whole body except

the part that is touched by a maid. The wrestler had thwarted the advances of the





woman saying, “We are hermits, O woman. This body will get leprosy if it burns

with desire, greed or fury” (177). The cure is the sweat of her soles that he touched.

In another tale titled Agnipakshi and the river, the union of phoenix and the river

symbolizes the base of all creation. When the bird comes to bathe in the river, its

water starts boiling first and then turns crimson red which is an enactment of

conjugal bliss. Rupinder Kaur²³ analyses how fire stands for yearning and the bird

symbolizes masculinity that meets feminine in the form of the river. She further

reiterates that if such desire is not fulfilled, it can be agonizing for both the sexes.

The same novel celebrates the union of divine principles of purusha and prakriti

that stand for the masculine and the feminine respectively. Parsa finds ‘waters of

Ganga calmless as if trying to touch the mountains around that appeared like dark,

stony and radiant body of Shiva’ (174). She has been termed a slave at His door, a

wave ready to meet the limitless sea, the sea eternal,the abode of the Almighty.

After the death of his wife, Parsa the revolutionary Brahmin impregnates Mukhtiar

Kaur as she has surrendered herself but it has nothing to do with celibacy. In fact I

find him in some sort of existential quest which gets aggravated when none of his

sons is able to live up to his standards.

Gurdial Singh says that his heroic characters are modeled on his paternal uncle

Bishna whose ‘silent love, vigour like lions, heart like mountains was his ideal’.

He further believes that ordinary people are not escapists like ‘bamboo that shows

flexibility to avoid being washed away with the worldlyflow’²⁵.

Though his males show celibacy, it is by no means an act of cowardice. They are

fully aware that they won’t get food and washed clothes as these gender roles fall

in the purview of a woman. Kartari refuses to cook food for her elder brother-in-

law in the novel “Anhoye”. In comparison to women, they appear weak and meek.

Gurdial Singh presents paradoxical views when it comes to portrayal of women.

Though his characters opine that women have no wisdom; their intellect is at back





of their braids or ‘she (a woman) plays 7100 roles, a man is foolish enough to know

the secret of one, what to say of 7100’²⁶. Singh tries to pervert this idiom.

His women are strong fighters, best companions in a married relationship, fierce

and courageous as widows or singles. ‘His female characters when love, break the

social shackles and when they hate, reduce everything to ashes’²⁷. Shehnaz Sidhu

commenting upon his women characters points out how Kesri in Kuwela, who is a

widow does not want to spoil her youth, she wants to nurture it as she loves her

body and Ratti in Aathan Uggan when dejected in love, torments her lover Mundar

by developing physical relations with men of her village.

Bhani in Marhi Da Deewa eyes the young limbs of Jagseer as if to devour these.

She prompts him at times to enjoy her beauty but Jagseer exercises self-restraint.

Does this mean that his women can’t live a life of celibacy? In a way they are

projected morally much weaker than men. Mukhtiar Kaur in Parsa, Ratti in Aathan

Uggan, Bhani with her extra-marital affair are slaves of passion. This slavery may

be the desire to get a baby, or to take revenge upon an ex-lover or out of a burning

physical passion, still it cannot be denied that they move against the moral codes

of the society.

Taking up Mahabharata again, don’t Ganga and Ambika exert a strong influence

on their male counterparts? Both the men are helpless before the vows of these

bold and beautiful women and the result is that their future generations fall victim

to this rigidity or self-respect.

Conclusion:

Singh was deeply touched by the socio-economic realities of people around him

and had closely watched the lives of celibates. Ghula Teli²⁸, who inhabits the

outskirts of a village and lives like a hermit (faquir), was forced to a life of celibacy

as he had to live in disguise when he returns to India after partition. His love for

the motherland, his birthplace, is too much for him. Goats and a dog make up his

family and he passes time entertaining the children of the village. Singh





realistically and vividly delineates the lives of celibates who renounce worldly

pleasures as mystic faquirs yet explores the deeper recesses of men’s psyche and

the socio-economic pressure that forces them embrace celibacy.

Questioning the institution of marriage and the lack of awareness among people

who created divisions among themselves on the basis of caste and class, he further

analyses the impact of downfall of feudalism and lack of social support systems.

The wise men and women of rural Punjab offer earthen lamps to the unmarried

deceased, show no interest in land owned by such celibates who might have turned

ghosts but fail to strengthen and nourish the weak chains of the society. Validating

the needs and inter-dependence of genders in the society, he provokes the thinkers,

the sociologists and the economists to analyze and evaluate the crisis, the human

agony that reduces many underprivileged to ashes.

References:

1. Celibacy.http://en.wikipedia.org .5th January2017

2. Ibid.

3. Vinod, T R. Galpkar Gurdial Singh. Amritsar: Nanak Singh Pustakmala, 2000.

p 46.

4. Goyal, Sarika. Gurdial Singh’s Sling of Tales and The Literature of Fantasy in

Malwa Region—Political, Economic and Socio-Cultural Aspects. Ed. Arora et

al. Chandigarh: Unistar, 2016. pp 499-504.

5. Galpkar Gurdial Singh, p42.

6. Vinod, T R. Punjabi Novel: Viharak Paripekh. Amritsar: Ravi Sahit Parkashan,

2010. p256.

7. Singh, Gurdial. Marhi Da Deewa. Rev. Ed. Chandigarh: Lokgeet Parkashan,

2005.

8. Kaur, Sargurbarinder. Gurdial Singh De Do Pramukh Novel—Marhi Da Deewa

Ate Parsa. Amritsar: Nanak Singh Pustakmala, 2006. P 44

9. Galpkar Gurdial Singh, p 149.



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10. Ibid. p 39

11. Singh, Gurdial. Mahabharata. Chandigarh: Lokgeet Parkashan, 2006.

12 Charles Lamb, A Bachelor’s Complaint Towards the Behaviourof Married

People. Web. 7th January, 2017.

13. Singh, Gurdial. Baba Khema. Chandigarh: Lokgeet Parkashan, 2006

14. Gurdial Singh Rachna vali Part IX, Vol Ed. Amar Tarsem. Chandigarh:

Lokgeet, 2011

15.Ibid

16. Sidhu, Shehnaz. Gurdial Singh Di Novel Rachna—Samaj Shashtri Adhiyan.

Amritsar: Waris Shah Foundation, 2004, p 39.

17. Gurdial Singh De Do Pramukh Novel, p.34

18. Marhi Da Deewa. p 105.

19. Gurdial Singh De Do Pramukh Novel, p 29.

20. Ibid. p 30


22. Singh, Gurdial. Parsa. 4th Ed. Chandigarh: Lokgeet Parkashan, 2003.

23. Kaur Rupinder, Parsa Novel Vich Myth Roopantran in Parsa- - chintan Chetna.

Ed. Paramjeet Singh Dhingra. Amritsar: Ravi Sahit Parkashan, 2005, p 159


25. Punjabi Novel: Viharak Paripekh, p 249

26. Gurdial Singh Di Novel Rachna, p 40

27. Ibid. p 35

28. Gurdial Singh Rachna vali, p 153.

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