Odisha’s Khageswar Seth: The Original Feminist

It was not a fancy stage, rather a simple meeting pedal, having no facilities of dramatic lights and sound and absolutely not a place to expect a quality theatre production. There, I had the opportunity to watch one of the finest folk plays of our time based on a rare poem written by the late Khageswar Seth, one of the pioneers of the Koshali language. I firmly believe that “Paerchha Sati”, literally “that pure woman” written by Seth is one of the greatest feminist poems in any language forever. I dare even say that this poem is one of the finest in world literature underlining the strength of a liberated woman.

Khageswar Seth (born in Sarsara village of Sambalpur district sometime in the first quarter of the 20^th century and died in 1958) was a prolific poet who has been pushed into the margin of the history of Odia literature despite his extraordinary poetic contribution. Writing about this brilliant poet, iconic writer Gopinath Mohanty once wrote, “Khageswar Seth is an extremely talented poet. He memorised most of the medieval Odia poems, but his compositions are no less. Now he is old and sick but the mention of poetry brings a lightning spark to his eyes. By caste he is a fisherman, socially, he lives as a farm labourer, and his livelihood is based on farming, wood cutting, and puffed rice selling. Like great writers Burns and Knut Hamsun, Khageswar was also a farm labourer and at the same time a great poet.”

Khageswar Seth wrote both in Odia and Koshali languages, but his most famous and popular poetry “Paerchha Sati” or “That Pure Woman” was written in Koshali and later translated into Odia by the poet himself. Amazingly this long poem is a radical feminist statement by a male poet who knows nothing about the world of feminism or the movement of women’s rights. His raw wisdom was inclusive, gender-sensitive, and a powerful protest against many layers of social injustice. In this poem, he hits on the head of patriarchy, and caste hegemony and speaks as a woman artiste who ruthlessly broke all social shackles.

Bringing such a radical poem as folk drama and playing it on a completely unprofessional stage is perhaps the biggest success of its curator and director Kesh Ranjan Pradhan. “Paerchha Sati” is like a poetic screenplay where the prime protagonist talks about her life like a carefree rebel. The very first stanza defines the protagonist as the most courageous woman of all time. This is how the poem begins:

Listen O my dear mothers and sisters

I am “Paerchha Sati:” the pure and the truthful

But you say-

I am infertile and unable to carry a child

I am a divorcee

I am a widow who swallowed her husband

I am a drama queen
I am a quarrelsome woman.

I am what I am.

 

You say I am infertile

But do you know I had my child when I was not married

I struggled to survive my child

My cruel father killed my baby

If he was alive today

Would you dare to call me infertile?

 

You say why I didn’t marry the father my child

My lover was a coward who rejected me

Why should I stay with that coward?

 

Again my greedy father sold me as a bride to a sick old man

He died on the very honeymoon night

Why do I break my bangles and become a widow?

For that sick, old and unworthy man?

 

The poem goes on to establish the protagonist as a maverick rebel who challenges social norms, rituals, laws, and patriarchal ethics. At one point she asks why men are entitled to make laws for women, why can’t it be vice versa.

(When the women of the world would make law for the man

Where would they hide?)

The poem is transformed into a folk play using varied and vivacious folk music of western Odisha. The poet originally composed the poem as a “Karma Song” (Karma is the famous tribal festival) but Kesh Ranjan Pradhan took the liberty to use multiple folk singing styles like  Dalkhai, Dulabiha, Danda, Kirtan, etc.

The play was presented as a solo but followed by a chorus. Superbly talented folk singer and dancer Pushpanjali Tandi carried the character “Paerchha Sati” like a colossus. Pushpanjali’s fluid movements as a dancer, flawless expressions as an actor and musically communicating the essence of the rebellion as a singer proved her to be an artiste of extraordinary calibre. The directorial visualisation and presentation of this poem were no less a magic. Equally, the team was supported by a powerful group of folk musicians.

Kesh Ranjan Pradhan and his theatre group “Lu” based in Padmapur, a small town in Bargarh district are creating history by juxtaposing folk with modern theatre. There are more than a dozen theatrical productions of this group that need a bigger audience and the best of critical appreciation.