The Woman as Commodity: A Study of Sudraka’s The Little Clay Cart

By Dibyajyoti Sarma

i. Introduction
Sudraka’s Micchakatikam (The Little Clay Cart) is unquestionably a masterpiece in the realm of
ancient Sanskrit drama. If we expect literature of the time to faithfully represent the age, then The Little
Clay Cart has achieved this criterion more than any other plays of ancient Sanskrit tradition. The play is
more human than most of the contemporary drama for its authentic portrayal of contemporary scenes:
From the conflict between the riches and poverty to political mayhem. Through the passionate love
story between a Brahmin merchant, Charudatta, and a courtesan, Vasantasena, the play narrates the life
of the city of Ujjayini, a legendary city-state in early India.
In this unusually long drama of ten acts (the act divisions are certainly different from the
Western dramatic tradition where an act narrates all the incidents occurred within a specific time and
space), along with the main plot, there are numerous subplots, which throw light on the socio-cultural,
political and economic life of early Indian society. There is a gambler, Sambahaka, who is a masseur
turned into a Buddhist monk; Sarvilaka, a thief turned into a political rebel, and Aryaka, a cowherd
turned into king. Again, there is a tyrannical king, and his short-witted and buffoon brother-in-law,
Samsthanaka; Charudatta’s devoted wife Dhuta, and greedy and pleasure loving, but poor Brahmins,
both the Sutradhar (actor-manager) and the Vidushak, Maitreya. There are slaves and their situations
(Madanika’s groom would have to pay a price to set her free from the bondages of Vasantasena’s
services.); the judicial system, which can easily be manipulated for the sake of the king, and the glimpses
of the city life.
The title of the play means human life, its ground realities rooted in the world which is at once
interesting and disturbing to speculate and ponder over.
This is particularly true if one is willing to argue over the issues of women in early India. In the
centre of action, here’s a courtesan, Vasantasena, who is at once glorified and reviled. Besides
Vasantasena, there are women with different facets, Dhuta, who is ready to go 'sati' on the death of her
husband and feels no qualms accepting a co-wife, and the slave girls like Madanika and Radhika.

ii. The Little Clay Cart as Evidence of Historiography of Women in Early India
To discuss The Little Clay Cart as historical evidence on women in early India is a difficult
proposition. For, a work of art can never be a one-to-one representation of the society of the time.
Again, no work of art can be produced without having its base on contemporary realities. Then, there
must be some sociological evidence related to every work of art? Without going deep into these
questions (and keeping in mind the paradoxical state of affairs between literary evidence and the social
reality of a given time), in the present essay, I plan to investigate the condition and status of women in
the contemporary society which forms the crux of the play, The Little Clay Cart.
In this context, I think, it would be fruitful to concede the definition of feminist historiography.
Sangari and Vaid (1989:2-3) writes that feminist historiography “…acknowledges that each aspect of
reality is gendered, and is thus involved in questioning all that we think we know, in a sustained
examination of analytical and epistemological apparatus, and in a dismantling of the ideological
presuppositions of so called gender neuter methodologies. A feminist historiography rethinks
historiography as a whole and discard the idea of women as something to be framed by a context, in
order to be able to think of gender difference as both structuring and structured by wide set of social
relations. In this sense, feminist historiography is a choice open to all historians.”
In my thesis, I have followed this definition.
To begin with, The Little Clay Cart is a male work. The author is a king, the fountainhead of
society, and all its decisive principles. His is well versed in all sastras, thus representing Brahminical ideals.
When a person with such attributes writes a play on a poor Brahmin hero, there would certainly be less
information on women that we may possibly use to reconstruct a historiography.
However, what makes the play the centre of our debate is the female protagonist Vasantasena.
She is a woman who doesn’t fit into the traditional structure of women as daughters, wives, and mothers.
She fits better in the category what Horner calls as workingwomen. The character of Vasantasena
exposes a bundle of paradox. She is at once an object of desire and an individual who can decide what is
better for her. She enjoys a considerable economic power. She is rich. She can hold her own property
and her own slaves. But she is deprived of social rights, which a man in her position would have enjoyed
immensely. Her status of being a courtesan leads her to a duel position of existence where she is at once
blessed and cursed. She has the access to material benefits, but not to the rights that society allows to an
individual, specially a male. With all her wealth, Vasantasena is still a courtesan. As a courtesan, she
enjoys less privilege than what is bestowed to married women in society. She doesn’t have the right to
enter into family life. She doesn’t have even the right to choose her own lover. She is expected to
entertain any man that comes her way. But what makes Vasantasena’s character a commendable one is
her determination, not to submit herself to society at large. Instead she decides to find her own fate.
All said and done, the fact remains that the play is not about the woman, Vasantasena, but her
male counterpart, Charudatta. From the beginning of the play, Charudatta is represented as an epitome
of virtue. All the other character praise him unquestionably, including Vasantasena, and the play at length
goes to depict how virtue can withstand even the extreme adversities of life. Charudatta is a Brahmin and
a merchant, representing two of the most influential classes of the then social hierarchy. He is a married
man, with a devoted wife, Dhuta, and a son, Rohasena. Currently, he is dragged into poverty due to his
ill luck in business. Within this scheme of things, how can one interpret Vasantasena as Charudatta’s
lover? If Charudatta had wealth there would have been no problem in consuming their passion, as
Charudatta could easily go to Vasantasena as her customer (it’s a business transaction for Charudatta).
Again, there would not have been a problem if Charudatta had fallen in love with Vasantasena and not
the visa versa. For, as a courtesan Vasantasena has no right to restrict her love for one single individual,
and Vasantasena does so only to defy the system.
One important question may be how far the character of Vasantasena is real and how far is she
romanticised? For this, we must understand her profession, her individuality, and customs of the
contemporary times.
A courtesan is different from an ordinary prostitute. She is one of the important sources of
entertainment for aristocratic class. To be a courtesan, she has to be well versed in sixty-four different
kinds of fine art, including music and dance. She is given an important place in society with all the
material comforts reserved for the upper strata. (One famous example of a courtesan in history being
Amrapalli of Vaisali, who thwarted king Ajatsatru’s love to become a disciple of Lord Buddha.). To
attain this lavish recognition, a courtesan has to undergo numerous sacrifices. She has to forsake her
personal wishes. A courtesan has access to everything else except for a private life of her own. Indian
history is full of instances of the flourishing cult of courtesans, the recent examples being the bayjees of
Lucknow, and the temple devdasis of South India.
A courtesan’s very existence is marked by double standards. On one hand, she is revered, and on
the other, she is deprived of the basic rights of an individual. As woman, a courtesan is even more
oppressed. She is not even allowed to choose her husband and for that matter, a family. An ordinary
woman is, as it is, dominated by the patrilineal standards of a household, while a courtesan is dominated
by the patriarchal structure that governs society. For a courtesan, her sexuality becomes a double-edged
weapon. With all her material comfort, she is recognised below the accepted category of the women
(daughters, wives, mothers), in social hierarchy.
Judged by these standards, Vasantasena in The Little Clay Cart, is progressive character, for, with
all the advantages and disadvantages of her profession, she decides to go on exploring her desire:
choosing Charudatta as her only lover. But the question is, how to judge the validity of Vasantasena’s
character in contemporary context? Sudraka’s delineation of Vasantasena is romantic to the core. As the
play ends, Vasantasena even achieves the fulfilment of her desire. In my opinion, in the character
Vasantasena, there lies a wish to change the reality of courtesans. But this wish is, in most part,
rhetorical. Vasantasena is the ultimate prototype of a heroine in the tradition of Sanskrit drama. At the
same time, she is also a member of a class, which is much oppressed. This duality of disposition between
reality and romance, marks a strong point of departure in the character of Vasantasena, which makes her
character a worth subject of study.

iii. Virtuous Man v Vice Woman

The play, The Little Clay Cart above all, eulogises Charudatta. Even a ceaseless villain like
Samsthanaka sings praise for him. In retrospect, Charudatta is by no means a strong character. He is
handicapped by his lack of wealth, which he holds important to a man’s prestige:
This is my sorrow. They whom I
Would greet as guests, now pass me by.
"This is a poor man's house," they cry.
He cannot even answer Vasantasena’s love, being poor:
In sharp contrast to Charudatta, Vasantasena is strong woman. She has wealth, but is ready to
sacrifice them for the sake of her lover. She prefers to die than to give herself to a villain like
Samsthanaka. She takes every step with precision and ingenuity so as to win Charudatta’s love, by
accepting the necklace and then offering all her wealth to young Rohasena to build a golden toy cart,
instead of clay one. But the strength of Vasantasena’s character is chained by the reality of her being
woman and courtesan. Even at the end, when everything is perfect for the lovers to unite, it is the new
king, Aryaka, who has to offer Vasantasena’s hand to Charudatta as his second wife. The situation is that
social authority has to intervene if Vasantasena has to achieve a dignified position within social hierarchy.
Thus, with all his weaknesses Charudatta is virtuous, for among other things, he is a Brahmin, and with
all her strengths, Vasantasena is a 'viced' woman, who needs the help of the authority to elevate her to a
dignified position.
Another use of the binary of man/woman difference can be found in their uses of language.
While the upper class characters in the play speak in Sanskrit, all the lower class men, including all
women, speak in Prakrit. A gambler like Dardura can speak in Sanskrit because he is an upper class male,
but not Vasantasena, who is well versed and intelligent, for the simple reason that she is a woman. Even
a woman like Charudatta’s wife Dhuta, who is a part of the Brahminical culture, speaks Prakrit.
iv. Woman v the World
The Victorian ideal that a woman is fit to live in four walls of household is also echoed in the
play. She has no say in public matters. Thus, the account of Vasantasena’s mother as witness to
Charudatta’s innocence is never counted for. Thus, woman is to be mother, wife, daughter, and more
narrowly salves. In this context, it becomes problematic as how to place Vasantasena within the social
structure. She stands between a household woman (mothers, wives, daughters), like Dhuta and a slave
woman like Madanika. In the long run, Vasantasena is reduced to mere object: a beautiful body to gratify
the sensual pleasures of man. Thus, Samsthanaka doesn’t feel any remorse to chase her in the dark.
Charudatta’s friend Maitreya too comments upon Vasantasena in similar vein.
The fate of Madanika brings home the fate of women of contemporary time in general and of
slave women in particular. She is a bonded labour to Vasantasena, who has no right to get married,
unless a certain amount of money is paid to free her. She cannot earn the money by herself being a slave.
So, Sarvilaka, who is in love with Madanika, volunteers to set her free, even if it means stealing.
There is no doubt in the genuineness of Sarvilaka’s love for Madanika. But what is important to
note here is that, for him love for his state and for that matter for his colleague, Aryaka is more precious
than his love for his wife, Madanika. As I have noted earlier, women are not part of the world affairs and
thus, for Sarvilaka, when his duty calls, he doesn't mind forsaking his newly married wife. Thus, when he
hears that Aryaka has freed himself from prison, he readily sets to help him, leaving Madanika in the
lurch. He argues:
"Two things alone—his friend, his wife—
Deserve man's love below;
A hundred brides may forfeit life
Ere he should suffer so..."
Beneath the veneer of this romantic speech we can observe an underlying structure of men’s attitude
towards women. Observe how male bonding is glorified here pushing women to the enclosure of
household. She has no role to play in public life. She is just a commodity, as French feminist thinker
Luce Irigaray would make us believe.
In contrast to the eloquence of Vasantasena, Charudatta's wife Dhuta is the prototype of the
‘silent woman’ (read, ideal woman) of the age. For her, her husband means everything. She doesn’t mind
giving away her precious necklace to protect her husband’s honour, and is ready to go Sattee at her
husband’s funeral pyre. For Dhuta, nothing exists in the world beyond her husband.
(Note: The quotes of The Little Clay Cart has been taken from the translation by Arthur William Ryder
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, 1905), as appeared in the Project Gutenberg eBook, last
accessed in February 8, 2011 (http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/0/2/21020/21020-h/21020-h.htm)

Work Cited

Sangari, Kumkum & Vaid, Sudesh (Eds). Recasting Women: Eassays in Colonial History. New Delhi:
Kali For Women, 1989.