Metaphor and Materiality: Representation of Blindness in Bharati’s Andha Yug and Tagore’s ‘Drishtidaan’

Abstract

In the Indian literary consciousness, blindness is simultaneously a stock metaphor and a materially
embodied experience. My paper will seek to examine these different modes of representation of
blindness in the Indian context; specifically by a close reading of Bharati’s play, Andha Yug and
Tagore’s short-story, ‘Drishtidaan’. I will demonstrate that if Bharati employs blindness as an
opportunistic literary device to reinforce normality; Tagore, through his blind female protagonist,
decides to unsettle this hegemonic construct. Based on the Epic Mahabharata, Bharati’s play depicts
blindness not as an embodied experience but an overarching trope. Here, the lack of sight is depicted
as a lack of morality, insight and truth. By contrast, in ‘Drishtidaan’, blindness is a lived-experience.
Foregrounding the social construct of disability, the author shows that how medical mentality,
visionism and patriarchy can coalesce to cause double oppression. While Bharati reproduces the
ableist perspective, Tagore transcends his able-bodied position!