MAHESH DATTANI’S SEVEN STEPS AROUND THE FIRE: PORTRAYING THE INVISIBLE HIJRA MINORITY

Abstract

Hijras (Eunuchs) in India have practically no respectable public identity. They have no acceptance and no protection from prejudice and abuse. The discrimination against them is often translated into violence. The main factor behind the violence is that society is not able to come to terms with the fact that hijras do not conform to the accepted gender divisions. Male and female-these are the only sexual categories which have secured society’s approval. Individuals, who do not fit into these two classes, have to bear social ostracism, isolation and contempt.  Politically, legally and socially the community of hijras is marginalized and victimized. The invisible clutches of social forces do not permit the hijras to carve their own design beyond the patterns recommended and accepted by society. Mahesh Dattani gives the hijras of India a voice to articulate their feelings and predicaments in the English theatre through his play Seven Steps Around the Fire. The case of a hijra is focused in the play who secretly marries the son of a minister and has to bear dire consequences. The role of the police, politicians and the society as a whole is questioned.