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Duvidha [The Dilemma]
- GenresFantasy
24 pages, Unknown Binding
Published January 1, 2006
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March 26, 2023
"The Dilemma" (Duvidha) is a short story stimulated by a Rajasthani folk tale.
It has been taken from the second volume of a two volume collection entitled ‘Choubali and Other Stories’. This is a story of love between a woman and a ghost.
The narrative initiates with the marriage of the only son of an opulent Seth with a good-looking girl. When the bridegroom and the bride are on their way back to the former's home, they stop in the murky and unflappable shadows of the forest.
A ghost is fascinated by the exquisiteness of the bride.
After taking rest, the couple resumes their journey. However, to the bewilderment of the bride the groom is engrossed in his ledger book, which he deems cherished than marriage itself.
The bride hankers responsiveness of the groom, but is snubbed..
And when the husband breaks the news of his business trip to another land for five long years on the propitious occasion of Teej, her world of dreams is devastated.
One day her husband sets out for his five-year long business journey and she is left alone to nurse her wounds in her new home.
The ghost takes this chance to accomplish his desire. Assuming the husband’s form, the ghost enters the house of the Seth. Surprised at the unexpected entrance, the Seth considers it to be the carnal upshot of marriage.
The ghost proves astute enough to understand how to gratify the needs of the avaricious Seth.
He fabricates a story of an extraordinary saint, who has blessed him with a boon of five gold coins every morning.
The ghost enters the house of the Seth, but is in a quandary. The bride is too content to notice the change in her newlywed husband. Thinking that the bride would be disenchanted at the sudden revelation of truth, he dares to narrate the bitter truth.
But to his surprise the bride, though dissatisfied, does not ask him to leave, as this is the only occasion in her life that she is treated with so much adoration and deference.
She accepts him as a part of her life.
In due course, the daughter-in-law becomes pregnant.
In a faraway land, when the Seth's son is busy making money, distressing news starts pouring in. To begin with, he continues to brush them away, but after he hears of his wife's pregnancy, he cannot just wait any longer.
He starts for his home.
When he reached home, to his horror he finds the rumour to be true.
No one accepts him as the real son of the Seth. It is decided that the matter would be taken to the king.
The husbands are tied up and a demonstration leads them to the land of the king.
On the way, they meet a rustic shepherd and he offers to be the mediator. The shepherd offers the ghost and the Seth's son three improbable tasks.
First, he asks them to open their mouth, so that he can ram his shaft down their throat to slog out the truth from their bellies; next, he asks both of them to collect all the sheep grazing on the ground, before he clapped seven times and finally he implores the true husband to enter his waterskin before he snapped his fingers.
The ghost does all the tasks with right industriousness, and is trapped by the smart shepherd.
The ghost is trapped and thrown into the stream. The wife reconciles with her the reality and continues to be a submissive wife and respectful daughter- in-law.
Thereafter comes a twist …………………..
Duvidha is a love story, but with a difference. A supernatural agent is used to highlight the glaring glitches in the fabric of the society.
The story also presents the situation of women bound by the rituals and customs.
Sexual purity has always been a leading theme in the Indian context. In Ramayana, ‘Ahalya’, is altered into a rock for being adulterous, even after being a sexual victim.
Various motif listings specific to India indicate a special cultural concern with persecuted wives.
The question of chastity is at the heart of the story and the ghost tries to set the perspectives right.
Thus, as in Karnad’s ‘Nagamandala’ (the union between a naga and a woman), the union of the ghost and the bride desecrates the issue of chastity, challenges the notion of purity and critiques the norms of society.
It has been taken from the second volume of a two volume collection entitled ‘Choubali and Other Stories’. This is a story of love between a woman and a ghost.
The narrative initiates with the marriage of the only son of an opulent Seth with a good-looking girl. When the bridegroom and the bride are on their way back to the former's home, they stop in the murky and unflappable shadows of the forest.
A ghost is fascinated by the exquisiteness of the bride.
After taking rest, the couple resumes their journey. However, to the bewilderment of the bride the groom is engrossed in his ledger book, which he deems cherished than marriage itself.
The bride hankers responsiveness of the groom, but is snubbed..
And when the husband breaks the news of his business trip to another land for five long years on the propitious occasion of Teej, her world of dreams is devastated.
One day her husband sets out for his five-year long business journey and she is left alone to nurse her wounds in her new home.
The ghost takes this chance to accomplish his desire. Assuming the husband’s form, the ghost enters the house of the Seth. Surprised at the unexpected entrance, the Seth considers it to be the carnal upshot of marriage.
The ghost proves astute enough to understand how to gratify the needs of the avaricious Seth.
He fabricates a story of an extraordinary saint, who has blessed him with a boon of five gold coins every morning.
The ghost enters the house of the Seth, but is in a quandary. The bride is too content to notice the change in her newlywed husband. Thinking that the bride would be disenchanted at the sudden revelation of truth, he dares to narrate the bitter truth.
But to his surprise the bride, though dissatisfied, does not ask him to leave, as this is the only occasion in her life that she is treated with so much adoration and deference.
She accepts him as a part of her life.
In due course, the daughter-in-law becomes pregnant.
In a faraway land, when the Seth's son is busy making money, distressing news starts pouring in. To begin with, he continues to brush them away, but after he hears of his wife's pregnancy, he cannot just wait any longer.
He starts for his home.
When he reached home, to his horror he finds the rumour to be true.
No one accepts him as the real son of the Seth. It is decided that the matter would be taken to the king.
The husbands are tied up and a demonstration leads them to the land of the king.
On the way, they meet a rustic shepherd and he offers to be the mediator. The shepherd offers the ghost and the Seth's son three improbable tasks.
First, he asks them to open their mouth, so that he can ram his shaft down their throat to slog out the truth from their bellies; next, he asks both of them to collect all the sheep grazing on the ground, before he clapped seven times and finally he implores the true husband to enter his waterskin before he snapped his fingers.
The ghost does all the tasks with right industriousness, and is trapped by the smart shepherd.
The ghost is trapped and thrown into the stream. The wife reconciles with her the reality and continues to be a submissive wife and respectful daughter- in-law.
Thereafter comes a twist …………………..
Duvidha is a love story, but with a difference. A supernatural agent is used to highlight the glaring glitches in the fabric of the society.
The story also presents the situation of women bound by the rituals and customs.
Sexual purity has always been a leading theme in the Indian context. In Ramayana, ‘Ahalya’, is altered into a rock for being adulterous, even after being a sexual victim.
Various motif listings specific to India indicate a special cultural concern with persecuted wives.
The question of chastity is at the heart of the story and the ghost tries to set the perspectives right.
Thus, as in Karnad’s ‘Nagamandala’ (the union between a naga and a woman), the union of the ghost and the bride desecrates the issue of chastity, challenges the notion of purity and critiques the norms of society.
July 29, 2021
Oh how beautifully the author puts forth the ultimate timeless dilemma of human beings - Money or Love. A young woman gets married to a rich trader and on the very wedding night he tells her that the next morning he would be travelling elsewhere for business and won't return for five long years. The husband, even if for a second, faces the dilemma whether to choose his young wife over business but his money-monger father manipulates him to choose the latter. As the husband ventures forth, a ghost, smitten by the beauty of the wife, takes the form of her husband and enters the house. He is overwhelmed by the love that he gets, not only from the wife but also from the mother, the aunt. The wife has never been loved and respected so intensely and she falls head over heels for this ghost.
The book very poignantly points out the shortcomings and selfish quests of human beings.
The book very poignantly points out the shortcomings and selfish quests of human beings.
April 24, 2021
About Author
Duvidha is a book written by Vijaydan Detha. Vijaydan was a Rajasthani author. He had written stories in his native language only. Later his son Kailash Kabeer translated most of his stories. His stories are different from his contemporaries or in other words his stories was ahead of his time. He won many awards including “Padma Shri”. He was even nominated for Nobel Prize.
Story
It’s a love story. A ghost fall in love with a newly wed woman. The Groom was more interested in money than his beautiful wife and left city for 5 years in order to start new business in other city. When ghost came to know about this, he took the disguise of groom and started living with the groom’s family. On the first day, he confessed the truth to the bride and ask her to make a decision.
My views
I applaud writer for unusual thinking of a ghost falling in love with a woman. In a way, writer created two versions of bride’s husband. One is virtual, the ghost, whose whole perceptive towards world was changed after falling in love, now he don’t want to harm anyone. Even thinking about his beloved’s pain would made him uneasy. His feelings was so pure that bride can’t say no to him.
Other version is human, the brutal reality. He didn’t think twice before leaving his wife alone for five years because earning money was more necessary than anything else. I think we human should learn love from the ghost.
Although I have read from the translated version but these beautiful lines would have take essence from original one :
1. दुनिया की सारी दौलत के बदले भी बीता हुआ पल वापस नहीं लौटाया जा सकता। इनसान दौलत की खातिर है कि दौलत इनसान की खातिर, फकत इसी हिसाब को अच्छी तरह समझना है। फिर कौन सा हिसाब बाकी रह जाता है! सोने का माहात्म्य बड़ा है या काया का? साँस का माहात्म्य बड़ा है या माया का?
2. प्रीत करने के बाद तो भूतों का मन भी धुल जाता है। कोई बराबरी का हो तो छल-बल की ताकत भी आजमाए, पर नींद में सोये हुए का गला चाक करने पर तो तलवार भी कलंकित होती है।
3.पति ने उसे इस तरह मझदार में छोड़ दिया। भूत होते हुए भी इसने प्रीत जताई, तो कैसे इनकार करे? अगर स्वप्न वश में हो तो प्रीत वश में हो!
4. बस्ती की उपेक्षा नहीं की जा सकती। चाहे कितना ही दौलत का जोर क्यों न हो, कंधा देनेवाले किराए पर नहीं आएँगे।
5. ‘फकत विवाह से क्या होता है! विवाह की दुहाई उम्र भर नहीं चल सकती। व्यापार वस्तुओं का होता है, प्रीत का नहीं। तुम तो प्रीत का भी व्यापार करने लगे! इस व्यापार में ऐसी ही बरकत हुआ करती है!’
Duvidha is a book written by Vijaydan Detha. Vijaydan was a Rajasthani author. He had written stories in his native language only. Later his son Kailash Kabeer translated most of his stories. His stories are different from his contemporaries or in other words his stories was ahead of his time. He won many awards including “Padma Shri”. He was even nominated for Nobel Prize.
Story
It’s a love story. A ghost fall in love with a newly wed woman. The Groom was more interested in money than his beautiful wife and left city for 5 years in order to start new business in other city. When ghost came to know about this, he took the disguise of groom and started living with the groom’s family. On the first day, he confessed the truth to the bride and ask her to make a decision.
My views
I applaud writer for unusual thinking of a ghost falling in love with a woman. In a way, writer created two versions of bride’s husband. One is virtual, the ghost, whose whole perceptive towards world was changed after falling in love, now he don’t want to harm anyone. Even thinking about his beloved’s pain would made him uneasy. His feelings was so pure that bride can’t say no to him.
Other version is human, the brutal reality. He didn’t think twice before leaving his wife alone for five years because earning money was more necessary than anything else. I think we human should learn love from the ghost.
Although I have read from the translated version but these beautiful lines would have take essence from original one :
1. दुनिया की सारी दौलत के बदले भी बीता हुआ पल वापस नहीं लौटाया जा सकता। इनसान दौलत की खातिर है कि दौलत इनसान की खातिर, फकत इसी हिसाब को अच्छी तरह समझना है। फिर कौन सा हिसाब बाकी रह जाता है! सोने का माहात्म्य बड़ा है या काया का? साँस का माहात्म्य बड़ा है या माया का?
2. प्रीत करने के बाद तो भूतों का मन भी धुल जाता है। कोई बराबरी का हो तो छल-बल की ताकत भी आजमाए, पर नींद में सोये हुए का गला चाक करने पर तो तलवार भी कलंकित होती है।
3.पति ने उसे इस तरह मझदार में छोड़ दिया। भूत होते हुए भी इसने प्रीत जताई, तो कैसे इनकार करे? अगर स्वप्न वश में हो तो प्रीत वश में हो!
4. बस्ती की उपेक्षा नहीं की जा सकती। चाहे कितना ही दौलत का जोर क्यों न हो, कंधा देनेवाले किराए पर नहीं आएँगे।
5. ‘फकत विवाह से क्या होता है! विवाह की दुहाई उम्र भर नहीं चल सकती। व्यापार वस्तुओं का होता है, प्रीत का नहीं। तुम तो प्रीत का भी व्यापार करने लगे! इस व्यापार में ऐसी ही बरकत हुआ करती है!’
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