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| The Bull by Bhimnidhi Tiwari | Summary |
Summary
The one act play “The Bull” composed by the most versatile and the Madan Puraskar awarded Nepali poet, dramatist and short story writer Bhimnidhi Tiwari is an ironical play which depicts the contemporary society during the feudal system in the past. During the feudal system, poor humans were treated as inferior to the animals of the elite. The play is written based on the haughty interest of Rana Bahadur Shah, the grand son of Prithvi Narayan Shah. The king had the passion of raising the bulls. Among the bulls, he loved the most vigorous and valiant bull named ‘Male’ which once fell sick and the play is created in the periphery of this situation.
In this one act play, ‘The Bull’ Bhimnidhi Tiwari dramatizes the incident related to Rana Bahadur Shah’s craze for bulls to make a biting satire on the feudal system, which dehumanizes human beings to such an extent that their existence depends on their deferential treatment towards four-footed animals like bulls.
According to the plot of the play, the bull named Male suddenly died and the two cowherds Gore and Jitman were at an intense psychological disorder about what to do or not. They were sad and frightened because the king would harshly punish them and send out of the valley. They told the case of the death of Male to Laxmi Narayan Dahal who was the bull doctor and bichari of the Chapali Court.
Laxmi Narayan Dahal tactfully dealt about the death of the bull to the King. He requested the king to take the bull to the hill areas expecting his good health there because the bull did not favour the climatic condition at the Thulo Gauchar. Laxmi Narayan reported that Male neither ate anything nor took the medicine, he only slept motionlessly with his eyes still, drooped ears, loosened tail and stretched body. The king didn’t think about the death of the bull. Hearing this condition, the king decided to visit the Thulo Gauchar in order to see the most loved bull.
A convoy was arranged and proceeded towards the cowshed. When they reached near Thulo Gauchar, Laxmi went faster and told Gore and Jitman to lament on the sickness of the bull. He told Gore to fan the bull from the front and Jitman to massage the hind leg without uttering the death of the bull. The king approached there and checked the condition of the bull. He finally declared the death. As soon as Gore and Jitman heard about the death of Male, they burst into a big cry trumpeting their chest and lamented on the death of Male. The situation went beyond control. The king then ordered Laxmi Narayan to console the cowherds declaring to give them some money as tips for the care done on behalf of the bull. In spite of intolerable pain of being harshly punished, Laxmi Narayan skillfully outsmarted the king.
About the Author:
Tanka Bhattarai is a Second class Secondary Level English teacher currently teaching at Shahid Smriti Secondary School, Dharan, Sunsari. He is also an MToT of Education Training Centre, Koshi Province.
