WADA CULTURE IN MAHESH ELKUNCHWAR’S 'OLD STONE MANSION' (Pages 156-166) by Dr. Jeevan S. Masure in THE ENGLISH RESEARCH EXPRESS / ISSN:2321-1164 (Online); 2347-2642 (Print)

Mahesh Elkunchwar looks at the world with sympathy. The present play is the result of his seven years observation on the happenings in the aristocratic families in small places and the process of social collapse. Elkunchwar being part of the Wada culture explores the Wada Mentality as it endures against the odds of time. He notices the decline of Wada culture and projects it in his play. The large joint family with its hierarchic patriarchy controls and protects the Wada culture. The senior males are lazy drones, the elder women are the patient upholders and preservers of the system, the younger males of the same generation are as subservient as the women in their submission to authority. In Wada culture woman belongs to the kitchen and is put in the backyard of the life. She should be conscious of the things which are supposed to be pure and impure. She strictly observes the tradition of pollution, purity, sacred and unholy. During ceremony of sprinkling water for peace, woman has to observe the custom of purity. Because of the aristocratic and fundamentalist nature of men, the liberty of women is diminished and many sever restrictions—religious, cultural, social, economic and familial—are imposed upon them. Key-words: wada culture, hierarchic patriarchy, social collapse, Old Stone Mansion