Madhav

In Rabindranath Tagores The Post Office or Dakghar, Madhav is one of the most important characters. He is the foster father of Amal, the dying young boy. Madhavs character is a foil to Amals. Amal yearns for freedom; but Madhav tries to keep him inside, almost imprisoned within the four walls and believes that Amal has a fatal disease and needs a restricted life to get well. Eventually, Madhav is proved wrong by Royal Physician who sets Amal free. In the opening scene, Madhavs conversation with Doctor who treats Amal reveals the central problem of the play: Amals illness. Madhav resolves to follow the prescription of Doctor and does not let Amal go outside. It is to be noted that Madhav loves and cares for Amal. He does not want to lose Amal. Whenever Madhav restricts Amal, he does that for his health. It is out of his affection and love that he

scrupulously follows Doctors advice and administers medicines to Amal. Once Madhav tells Gaffer that Amal clings to my heart in such a queer sort of way and because of Amal earning becomes a joy to Madhav. However, Madhav fails to understand Amal. In the letter which Tagore wrote to Charles Freer Andrews on 4th June, 1921 from Berlin, he opines, Amal represents the man whose soul has received the call of the open road. According to Tagore, Amal is restless because he wants freedom from the comfortable enclosures of habits sanctioned by the prudent; but Madhav, the worldly-wise, considers his restlessness to be a sign of a fatal malady. That is why Madhav fears that Gaffer can send children off their heads like the autumn wind. For Madhav, earning is the aim of life. He encourages Amal to be a learned because he believes that a learned man can earn a lot of money. However, Amal does not want to be a learned. Instead, he wants to go to

Parrots Isle, to Dairymans village, to get kidnapped, to be a job-seeker, a squirrel, a bird, a dairyman, a flower-gatherer like Sudha, and Kings post man. The fundamental difference between Amal and Madhav is emphasised by Tagore through their conversation on Panch-mura hills. To Amal, the hills that he sees through his window are the earths hands that it raises into the sky to beckon those who live far off, and sit by their windows; whereas to Madhav, the hills stand as a barrier. Moreover, in the last scene, Gaffer rebukes Madhav calling him unbeliever. Madhav is grouped with Doctor and Village Headman, the ones who misperceive Amals yearning for freedom, and thus stand in opposition with Gaffer and Royal Physician. In conclusion, it can be suggested that the playwright satirises all the worldly wise figures through Madhavs character, and he contrasts Madhavs character with Amals

in order to intensify the latters longing for freedom. Madhavs blindness to Amals yearning for emancipation ironically helps the reader/audience gain the necessary insight for understanding the play as a story of spiritual awakening.