Deliverance (1981)

Satyajit Ray's 'Sadgati (1981)': Before the Sun Sets
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The sun is setting. Sleep weighs heavy on the world's weary eyes.


A man cleverly avoids touching the corpse, looping a rope around its right foot and dragging it away. The body has begun to rot, spreading its stench in all directions. This is the corpse of a cobbler who spent his entire life in faithful devotion to his religion. While alive, he belonged to the untouchable community. The man dragging the corpse is a Brahmin by birth. The poor body of this Shudra, fallen victim to the cruelty of his faith, now makes its way to the refuse ground. Dukhi has received his reward for boundless devotion to religion. In life, he lived as an untouchable; in death, his place is in the bellies of jackals, vultures, dogs, and crows. And the Brahmin himself arranges this proper disposal with his own hands. Though the corpse doesn't feel his touch, it does receive the blessing of his rope. How many cobblers are fortunate enough to enjoy such privilege? Even this wouldn't have happened ordinarily. But how did it come to pass? Corpses have no caste—except when they belong to the lowly. Those who are untouchable in life remain untouchable in death.


Poor Dukhi's daughter is to be married. The almanac must be consulted to fix an auspicious date. First thing in the morning, he grabbed some grass and rushed to the pandit's house. On an empty stomach. The pandit is a busy man—what if he steps out and can't be found! He must be brought home. Offerings have been arranged for him in the proper manner, a seat of mahua leaves has been spread. Seeing Dukhi, the pandit thought he might as well get some work done. The area around the door needs sweeping, several sacks of chaff from the granary need moving to the cowshed. A whole log lies there that needs splitting too. The pandit will fix the auspicious time for the daughter's wedding, but surely Dukhi must do some work in return?


The first two tasks are easy. They're done. The day advances toward noon. The sun's fury mounts. And Dukhi hasn't eaten anything since morning. If he goes home to eat, what if the pandit gets angry again! He's close to God—it's by his grace that God mercifully keeps people like Dukhi alive. Let it be! Better to finish the work first. Food can be thought about later. Poor Dukhi can cut grass. He's never done wood-splitting in his life. And the wood is particularly stubborn and hard. He keeps trying, but nothing happens. If he could just have a smoke of tobacco, maybe his body would find some strength! Tobacco was arranged, Dukhi went to the pandit's house and asked for fire to light his hookah and tobacco. The pandit's wife irritably flung a glowing coal at him. Why shouldn't she? Taking advantage of the opportunity, this low-caste Dukhi dared to enter their house asking for fire! Such audacity! Unthinkable! The pandit knows well that the work Dukhi is doing would cost anyone at least a rupee!


Refreshed by the tobacco, Dukhi threw himself back into work. The axe fell rhythmically on the wood. Feeling remorse for throwing fire at him, the Brahmin's wife thought the poor man had been going without food since morning—perhaps she should give him something to eat. Later she discussed with her husband: the food they have won't be enough to fill that lowly man's belly. Who will go to the trouble of cooking food now? Never mind! Better not to give food at all than to give too little to a lowly person. After eating and enjoying a proper afternoon nap, the pandit came outside and reminded Dukhi that if the work wasn't completed properly, his daughter's wedding date couldn't be fixed on time—the wedding would be delayed, and then Dukhi couldn't blame him. Dukhi began working with renewed vigor. That's right! His negligence mustn't ruin his daughter's wedding! In Munshi Premchand's words: If the pandit doesn't properly determine the auspicious time, disaster might strike! This is why he commands such respect and honor in society. It's all about the auspicious moment! He can destroy anyone he wishes!


Dukhi seems to lose consciousness—fatigue, exhaustion, hunger all seem to vanish. He's amazed at his own strength! Some demonic power seems to possess sickly Dukhi's body. Each blow falls on the tree like thunder. Dukhi wields the axe like a madman. What was Dukhi's rage directed against? Against his fate? Against the Brahmin? Or against the corrupt caste system? Eventually, his head spins and he collapses face-down on the ground. His body, worn out by hunger, thirst, and exhaustion, falls into death's embrace.


Meanwhile, Dukhi's corpse lies on the path everyone takes to fetch water. Fearing police trouble, no one from the cobbler settlement moves the body. And the Brahmins certainly won't lay hands on a corpse! No one from the neighborhood can fetch water—how can people step over a dead body to get water? An uproar ensues. Dukhi's wife returns from outside the pandit's door, beating her head and weeping. The afternoon slides toward evening, rain falls, and the corpse begins to rot. When the rain stops, Dukhi begins his final journey toward the refuse ground through the mud, dragged by the rope in the pandit's sacred hands. Lucky Dukhi—his right foot hadn't yet rotted away, or how would his impure corpse have received the touch of the Brahmin's rope?


The sun is setting. Sleep weighs heavy on the world's weary eyes.


According to Hindu belief, unless a person's mortal remains are disposed of through certain prescribed rituals after death, the deceased's soul cannot attain liberation or find peace. The post-death ceremonies performed for the soul's liberation free it from worldly desires and create the opportunity for union with the divine. This is called sadgati. Satyajit Ray had written the screenplay adaptation of Munshi Premchand's story 'Sadgati' in English; later, Premchand's son Amrit Rai translated the dialogues into Hindi. The film explores the caste system prevalent in Hinduism in India and the psychology of certain people surrounding these entrenched customs. The story was written nearly a hundred years ago, and the film was made nearly forty years ago—sadly, the story's theme remains completely relevant today. This forty-five-minute film depicts one day's social dynamics between two families from the highest Brahmin caste and the lowest Shudra caste among Hinduism's four varnas—Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra—along with the behavior of surrounding people and a death that results from it all.


Ghosts and God cause suffering only to believers; the more one believes, the more one weeps. This has been the way since ancient times. Here something must be said: whatever the pandit and his wife did, whether we consider it good or bad, they were simply following prevailing social customs. According to these customs, pandits would invoke religion to have people like Dukhi serve their interests, while people like Dukhi could seek no redress—they could only weep. Dukhi and his family lived in that society and were blindly obedient to all its conventions, yet that obedience did not let them live.


The entire lives of people like Dukhi are documents of failure. They can never question anything, only silently accept—even if death results! Looking at today's world, we see the same scene. Loyalty to rulers can never guarantee a beautiful life for a country's people. Those who hold power are the only ones entitled to all rights to live well.