In 20th-century India, the perfect Hindu wife was… a man
Even though he wasn’t a woman, Bal Gandharva’s vision of the ‘traditional wife’ was given supremacy over every other form of womanhood.
In 20th-century India, the epitome of the ideal Hindu wife was not a woman but a man – Bal Gandharva, a celebrated impersonator of Marathi sangeet natak (musical theatre). His portrayal of devoted heroines with such conviction that film actresses in the 1970s were trained to mimic his mannerisms. My research reveals how Gandharva's enactment of womanhood from the stage to the marketplace became a site where respectable Hindu femininity was produced and commodified.
This project was exploited by the theatre industry, consumer culture, and Hindu nationalist politics for their own ends. As a man, Gandharva played 27 female roles, embodying stridharma, the concept of wifely devotion that was promoted by upper-caste men and women reformers. His heroines were depicted as reticent, forbearing, and self-effacing, but always dressed in exquisite saris and jewellery, making them visually and emotionally legible.
Gandharva's wife image fit naturally into ads for family products, endorsing Zenith Drakshasava, an Ayurvedic tonic, and later, Gandharva toilet powder, demonstrating how his persona became a symbol of respectable femininity that permeated the consumer market.
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