The Decline of Feudal Structures and Rise of Urban Aspirations in Mahesh Elkunchwar’s Wada Trilogy: A Postcolonial and Marxist Analysis

This research paper critically analyses Mahesh Elkunchwar’s Wada Trilogy—Wada Chirebandi, Magna Talyakathi, and Yugant—to examine the decline of feudal structures and the rise of urban aspirations in postindependence India. Using postcolonial and Marxist theoretical frameworks, the study explores how Elkunchwar portrays the erosion of feudal hierarchies, land-based power, and joint family structures as younger generations migrate to urban centres seeking education, employment, and identity reconstruction. The analysis reveals that the ancestral wada acts as a decaying symbol of fading feudal heritage, with the patriarch representing ideological rigidity and inability to adapt to modern capitalist structures. The plays illustrate a generational conflict where traditional rural-rooted values clash with urban-centric dreams, leading to psychological alienation, cultural displacement, and fragmented identities.