TREATMENT OF REALITY, FANTASY AND MYTH IN THE SELECT PLAYS OF GIRISH KARNAD

THESIS SUBMITTED TO BHARATHIAR UNIVERSITY, COIMBATORE IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH

BY K.RADHAI

UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF

Dr. A. ARUNACHALAM
Reader, Department of English Erode Arts College (Autonomous), Erode 9.

Department of English ERODE ARTS COLLEGE (Affiliated to Bharathiar University) ERODE 9. JANUARY 2006.

DECLARATION

I, K. Radhai, hereby declare that the thesis, entitled Treatment of Reality, Fantasy and Myth in the Select Plays of Girish Karnad, submitted to the Bharathiar University, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English is a record of original and independent research work done by me during the period 2002-2006 under the Supervision and guidance of Dr. A. Arunachalam, Dept. of English, Erode Arts College (Autonomous), Erode and it has not formed the basis for the award of any Degree / Diploma / Associateship / Fellowship or other similar title to any candidate in any University.

Dr. K. RADHAI

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I express my profound gratitude to my guide Dr.A.Arunachalam, Reader, Department of English, Erode Arts College (Autonomous), Erode, for his scholarly advice and invaluable suggestions. His esteemed consent and motivation has enabled me to complete my task. I sincerely thank the Secretary, Principal and the Head of the Department of English, Erode Arts College (Autonomous) for permitting me to do this research work in their institution. I am extremely grateful to my respected Madam Principal

Dr.(Mrs) S. Andal, M.Sc., M.Phil., Ph.D., (Syndicate member, Periyar University ,Salem) for the encouragement and support extended by her. But for her blessings and motivation, this volume would not have seen the light of the day. I express my sincere thanks to the Secretary and Correspondent of J.K.K.Nataraja College of Arts and Science, for permitting me to undertake the present study. I am grateful to my teacher and well wisher Dr.R.Kasthuri Bai, Head of the Department of English, Sri Sarada College for Women (Autonomous), Salem for her constant encouragement and invaluable suggestions. I owe my earnest debt of gratitude and heartfelt thanks to my well wishers and my dear friends for having encouraged me time and again.

I am grateful to Ms. L.VinayaLakshmi M.Sc for her co-operation and supernal patience in making my work attain completion in a prompt and elegant manner. I express my profound thanks to the Librarians and authorities of various agencies for their willing co-operation and timely help rendered to me. J.K.K. Nataraja College of Arts and Science, Komarapalayam. Erode Arts College (Autonomous), Erode. SCILET, The American College, Madurai. Indo-American Centre for International Studies, Hyderabad. Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad. Osmania University, Hyderabad. Connemara Public Library, Chennai. United States Information Service Centre Library, Chennai. Madras University Library, Chennai. Bharathiar University Library, Coimbatore. Bharathidasan University Library, Trichirapalli. Above all, I thank the Almighty for showering His choicest blessings on me.

CONTENTS

CHAPTERS

TITLE

PAGE No.
1

INTRODUCTION

II

TREATMENT OF REALITY: INDIAN ETHOS 28

III

TREATMENT OF REALITY: EVIL

80

IV

TREATMENT OF MYTH

122

TREATMENT OF FANTASY

152

VI

CONCLUSION

178

WORKS CITED

206

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

English language served as a veritable Suez Canal for intellectual intercourse between the East and the West. Though K.R.Srinivasa Iyengar has commented that an Indian writing in English was rather like an animal imitating the footprints of another Indian English literature according to Naik, was not a Hesperian hybrid nurtured in a Hindustani hot house (158). It was rather a slender twig of that Banyan tree-termed Indian literature, ancient and multi-faceted. Indian English literature, which was once considered as the Cinderella of literature in English has shown spring time fervour and has attained autumnal ripeness (Preface vii) in the recent years. Although Hirankumar Sanyal has pointed out that drama is a literature that walks and talks(233), it was just a plant of meager growth in the house of Indian English literature but it has been advancing, rather limping, during the last four decades. It was almost a non-entity and it could not be matched with other genres in this literature like fiction and poetry.
There were several factors responsible for this stunted growth of drama and the foremost problem was the indissoluble relation between drama and the theatre. Drama, a mimetic representation of life, is a composite art in which the written word attains artistic realization when spoken by the actor on the stage and reciprocated by the audience. A play in order to communicate fully must become a living dramatic experience and so it needs a real theatre and a live audience. According to Naik, a true dramatist has to communicate or he will die (181). It was precisely the lack of these essentials that had hamstrung Indian drama in English all along. One silver lining was that in the recent decades Indian drama in English language had fared sumptuously and put on flesh(155). Drama was the fifth Veda for the ancient Hindus and Indian classical drama, which flourished for ten centuries or more, could now safely challenge comparison with other genres in Indian Writing.

Drama in India has had a rich and glorious tradition. The contemporary dramatist Girish Karnad has said in The Fire and the Rain Brahma, the Lord of all creation extracted the requisite element from the four Vedas(Prologue 2). He culled out the text from Rig Veda, songs from Sama Veda, the art of acting from the Yajur Veda and Rasa (aesthetic experience) from the Atharvana Veda and combined them into a fifth Veda Natya Veda and thus gave birth to the art of drama. He then handed it over to his son, Lord Indra, the supreme God of Gods. But Indra, Lord of Gods, realized that Gods were unfit to the new form and passed it on to the human preceptor Bharata who organized a troupe with his hundred sons and twenty-five Apsaras. Narada and others were engaged as musicians, Gods and demons became the spectators; Nandhi and Anukrati were the commentators. The first open air performance was held on the occasion of Banner festival, Indra-dhvaja festival, to celebrate Indras victory in a battle over demons which is symbolic of the conflict between good and evilthe story of eternal battle between Gods and demons in the heaven, good doer and evil doer on the earth. Indra Nath Chouduri has pointed out that Bharatha in his Natyashastra explained that theatre is a plaything (Kridaniyakam) a kind of diversion from the day-to-day drudgery of life. So it involves the conventions of stylization (Natyadharmita) more than the conventions of the representational World (lokadharmita). (173)
It was highlighted that the audience were not watching real life, but only a theatre. Traditional Indian theatre through the presentational form created the reality of the theatric universe on the stage. The primary aim of drama was not only to entertain but

also to arouse a personal response in the mind of the spectator. Saryug Yadav affirms that all emotions including grief, terror and disgust are depicted; the Sanskrit drama never allows a tragic catastrophe to cause a painful impression in the minds of the audience.(34)

Classical Sanskrit theatre, ritual theatre and folk theatre comprise the traditional Indian theatre. Classical Sanskrit theatre drew support from the works such as Natyashastra, Abinaya Darpana and Sangitha Rathakara; Ritual theatre portrayed a very wide range of castes and communities, while folk theatre was secular in spirit. Sanskrit Literature is classified into Drishya (that can be seen or exhibited) and the Sravya (that can be heard or recited). Drama falls under the former category. Drama in Sanskrit literature belongs to the Umbrella of Rupaka which means depiction of life in its various aspects represented in form by actions assumed by various characters. The rupaka has ten classifications and the prominent component is Nataka (Drama). Sanskrit drama develops around three primary constituents, namely Vaster (plot), Neta (hero) and Rava (sentiment). Each play consists of a Prologue introduced by an invocation and a formal ushering in of the plot. This is followed by the theme presented in equally divided parts of five or ten acts. Every act is concluded by the exit of all the characters and the stage is left empty. The incidents like journey, killings and wars are never enacted but are only suggested. The surviving Sanskrit dramas are numerous and vary from short one act play to very long plays. The exponent dramatists were Asvaghosa, Bhasa, Kalidasa, Bhavabhuti and Sudra.

There are various kinds of dramatic presentation. Edward cites the concept of drama as defined by Bharata. As he observes, drama has to deal with: the imitation of things done in former times by Gods, and men, by kings and the great ones of the world (88), this was followed by the ancient playwrights and theorists. The dramatist draws on the subject matter from the epics and the puranas. The actor is aware that he is enacting a drama, and it is the stage presentation, which distinguishes drama from pre-modern western drama. The classical Indian drama is episodic and narrative in structure and it does not build up a climax as Aristotelian drama does. Though the earliest drama which appeared on the literary horizon written by an Indian, Rev Krishna Mohan popularly called as K.M.Banerjee, was published in 1831 itself, Indian drama in English was in infancy for long and it could not overcome its teething troubles till the middle of the last century. Sri Aurobindo and Rabindranath Tagore, the two great divine poets, were the first Indian dramatists to become prominent in Indian literature in English. Sri Aurobindo, a born Lord of language, was an outstanding writer in Indian English literature. He wrote five complete blank verse plays besides his six incomplete plays. His complete verse plays are Perseus the Deliverer (1943), Eric (1960), and Vasavadutta

Rodogune (1958), The Viziers of Bassora (1957),

(1957). The implied theme of Perseus the Deliverer is the evolution of man from the state of ignorance to that of enlightened humanism. The play also presents the dramatists vision of an ideal world where man will be broad minded and kind in spirit which may lead him to perfection, so as to become one with God. The

purification of the human soul through suffering is the theme of Rodogune. According to Aurobindo, suffering in the hands of the Divine will is an instrument for perfecting the soul of mankind. In The Viziers of Bassora, the playwright reveals a bright future for mankind and the ultimate victory of the forces of good over the forces of evil. Through this play, the dramatist visualizes the evolution of man where a new society comes into existence in which man realizes the higher possibilities. In this new society lies the dramatists vision of mans aspirations for establishing an ideal world in this mundane earth. Sinha sums up the theme of the play Eric as, the trinity of glorious manhood can be completed only when strength in nature and wisdom in the mind are combined with the love in the heart. (202) Love becomes the evolving force in Eric, and the vision that is portrayed by the dramatist is the vision of a blissful state not only for individuals like Eric, but for all those who experience the magic charm of love. If an individual is guided by his instincts, he will attain peace and perfection. This concept has formed the basis and theme of his play Vasavadutta. The plays of Aurobindo deal with the concept of love as its basis since love has become the greatest solvent of most forms of evil. Apart from all these, his incomplete plays are The Witch of Ilni, Achab and Esarhaddon, The Maid in the Mill, The House of Brut, and The Birth of Sin and Prince of Edur. The length of these plays varies from one scene of fifty-two lines to three acts. The most striking feature of Sri Aurobindos plays is that they portray different cultures and countries in different epochs with a variety of characters, moods and

sentiments. As cited by Prema Nandakumar, K.R.Srinivasa Iyengar observes that Aurobindos plays deal with the dramas of life and love, of conflict and change (33). This is true as Perseus the Deliverer is grounded on the ancient Greek myth of Persues and Vasavadutta is a romantic tale of ancient India. The fable is from Somadevas Kathasaritsagara and Sri Aurobindo has also followed Bhasas Pratyina Yayugandharyana in planning his dramatic action. Rodogune is the only tragedy attempted by Sri Aurobindo, and the source was Corneilles famous tragedy, Rodogune. In this tragedy, the alliance between poetry and tragedy is as ancient as Aeschylus. The dramatic romance Eric the King of Norway leads us to ancient Norway as the dramatist has taken his fable from the lives of Old Norwegian sages. Through this play the dramatist has glorified the supremacy of love as it overcomes bitterness and murderous revenge. All the characters in Aurobindos play realize the value of love, which is the hoop of Gods, hearts to combine (Prema Nandakumar 36). The play Viziers of Bassora is mainly based on The Tale of the Beautiful Sweet Friend, a delightful story told by Shahrazed to King Sharayar during the thirty-second night in the Arabian Nights Entertainments. The drama has a fairytale ending with Haroun al Rasheed, the legendary Caliph, setting matters right. But whether the theme is ancient,

medieval or modern, Sri Aurobindo weaves adroitly plots and characters and uses language to a high creative purpose. Hence the dramatic world of Sri Aurobindo is a world of heroism and romance, of tears and smiles, of insights and epiphanies. There is almost a global coverage in the total content of Sri Aurobindos dramatic literature

and the method adopted by Aurobindo is to pick up only brief outline and relevant points out of the different sources so as to build up a unified and harmonious new structure that bears the stamp of his personality. Aurobindo through his imaginative skill has transformed the temporal materials into rich and varied art forms. With respect to plot construction and characterization, Aurobindos indebtedness to Elizabethan drama is undeniable. He has followed the footpath of Shakespeare by not adhering to the three unities of drama. The use of English blank verse was flawless in his plays. He was also motivated by the impact of Sanskrit playwrights. As a part of dramatic design, this multi-faceted genius strove to present the exposition scene in an elaborate manner in his full-fledged plays and the transition from exposition to the rise of crisis is smooth, natural and logical. The dramatist has employed the principle of contrast, juxtaposition and suspense as chief structural forces. In order to expose the inner recesses of the mind, the playwright effectively used soliloquy in Vasavadutta and in Perseus the Deliverer, and asides in The Witch of Elni and Eric the King of Norway. The study of drama is half-literary and half-sociological because drama comes directly in contact with the people, literate as well as illiterate, through stage production. Though Aurobindo was a supreme artist, dramatic companies never staged his plays, because he has failed to evolve a language quite appropriate to the dramatic medium. Though this penetrating literary critic is known for his felicitous use of blank verse, his lengthy speech suppresses the action of his plays. Aurobindos emphasis on the general principles of dramatic design is definitely a paramount

achievement in the field of Indian English drama but it is a regrettable fact that he could not cater to the demands of the stage unlike the popular script writer Karnad who writes exclusively for stage production. Rabindranath Tagore, the epitome of Indian spiritual heritage, was a pioneer in the Indian dramatic scenario. Many critics have crowned him as the father of Indian stagecraft. He has written abundantly and his plays encompasses all the known categories- five act plays based on the Elizabethan models, one act plays, poignant tragedies and rollicking comedies, Charades, Farces, Satires, Dramatic Dialogue in verse, Lyrical Dramas, Symbolical plays, and plays predominating in metaphysical and contemporary problems. He has written more than forty plays of all kinds using myth, legend, symbols and allegory in large proportion to express his views on love, religion and death. He wrote primarily in Bengali but he himself has translated almost all his plays into English. The protagonist in his plays realise the value of compassion and self-sacrifice. In all his plays, the heroes struggle hard to relieve the sufferings of humanity, from the clutches of the material world. . His major plays are impregnated with the spirit of Buddhism and through his characters he has crystallized the meaning and substance of the play. Tagore was so captivated by the dramatic genre, and he began his career as a dramatist in his early twenties. He composed the Opera, Valmiki-Prathiba and a fullfledged drama Rudra-Chanda and Malini in verse form. But his first fullblooded drama was Raja O Rani published when he was twenty-eight and the theme of the play is that of love and patriotism. His important plays are The Post Office (1914),

Red Oleanders (1925), Chandalika, Mukta-Dhara (1922), Natir Puja (1961), The King of the Dark Chamber (1914), The Cycle of Spring, Sanyasi and The Mothers Prayer. The plays are firmly rooted in the Indian ethos in their character and treatment. Raja O Rani was the first problem play in Bengali literature and it was followed by Dakhgar (The Post Office) (1912), but it proved to be less of a problem play. Hirankumar Sanyal has pointed out the shadow of death darkens the play almost till the end; but when the end arrives, death comes in a blaze of glory, transmitting tragedy into triumph (237). The dramatist in all his later plays, MuktaDhara, Ratakarabi and Tapati, portrays this idea. All these plays move on the purely human plane and deal entirely with the conflict between man and machine. MuktaDhara deals with the conflict between man and machine. Ratakarabi titled (Red Oleanders) in English is a moving parable of contemporary civilization in which the machine dominates to a much greater extent than pictured in Mukta-Dhara. More than in any other work, in prose or verse, in Ratakarabi he successfully portrays the world of greed and unscrupulousness in an overwhelming manner. Tagore, through his plays, has tried to explore new world of thoughts and experience and this led him to experiment with new techniques, taking in his stride nearly all the known isms in dramaturgy: naturalism, realism, symbolism and expressionism. As a sensitive humanist, he felt the compulsive urge for a search for new values and as a literary artist this groping is recorded in his writings. But he lacked the sparkling wit and penetrating sense of humor, which enabled the dramatist

to understand the qualities of different temperaments and to identify himself equally with all of them. Though according to Srinivasa Iyengar, the total impact of life and work is indeed that of a modern Leanordo da Vinci, of a multiple power and personality(112), his plays lack the dramatic terseness and they often fail to grip the attention of the audience. Tagores plays, as opined by Dr. Krishnanand Joshi and Dr. B.Shymala Rao, are not plays of action, but plays of feeling, plays of carnival delight and eternal identity (79). They attempt to synthesize the rhythmic intensity of western tragedy with the mingling of Indian folk and classical drama. None of his plays are to be viewed objectively as a representation of a series of events. It is intended to produce an aesthetic and emotional experience. He was faithful to dramatic tradition and to the moral and spiritual values. He regarded drama or theatre only as a medium of selfexpression. Although he may have left the world with no dramatic masterpiece, his dramas highly inspire the progressive and enterprising devotees of dramatic art. Another dramatist who occupies a prominent place in the firmament of the English drama as a socio-linguist is Tyagaraja Paramasiva Kailasam popularly known as T.P.Kailasam. As Ramasamy points out, he has written his plays in the exact way in which people speak in a sort of combination of Kannada and English which has been called Kannadanglo(273), are extremely stage worthy and popular. Though regarded as the Father of Modern Kannada Drama, his ingenuity finds its full expression in his English plays - The Burden (1933), Fulfilment (1933), The Purpose (1944), Karna (1946), and Keechaka (1949). Kailasam expresses a profound

reverence for ancient literature, culture, its legends and myths by borrowing wellknit themes from them. His English plays unlike his Kannada plays are inspired by puranic themes, but he renders them brilliantly for the intellectuals of the modern days. In the short and poignant plays The Burden and Fulfilment, as K.R.Srinivasa Iyengar has commented, he can make prose a fit vehicle for the expression of tragic emotion(197). His play Fulfilment is a sheer horror as Lord Dunsanys Night at an Inn and can be regarded as the crown of Kailasams dramatic art. The dramatic adventure of Kailasam is evident in his play Karna. In his Kechaka, he idealizes the hero and he goes to extremes in his search for greatness in epic characters but unfortunately, according to Krishna Bhatta, Kailasams Keechaka is disappointing so far as the handling of the epic theme is concerned(34). He successfully strives to bring in the element of fate to intensify the tragic helplessness but devoid of suspense and climax, his theme does not reach the Himalayan heights of a Greek or Shakespearean tragedy. Another play, which portrays Kailasams dramatic quality, is The Purpose as the Elizabethans indirectly influenced him through the Greek tragedy. An analysis of Kailasams dramatic output reveals that he captured the public imagination by the fresh breath of life and vitality, and brought down drama from over dramatic heights (Krishna Bhatta 39). Kailasam shows his interest only in highlighting the greatness of the tragic heroes of the epics. He employs old myths and legends to project contemporary problems. Kailasam has a better stage potential than Aurobindo and Tagore.

Another versatile poet who ventured into the field of drama during the preindependence phase was Harindranath Chattopadhyaya. He has to his credit a number of plays and playlets on sociological, historical and devotional aspects. His

sociological plays are manifestos of new realism, symbolical, didactic and propagandistic while his hagiological plays are plays of conflict between the good and the evil and the assertion of Gods grace. In his foremost sociological play The Window, the dramatist portrays the cruelty inflicted by capitalistic industrialist on poor laborers. As a sign of sympathy for the miserable people, the playwright has dedicated the play to The Brave Textile Workers of Parel, Bombay. He highlights the realistic picture of workers, unrelieved sufferings and unjust law making. In his other tragedy, The Parrot (1937), he reflects mans inner urge for freedom from the bondage created in the form of certain customs and cultures. His other sociological plays, The Sentrys Lantern (1937), The Coffin (1937), and The Evening Lamp (1931), portray the tyrannical nature of the capitalist through revolution. In his Siddhartha (1956), he seems to be over-enthusiastic in employing Western techniques and as a result, he has failed to create the desired effect on the stage. Though essentially a poet, he makes a brave attempt to dramatize the lives of saints and the current problems of the society. In spite of his knowledge of the ancient Hindu dramatic tradition, he fails to meet the demands of the stage so far as his full-length plays are concerned. Among the female contributors, Bharati Sarabhai predominates the Indian dramatic scenario. She is the author of The Well of the People (1943), which portrays

traditional womanhood and Gandhian social doctrine. Two Women (1952) deals with the sensitive nature of the modern sophisticated woman and her private world. The dramatist treats her theme in accordance with the Indian tradition blending it with spirituality. She uplifts her characters and leads them to the ultimate reality of the Vedantic heights by making them visualize the omnipresence of God. Her plays bear testimony to her ability to give realistic touches to some age-old customs and beliefs and thereby elevate them to a higher plane. The Well of the People is considered as the most memorable contribution of Sarabhai in dramatic form to the Gandhian age. In this modern world, there are numerous conflicts arising out of the social problems. Whether their plays were successful or not, the Indian English playwrights in the pre-independence phase vied with one another to use social themes for their plays. The other playwrights who followed the tradition of social realism were

A.S.Panchapekesha Ayyar, A.C.Krishnaswami, V.V.Srinivasa Iyengar and S.Fyzee Rahamin. A vigorous critic of contemporary society, A.S.P.Ayyar, apart from his historical plays, published a collection of three plays Sitas Choice, Brahmas Ways and The Slave of Ideas (1935). His plays are scholarly discussions about conflicting opinions on social customs, which are, the beatings on the drum of society for creating the harmony of life. (Preface ii)

A.C.Krishnaswami designs his characters as Props for the theme of widowmarriage and the evil consequences of ill-assorted marriages between young girls and old men. The dramatist makes a crude experiment in presenting the social evils in his play The Two Twice-Borns (1914). V.V.Srinivasa Iyengar whos Dramatic

Divertisements (1921) is a collection of plays that exposes the angularities of the Indian middle class society. His plays entertain and give us charming little sketches of social life in India. The collection includes Blessed in a Wife, Vichus Wife, The Surgeon Generals Prescription, The Point of View, and Wait for the Stroke. Krishna Bhatta rightly comments that corrupt practices in the name of religion are as old as the great religions of our country, and it is no wonder if they constitute the themes of some plays(70). Fyzee Rahamins Invented Gods and Daughter of India (1940) deal with the caste system and the tragic consequences of the corrupt practices of priesthood. The Pre-independence phase presents a host of dramatists who were convinced of short plays. The burning problems of the day occupy a more predominant place than historical and legendary themes. The playwrights had not made use of the rich traditions of classical drama and folk-stage. Their plays were lyrical, allegorical, symbolical and sociological; only a few dramatists were able to gain the attention of the audience, as they did not have a distinct awareness of staging their plays. The history of the drama shows that it has always been dependent on the stage for its development; in almost every country, which has achieved a considerable dramatic literature, in bulk and in quality, it is the public theatre, which has fostered the growth of the drama and vice-versa. Even after independence, though there was no proper living theatre, encouragement was given to the performing arts in the first five-year plan by establishing an Akademi and other organizations. These dramatic activities uplifted

mostly plays in Indian languages, but ironically prime importance was given only to Western plays and Indian English drama suffered for want of proper stage. Those plays staged after the pre-independence phase were greatly influenced by the models and techniques of the West. Among the dramatists of the post-independence phase, Asif Currimbhoy, Indias first authentic voice in the theatre, could be singled out. Currimbhoy gave more importance to the performing aspects of drama, as it is a visual aid to understand the events and the people than the literary aspects, which may increase the knowledge of the plays in theory. The literary career of Asif Currimbhoy may be divided into two periods, the first from 1959 to 1968 and the second period from 1969 to 1975. During the first period he wrote The Tourist Mecca (1959), The Clock (1959), The Doldrummers (1960), The Restaurant (1960), The Dumb Dancer (1961), Om (1961), Thorns on a Canvas (1964), The Captives (1963), Goa (1964), And Never the Twain shall Meet (1964), The Kaleidoscope (1964), Monsoon (1965), The Hungry Ones (1965), Valley of the Assassins (1966), The Temple Dancers (1967), The Lotus Eater (1967), Abbe Faria (1968) and The Mercenary (1968). In the second period appeared An Experiment with Truth (1969), The Great Indian Bustard (1970), Inquilab (1970), Darjeeling Tea (1971), The Refugee (1971), Sonar Bangla (1972), Om Mane Padme Hum (1972), The Miracle Seed (1973), Angkor (1973), The Dissident MLA (1974), and This Alien Native Land (1975). He has written a total of thirty plays within fifteen years and they are substantial in context and rich in theatrical devices (Shanta Gokhale 340). He uses monologues,

choruses, chants songs, slide projections, sound effects, mime and anything that catalyses the dramatic purposes. He is a deeply compassionate playwright who gives his characters room to reveal themselves. But he was ignored in India until the news of the reputation he enjoyed in the United States reached the country. Shanta Gokhale has revealed that Currimbhoy was emerging more and more clearly as a playwright of international stature (341). His play Goa was produced at the University of Michigan in 1965 and in 1968 it was staged at the Martinique Theatre on Broadway. The Hungry Ones was performed at the Theatre Company,

Boston and at Caf La Mame. The Doldrummers were given a try out at the actors studio but it was banned in India. It was only in 1969, after writers like Khushwant Singh and Mulk Raj Anand wrote letters of protest to the Times of India, that the ban was lifted and the Little Theatre group in Delhi staged it. Though he had to cross all these hurdles, his achievements in the field of drama is highly impressive and distinctive and is touched with a hallmark of significant achievement. Currimbhoy has ventured, won and therefore is honored among contemporary Indian dramatists. The dramatic medium served as a source to portray the religious fervor and cultural turmoil in India by another figure, Swami Avyaktananda through his work India Through the Ages (1947). From the epic Mahabharata the playwrights, notably Thakur, Sadar-Joshi and Keshvadasji, culled out themes for their plays. A few playwrights of this phase also have made an attempt to extend ancient myths to modern times and interpreted them from the contemporary angle.

Few playwrights have tapped their sources from history and current politics. Chronologically, the first prominent three-act play was Janakis (Bhavans journal competition winner) The Siege of Chitor (1960) in which the playwright ennobles the character of Akbar. It is a play with brisk action and it is stage worthy. The minor playwright Lakhan Deb portrays the last days of Gandhijis life in his recent twoact verse play, Murder at the Prayer Meeting (1976) wherein he has used the expressionist method in characterization and has made the character universal. He courageously makes use of blank verse, rhymed verse, and metered prose and thus his plays appear to be obscure. Apart from the historical dramatists, other dramatists like Gurucharan Das, Manohar Malgonkar, and V.K.Gokak have developed around the nucleus of political situations. The conflict between the past and the present, the old and the new concepts and customs has continued in our society and playwrights like V.V.Srinivasa Iyengar, T.M.Lobo Prabhu, V.Subba Rao and Nissim Ezekiel, through their dramatic art, have tried to tackle the contemporary social problems like intercaste marriage, untouchability, sex, power and wealth. As Naik opines, modern Indian Drama in the Indian languages notably in Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada and Hindi has during recent years successfully increased its artistic hemoglobin count (201). This enabled the regional writers to venture into this field and they have become visible through translations. Ezra Pounds statement that a great age in literature is perhaps always a great age in translations is applicable to Kannada literature. Translation, despite its heavy shortcomings, accords a greater reach to the Indian plays written in regional

languages. This phenomenon has become prominent due to Sahithya Akademi, Katha and other organizations. Mohan Rakesh, Vijay Tendulkar, Badal Sircar and Girish Karnad are the offspring of the new resurgence of their own areas. They are marching to build up a national theatre movement capturing the imagination of the Englishspeaking world by bold innovations and fruitful experiments that go into the history of the Indian drama as a significant mark of achievement. Among them, Girish Karnad the living legend and a recipient of the Gnanpith Award can be singled out as he shows a greater promise.

As Moutushi Chakravartee points out, the difference between a mother tending her baby and a wet nurse engaged for the purpose may be a good analogy in describing the author as translator and an outsider as one (94); and Karnad being a translator, his translations sparkle with eye catching novelty and he pecularises the trends either from mythology or from history. Lalji Misra also reveals that
To Karnad, drama serves as instruction, entertainment, enlightenment, happiness, peace and moral upliftment. It teaches ones duty and relieves ones sorrows. There is no maxim, no learning, no art or craft that is not found in drama. (248) Girish Karnad, a popular playwright, scriptwriter, actor, director and recipient of various awards, is a significant name in the Indian literary scenario. Born in Matheran, hailing from a Saraswati Konkani family, he had his graduation from the University of Karnataka. Meanwhile he received the prestigious Rhodes scholarship and went to England for further studies and it was there he had the opportunities to watch the world theatre, especially that of Brecht.

He cultivated a keen interest in art and culture and on his return from England to India, he joined Oxford University Press, Madras in 1963 and in 1974, he was appointed as the Director of Film and Television Institute, Pune. In 1987, he was awarded Fulbright Scholarin Residence at the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago. At present he is a travelling cultural artist and Ambassador of India. Karnad established himself as a noted and talented dramatist after the publication of Yayati (1961) and Tughlaq (1964). His creative currents went on and as a result, Hayavadana (1971), Anjumaliga (1977), Hittina Hunja (1980), NagaMandala (1988), Tale-Danda (1990) and Agni Mattu Male (1995) were published. These plays, originally written in Kannada and after their translation by Karnad himself, became rich contributions to Indian English Drama. He himself translated Tughlaq, Hayavadana, Naga-Mandala, Tale-Danda and The Fire and the Rain but Lalji Misra has projected the view that Karnad, as a translator, felt it was difficult to sort out the cultural equivalent in English; his translation must, therefore, be seen as approximation to the original (238). But his plays were equally appreciated in India and abroad and they received universal praise in the European countries as well as in the United States of America. Tughlaq was translated into Hungarian and German languages. Hayavadana was directed by Vijay Mehta and presented at the Berlin festival of Drama and Music in Germany. It was renamed Divided Together and was staged in New York in 1993. Naga-Mandala was staged at Leipzeg and Berlin for the Festival of India in 1992. Gutherine Theatre in Minneapolis performed his play

The Fire and the Rain in 1993. The plays of such a popular and creative artist deal with the themes of Indian myths, history, traditions, folklore and theatres and according to Lalji Misra: it carves cut a new face of modern man struggling for a new horizon with a new identity. His plays are a vehicle for communicating mans desires, jealousies, madness, quest for perfection and completeness, eternal conflict of passions and are successful in giving a local

habitation and a name to mans aspirations and desires. (236)

Earlier the Indian playwrights attempted to write plays, which catered to the taste of escapist theatre and occupied themselves with all sorts of romanticism and comic attitude to life. An in-depth study of the playwrights who contributed to Indian dramatic scenario, namely Sri Aurobindo and Rabindranath Tagore, reveal the fact that they had influenced Karnad to a great extent. Karnad, like his predecessors, makes use of myths, legends, folktales and histories not only for literary purpose but also as a surrogate to portray the contemporary situations. As literature reflects the society, playwrights like T.P. Kailasam and Harindranath Chattopadhyaya has made use of the sociological aspects, which motivated Karnad to portray the society in his plays. Analyzing the contributions made by the dramatists of the Pre-independence and Postindependence phase, we find that except for Asif Currimbhoy and Girish Karnad, none of the plays of the other dramatists catered to the demands of the stage. In this respect, Karnad was a dramatist with a difference as his plays were exclusively written for the stage.
The earlier dramatists have failed to exploit the potentialities of traditional Indian dramatic modes and there has also been a disastrous failure to make a creative use of the rich fund of myth. On the contrary, the modern dramatists have successfully made use of such modes and myths. In the Indian theater tradition there has been a strong impact of mythology and history though it has not produced anything of permanent worth. Karnad was aware that this tradition has a tremendous potential, as

the elements of myth and history are very common to Indian audiences. So Karnad makes use of such myths and legends as metaphors for contemporary situations and this has induced the present researcher to make a study of his plays. Though the contemporary playwrights, as stated by Prabhakar Machwe, are preoccupied with the modern Indian and visualize him as a caged object, a helpless sheep, impotent and despairing (137), Karnad shifts his attention to broader issues and tries to project the crisis of values in India. Man in the mundane world leads a kind of monotonous, mechanical life. Due to his materialistic aspirations, man tends to loose his moral values but an understanding of the realities of life ultimately anchors him to those values. He has succumbed to the humdrums of life. In order to pull him out of this mire, the Pulitzer Prize winner, Girish Karnad, makes an eclectic and synthetic approach to Indian drama. A time has come in India for the playwrights to realize that drama must reflect and project the contemporary life and situations, problems and paradoxes. As Karnads plays abound with the elements of reality, fantasy and myth, the aim of the researcher is to find out how far these elements have been exploited by the dramatist to portray the socio-cultural problems and the evils of the society. A study in this angle will help man to understand his own realistic condition and realize the illusory world in which he exists quite complacently. Though several studies on the plays of Karnad have been undertaken, so far no full-length research has been undertaken to consider his conceptualization of Reality, Fantasy and Myth and so the researcher proposes to make a study of his selected plays in this angle.

For an interpretation of the works of Girish Karnad, the present researcher proposes to make use of the sociological, archetypal, mythological and realistic approaches. The study is divided into six chapters including this introductory chapter. Karnads treatment of the three of the elements of drama chosen for this study, viz. reality, fantasy, and myth are analyzed and reported in the next four chapters. The element of reality is split into two categories as Indian Ethos and Evil forming Chapters II and III respectively; Chapter IV and Chapter V are devoted to an analysis of his treatment of Fantasy and Myth respectively; and Chapter VI, Conclusion, is devoted for a sum up of the dissertation. At the beginning of each of the four main chapters that follow this introductory chapter, the chosen concept is explained in general followed by a thorough investigation of the authors selected works to exemplify his conceptualization of the same. Wherever necessary, cross-references are made to the works of other writers drawing parallels in situations, events and characters. At the end of each chapter, a brief sum up of the arguments of the concerned chapter is given. In the final and concluding chapter, the arguments of all the preceding chapters are neatly tied up dovetail fashion and suggestions for further research are given.

CHAPTER II TREATMENT OF REALITY: INDIAN ETHOS

Literature is an offprint of life, of real life; Drama should reflect life. (H.H.Anniah Gowda 10)

Drama, a form of art, is inherently social and contemporary drama, a co-operative concern, is a genre, which thrives on social themes. It deals with the problems of the present day society or creates a futuristic society, which is governed by the existing social processes. The modern dramatist aims to present the ways of the mundane world and enlightens the audience through entertainment. He tries to bring about peace of mind to those afflicted by the ills of the world and its numerous problems. Banker has aptly commented that the modern drama reflects the traditional Indian conception of human life. (37)

Drama, through stage production, comes directly in contact with the people and its study is partially literary and partially sociological. As Sarat Babu has pointed out, there is a close parallel between life and theatre and quite often life is theatre-like and vice-versa. (154)
Realism in India is confined within the social problems. For, in India, in spite of the large urban population, there really has never been the bourgeois class of people who had true faith in individualism. Westernization is an alien term and therefore they define themselves in terms of their relationship to other members of their own family, caste or class. Therefore they extend the same reference to the theatre as well. What D.H. Lawrence says in the context of the modern novel can be extended to apply to the modern Indian drama the business of which is to reveal the relation between man and his circumambient universe, at the living moment (126). As Lawrence further says, Art speech is the only truth. An artist is usually a damned liar, but his art, if it be art, will tell you the truth of his day (123), Girish Karnad, the

most renowned media personality, an outstanding playwright and an adept practitioner of the performing arts, could authentically be called as a true artist. Commending his plays, Kirtinath Kurtoki has said, Karnads plays are thoroughly modern in outlook and spirit(239). Karnads approach, according to K.R.Srinivasa Iyengar, is modern and he deploys the conventions and motifs of folk art and curtains to project a world of intensities, uncertainties and unpredictable denouement. (736) For Karnad, drama serves to instruct, entertain, enlighten, and give happiness, peace and moral upliftment. It teaches ones duty and relieves one from his sorrows. It is evident that his plays evince a profound concern for man, a sympathetic affirmation of the fleshly and worldly life and an incisively insightful contemporary social relevance. When all his plays are analyzed, what surprises us is how traditional his plays are. His plays serve as a vehicle for communicating mans aspiration, jealousies, madness, quest for perfection, completeness and eternal conflict of passions. Dr.V.Gnanam, former Vice-chancellor of Madras University, has said, Drama is an effective means of communication besides being an entertainment medium (15). It is quite true in the case of the scriptwriter Girish Karnad. Karnad is regarded as one among the three great dramatists of contemporary India, the other two prominent dramatists being Vijay Tendulkar and Badal Sircar who deal with the problems of the middle class. Girish Karnad on the other hand takes refuge in the Indian legends and myths and tries to show the absurdity of modern life through his notable plays Yayati, Tughlaq, Hittina Hunja, Hayavadana, Naga-

Mandala, The Fire and the Rain and Tale-Danda. He received the state award for his first play Yayati. Mahabharata, which is an inexhaustible, literary reservoir (Naik 47), forms the source for two of the complex plays of Karnad. Yayati, the first play, is from the first book of the epic Adiparva and The Fire and the Rain is from the third book of the epic Vanaparva. Hayavadana is indirectly based on the epic with reference to the episode of the abandoned child Shakuntala. Karnads Yayati, (1961) initially written in Kannada, conveys the message of performance of duty and acceptance of responsibility. In this play, Karnad presents the age-old story of the mythological King Yayati who was the tenth in the line of the Brahmas family. Once a conflict arises between Devayani, the daughter of Shukracharya, the guru of the assuras, and Sharmistha the daughter of Vrishparva, the King of the assuras, and the latter pushed Devayani into a well and escaped. Fortunately, King Yayati who came there saved her. Since then, Devayani started loving Yayati and Sharmistha was punished with serving Devayani forever along with her maidservants. With the consent of Shukracharya the marriage between Devayani and King Yayati was solemnized and Sharmistha as a result of her punishment, was sent to King Yayatis kingdom along with his bride Devayani. But Sharmistha develops secret relationship with Yayati and when Devayani comes to know this she complains to her father, who in turn, curses Yayati to become old. Yayati is unable to bear this; he loses control over himself, becomes violent, adamant and refuses to accept the old age.

When his son Puru informs that Yayati can be redeemed if some person accepts his old age, he becomes very happy. But when Puru informs that nobody is willing to take up his old age, he is unable to accept the reality as he is of the wrong notion that all his subjects would readily accept his old age. Karnad has portrayed the contours of the real world, i.e. when you laugh the world will laugh with you, but when you are in sorrow you will be alone, deserted even by your kith and kin. Yayati feels very much disheartened because old age had not come to him in its normal course but by a curse. So he feels that if somebody accepts it at present he would relieve him from his old age within five or six years. Our mythology is replete with parental figures demanding sacrifices from their children. The best son is he who accomplishes the task in anticipation of the expectation of his father. The mediocre is one who complies when told by his father. The lowest type is he who obeys but with irreverence. In the play Yayati, Puru proves to be the best son as he gladly accepts the curse inflicted on his father and willingly exchanges his youth for the old age of his father. Though Yayati succeeds in transforming his old age and his sins to Puru, he acts in the most irresponsible way by usurping the happiness of his son and daughter-in-law. Rajinder Paul has commented that the protagonist in Yayati asks for eternal youth which his son sacrifices at the altar of paternity, a very Indian theme of a self-denying son indulging the whim of his unreasonable father. (41) In the process he feels disillusioned and looses faith. Though his sub-conscious mind tells him that it is not fair on his part, he justifies that it is only for his people he

is doing like this. In actuality King Yayati exchanges his old age with the youth of his youngest son for the satisfaction of his own youthful urges. In the end Purus wife Chitralekha commits suicide. Through this action the dramatist makes Yayati to accept his responsibility for the sin he had committed. Yayati asks Puru to take back his youth and be a good king as he felt that there could be no better lesson than Chitralekhas death. He also asks Sharmistha to accompany him to the forest, as he has to wash his sins by doing penance in the forest. He finally says that he has spent his youth in the city but will spend his old age in the forest. When Chitralekha dies, her husband Puru is astonished, but he does not shed even a drop of tear. Only when he regains his youth he repents for the disastrous blunder he had committed. It is pathetic that King Yayati and his son Puru realize their evil deeds only at the cost of a life, Chitralekha. The dramatist portrays the selfless nature and the helpless plight of the Indian women who, by willingly sacrificing their lives, make the members of their family to realize their nobility. Thus Indian women serve as a contrast to Indian men. The dramatist, through the portrayal of the character of Yayati, focuses on the theme of attachment to life and its pleasures. Yayati realizes the horrors of his selfish action of exchange of youth in the later period, only after the suicide of his daughterin-law and he readily owns the responsibility for the havoc that befell the family and returns the youth of his son Puru and retires to the forest as a hermit. Through the life

of Yayati, the dramatist brings out the fact that selfish paternal authority and blind filial loyalty could bring ruin to a family when it is misappropriated. Almost every character except Sharmistha is irresponsible. Yayati who is cursed for his adultery transfers the burden most irresponsibly to his son. Puru, his son, who is married to Chitralekha and owes a dharmic responsibility to ensure her happiness, equally irresponsibly vitiates her marital bliss by exchanging his youth with his father for the sake of preserving the latters happiness. He is caught between the devil and the deep sea -filial loyalty and conjugal felicity, and whichever he chose, he would still be caught in the web of irresponsibility. Devayani acts impetuously, brings a curse upon her husband King Yayati, and runs away irresponsibly when he is visited by the ugly consequences of the curse. Chitralekha, unable to bear the consequences of her husband Purus exchange of youth with his father, commits suicide instead of fighting to restore her rights. The only character that is willing to accept the responsibility for the consequences of what she does is Sharmistha. The purpose and theme of the play are revealed through the character of the Sutradhara. The Sutradhara says that neither a scholar nor an ordinary person can escape the burden of responsibility. Karnad himself in his interview with Meenakshi Raykar has revealed that Every character in the play tries to seek escape from the consequences of its actions. Even Puru does that. Yayati, Devayani and Puru all of

them try to avoid facing the consequences. Sharmistha is the only character who accepts the consequences of her action. (340) As U. R. Anantha Murthy says, Yayati is a self-consciously existentialist drama on the theme of responsibility.(143) Each and every individual, whether he is an old man in search of lost youth or a saint lost in the wilderness or whoever he may be, must have a sense of responsibility in his journey of life. It will be relevant to consider what Robert Frost, the twentieth century poet, has said in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening: But I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep.
And miles to go before I sleep. (406)

Parasuram Ramamoorthis comment that the central issue of responsibility of the old versus young assumed a new turn (3), is quite apt to what happens in the play, Yayati. Karnads second play Tughlaq is the first in the series New Drama in India, which comprises outstanding, contemporary Indian plays. Commenting on the greatness of the play Sethumadhava Rao remarks as follows: No play in Kannada is comparable to Tughlaq in its depth and range. It is a classic in Kannada literature (103). In this famous play Tughlaq, Girish Karnad has artistically integrated the two aspects, the historical and the universal, the temporal and the timeless, in the fascinating character of Muhammad Tughlaq, one of the most idealistic and intelligent

kings to ascend the throne of Delhi. The eponymous and enigmatic character, the doomed dreamer, very well resembles Martin Luther King and Jawaharlal Nehru, whose dreams were also shattered by destiny. Ramamurti has complimented as follows: Tughlaq is a genuine history play in English and that it is an answer to criticism which deplores the absence of Indian play in English, which go back to history (and Myths) to establish modern mans relationship to history, to interpret contemporary problems, to work out ideas or theses through historical material and which establish the modern Indian relation to history. (14) It is a tragedy that depicts the struggle and spectacular failure of a personality who dreams of becoming an ideal ruler and establishing a utopia. The play greatly appealed to the Indian audience because it reflected the political mood of disillusionment, which prevailed in the Nehru era of idealism in the country. In this context, it will be apt to remember the comment of Nibir K.Ghosh: Karnads magnum opus is a veritable link between received history and its relevance in the contemporary frame of reverence.(111) An interesting and dominating character, a brilliant but spectacularly unsuccessful fourteenth century Islamic Sultan of Delhi popularly known as mad Muhammad, when he took over the reins of power, was at the dawn of youth, marked by zeal, glory, and heartfelt hopes and dreams. In the opening scene he declares, I shall build an empire which will be the envy of world (149). He is always

preoccupied with thoughts of his state. Acutely aware of the short span of life and the stupendous task before him, like Asoka the great, he seems to dedicate his life for the well-being of his subjects. He feels restless and keeps awake during nights. His preoccupation with the idea of establishing a utopia for the welfare of his people does not allow him to sleep. He tells his stepmother, Tell me, how dare I waste my time in sleeping? And dont tell me to go and get married and breed a family because I wont sleep (2.155). He wants to climb up to the tallest of the trees in the world and call out to his people:
Come my people, I am waiting for you. Confide in me your worries. Let me share your joys. Lets laugh and cry together and then lets pray.. Come! I am waiting to embrace you all. (2.155)

Muhammad claims that a king is no king unless he is one with his people. He takes great pain to correct all the errors committed by the past Sultans of Delhi in order to spread the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Within a short span of twenty years, this tremendously capable personality is shattered to pieces and all his dreams lie deflated. Karnad projects the sufferings and mishaps endured by the people under the rule of this daydreamer. The King appears as a carnivorous animal and as he fails to realize the limits of the human power, he pays an unexpected penalty in the end. Unlike other rulers, he wanted to be an ideal King. He not only strives for the impossible Hindu-Muslim unity, but treats everyone alike before justice. This is evident from the announcement made to restore the property of Vishnu Prasad, a Brahmin of Shikar, whose land had been seized illegally by the officers of the state(1.148). The Sultans sense of justice and

impartiality is further revealed when he offered the said Vishnu Prasad a post in the civil service to ensure him a regular and adequate income. This man of justice and personality is miscarried by a feeling that whatever he does is perfect. Being an idealist and in order to fulfill his dream, he foolishly announces, Later this year the capital of my empire will be moved from Delhi to Daulatabad (1.149). By shifting his capital to the city of the Hindus, he hopes to win the confidence of the Hindus and help foster the Hindu Muslim unity. But in actuality it leads to disastrous problems. The ruler who hopes to establish an empire, which will be the envy of the world, due to his lack of foresight and inability to steer clear through the situations falters and resorts to solving all the problems with a dagger. No advice is sought, no consultation takes place. Being despotic and devoid of human concern, he arrogantly and inhumanly says, I want Delhi vacated immediately. Every living soul in Delhi will leave for Daulatabad within a fortnight. I was too soft , I can see that now. Theyll only understand the whip. Everyone must leave Nothing but an empty graveyard of Delhi will satisfy me now. (6.185-186)

Like Marlowes heroes namely, Tamburlaine, Doctor Faustus and Jew of Malta, Tughlaq, like a megalomaniac, is fully convinced that he alone knows what is good for others and he alone is capable of achieving it for them. His principle is similar to that of Machiavellians principle, i.e., the end justifying the means. Though he is blind towards reality, he just wants to fulfill his ambitions and desires. The schemes of relocating the nations capital from Delhi to Daulatabad and introducing the copper currency causes a lot of havoc and hardship among the people, which he fails to realize. The Sultan fails to make allowances for the innovations he makes and so with the best of intentions,

excellent ideas, but no balance and patience, his life ends in a transcendent failure. Rajagopalachari and Anil Krishna rightly say: Tughlaqs idealism clubbed with his Machiavellian craftiness causes a split in his personality and led to his precipitous fall (21). In his acts of cruelty, at times he resembles Camus Caligula who wishes to get the moon and whom, too, absolute power corrupts absolutely. On account of the ambiguities of Tughlaqs character, his tortured inner self and corruption combat at their very source and the country is plunged into a political chaos.
The seeds of communal riots caused by disharmony have already been sown centuries ago. These seeds that were in dormancy have sprouted due to violence and hatred and recently it led to the demolition of Babri Masjid. Religion has become the dominant basis in power politics. In the recent years, religion and politics have become so deeply intermingled that they are threatening the very unity of the nation. Tughlaqs tragic tale reflects the problems of the Indian society. It aims at showing that the idealism of the ruler will fail and will ruin the idealist. Secularism, equality and unity in a country like India are the concepts very much ahead of the times. Mahle has said that the people in India are led away by the saints and religious heads who muddle politics which is a game of see saw (135). The Muslim Saints like Bokhan of Delhi and the Iman of Garib Nawaz of Ajma have been going round propagating the views of their party and so the people tend to believe them more than a politician. Life of the people is corrupted by the nexus between the saints and the politicians. People, even today, become victims and they suffer as they suffered during the reign of Tughlaq. The greatest truth is that religious saints cannot wash away the filth from the society and when Aziz, the dhobi, masquerading as a saint, is

exposed, he pleads with the Sultan for his life and says, When it comes to washing away filth, no saint is a match for a dhobi. (13.218) It has been proved that, by being a mere idealist without understanding the present context, for one to reach the visionary heights will become a Himalayan task. Many honest and great leaders of India have failed to sustain their vision in politics. Nibir K.Ghosh aptly says that the chief architects of India Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and many others being idealists were reduced to mere footnotes on the margins of contemporary Indian history(120). Satish Bhattacharyya aptly says, it is not a mere historical play, it is something more; and more than a study of historical events, the play provides an interpretation of human character in its width and depth (121). Though the deranged monarch failed to be a responsible ruler of the capital city, his ideal and understanding of life made even his failure seem glorious. According to Rai, the play symbolizes the crisis of the character of present day politicians who are skilled in the art of gaining power and the craft of retaining it even at the cost of national unity and integrity (15). Karnad, through the idealistic and visionary politics of Tughlaq, makes the play contemporary and realistic. However, the undeniable fact about Tughlaqs life and career is that he failed to be a responsible ruler. Karnad, in another play, Naga-Mandala, also projects the lack of responsibility of his cruel hero Appanna who barely and brusquely talks to his captive wife Padmini during the day and goes away at night to his concubine after locking the wife in.

Indian women think of their husbands to be the be all and end all of their life. Though in reality it is highly difficult for a man to be an Adam or Samson it is quite possible for one to be at least a human being. But Karnads protagonist fails in his duty as a husband, as he does not even satisfy the needs of his newly wedded wife Rani. The young maid is even ignorant of sex, while he visits his concubine regularly thus resulting in a meaningless wedlock. Similarly in The Fire and the Rain, Paravasu fails to realize his responsibility as a husband. Just for a year, he satisfies the desire of his wife Vishakha and then leaves her secluded to her fate for seven long years. The girl is completely ruined by an elderly man, her own father-in-law Raibhya, and a young man, her past lover, Yavakri from whom she seeks comfort and solace. Girish Karnads Hayavadana, performed under the title of The Jumbled Heads at the Michigan State University in East Lansing, is undoubtedly a valuable addition to the body of Indo - English drama. This play portrays the lack of responsibility of Hayavadanas parents. He is born with a horses head as his mother married a stallion, a cursed Gandharva. The mother doesnt care about her son who is striving to become complete through various religious penances and social services. The male protagonist Devadatta also fails to realize his responsibility as a husband as he leaves his newly wedded young bride Padmini in the thick forest with his friend Kapila on their way to Ujjain fare. He goes to the Kali temple and beheads himself, failing to understand the feeling of his beloved whom he had strove hard to marry. The female protagonist Padmini also lacks the responsibility of a beloved mother. After the death

of her husband and his friend, she performs sati ignoring her son. Thus Padmini, like Hayavadanas mother, leaves her son to the vagaries of fortune in an irresponsible manner. Padminis son and Hayavadana who do not have a choice in the matter are left to suffer as a result of the parents irresponsible act. Puru in Yayati, Appanna in Naga-Mandala, Paravasu in The Fire and the Rain, Devadatta in Hayavadana- all fail as husbands. Ruskin in his Queens Gardens says as follows: The man in his rough work in the open world must encounter all peril and trial: to him therefore must be the failure, the offense, the inevitable error; often he must be wondered, or subdued; often misled; and always hardened. But he guards the women from all this. (71) The above view of Ruskin is very much in tune with the Indian ethos. The Indians consider man to be the head of the family and responsible for the welfare of all. If the chief in the family shirks the responsibility, then the whole family has to suffer. If men fail to perform their duty women become the victims ultimately. Like the theme of responsibility, another aspect that one will find highlighted in the plays of Karnad is the belief and faith the Indians have in the Gods and Goddesses. In his symbolic and spectacular play Hayavadana, he exposes the belief the Indians have in the elephant-headed Gajavadhana, According to Vinod, Ganapathi known as Lord of Obstacles and Lord of Wisdom also has epithets like Adivinayaka, Siddhivinayaka, Vigneshwara, which mean, respectively, the ruler of the divine

aspects of Shiva, the first God to be worshipped, the God who can assure achievement the remover of obstacles.(18) The Indians have a staunch belief that by worshipping Gajavadhana all their troubles will come to an end: Unfathomable indeed is the mercy of the elephant headed Ganesha. He fulfills the desires of all (2.139). Even theatrical performances in India begin after worshipping Ganesha and, in Hayavadana; Bhagavata sings verses in praise of Ganesha, accompanied by his musicians: O Elephant headed Herambha whose flag is victory and who shines like a thousands suns, O husband of Riddhi and Siddhi, seated on a mouse and decorated with a snake O single tusked destroyer of incompleteness ,we pay homage to you and start our play. (1.73) It is on the basis of the hope that Vigneshwara would remove all hurdles and crowns all endeavours with success. (1.73). Ultimately the elephant headed Ganesha fulfils the desires of all- a grandson to a grandfather, a smile to a child, a neigh to a horse (2.139). The play ends with a prayer so as to give the rulers of the country ... good rains , good crop, prosperity in poetry , science ,industry and other affairs. Give the rulers of our country success in all endeavours, and along with it a little bit of sense. (2.139) In the city of Dharmapura, ruled by King Dharmasheela, Devadatta endowed with all the accomplishments expected of a Brahmin youth, comely in appearance,

fair in colour, unrivalled in intelligence and the only son of the Revered Brahmin Vidyasagara, fell in love for the seventeenth time with an extremely agile, quickwitted, beautiful and vivacious girl Padmini, the daughter of the leading merchant in Dharmapura in whose house the very floor is swept by the Goddess of wealth (1.90). Love has blinded him and instead of taking effort to arrange for the marriage, his blind faith in God makes him to swear: If I ever get her as my wife, Ill sacrifice my two arms to the Goddess Kali, Ill will sacrifice my head to Lord Rudra (1.85). This proves the Indians blind faith in the Gods and Goddesses. When incompleteness bugs the horse-headed man who wants to attain perfection, Hayavadana narrates his pathetic story to Bhagvata, who advises him to go to Banares and make vow in front of the God there (1.81). To this Hayavadana replies that he had already been to Banares, Rameshwar, Gokarn, Haridwar, Gaya and Kedarnath not only those but the Dargah of Khwaja Yusuf Baba, the Grotto of Our Virgin Mary-Ive tried them all. Magicians, mendicants, maharshis, - fakirs, saints and sadhus sadhus with short hair, sadhus with beards sadhus in saffron, sadhus in the altogether hanging , singing, rotating,

gyrating - on the spikes, in the air, under water, under the ground Ive covered them all (1.81) but of no use. Frustrated from all sides Hayavadana is advised by Bhagavatha to try the Kali of Mount Chitrakoot as the Goddess there is famous for being everawake to the call of devotees (1.81). Karnad projects the reality of the blind, superstitious belief of the Indians in Gods and Goddess in a humorous, inoffensive way.

Similarly, in the The Fire and the Rain, Karnad expresses the faith the people have in the King of Gods, the Lord of Rains, and the wielder of the thunderbolt. For nearly ten years, it has not rained adequately and drought grips the land. The people instead of tracing out the causes and effects, perform a yagna for seven long years persuading Lord Indra to send showers to their land. Without rains, lands lose their fertility; in the same manner without Lord Indra, rituals and penance seem to be meaningless. Yavakri, the son of Bharadwaja, goes for ten years penance in order to get blessings from Indra, and Paravasu, the eldest son of Yavakri, also devotes seven years of his life to please the same God through fire sacrifice. In TaleDanda also Karnad projects the staunch faith the Indians have in the mythical Lord Shiva, who protects Bijjala, the King, as long as he clings to the Linga. This is also indicative of the fact that the evil forces cannot work inside the shrine of Lord Shiva. One who is sincerely dedicated to the service of Shiva can never be unsafe. Bijjala, the king, is killed as he leaves the Linga and believes the liar. Karnad has vividly portrayed the Indians who seek refuge at the feet of Gods and Goddesses. Though women in India are denied the emotional, moral and ethical facets, Karnad as a humanist has a profound concern for them. Right from the days of

Adam and Eve, women are considered to be the weaker sex. Their individuality is shunned in totality and they are deemed to be at the mercy of men folk who dominate them. In Yayati, Girish Karnad portrays the sufferings undergone by a young girl Chitralekha whose husband Puru sacrifices his youth whole-heartedly but foolishly for the sake of his father. In reality no young girl could tolerate an aged man to be her

husband. Chitraleka is unable to tolerate this and when she raises her voice, her father-in-law controls her. She is absolutely stunned and scared to see the face of old Puru and yells at him to go away and not to come near her or touch her. Being an Indian, she doesnt have any other alternative than to depend on him. So, she pleads with her husband to reconsider his decision but he doesnt pay heed to her words. Her father-in-law, a self centered person, fails to think about the life of the young maiden and he just consoles her and asks her not to shed tears as she is sensible. He even advises her to behave as the daughter-in-law of the Bharatha family. Failing to realise the value of time, he promises his daughter-in-law that he will not keep Purus youth for many years, as he will return it as soon as his target is achieved. He compels her to accept the old Puru and for that sacrifice, the Bharatha family will be obliged to her. When the young maid bluntly refuses, he exercises his power both as father-in-law and King and orders her to obey him. Such a situation as this embodies the pathetic state of Indian women. Having no alternative choice, she decides to leave the Kingdom and he interrogates her as to why she married and whether she has forgotten the pledges that were taken at the marriage with fire-God as witness. Then he orders she should follow him (Puru), whether it is home or forest. The fate of Indian women in ancient days was such that they were confined within the four walls. They were not even given the liberty to express their feelings. Even Chitralekha, in spite of her being the daughter-in-law of the Bharatha family, is not an exception. She too is in the same pathetic situation. Like most women in India, she is compelled to tolerate all the evil deeds. Yayati compels his

daughter-in-law to rise above petty considerations and therefore the only solution for her is to commit suicide. In a male dominating society, most women do not have any other alternative than to commit suicide. The dramatist establishes the concept that the plight of the Indian women is such that they are doomed to be always at the mercy of the men folk. Right from the ancient days, till the present, with certain exceptions, the situation has remained the same. Chitralekha is not an individual, but a representative of the early twentieth century Indian woman. Through the mythical story, Karnad authentically reveals the plight of ancient Indian women in the male dominating society. In Tughlaq, the stepmother plays the role of a composite mother preceptor figure. She is like a delicate fragile thread; she apparently keeps the totally estranged Muhammad humanly related. Despite his claim that he has never extended comparable love to anyone else, her affection for Muhammad remains genuine throughout. Her anxiety over his health and concern for his well-being speak volumes for her affection. She repeatedly counsels him to exercise restraint over his excessive desire for power and indulgence in violence. She pleads with Muhammad and says, Its only seven years ago that you came to the throne. How glorious you were then, how idealistic, how full of hopes. Look at your kingdom now. Its become a kitchen of death. (10.204) On the other hand, Najib tries to abet his contrary tendencies. Najibs politicking proves more effective than the stepmothers affection. Unable to tolerate

this, she seeks the assistance of Barani, who is a symbol of wisdom imbibed through history. As he too proves helpless she has Najib assassinated. But as Nayak comments that the monster in Muhammad cannot be eliminated by him or by others, it remains intact and is to be suffered, inevitably like fate (2), Tughlaq has turned out to be a monster to be accepted as fate: what cannot be changed must be tolerated, if not eliminated. But Tughlaq becomes furious, calls her as an adulteress and orders I want her stoned to death publicly tomorrow morning (10.205). Thus Tughlaq appears to be a Machiavellian ruler perpetuating his view and subduing women in all aspects. Karnad vividly portrays that most Indian women are not given the privilege to act on their own or reveal their anxieties or their feelings and if they do, they are to face drastic consequences. In Hayavadana, Karnad exposes how women are exploited in the family. Devadatta, a gentle scholar, falls in love with a beautiful and vivacious girl, Padmini. His friend Kapila, an ironsmith and figure of impressive physical stature acting as a matchmaker, realizes that Devadatta Cant bear a bitter word or an evil thought, but Padmini is fast as lightening and sharp (1.90). Though Kapila realizes that Padmini needs a man of steel, he is unable to do anything and so he is committed to obtain her in marriage for his dear friend Devadatta. Ultimately the two families were brought together by the toll of marriage bells. A marriage in the Indian context is not something that takes place between two individuals but something that brings two families together. Bhagavata also describes the marriage of Devadatta and Padmini as two families coming together.

Women in India are taken for granted as men have failed to realize that she too has feelings and emotions. She is exploited simply because she is a woman and no one cares to ask for her consent. Though Kapila realizes that Devadatta is not a suitable partner for Padmini, as the two families decide, their marriage takes place leading to the utter failure of their life. Karnad portrays the way marriages are fixed in India. Padmini, though an enchanting woman, wages a war against the patriarchal order of command and ultimately she too becomes a prey to the tyranny of the patriarchal society. It is the undeniable reality that Indian culture considers marriage to be the supreme blessing for a woman, because it offers her salvation through her service to her husband. For her, chastity is superior and preferable to life itself. But, she is denied love, enjoyment, entertainment and freedom, which are indispensable to the growth of her personality. In Naga-Mandala, the position of Rani is the same. She is a simple and ignorant girl. She has grown physically but not mentally. She lives with her parents until she reaches womanhood. After marriage, she goes to live in the village house with her husband Appanna, who is a rich adulterous youth. But her husband, leaving her lonely in the house, goes out every night just uttering, Well then, Ill be back tomorrow at noon. Keep my lunch ready. I shall eat and go (1.27). Appanna is involved in an extra-martial relationship and has lost interest in his dutiful, obedient, quiescent wife and goes gallivanting, imprisoning his wife at home. This helpless Indian village girl simply stands perplexed, unable even to weep.

Karnad through Rani portrays another problem faced by Indian women. A newly wedded Indian bride is left in the house, with not even the freedom and courage to express her fear of loneliness. She struggles for words and when she hesitantly says, Listen- (fumbling for words) Listen I feel frightened alone at night (1.28), he retorts, What is there to be scared of? Just keep to yourself. No one will bother you! (1.28). Rani looks at him nonplussed. She has neither voice nor choice of her own. He pays no attention to her, goes out, shuts the door, and locks it from outside and goes away. She runs to the door, pushes it, finds it locked, peers out of the barred window. He is gone (1.27). Her fateful situation remains the same everyday, while he enjoys in the arms of his concubine. Rani has to remain locked all alone in her house throughout the nights. Her husband Appanna who comes the next morning warns her against idle chatting and orders, Do as you are told, you understand (1.28). His attitude to women reminds us of Sircars play, Evam Indrajit, where it is said that Girls must follow the rules. Men can do what they like but women must be obedient.(21) Rani is allowed only to cook lunch for him. He exercises absolute supremacy over her and arrogates to himself the power of spending the night with other women without any qualms of conscience. She is just reduced to the status of a housemaid and there is no choice of freedom for her; she is inescapably trapped. He, as a male chauvinist, expects his wife to serve him as a robot with absolute obedience. He mercilessly keeps her starved of affection and love, which are indispensable for the growth and the sustenance of human mind. This solitary confinement of Rani indirectly results in the inhibition of womens talent for housework and in the negation of womens right for enlightenment and enjoyment. Rani is the very image of an ideal Indian woman- demure, unquestioning and uncomplaining. The empty house Rani is locked in symbolizes the chain of restrictions placed round women, which denies even her legitimate rights and hinders her natural growth even today. She is one among the passive victims of a male dominant society while her husband Appanna is a very dominating and cruel husband who exercises absolute supremacy over his innocent and nave spouse.
In The Fire and the Rain, Paravasu, the son of Raibhya, a great sage and the chief priest, is conducting a fire sacrifice for seven long years in the Kings Palace in order to propitiate Lord Indra, the God of rains. Vishakha, his wife, was once loved

by his cousin Yavakri, but when he left for the forest to seek enlightenment, the girls father felt relieved, made use of the opportunity and married his daughter to Paravasu. Though the girl didnt want to marry Paravasu, she acquiesces herself to the reality of her helpless situation and tells her father: but that didnt matter(1.16). On the night of the wedding, her husband realizing that his newly wedded wife didnt wish to marry him, he says that he will make her happy for a year. And he did. Exactly for one year (1.16). He plunged her into a kind of bliss and made her feel heavenly. Then on the first day of the second year of their marriage, he puts an end to this and just leaves her accepting the invitation from the King to be the Chief Priest. The site of the fire sacrifice is only a couple of hours away from his home. But in all those seven years he never came back. Vishakha feels very lonely and become[s] dry like tender. Ready to burn into flames at a breath. (1.16) The happy married life of this helpless woman lasts just for a year. She is a lonely figure, suffering the pangs of loveless marriage like most women in contemporary society. Ultimately she becomes a prey to Yavakri who seduces her just to take revenge against her father-in-law and her husband. Her father-in-law, the great sage Raibhya, also seduces her in order to gratify his lust. Finally she is left without anybody even to share her agonies with. Maya has rightly said, Vishakha is left like the drought-hit land, dried up without a drop of love (71). Her loneliness, lovelessness, boredom, rootlessness and humiliation reveal the pangs of such pathetic women in the modern world. In order to take revenge upon the Brahmanic society, she urges Yavakri to have sex with her. Through Vishakha, who is disgusted,

suppressed, crushed, exploited and humiliated, the playwright shows the plight of most Indian women in a male dominating society. Whereas in the case of men those who are devoid of power and value are exploited and oppressed in the society, in the case of women, everyone irrespective of socio-economic status is exploited and oppressed- both at home and in the society. Men are content with their power in the house, while women are content with their power on children and daughter-in-law. Taught to repress her own desires and trained to practice self-effacement, woman has come to articulate a male constructed definition, which she has internalized. Therefore when she speaks, it is patriarchy that speaks through her. She is not expected to go out and perform, but efficiently lurk around the threshold supporting the male endeavor. Literature is replete with examples of women who meet with destruction because they try to cross the threshold. Those who happened to cross so, and acquire voice were scared of the wide, dark, animalistic devouring world outside and beat an undignified retreat to get inside the threshold. But a large number of them remain committed, passive, servile and silent, bearing and rearing children, and gratifying the sexual needs of their husbands. Elements of discontent, unfulfilled desires and aspirations, unequal demands made by the other are stillborn and reborn. Men and women imbibe the exploitative and oppressive culture and perpetuate it. So, they fail to realize the reality. They blame one another, quarrel among themselves and make their life miserable. They do not try to eradicate the morbid culture that led to the pathetic state.

Karnad is particularly provoked by gender discrimination in Indian society. Women are oppressed and exploited more than men in our society and it remains culturally patriarchal in spite of democracy. Women bear and bring up children, do all the household work and some of them do jobs additionally. In Naga-Mandala Rani volunteers to bear the burden and invites the cobra, Get in (to my hair). Are you safely in there? Good. Now stay there. And lie still. You dont know how heavy you are. Let me get used to you, will you?(2.64). Subash Chandrans comment that it reveals the great sacrificial role played by the women in our familial and hence cultural survival (195), is quite apt here. Women are ill treated and tortured by their husbands and in-laws for various reasons. Ambedkar has pointed out that woman under the laws of Manu is subject to corporal punishment and Manu allows the husband the right to beat his wife. (431) Indian society, which has accepted the laws of Manu, denies womens education and thus mental growth. Manu says women have no right to study the Vedas. But in modern India, women are allowed to be educated so that they become sophisticated slaves. Her father protects her in childhood, husband in middle age and children in old age. This is a reality; none has a genuine interest in the welfare of the woman. It is rather a veiled form of male dominance under the pretext of protecting her. She is considered inferior and not fit to be independent. Though Karnads women are full of desires and dreams, they cannot lead a life of their choice happily because they are denied their right to live with a man of their

choice. Indian housewives are quite submissive, faithful, self-effacing, honoring their husbands even under the most unpleasant circumstances. Karnads women characters are expectedly stereotypical- they are docile, shouted at, told to mind their own business or worse still, rejected and packed off to their parents. In TaleDanda, when King Bijjalas son Sovideva is raging against the Sharanas who have made a fool of him in the treasury episode, Rambhavati, the Queen, plainly tells her son, Do as you wish. Just dont upset your father, thats all. He turns his bad temper on me and I cant take it any longer (1.2.8). When Sovideva accuses her of being under the spell of the sharanas mysticsaint leader Basavanna, she says, What am I to do? Do you think your father ever listens to me? (1.2.8). There is hardly a hint of equality in the husband wife relationship. She might be the queen of the kingdom but the reality is that she is no better than any other servant of the palace as far as the King is concerned. She has to wail and cry and shed tears to persuade Bijjala to leave sharana alone. It is not that he does not love her. He is fond of her and cares for her. But the deep-rooted patriarchal attitude makes him feel superior and behave in a rude manner. Rambhavti seems to be devoid of a self or a will of her own. According to Subash Chandra: Her very existence is defined and concretized with reference to her husband. Her not minding her inferiorized position is the outcome of the centuries of internalization of the patriarchal postulate by women in society. (296)

Though she is scolded and berated for interference in the fatherson antagonism, she willingly provides emotional succor to the suffering and tormented Bijjala when her son Sovideva incarcerates him and his cohorts. But even in this condition Bijjala remains brusque with her. Sovidevas wife also remains in the same situation. Sovideva neglects his wife, sends her to her parents, and does not bother to bring her back. She does not interfere with her husbands matter, who wantonly revels in the arms of a prostitute, Indrani. But Sovidevas wife, the voiceless woman, acquires value when Sovideva is scared, confused and in dire need of help after beheading Madhuvarasa and Haralayya.When Manchanna says to Sovideva that the queens support may come in handy, Sovideva answers: Yes. And see our Queen again! She is our Queen after all, frigid bitch though she is (3.11.80). Women are valued not because she is a human being but only for her functional utility.. The most important event in the play is the marriage between a Brahmins daughter and a cobblers son. The girls mother Lalitambas reluctance to the marriage is not given due importance because it is her husband Madhuvarasas decision which matters. Lalitamba points to the practical problems besetting the alliance of a Brahmin girl with a cobbler boy. Her husband unceremoniously brushes aside her fears and objections though she justifies them as follows: Till the other day our daughter ran around bare foot. She was told it was unclean to touch any leather except deer- skin ? How can she start skinning dead buffaloes tomorrow ? Or tan leather? -------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Its my childs life! She gets a splitting headache if she so much as smells burning camphor. She is so so tender. (2.5.40 41) In response to this the man thunderingly says, Woman, I said hold your tongue (2.5.41). Thus he acts as the representative of the stereotypical male in putting the womens voice under the erasure. In the dichotomy between man and woman the former holds a superior position, controlling the subordinate. Woman is treated as a worm that can be trampled upon. Jagadevas wife repeatedly comes to meet her husband to inform him about his mothers illness. His refusal to meet her is emblematic of the voicelessness of women even among the sharanas. Gundanna reveals that she has come four times since the previous day but Jagadeva haughtily says, I cant see her. Tell her to go away. She knows I have sworn not to look upon a womans face till we have achieved our goal She has to attend to her mother in law. (3.9.71 72) In patriarchy, man commands and it is womans duty to obey silently, without protesting. Of course, she will attend to her mother in law but Jagadeva forgets his responsibility towards his own mother. Womens slavery leaves men free to pursue their wishes. Thus the play depicts the condition of Indian women in the traditional Indian society. Women, until their death remains the marginalized and suppressed group, without voice, without power and even without a consciousness of their

peripheral position in society. Womens position in the society is static, forced, mute, dumb and they are neither able to write, speak or even see the truth. But Karnads view is that woman being the Sakthi- energy; she should not be suppressed or dominated. Karnads plays mostly have their origin in Indian myths and so the Indian situations and cultural norms are prevalent in his plays. Yayati is about an ancient myth from the Mahabharat. The dramatist portrays the problems faced by the women in the Indian family. Yayati, the protagonist of the play, under some niceties of dharma, marries a lowborn girl, Sharmistha. No Indian woman would tolerate to see her husband with some other woman. Yayatis first wife Devayani, on seeing her husband with a co-wife, becomes furious and brings the curse of old age on him. Extra-marital enjoyment is a taboo only for women even in this age of womens enlightenment and liberation and not for men. Though men commit the worst kinds of sexual crimes, people blame only the women. Women are expected to do the household work and satisfy her husbands sexual desire.
There has been enough literature-oral and written, glorifying the women characters that treat them as slaves and this tradition is being observed faithfully. Purus wife Chitralekha, though she opposes her husband exchanging his youth for the old age of his father, is unable to prevent it. In a male dominant society, the words of the women do not have any value. As a normal young wife, Chitralekha wishes to bear a child. So, in her fit of anguish she even wishes to offer herself to Yayati; but then realizing the blunder she commits suicide. Jayadipsingh K. Dodiya has pointed out that No Indian woman will accept to be with other man (49). The real crux of the problem is that society in its present form will never accept it. Chastity is a word, confined exclusively to women only. This reduces her to a non-living commodity. But she is denied every privilege that a man enjoys. This, in reality, it is not the fate of Chitralekha alone but of all women.

Through the character of Padmini in Hayavadana, Karnad visualizes another problem faced by Indian women. Chastity and loyalty are concepts limited to

women alone. Chastity is such a value invented by patriarchal culture and it is one of the most powerful yet invisible cultural fetters that it has enslaved women for ages since the dawn of patriarchy. The Ramayana in which Sita undergoes the fire ordeal to prove her chastity to Rama has been a cultural guide to Indians for more than two thousand years. Every mother along with father and other elders enslaves her daughter to patriarchy by teaching her verbally and non-verbally that chastity is more important than life and that its loss, which brings an unbearable social stigma, is worse than death. Many women lose their lives to protect their chastity and many other women bear in silence all the oppression and violence of their sadistic husbands. If any brave woman violates these values, she is not only looked down upon but also culturally excommunicated. It is clear that the concept of chastity is gender biased and that women care more for chastity than men. In Ben Jonsons Volpone there is an incident similar to that in Naga-Mandala. Carvina has a very beautiful wife called Celia. He locks her in when he goes out. When he sends her to sleep with Volpone in order to inherit his property, Celia refuses to do so. This shows that the concept of chastity is not merely enforced by patriarchy but exists in women as an internalized virtue having been hammered into their psyche for long. According to the Indian tradition, a woman should lead a chaste life until her death and it is a great evil for her to cohabit with a man other than her own husband. But, there is not any hard and fast rule for men folk. In Indian mythology we have examples of women characters, namely Sita, Savitri, Tara, Sheelavati and so on, who symbolize chaste womanhood. The women

do not even have the freedom to talk with other men and express their feelings and emotions. The young maid Padmini in Hayavadana is travelling with her jealous husband Devadatta and his friend Kapila and the husband unable to bear the capricious actions of his wife beheads himself with his sword at the altar of the Goddess Kali. No man in India would tolerate his wife having relationship with another man. So Devadatta dejected by his wifes unconcealed amorous attraction for his friend follows the way of the men folk in India and unable to control himself, in a sudden outburst of emotion, decides to sacrifice his head to Kali. A sense of mortification arising out of his wifes faithlessness and unconcealed amorous attraction for his friend, he chooses this extreme and disastrous end.
His friend Kapila becomes impatient after waiting for his friend and so goes to the Kali temple and he gets terrified to see his friends severed head before Kali. Kapila sacrifices his head too, not out of his love for his friend, as he likes to tell himself, but only to avert the possible ignominy. The reality is that the people by talking ill of him would spoil his reputation. Padmini too is scared only of the scandal and finding herself in the unenviable position and the chilling sight of the headless bodies in the darkness of the temple prepares to kill herself. Kali, the primordial deity, seeing the plight of the griefstricken maid becomes compassionate and says to her, Now do as I tell you. Put these heads back properly. Attach them to their bodies and then press that sword on their necks. Theyll come back alive (1.102). She was in no position to brook any delay and in a fit of excitement she fixes the head onto the wrong bodies. At first the three are elated by their revival but this euphoria is short lived and replaced by confusion as to who is the husband of Padmini. Though Padmini is a dutiful wife to Devadatta, the circumstances compel her to have affinity towards Kapilas strong body and Devadattas clever head. Kapila now thinks he is on a safe wicket and so he demands that Padmini must come home with him: I have Devadattas body now so, you have to be my wife. (1.106)

The dramatist portrays the mind of the Indian woman and the culture in which she is living. So, when Kapila repeats his argument, Padmini becomes frightened, she seeks refuge in the arms of the man with Devadattas head since he is the rightful

husband of Padmini according to the verdict passed by Bhagavata: As the heavenly Kalpa Vriksha is supreme among trees, so is the head among human limbs (2.110). Therefore the man with Devadattas head is indeed Devadatta and he is the rightful husband of Padmini. Padmini and Devadatta are overjoyed by the verdict and Devadatta scores a point over Kapila and in accordance with Reeta Sondhis comment, Padmini hankers for the virile body of her husbands friend Kapila a black Smith (53), she feels happy to have her fabulous body fabulous brain fabulous Devadatta.(2.113) Through this episode the dramatist portrays her as a woman torn between two ideals, brains and muscles, and wanting both. But due to societal compulsions she is forced to embrace only one at a time. Though, for a short period, Padmini lives with her perfect man, she gets disillusioned when the transposed Devadatta reverts to his original Brahmin shape and therefore she forces her husband to go to Ujjain fair to purchase new dolls because its unlucky to keep torn dolls at home (2.120). When he has gone away, she leaves for the forest with her child in her arms seeking the embrace of Kapila, but Kapila insists on her to go back to Devadatta saying,
He is your husband the father of this child. Devadatta and Padmini! Devadatta and Padmini! A pair coupled with the holy fire as the witness.I have no place there, no peace, No salvation So go. I beg of you. Go. (2.125)

Through this episode, the dramatist reinforces the Indian concept of marriage and one woman for one man. Devadatta returns from the Ujjain fair with dolls, but when he comes to know of Padmini meeting Kapila, he gets wild and goes to Kapilas place with sword in one

hand and dolls in the other. They talk of their transformation and both of them acknowledge their love for Padmini. Finally Devadatta says, No grounds for friendship now. No question of mercy. We must fight like lions and kill like cobras (2.130). Both of them realize that they could not live together with Padmini and therefore they burned, lived, fought, embraced and died. (2.130) In fact Padmini is fascinated towards both of them but a civilized society with a moral code will not accept such a woman. The two men will not accept each other when it comes to sharing the wife and therefore they kill each other. They cannot live like the Pandavas and Draupadi in the Mahabharata because they are not epic characters, which are personifications of abstract ideas, but characters in legend, which is more close to reality. A Norwegian playwright like Henrick Ibsen can write a play A Dolls House with the heroine walking out of her family. But an Indian playwright like Girish Karnad cannot make a Padmini walk out to choose a life of her choice, as India is known for pativritas, wives who dedicate their whole existence to the service of their husbands. Padminis extra marital relationship with Kapila or accepting Kapila, as her second husband will threaten the order of a society well entrenched in conservative patriarchal norms. She herself utters: If Id said , Yes, Ill live with you both, perhaps they would have been alive yet. But I couldnt say it .I couldnt say, Yes (2.130). Then a large funeral pyre is made for the bodies of Devadatta and Kapila, and Padmini performs sati jumping into it expressing her grief and helplessness thus:

Kali, Mother of all Nature, you must have your joke even now. Other woman can die praying that they should get the same husband in all the lives to come. You havent left me even that little consolation. (2.131) Thus ends the sad story of the pathetic Indian woman Padmini. Nittilai in The Fire and the Rain, due to fate, marries the man her elders choose for her. But when she learns the problems of her past lover Arvasu, she comes running away from her husband, family and everything only to lend a helping hand to him. Chandrasekars compliment of Nittilai as the young hunter girl, is invested with such a surfeit of good qualities that it gives use to the unworthy suspicion that she may be Karnads equivalent of the noble savage (12) is quite apt as she herself says the following in a serious voice: Arvasu, when I say we should go together I dont mean we have to live together- like lovers or husband and wife. I have been vicious enough to my husband. I dont want to disgrace him further. Lets be together like brother and sister. You marry any girl you like.(3.42) In India, it is totally unacceptable for a married woman to be with another man. Nittilai proves to be an Indian woman as she feels that in no circumstances she should spoil the reputation of her husband. But her husband and her brother do not understand the truth and out of suspicion kill her: [] the brother knocks Arvasu down and pins him to the ground. The husband pulls out a knife, grabs Nittilai by her hair and slashes her throat in one swift motion. He then lets her drop (Epilogue 58).

This is very much in tune with the ethos of a society, which cannot accept a woman being in love with two men at one and the same time. In Naga-Mandala, Karnad questions the gender-based justice, which is favorable to men. According to Jaganmohana Chari men are favored because the concept of ritualistic purity of the metaphysical tradition has structured the hierarchical vertical line-up of gods at the top, men below and women still underneath. (124) The play exposes male chauvinism and the oppression of women and the great injustice done to them by men and patriarchal culture. The protagonist Appanna treats his wife Rani as if she were a non-human thing without any feeling and a robot-cook, which follows his oral instructions. As a male chauvinist, he has utter contempt for his wife. Naga, the cobra, takes the shape of Appanna, visits Rani during the night and makes love to her. She does this unknowingly. But Appanna ignores Rani and visits his concubine regularly without any sense of shame. When he comes to know that she has become pregnant, he is infuriated and he pushes, kicks and curses her. He yells at her, I locked you in, and yet you managed to find a lover! Tell me who it is. Who did you go to with your sari off? (2.52). To this, the young helpless maid pleads that she is innocent. But the man shouts, You havent? And yet you have a bloated tummy. Just pumped air into it, did you? And you think Ill let you get away with that? You shame in front of the whole village, you darken my face, you Slut-(2.52)

He is unable to stand the shame that she has caused him. He swears that he will abort the bastard. Then he drags her out and tries to throw a huge stone to smash her illegitimate child to be born. At that moment, the cobra comes out and hisses loudly. Appanna throws the stone on the snake, which escapes into the anthill. Rani at once escapes into the house and locks the door. Appannas violent reaction to his wifes infidelity does not make him consider for a moment his own infidelity towards her. He finally makes her suffer the humiliation of being questioned by the village panchayat comprising the elders of the village. The scene of Ranis trial reminds us of Sitas trial in the Ramayana. She undergoes Agni pariksha to prove her chastity. Rani finds herself in a similar situation like Sita who has to pass the test of fire, to prove her chastity. Her husband who accuses her of infidelity torments Rani. Karnad here exposes the patriarchal moral code, which emphasizes loyalty of a woman to her husband but does not question the frailty of a man. Though men commit the worst sexual crimes, only women are accused of violating the moral codes of society. Kurudavva, an old woman, detects the presence of Rani in the locked room. She sympathizes with her and sensing the seriousness of her problems offers her some roots with pseudo magical powers and says, Feed him this larger piece of root (1.36). Following her advice and instructions she prepares the paste of this magical root and pours into the curry, which instantly turns red. Afraid of the consequences of this horrible mess she pours the magical potion into the anthill in which lives a King Cobra. The aphrodisiac potion works on the Naga and he turns into her lover. Naga

begins to visit Rani in the shape of her husband in the nights and makes love to her. Rani becomes pregnant and she thinks she has conceived for her husband, Appanna. The husband comes to know of her secret eventually and accuses her of infidelity. When Appanna neglects his newly wedded child-like wife and commits adultery no question of morality is raised. But Rani is put to test in the presence of the village elders. The oath she has to take before the panchayat is either holding a redhot iron in the hand or plunging the hand in boiling oil. But as instructed by Naga, she chooses the snake ordeal, most dreadful option, in order to prove her innocence. That is, she should put her hand into the anthill, pull the cobra out, take her oath by the cobra and speak the truth. Jaganmohana Chari points out that This vulgar display of power instead of love and treating woman as a disposable object accrues to him owing to the post colonialist ethos and mystique of tradition. (152) The treatment meted out to Rani throws light on the mindset of the patriarchal society which has not changed significantly even in the contemporary times. A man is permitted to keep as many wives or mistresses as he wishes, but women are forbidden to such a privilege in the contemporary society. The terms pativrita, loyalty and chastity are terms restricted exclusively to women in India to pin them down under male domination. The young maid Vishakha in The Fire and the Rain is trapped by her own family members and their relatives. Raibhya, the father-in-law, who is the patriarch of the family, is lustful and gets his lust fulfilled through Vishakha, his daughter-in-law.

But when the young girl becomes a victim of the ascetic Yavakri, the father-in-law forgetting his shameful act, asks his daughter-in-law, Why are you so filthy? You look like a buffalo thats been rolling in mud (1.19). He then grabs her by hair, beats her and kicks her. He even calls her as a whore forgetting that he himself has committed the shameful, illegitimate act. Woman in a traditional society is not even permitted to express her feelings of love to another man; she has to seal her heart within herself like a body within a grave. She is accused and punished whereas men doing the same crime escape from the accusation and punishment. Karnad, in his plays, has portrayed the harsh and realistic situation faced by women in India. Choudhury has aptly commented, In Karnads plays, woman has a precarious position. She is dominated, misbehaved with, and tortured by man (230). In the three plays, namely Hayavadana, The Fire and the Rain and the Naga-Mandala, Karnad has exhibited two worlds -- internal and external. The internal world is that of the husband and the wife, the external world comprises the friends, brothers, father and even concubines. The wife is isolated and kept aloof from the external world. The husbands try to exert their monopoly over their wives in various ways and try to retain their hold over them and if they fail, they get emotionally charged and destructive. Only in a fit of jealousy, Devadatta kills himself, Appanna tries to shame Rani in public and Parvasu leaves the sacrifice incomplete and comes looking for revenge. In Karnads plays, the one who suffers for the choices and actions of others is

always a woman. Unlike Sophocles Antigone or Kalidasas Shakuntala, she never occupies the center stage. As Ramachandran has pointed out that women are . marginalized, analogous to her position in the Hindu society, even in terms of space on the stage, suffering mutely in the background the consequences of the action of her husband or lover or son.(28) Though Chitralekha in Yayati is almost a minor character, she is the only soul who has to bear the burden of her husbands anger against his heredity. Hardly does she step into her husbands palace as a bride before her husband barters his youth for his fathers old age, and suicide is the only recourse left to her. Padmini in Hayavadana is also a victim of the forces that she can neither control nor understand. Though she yearns for a complete man as a husband, the denial of the same and the consequent frustration leads her to a tragic end. Similarly in Naga-Mandala, Rani has been portrayed as a helpless woman shut up in an old and huge house for most part of the day and the night. She has to undergo barbaric ordeals and through this Karnad makes a severe indictment of the male dominated Hindu society. Rani has become a passive sufferer in a fit of circumstances that are beyond her. Nittilai of The Fire and the Rain, a hunter girl, also suffers a lot, as her lover Arvasu does not come in time to meet the elders who are waiting for him under the banyan tree, to bring their affair to an end. As Arvasu is stung by conscience, he is unable to be self-centered and therefore he has to cremate the body of Yavakri. But Nittilais brother does not pay heed to his words, and he grabs him by the scroll of his neck. Arvasu comes to know that Nittilai is to be married in the next

couple of days. So, he stumbles back home. Though Arvasu is not at fault, his actions lead Nittilai to marry someone else. Thus Padmini in Hayavadana, Rani in NagaMandala and Nittilai and Vishakha in The Fire and the Rain are the passive and stereotypical sufferers who according to Ramachandran are Caught up in a whirlpool of Hindu patriarchy and are sucked down helplessly. (29)

Though men in India ill-treat their wives, the women are truly affectionate towards them. Rani in Naga-Mandala is so innocent that she is completely unaware of sex. The old lady Kurudavva has been the best friend of Appannas mother. Kurudavva feels very much concerned for Ranis miserable plight. She gives Rani the piece of a root, which was given to her by a mendicant, saying, Take it! Grind it into a nice paste and feed it to your husband. And watch the results. Once he smells you he wont go sniffing after that bitch (1.34). When Appanna comes as usual for his lunch, Rani mixes the paste of the aphrodisiac root in the curry. As it turns red and looks sinister she dared not pour it into the curry. She exclaims: Oh my God! What horrible mess is this? Blood. Perhaps Poison. Shall I serve him this? That women is blind, but he isnt. How could he possibly not see this boiling blood, this poisonous red? And then even if he doesnt see it how do I know it is not dangerous? Suppose something happens to my husband ? What will my fate be? That little piece made him ill. Who knows .? (1.37)

In a fit of dilemma she throws it into the anthill in front of the house. Suspecting her, her husband slaps her so hard that she falls unconscious on the floor. Rani is a typical wife who does not want to cause any harm to her husband though he ill-treats her. Appanna as a typical husband punishes her severely even for a small thing like her going out though she has been serving him without any grudge since he has brought her home. He, as a male chauvinist, thinks he has the right to do whatever he likes and feels he is right. He is insensitive to the feelings of others. But for women in India their husbands are everything though their husbands neglect them and go in search of other women. The society doesnt consider this as a matter of concern at all. The ethos of the Indian society do not permit any violation of female chastity and loyalty to their husbands in their pre as well as post marital phases that Nittilai in The Fire and the Rain doesnt permit her lover even to touch her. She says, Not until were married. Until then the girl is not supposed to touch her husband to be. Thats our custom (1.6). Karnad thus vividly portrays the customs followed exclusively by women in India. The picture of modern man portrayed in contemporary literature is that of an individual tormented and haunted by the established conventions of society and religion. People live in wretched unhappiness and this seems to be the largest mystery of human existence. As Raymond Williams has said, Every aspect of personal life is radically affected by the quality of the general life(584), all the characters of Karnad are greatly influenced by the society. Karnads characters are portrayed as prisoners who are unable to escape from their miserable existence. Tennessee Williamss

comment, were all sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins(7), is quite true regarding the characters of Karnad. Realistic situations form the warp and woof of all literature, and their depiction in depth and variety proves to be the mark of genius. Karnads mark of genius is quite evident from his portrayal of real characters in real situations.

CHAPTER III TREATMENT OF REALITY : EVIL

Literature is highly moralistic in nature and it shows what is right and wrong, good and bad, high and low. The moral goodness possessed by an individual elevates him to the level of a noble human being and the evil in him drags him to the level of a beast. The evil in an individual destroys his happiness and that of others with whom he comes into contact; but the evil in the society causes a lot of havoc in the life of each and every individual. Hence, each and every individual must understand the evil within him and in the society and must guard against its corrupting influence; otherwise, the evil will gain complete mastery over him. In India, caste and religion remain even today as two crucial evils that plague the nation in all spheres of life. The caste system, an offshoot of the Hindu myth associated with the origin of four Varnas Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras issuing forth into this world from the mouth, arms, thighs and feet respectively of Brahma, has become a very important phenomenon of evil in the Indian society. Karnad, in his play TaleDanda, successfully exposes the unavoidable consequences of this undesirable system. The playwright deals with the social evil of casteism that eats into the vitals of the social fabric of India. Regarding casteism, Ramakrishna opines, India is not able to lead the other nations on account of the divisive effect of the system (27-29). According to one of the great epics of India, the Mahabharata, there are four major social classes. They are Brahmins (priests, poets, teachers, ministers), Kshatriyas (Kings and warriors), Vaishyas (tradesmen), Shudras (craftsmen) and Panchamas (menial workers). According to Ambedkar, Caste system is not merely a division of laborers which is quite different from division of labourit is an hierarchy in which the division of laborers are graded one above the other. (45) The gradation of laborers prevents them from being united and makes them easily exploitable. According to Manusastra, a Brahmin may compel a Sudra to do servile jobs and he is given the privilege even to punish him if he reads the Vedas, which is considered as an insult to the higher-class people. The Panchamas are in a pathetic situation and as they are considered to be untouchables, they are oppressed and exploited. This is the most inhuman practice of the Hindu culture. Caste system has given the Brahmins and other high caste people a privileged position and they have never tolerated any violation, including an inter-caste marriage. This condition has not changed till now. Gross atrocities are committed on Sudras and Panchamas by the so-called high-class people even now in the modern age of democracy. The people of higher castes enjoy several privileges at the cost of the people of lower castes. They look down upon the servants and workers and exploit them. The lower class people accept their humiliation as a way of life and this is psycho-

culturally programmed. They do not raise their voice even if they are paid low. A situation like this leads man to lose sight of humanity and as Steiner says, In our mad scramble to the top we forget how to love, how to think and, we loose track of who we are and what we really want. (187) This reminds us of an incident, which took place in Jaitsar, a village of Rajasthan. A twelve-year-old Sudra boy allegedly broke the glass shell of akhand jyoti on 28th May 1994. In order to save the boy, his mother Prakash Kaur volunteers to suffer the punishment. She was stripped naked, dragged by her legs, tied around the Durga temple and beaten with sticks all the time by the upper caste men. One man even pushed hard a stick into her genitals. Then her head was tonsured, her face was blackened and she was paraded on a donkey in the market. Hot water and kerosene were poured into her mouth. Unable to bear the heinous torture, she finally died. Simply because she was a lowborn, she was subjected to such inhuman treatment. There are many Prakash Kaurs who end their life tragically. Our society comprises a few people who are clever enough to be superior to a vast majority of people who are ill fated to be inferior. In the modern age also, we fail to realize that superiority and inferiority have been defined wrongly for long and it is psycho-culturally programmed. Ramachandran has aptly said that the Hindu mind grasp(s) the world in terms of binary division; man-woman, Aryan-non-Aryan, father-son, upper caste-lower caste, etc., always privileging the first in each pair.(30) The Hindu society is based on the Varnashrama system and this system has been in existence for more than two thousand years resulting in the degradation and exploitation of half the society. So, in Tale-Danda, Karnad deals with one of the most sensitive issues of all timesthe ugly face of castesystem of India that was in the past hailed as an ideal one. The dramatist has taken up the historical and political backgrounds for his plot from an important historical movement that took place in the city of Kalyan in North Kanara in 1168 A.D. The movement was started by a group of enlightened poets, philosophers, mystics and social revolutionaries who intended to awaken the society against the age-old evil practices of caste system. Because of their committed and constant opposition to the caste system they had to face humiliation, anger and displeasure of the orthodox community which came down heavily on them. Finally the movement ended in terror and slaughter. This movement accentuated Karnad to mould his theme of Tale-Danda so as to serve his present needs. The dramatist wrote Tale-Danda in 1989, when the Mandir and Mandal movement was in full swing in India. In this play, Karnad highlights the problem of Varna system through Bhakti movement.

Bijjala, a Sudhra- a barber by caste, was the King of Kalyan. Though he was not a Kshatriya by birth, he was like one who had originated from the arms of the mythical Brahma. Rambhavati, a royal princess was his wife and Sovideva was his son. His court was a galaxy of great poets and scholars. Basavanna, the Kings officer and the great poet philosopher, united all the brilliant and enlightened people and raised a voice for equality. All of them discarded their castes and became Sharanas or devotees of Lord Shiva. They talked to their people about God in their own language. For them, their body was the very abode of God and idol worship was considered to be meaningless. They condemned all inhuman traditions and had staunch faith in social and gender equality. Finally their noble movement ended in a disaster when the marriage of a Panchama boy with a Brahmin girl led to a fateful war between Sharanas and the orthodox movement. Caste consciousness runs throughout the play. The higher caste people do not give due respect to Bijjala though he is the King of Kalyan. His pregnant words In all my sixtytwo years, the only people who have looked me in the eye without a reference to my lowly birth lurking deep on their eyes are the sharanas: (1.2.15) reveal the insulting attitude of the orthodox Hindus towards the low caste people. The Sharanas deserve the credit for bringing economic prosperity to Bijjalas land. Mukar Nand has rightly said, they are dedicated people indispensable to the system.(153) The people of Kalyan like the great saints Kabir, Mira and Mahatma Gandhi struggle to remove caste barriers but their ceaseless efforts become futile. Bijjala, the King, aptly says, Ones caste is like the skin on ones body. You can peel it off top to toe, but when the new skin forms, there you are again; a barber- a shepherd- a scavenger. (1.2.14 -15) This is the situation in India even today. So, Sharanas concept of work without caste created a cultural problem. Added to this they also believed in equality of sexes and hard work with dedication. They opposed the caste system, not just in theory but in practice also. Finally, the evils of casteism led to bloodshed and violence. Shukla has aptly stated the comment of Arun Shouri that In each tradition there is much that is valuable but also much that is malignant (124). Hence, there is a need for a new religion which can treat all human beings as equal. The Sharanas believed in this. In the words of Kakkayya there is no caste among Sharanas, neither Brahmin nor cobbler. (2.5.38) Ancient sayings in the form of commandments, Shariyats or Vedic mantras, need to be reassessed and reviewed. A fresh outlook is inevitable to analyze the social and political concept. It is through the sharanas that the dramatist advocates this philosophy. Basavanna, the great sharana poet and the

noble-minded King Bijjala serve as the mouthpieces of Girish Karnad. Basavanna wanted to abolish the caste structure and annihilate the Varna system. He says, Look at those he has gathered around him, poets, mystics, visionaries All hard working people form the common stock. They sit together, eat together, argue about God together, indifferent to caste, birth or station. (1.2.15). If this is impossible, treat everyone as a human being is the concept that the dramatist stresses through Tale-Danda. Religion cannot ill-treat anyone, nor can it reduce anyone from being a human being. The greatest evils have been perpetuated in the name of God and deadliest wars have been fought in the name of religion. In Tale-Danda, Madhuvarasa, a Brahmin by birth, is inclined to give his daughter Kalavati in marriage to Sheelavanta, the son of Haralaya, a cobbler boy. The Brahmin girl has no objection in marrying the cobbler boy, but the boy hesitates as he feels that the girl cant stand the smell of leather(2.5.40). The parties concerned and a few other sharanas assemble at Basavannas residence for his blessings. Basavanna, a Sharana poet, is also against this because the orthodox will see this mingling of castes as a blow at the very roots of varnashrama dharma (2.5.38). Kakkayya, an elderly sharana, hesitates to bless the couple. After a prolonged and heated discussion among themselves they all agree that the wedding should take place. Meanwhile, the King arrives on the scene and warns against the marriage as it will create an uncontrollable bloodshed. However, with the moral support of Basavanna and Bijjalas protection the marriage is performed. As Dhanvel comments, Bijjala supports the inter-caste marriage because the sharanas are the backbone of the economy. (49) As a result of the decisions of the powerpoliticians, the fathers of the bride and groom are caught, their eyes gouged out, and tied to elephants feet they are dragged through the streets of Kalyan. The whole city burns. There are widespread riots, stampedes, fires, murders, rapes and looting. Yet Sovideva is not satisfied. He says, The sharanas too are out to destroy me-that tribe of snakes! Crush their progeny! (3.16.89). The whole city of Kalyan is bathed in the blood of innocent people. The power hungry rulers and the obscurantist politicians suffer from a pathological hatred of the lower castes and this leads them to behave beastially. For the manipulators of the political system, men and women are merely pawns to be sacrificed at will for selfinterest and grabbing power. Though Sovideva, the son of King Biijala says, The King is father to his people and the people shall love him and obey him like his offspring. No tongue shall wag against the King or his family or his retinue or his officers

(3.16.90), he and his accomplices, Damodara Bhatta and Manchanna, conspire against the King and imprison him for defying him at the treasury. Basavanna fails to inspire sharanas to stand by the King during his bad days, but most of them, scared of Sovideva, turn a deaf ear to his requests. So, Basavanna himself visits him and advices him to cling to Lord Shiva who alone can safeguard him from danger. On the other hand, Sovideva, following the evil advice of Damodara Bhatta and Manchanna, slaughters the sharanas violently and mercilessly. Jagadeva and other sharanas having been enraged decide to avenge on Sovideva. They rush to the palace, search for him and unable to find him, enter the shrine of Shiva where the old King Bijjala is found firmly embracing the Linga so as to keep himself safe. As long as the king is clinging to Lord Shiva none can dare to touch him. But Jagadeva succeeds to convince him that Basavanna has sent him and his fellows there. Believing this, Bijjala comes out of the Shrine, and Jagadeva, ignoring the request of his fellows not to kill the king, stabs him to death mercilessly.

The picture of Basavanna portrayed by the dramatist is highly comprehensive as it gives due importance to all the major aspects of Basavannas liberal and humanistic philosophy. It is a realistic presentation of a life of struggle and ethical nobility against the backdrop of religious dogmatism, political authoritarianism, communal segregation and gender discrimination of Karnataka. It has been aptly said that the life of Basavanna depicted in Tale-Danda may be compared and contrasted with the lives of Jesus Christ, Buddha, St Augustine, Gandhi and Ambedkar in various aspects. Karnads Tale-Danda shows Basvannas efforts at ensuring the progress of human enterprise which end in terror and bloodshed. Govinda Rao says, TaleDanda makes us sit aghast and stunned by the painful awareness that mans life is but the repetition of the story of hate and suspicion and violence, all of which are unnatural and immoral (20). The caste system separates people into layers devoid of communal feelings resulting in an unhealthy growth of patriotism. The play conveys the message that a unified fabric of Indian society is an impossible dream by highlighting the saintly figure Basavannas idealism which only ends up in bloodshed. Basavanna yearns to eradicate the castestructures. His message is akin to that of Ananda, a Buddhist monk in Tagores Chandalika, who tells a low-caste girl Prakrita, As I am a human being, so also are you. (1.148)

Karnad is of the opinion that Tale-Danda is relevant to the Indian context even today for religious fanaticism has claimed thousands of lives in todays world. What has happened in Tale-Danda is still happening. Karnad has rightly said that even after eight hundred years the problems still exist and we are back exactly where we have started. In Tale-Danda the message is that Indian society has built a trap for the untouchables. Though Karnad does not offer any specific solution to the problems, which are destroying the vitals of our society, the play induces us to take a second look at the efficacy of the laws of Hindu religion with regard to the hypergamous marriage. A great tragedy in our society is that a section of human beings with similar bodies and feelings like the other are condemned to a life of wretchedness, mental and moral degradations simply because they belong to lower class. We may touch a cat, we may touch a dog, we may touch any other animal, but the touch of these human beings is a pollution (Gokhale 93). If a person longs to emerge out of the slough in which he has been sinking, he should not adhere to casteism. In The Fire and the Rain, the unprivileged classes of people are prohibited to take part in the fire sacrifice performed to propitiate Lord Indra so that he sends rain. Indra never appears, as he is not pleased with the vicious performer Paravasu. It doesnt rain and the other priests become tired and they feel sick and tired of these endless philosophical discussion, metaphysical speculations, debates (Prologue 2). It is obvious that the priests are tired of their performance and they do not relish the dreary sacrifice. The spectators for this performance are people of higher caste and no one is allowed to enter the sacred space. Waiting endlessly for Indra who doesnt appear makes their performance a failure. The unpriviledged class has no right to watch the performance or even listen to the mantras. Kailasam in one of his Kannada plays, Tollugati, calls the playwright a camera man and claims that it is his duty to portray reality and expose the follies and foibles of mankind. Karnad has distinctly made the words of Kailasam come true, as he has distinctly reflected the evil effects of casteism through his dramatic piece Tale-Danda. He seems to say that if our country is to progress, it is a must that we should take into account the services rendered by those classes of people whom we call as lower class; otherwise even rain will desert the nation. Karnad, one of the foremost media persons of the contemporary times, has a unique caliber to create beauty out of evil. Most of his plays end unhappily and violence, bloodshed, murder, impersonation, treachery, bribery

and adultery seem to have an upper hand in his plays. In his play Tughlaq also, evil is manifested through violence, bloodshed, murder, impersonation and treachery. According to Karnad, Sultan Muhammad Bin Tughlaq of the fourteenth century was Certainly the most brilliant individual ever to ascend the throne of Delhi and also one of the biggest failures (27). Initially, Tughlaq was a man imbued with lofty idealism. But, Here was a supremely intelligent King driven to disintegration when he fails to face the unidealistic realities of power and politics. A man with unshakable faith in himself and his mission, trying to out- reach his own vision, unfortunately with his bare hands, and wanting to carry along with him the unvisionary and pretty people around him, growing relentlessly into an impatient and ferocious animal. (Rajinder Paul 41) Due to the willful implementation of his policies, though far-sighted they were, his career ended in bloodshed and chaos. According to Satish Kumar, Tughlaqs hasty, idealistic but sometimes thoughtless actions precipitated his downfall. (28) Tughlaq is not only dried up of human emotions, he is emptied of spiritual sentiments also. His ambition for power and money vitiates his noble objectives and afflicts the prayer and the body politics. Prayer is used as a means to an end, but it is not an end itself. Only the powerful, prosperous and the rulers can pray in peace. Prayer has been used as a leitmotive in Tughlaq (Satish Kumar 23) and the atmosphere is full of atrocities, cruelty, killing, sobs and sighs, wailing and tears. It becomes highly impossible for the people even to pray. The citizens gather outside the fort of Daulatabad and vent their anger and displeasure as follows: First Man. Prayer! Prayer! Who wants prayer now? Second Man. Ask them to give us some food. First Man. There is no food. Foods only in the palace Its prayers for us. (11.208) Tughlaq is a usurper and he ascends the throne after getting his father and brother murdered during prayer time and has blood on his hand at such a young age. In this way prayer, which is to be left to the discretion of the individual, is debased since it is dragged into the domain of power politics. Religion defies politics because it preaches morals and expects morality from

the people; whereas, politics thrives on craftiness, insidiousness, intrigue and deceit. Tughlaq is not an exception. Even Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, who had every reason to kill his uncle for the murder of his father and the incestuous marriage with his mother, did not kill his uncle at the prayer time. He did not pollute prayer. But Tughlaq desecrates prayer by using it as a means for political ends. At first he decrees religious punishment for failure to pray five times a day. Later, he bans prayer itself and punishes those who pray. Again, after sometime, he announces that henceforth every Muslim will pray five times a day as enjoined by the Holy Koran and declare himself a Faithful slave of the Lord (10.207). It has been aptly said by Sethumadhava Rao that prayer, which is most dear to Tughlaq is vitiated by him as well as his enemies, is symbolic of the fact that his life is corrupted at its very source(103). Prayer, which is deeply allied to religion, is used for murder in the play. Prayer halls are being polluted with the discussions on politics. Shihab-ud-din and the Amirs also conspire to murder the Sultan at prayer time, but Tughlaq foils the plot with the help of his Hindu guards and stabs the Sheikh who is known throughout India for his courage and integrity with such ferocity that his soldiers get terrified. But coolly and publicly he announces that Shihab-ud-din died a martyr, defending Tughlaq against the nobles who tried to kill him at prayer time. He even assures that the Sheikh will be given a grand funeral. The repeated frenzied stabbing of Shihabs dead body with ferociousness makes even the soldiers holding the body turn away in horror and terror and the order, stuff their bodies with straw and hang them up in the palace yard. Let them hang there for a week. No, send them round my kingdom. Let every one of my subjects see them (6.185), is an act of cruelty though rising from his anguish. Christine Gomez has commented: Like Caligula in Camus play, Tughlaq also tries to control and release his metaphysical anguish by an exercise of tyrannical power. (143) The Sultan does not spare even his sisters son, Gurushasp. He orders the flaying of Gurushasp, the leader of a rebellion, alive. Then mercilessly his flesh is cooked and sent to his wife and children. Still, unsatisfied, he has his skin stuffed with straw and exhibits it in the important cities of his kingdom. This ghastly incident reminds us of Atreus action in the story of Agamemnon. He is every inch a bloodthirsty murderer. His other fantastic actions include the introduction of copper currency and imposition of high taxes. He commits the greatest blunder of shifting his capital to Daulatabad and insisting on the people to vacate Delhi immediately. The journey to Daulatabad becomes a nightmare; his subjects suffer from starvation, disease and death; even after a span of five years, Tughlaqs subjects suffer from a life of loneliness, punishment and cathartic violence. In the end Tughlaq is left solely to contemplate in dismay; famine, rebellions and economic chaos collapse his empire. According to

H.H.Anniah Gowda, Tughlaq was intelligent, religious, cruel and hard hearted and took sadistic delight in seeing no lights in the empty city of Delhi on the night of its evacuation when he shifted the capital to Daulatabad (3). All these instances are the acts of cruelty and tyranny rising out of his existential anguish. He gives up the method of rational explanation and persuasion. Instead he is determined to rule his people with an iron hand. He himself says, I was too soft, I can see that now. Theyll understand the whip. (6.186) Tughlaq is a formidable ruler who would not let anything or anybody come in his way of the pursuit or power. His answer to resistance is his sword. Tughlaq banishes everyone who happens to be a stumbling block on his way. Sheikh Imam-ud-din is an archenemy and a great critic of Tughlaq. He knows that the very existence of the Imam is harmful to him. He arranges a meeting in front of the Big Mosque in which the Sheikh is to speak. At the same time, by sending his courtiers, he maneuvers that people stay away at the point of bayonets. Then the Sheikh getting depressed does not wish to speak to the bootlickers of Tughlaq. Then he tactfully sends Sheikh Imam-ud-din to pacify Ain-ud-mulk who has revolted against him. Sheer treachery is involved in trapping Imam-ud-din and getting him killed. After the death of Imam-ud-din, he orders mourning in the state. This double facedness of Muhammad very much resembles the two faces of the politicians of today. The craftiness of Tughlaq has a parallel in the arch-trickery and cunningness adopted by those people who are in power, who long to wipe out the opposition, and also that of the opposition to throw out the rulers. The rulers of the twentieth century are identical in all respects with the monarch of the fourteenth century India. In India, after independence and even in the eighties, the longing to rule by all means was prevalent as it was during the reign of Tughlaq. The cruelties of the Sultan find no end. When he comes to know of his stepmothers killing of the Najib, he mercilessly orders that she should be stoned to death. When his stepmother taunts him for killing his father, brother and Sheikh, Tughlaq claims that he has killed them for an ideal, perhaps the ideal of building a Utopian empire, which he considers to be his lifes mission. He himself says, I killed themyesbut killed them for an ideal (10.204). And then he asserts that those deaths were not futile.They gave me what I wantedpower, strength to shape my thoughts, strength to act, strength to recognize myself. (204) For Tughlaq, violence is no longer under his control. Once he has tasted the exhilarating power of killing, it has become a compulsion for him to act violently. He begins to believe that the most powerful argument laid not in words but in the sword, in cruelty, violence and murder. He has therefore to adopt a tyrannical way of life as a means to an end, a vehicle to fulfill his

mission. To have the reins of power firmly in his hands, all formidable foes are silenced one by one. Geeta Kumar aptly says that [] a discriminating study of power politics in Tughlaq would make it amply clear that to survive in the game of snakes and ladders, the merely competent like Shihab-ud-din, the upright saint like Sheikh Imam-ud-din and later the slightly independent stepmother have to be weeded out ruthlessly. (93) Christine Gomez is of the view that Though he is in the whirlpool of violence and bloodshed, he is able to maintain his objectivity and is not sucked into the vortex (149). It is very difficult to accept this assessment of Gomez. In truth, Tughlaq ultimately becomes every inch a bloodthirsty murderer and is drawn into the whirlpool of violence. The central plot is filled with violence and bloodshed and the sub-plot is impregnated with impersonation, bribery and treachery. Aziz, a comic figure, modeled on Shakespeares Falstaff, goes on impersonating one person after another. At first Aziz impersonates Vishnu Prasad, the Brahmin and takes advantage of the royal law that all are equal before law and that the people can file a suit against the Sultan himself if his officers misbehave. He files a suit against the Sultan and gets five hundred silver dinars and a job in the civil service. When the people of Delhi move to the new capital Daulatabad, he takes bribe from them mercilessly and in his Brahmin disguise exhorts money from the sick and dying travellers. A poor womans child dies because she does not have money. Since he is an officer he gives small concessions to the people. When the King attempts to revive the imperial economy by introducing copper currency, which has the same token value as that of the silver dinars, Aziz becomes a counterfeiter. In despair, as a last attempt, the King tries to bring peace and legitimacy to his reign and invites Ghizasuddin Abbasid, a descendant of the Baghdad Khalifas, to visit and sanctify his new capital. But Aziz, now a highway robber kills Ghizas-ud-din and stands in front of the King disguised as Ghizas-ud-din. The Sultan identifies his masquerade but Aziz pleads for mercy: Since Your Majesty came to the throne, I have been your most devout servant. I have studied every order, followed every instruction, considered every measure of Your Majestys with the greatest attention. I insist I am your majestys true disciple (13.216).

Instead of punishing Aziz, the Sultan offers him a high position in the army. Emboldened by the royal patronage, Aziz goes to the extent of killing his bosom friend Azam and escapes from the law. Life is corrupted in all possible angles. Tughlaq being a master intriguer is never at peace with himself. He is a betrayer for whom life brings only restlessness and mental agony. That he has no concern for human relations is quite clear from the fact that the near and dear ones fall a prey to his evil designs. He is unable to tolerate any criticism and feels confident that he can never go wrong. Murders dont taunt him and he easily jokes about killing without any prick of conscience. The scene in Tughlaq reminds us of Macbeth who kills King Duncan, Banquo and others who stand in the way of his establishing himself as the King of Scotland in Shakespeares play Macbeth. The situation in the kingdom is also far from rosy as, The roads are lined with skeletons. A man starved to death in front of his eyes. In Doab, people are eating barks of the trees. Yes and women have to make to do with the skins of the dead horses. (11.208). People even throng in at the butchers shop to catch and drink the blood spurting from the slaughtered beasts. In northern part it is full of dead bodies, corpses and flies (12.211). Seeing all this, the Sultan feels that there is no point in hanging on there and so he decides to quit forgetting all the wealth, courts and luxury. However, later on towards the end, he admits his mistake and the wisest fool in the empire that he has become, he cries for Gods help: God, God in Heaven, please help me. Please dont let go off my hand. My skin drips with blood and I dont know how much of it is mine and how much of others. Clean me; cover me with Your Infinite Mercy. I can only clutch at the hem of Your cloak with my bloody fingers and plead. I can only beg- have pity on me. I have no one but You now. Only You Only YouYou You(10.205). Thus Karnad has projected a historical character, namely Muhammad Tughlaq, who though endowed with many good qualities, slides, due to certain whimsical infirmities, into unrelieved wickedness. This can be labeled as abhinivesa, a Patanjali concept; it makes the Sultan think and act in only one direction and plunges him deeper and deeper into the quagmire of evil. He is so much overtaken by this passion that he remains unconcerned about the other possible sides or the effects of his actions and thoughts. Barche rightly says, this closed unidirectional way of life leads him to his allround failure and

suffering(6). But in its final shape the theme transcends Muhammad Tughlaq of a specific period and encompasses man of all times. Thus, in Tughlaq, evil dominates in the form of violence, murder, treachery and impersonation. Nayaks comment that politics of evil gives a new lease of life to evil and accelerates its momentum till it reaches a point where those who have initiated and fostered it are engulfed along with the others(6) is quite apt. The greatest irony is that fate and situation commingle together to make the mighty and powerful Sultan fall at the feet of a dhobi masquerading as Ghizasuddin Abbasid. The greatest politician of the day does fall at the feet of a religious man not knowing that the dust of the feet he is taking on his head is a very common mans dust. Dreams of the monarch are shattered, his politics fails, the common man becomes more powerful than the Sultan and pathetically the royalty has to bow down to him to save himself. In Hayavadana and Naga-Mandala evil is manifested through adultery. Padmini in Hayavadana commits adultery knowingly and Satish Kumar comments that Padmini lives for herself; for the satiation of her sensuality (30) is true. Rani in Naga-Mandala cuckolds her husband by having sex with Naga. Sometimes it seems that she is innocent of what she has been doing. But there are indications in the play which uncover the fact that she makes love with Naga deliberately. The love of Padmini and Rani is not a spiritual one, but mere passion for physical pleasure. In Hayavadana, there are occasional references to Padminis infidelity in the play. Kapila sparks off a raging conflict in Padminis mind. Devadatta tries to cancel the Ujjain trip with Kapila because he doesnt want Padmini to be drooling over Kapila the whole day, twittering, Kapila! Kapila!, every minute (1.91). Kapila feels crestfallen as though the whole world has been wiped out for a whole week (1.94). Their journey to Ujjain is a vital scene in the play. On their way to Ujjain, Kapila drives the cart smoothly on the uneven road and so Padmini appreciates him by saying, How beautifully you drive the cart Kapila (1.95). On the way she happens to see a glorious tree covered with flowers called Fortunate Ladys Flower. When Padmini enquires more about it, Kapila immediately runs to fetch a bunch of flowers. As Kapila climbs the tree like an ape to procure the flower, she admires his ethereal shape and says, How he climbs- like an ape. Before I could even say Yes, he had taken off his shirt, pulled his dhoti up and swung up the branch. And what an ethereal shape! Such a broad back- like an ocean with muscles rippling across -it and then that small, feminine waist which looks so helpless. (1.96)

Padminis aside continues: He is like a Celestial Being reborn as a hunter How his body sways, his limbs curve its dance almost (1.96). A little later she remarks that no woman could resist him. Kapilas masculinity hypnotizes Padmini whose sensuality remains unsatiated. She embodies sensuality and selfishness. She is drawn towards Kapila and before parting from him in the forest, she cheers him up by telling: Its my duty to go with Devadatta. But remember that Im going with your body (2.111). Since Kapila is Devadattas friend, she should consider him as her brother. But she keeps an incestuous relationship with him. She hurts Devadattas fragile ego again and again by her outspokenness and obvious admiration for Kapilas physical fitness. Devadatta notices her gestures and facial expressions, which directly or indirectly hint at Padminis inclination towards Kapila. She waters her mouth looking at the charm of Kapilas body. This is not proper and acceptable for an ideal wife. Since she is the wife of Devadatta, it is utterly wrong on the part of Padmini to pine for Kapila. The scope and meaning of the Indian ethos which attributes a high value to the concept of Pathiviratha is rendered a mockery. Pathiviratha is the ideal of an Indian wife being singleminded in her devotion to her husband and always worshipping for his wellbeing. The following song of the female in Hayavadana, Why should love stick to the sap of single body? When the stem is drunk with the thick yearning of the many- petalled, many flowered lantana, why should it be tied down to the relation of a single flower? A head for each breast. A pupil for each eye. A side for each arm. I have neither regret nor shame (2.132), mocks at the very concept. The Goddess Kali also plays a foul game. Kali orders Padmini to put the heads of the two friends back properly and press a sword on their necks so that they will come back alive. Unlike an archetypal Indian woman, Padmini does not suppress her desire for Kapila and wants both of them alive, although she is fully aware that her living with two men would be socially unacceptable. Padmini having a desire for Devadattas clever head and Kapilas strong body and exploiting the situation mixes the heads of Devadatta and Kapila in order to have a better husband head of Devadatta and body of Kapila. The happy life is short lived. The friends are restored to their original selves, for their heads control their bodies, and shape them to their own likings. When Devadatta goes to purchase dolls for his son, she undertakes a hazardous journey to meet Kapila who has been in a state of amnesia. This incident indicates that she enjoys phallic pleasures from both the men. She

herself admits that her child has two fathers. When Devadatta and Kapila die, she asks Bhagvata to make a large funeral pyre for them and she jumps into it. Centuries before, in India, among the Hindus, there was a custom that a widow should jump into the funeral pyre of her husband. As Padmini jumps into the common funeral pyre of both the men, it becomes evident that she has had illegal relationship with Kapila. Padmini is guilty of infidelity, Kapila proves to be a traitor and finally the two friends, Devadatta and Kapila, kill each other. All these incidents substantiate that the play Hayavadana is impregnated with evil. In Naga-Mandala, Rani commits adultery. Initially, Rani is frigid and shy and abhors sex. She yearns for love and affection, which Naga provides her. At night, Naga squeezes through the bathroom, takes the shape of Appanna, smells her beautiful long hair, coaxes and wheedles her to come and she sleeps like a child in his arms. Naga cures her of frigidity and consumes the long preserved virginity of Rani. When she realizes what he has done to her, she feels aghast. She at once moves away from him and weeps in a corner. She feels cheated into committing this horrible sin. He tempts her as frogs croaking in pelting rain, tortoises singing soundlessly in the dark, foxes, crabs, ants, rattlers, sharks, swallows-even the geese! The female begins to smell like the wet earth. And stung by her smell, the King Cobra starts searching for his Queen. The tiger bellows for his mate ... It is there and there and there everywhere. (2.45) She is thus coaxed into believing that there is nothing wrong in sex. The way in which the Naga delivers this sermon on sex mesmerizes her to such an extent that when the birds announce the arrival of dawn she cries, Why dont those birds choke on their songs? Who has given them the right to mess about others creatures night (2.45). So, she starts enjoying erotic pleasures and relishes every moment of Nagas stay with her. Her ecstatic heart feels that her house is filled with the smell of the blossoming night queen and she wonders, How it fills the house before he comes! How it welcomes him! God, how it takes me, sets each fiber in me on fire! (2.49) In fact, every night, Rani anxiously waits for Naga to arrive and wishes the night to last forever. His intense and sincere love coaxes her, she gets absolute satisfaction and thus Naga cunningly spoils her. The cunningness of Naga reminds us of Satans temptation of Eve in Paradise Lost. Like Satan who stealthily enters Paradise, so also Naga enters into the house of Rani and spoils the young maid.

In our Hindu mythology the Naga represents several images. In South India, many houses have their own shrine which is often a grave reserved for snakes surrounded by trees, festooned with creepers, and situated in a corner of the garden; often a stone with a snake depicted on it is set up and those desiring children visit it. The Shaiva Lingayats worship snakes, which are often depicted with Shiva. On the NagaPanchami day, wrestling matches are organized and women pour offerings of milk and cereals into snake-holes. So, Indians consider Cobras as divine and worship them. Such a divine being plays the part of evil. Rani also has to be blamed for this. She has a good many reason to doubt that the Naga is not Appanna. Rani is sleeping in her bedroom; Naga moves near her and caresses her. Rani, not recognizing Naga disguised as Appanna, submits herself to Nagas advances. Ranis gesture is questionable because there are sufficient reasons to believe that Naga is not Appanna. On the night when the cobra enters the darkened front yard of Ranis house she hears the sound of the dogs growling and fighting mixed with the hiss of the snake which ends shortly after the dog gives a long painful howl. In the night when she moves into his arms, she notices blood on the Nagas cheeks and shoulders. She opens her mirror-box for the healing ointment. She screams in fright as she sees in the mirror a cobra in the place where Naga was sitting. The next morning when Appanna comes, Ranis confusion is worst confounded. She says: But last night he had blood on his cheeks and shoulders. Now (2.48) Another episode is that of the cobra and the mongoose in which the cobra is badly bitten by the mongoose. Therefore, he could not visit Rani for fifteen days: Rani spent her nights crying, wailing, pining for him (2.49). When he comes again, his body is covered with wounds which have only partly healed. She applies ointment to the wounds and tends him. But she never questions him about them. She feels peaceful as he has returned. Needless to say, when her husband comes during day, there were no scars on him. These instances prove that the person who comes at night is different from the person who comes during the day. The story of Rani and Naga stand testimony to the fact that physical satisfaction even in its evilest dimension assumes greater importance than spiritual satisfaction, which is nobler and higher. She does not want to lose the forbidden pleasure that she has been enjoying at night. So, she says, No, I wont. The pig, the whale, the eagle none of them asks why. So I wont either. But they ask for it again so I can too, cant I.(2.45) She is very stubborn that she will not trouble the Naga by asking questions as she wants only to fulfill her physical pleasures. She commits

adultery with full knowledge about it. Once at night she sees the wound on Nagas body. But at noon, when her husband comes she is unable to see the scars, but deliberately she ignores it. When she combs her hair, a dead cobra falls out and she does not become startled. She just says calmly, Oh Poor thing it is dead (2.63). She never fails to remark that their son has been given the gift of life by the cobra, as by a father. The dead cobra gets a ceremonial burial, which befits her sons father. In this play also, it is evil which triumphs. The watchdog and the mongoose are been killed by Naga, the evil incarnation which succeeds in making love with Rani. In The Fire and the Rain, Girish Karnad takes as his subject the concept of murder, revenge and jealousy within the learned families of Raibhya and Bharadwaja a chain finally broken only by the nobility and generosity of Nittilai, a Shudra girl, and her lover Arvasu. The central action of the play revolves round the motif of revenge, futility of superficial knowledge and the frailty of human nature. In this play, Karnad has projected the mystery of evil residing within human beings which does not allow him to progress further. Even after ten years of religious penance, Yavakri fails miserably to control his thirst for vengeance. His real motive is to avenge the humiliation meted out to his father by another learned sage Raibhya. So, his first move after he returns from the forest is to molest the wife of Paravasu so as to revenge against Raibhaya and his son Paravasu. After gaining spiritual powers and knowledge through ten years of penance and self-mortification, he comes to know of Vishakhas marriage to Paravasu. He has been her lover and before going for penance, he has promised that he would not look at another woman (1.12) and he kept up his word. After ten years he meets Vishakha in a lovely place in the jungle where she goes to fetch water. He requests her to talk to him; she being an Indian woman says, I cant stay here chatting with a stranger (1.12). Being a married woman she avoids her erstwhile lovers company. But he somehow, succeeds to have a chat with her. She opens her heart and says, you are hungry for words. And so am I. So lets talk. Sit down (1.15). Then they become attracted towards each other and unable to resist the temptation they go behind a dry champak tree on the banks of the river. She willingly yields to the basic demands of the flesh and Yavakri whom she had loved once enjoys her. In the mean time Arvasu and Nittilai come there and they recognize the footprints and the pot of Vishakha. Arvasu goes behind the champak tree into the bushes but rushes out with wonder and shock followed by Vishakha whose clothes are torn and her back covered with mud. She rushes into the hermitage when her father-in-law steps out. She gets horrified to see this thin but

physically active sage. He scowls at her. Seeing Arvasu follow her with the pot on his shoulder he mistakenly thinks that Vishakha and Arvasu have developed some illicit relationship as her husband has been away for seven years. Raibhaya becomes enraged, angrily grabs her by her hair and starts beating her. He even kicks her. Unable to bear all this Arvasu rushes to rescue her but Raibhaya says, I want the truth and Ill kill her if necessary (1.20). Finally Vishakha reveals that it was Yavakri who came to see her. Then Raibhya leaves her to the decision of her husband, but for Yavakri he has made up his mind and tells as follows: Vishakha, go and tell your lover I accept his challenge. I shall invoke the kritya and send a Brahma Rakshasa, a demon soul, after him. Let Yavakri save himself. He need only go and hide in his fathers hermitage. I loved my brother and will not desecrate his altar. Let Yavakri cower in there like a dog. If he steps out, he will be dead. Tell him this, too- that if he can manage to stay alive for another twenty-four hours, I, Raibhya, shall accept defeat and enter fire. (1.20) Vishakha comes forward for Yavakris defence, saying, No please! Dont do anything to him. Its my fault. Please, dont harm Yavakri. Im willing to face the consequences punish me .Not him. Please. (1.20). But Raibhya doesnt pay heed to her words and so Vishakha sends Arvasu to warn Yavakri. She too runs in another direction so as to find out Yavakri. Meanwhile Raibhya opens his eyes, pulls out a strong hair from his head and throws it to the ground. The Brahma Rakshasa appears and he runs in the direction of Yavakri. Arvasu unable to find Yavakri in his hermitage asks the blind gatekeeper Andhaka to be vigilant and not to allow Yavakri come out of the hermitage. But Vishakha finds him under the banyan tree and warns him of Raibhyas plan and determination. But Yavakri is so confident that he says, your father-in-law will die, Vishakha, Lets see what your husband does then (1.23). But Vishakha slowly and calmly pours down the water from the kamandala and he now pines for a drop only a drop (1.24). Ignoring her advice to go and run, he says, Im not here to run away- Ive triumphed over Indra, the Lord of Gods. Who are you to order me around? (1.24). However, as soon as the Brahma Rakshasa appears, he starts running and when he is about to enter the hermitage, Andhaka not recognizing him jumps up and grabs Yavakri. Yavakri struggles to enter the hermitage but the Brahma Rakshasa comes and spears him. Yavakri collapses in Andhakas arms. The demon pulls out the trident and goes away. Thus Yavakri receives his punishment for molesting Vishakha. According to Naik, The fire in the title is thus the fire of lust, anger,

vengeance, envy, violence, and death (48). He fails to vanquish jealousy, hatred and lust. Karnad artistically highlights the futility of Yavakris knowledge which he has received directly from Lord Indra. Even after receiving knowledge, he could not free himself from the bondage of selfhood. His knowledge makes him even more miserable. His superficial knowledge does not help him to conquer the evils residing in him. On the contrary, his knowledge boosts his passion and pride for a desire to take revenge. Vishakha aptly points out that I cant believe it! The whole world may be singing your praises. But you havent grown up! These ten years have not made any difference to your teenage fantasies. Thats all gone, Yavakri. (1.14) As Yavakris sole purpose is to destroy the happiness and reputation of Raibhya and his son Paravasu, he is continuously burning in the furnace of jealousy and hatred. He resembles Miltons Satan as he carries his inward hell everywhere. He openheartedly says to Vishakha as follows: What matters is that I hate your husbands family. My father deserved to be invited as the Chief Priest of the sacrifice.But that too went to Paravasu your husband . .. One night in the jungle, Indra came to me and said: You are ready now to receive knowledge. But knowledge involves control of passions, serenity, objectivity. And I shouted back. No, thats not the knowledge I want. Thats not knowledge; Thats suicide. This obsession. This hatred. This venom. All this is me. Ill not deny anything of myself. I want knowledge so I can be vicious, destructive. (1.22-23) So, God grants Yavakri his desires. He becomes vicious like a fierce beast. The evil lying within him does not allow him to enjoy his reputation and life. He becomes restless. His knowledge does not help him to get rid of his evil nature. His prime aim is to bring disaster to Raibhya and Paravasu as he is possessed by evil desires. He has given up his presence to good and has degraded himself. He has become a slave of his selfhood and undesirable passion. Even the penance performed by Yavakri is Tamasika; he is led further into ignorance and darkness. In the Mahabharata, Raibhya appears to be a noble and generous personality. But Karnad has presented him as a lecherous, cruel and jealous figure. His son Paravasu is highly well versed in Shastras, respected by the King and the Brahmin community and so he is invited to be the Chief Priest to

perform the Fire Sacrifice to propitiate Indra. Though his father Raibhya is equally or even more learned, he is not nominated because it was a sevenyear rite. They thought a younger man safer (2.29). To this, the jealous father says to his son, [] so you measured my life-span, did you-you and your King ? Tested the strength of my life line ? Well, the sacrifice is almost over and Im still here . Still here. Alive and kicking. Tell the King I shall outlive my sons. I shall live long enough to feed their dead souls. (2.29) Though he is a learned Brahmin, he is no better than Yavakri; the above words soaked in venom are pointers in that direction; he has become a slave of his self-hood. The enraged, revengeful Raibhya invokes Kritya and sends Brahma Rakshasa to kill Yavakri. Despite knowing that he is committing an evil act, he cannot refrain from submitting himself to evil desires. He commits the sin of incest also. A great sage that he is, Raibhya finally uses his daughter-in-law to gratify his lust which consumes him. Paravasu, Raibhyas elder son and the Chief Priest of the fire sacrifice, ignoring all the norms of the religious ritual, returns home though for one night. Raibhya doubts that Paravasu must have been thrown out of the fire sacrifice because of the disrepute of his wife Vishakha. He actually comes to talk to his wife and she reveals to her husband the conditions that have forced her to move closer to Yavakri. She reveals that she is generally alone with her father-in-law in the hermitage. She further says, Something died in your father the day the King invited you to be the Chief Priest. Hes been drying up like a dead tree since then. No sap runs in him (pause). On the one hand, theres his sense of being humiliated by you. On the other, theres lust. It consumes him. An old mans curdled lust. And theres no one else here to take his rage out on but me. (2.32) Hearing all this, he shoots an arrow at his father Raibhya, who instantly collapses without even a whimper. Thus his own son Parvasu murders Raibhya. He then asks his brother Arvasu to observe all the funeral rites of his father and before he goes back to the fire sacrifices advises,Dont rush through the rites. Perform them with care. Every detail has to be right (2.35). After getting Paravasus blessings Arvasu performs the rites and returns to the fire sacrifice place. But Paravasu asks who Arvasu is and from where he has come. When Arvasu replies that his father had been killed by his own son and that it was Arvasu who completed Raibhyas obsequies, Paravasu cries,

Patricide! patricide! What is he doing in these sanctified precincts? Throw him out out! out! Demon! (2.38). This reveals the heartlessness of Paravasu who like mythical Cain kills his brother Abel in the story of Bible. Arvasu who has always worshipped his brother Parvasu as a father figure for his intellect and scholarship is shattered by his brothers rude condemnation in public and not knowing what to do asks, But why, Brother why? Why? (2.38). But two soldiers drag him out. To safeguard himself from accusation, Paravasu tells the assembly of priests and watchers: As the sacrifice approaches its completion, the demons come out. Rakshasas. Their sole aim is to disrupt the sacrifice. We must be on our guard (2.38). Arvasu tries to meet his brother at night in order to know why he was thrown out. But once again the soldiers pounced on him, kicked him out, tore his scared thread and threw him out in the burial grounds. Arvasu gets heavily shocked and so he says to his ladylove Nittilai, I worshipped my brother. And he betrayed me (3.41) and if he cant justify his act- Ill Ill push his face in it. Ill make him pay- Ill revenge myself on him (3.43). But Nittilai stops him from talking about and plunging into vindictive action. Thus the play is definitely one that is based on the fires of jealousy, love, sex and politics. According to Budholia, the face of jealousy can be visualized as follows : between , man against man, father against son, brother against brother, wife against husband, high caste against low caste people, man against God, ritual against sacrifices, freedom against bondage, attraction against repulsion, hate against love the fire against the rain, illusion against the reality, passion against the truth and above all Vidya (Knowledge) against avidya (ignorance). (151) In the play, jealousy and revenge lead to destruction and condemnation. Jealousy acts as a natural catalyst to destroy everything. It is a natural human weakness which stings mans mind and it intoxicates him in a fit of madness and ultimately leads him to disaster and death. Over ambition has hit Bharadwaja and Raibhya, the learned sages and friends, and turns them into foes. Raibhya as a father becomes envious of Paravasu, a son, in order to be the chief priest of the Fire Sacrifice. And Paravasu who has killed his father charges his brother Arvasu of patricide. It is an act of jealousy and conspiracy of brother against brother. Arvasu experiences that jealousy is an unavoidable evil and as Nittilai, the hunter girl, remarks, the whole family of learned men lies in shambles. She aptly says Look at your family, Yavakri avenges his

fathers shame by attacking your sister-in-law. Your father avenges her by killing Yavakri. Your brother kills your father. (3.43) The story of Parvasu and Arvasu is the story of every home in modern society. The prevailing evil is a natural vice which still continues with sharper sting without sparing anyone and intoxicating madness in the hearts of people. Out of jealousy, Raibhya misuses his spiritual powers, creates a Brahma Rakshasa to kill Yavakri; Bharadwaja, a learned saint and a friend of Raibhya, feels offended by the jealous acts of his friend and in revenge, he curses his friend to be killed by his elder son; Paravasu falsely implicates his brother in a crime that he does not commit and presents him as a father-killer as well as a Brahmin killer. Finally, everybody is condemned and destroyed. Maya has aptly commented that Paravasu recognizes both Yavakri and his father as characters who were led on by the same blind fury flamed by the forces of jealousy (72). Thus as Ralph Yadav has aptly pointed out, The Fire and the Rain in particular is full of violence and death, impelled by jealousy in family, rivalry, betrayals, caste and hierarchical taboos and so on. (49) In TaleDanda the concept of evil is projected through Sovideva, the Kings son. When Sovideva learns from his messengers about the chaotic state in Kalyan, he holds Damodara to be responsible for rape, murder, looting and rioting. So he gets him killed immediately and instructs his men to Pursue them (Sharanas). Dont let them escape. Men, Women, Children cut them all down ... From his moment all Sharanas, foreigners, and free thinkers are expelled from this land on pain of death. Women and the lower orders shall live within the norms prescribed by our ancient tradition, or else theyll suffer like dogs. Each citizen shall consider him soldier ready to lay down his life for the King. For the King is the God incarnate! (3.16.90) Ultimately Sovideva is crowned amidst the wails and groans of the people of Kalyan. The screams of the victims and the coronation mantras could be heard simultaneously. Thus the play is impregnated with evil elements which serve as a primordial factor in destroying the happiness of the people of Kalyan. Girish Karnad successfully presents the full concentration of truth through his imagination. He has successfully tested evil on the stage. Nothing is spared; he accommodates murder, bloodshed, adultery, treachery, and impersonation- all within his plots. He presents an excess of evil on the stage not for theatrical effects but adhering to the Aristotelian dictum that an excess

of the tragic elements lead to catharsis. His plays have universal appeal and they stand the test of time.

CHAPTER IV TREATMENT OF FANTASY

Sigmund Freud, one among the seminal minds of the modern era, commenting on the play of fantasy in imaginative literature, has observed as follows: The reality of the writers imaginative world, has however very important consequences for the techniques of his art, for many things which if they were real could give no enjoyment, can do so in the play of fantasy, and many excitements which, in themselves, are actually distressing, can become a source of pleasure for the hearers and spectators at the performance of a writers work. (37) Freuds observation is very much applicable to the plays of the multifaceted personality Girish Karnad. As any traditional tale is likely to present a combination of reality and fantasy, Karnads plays are impregnated with the elements of reality and fantasy. Though fantasy deals with events that are impossible by real life standards, it subsides in one the anxiety and the fret and fever of the modern world. Markaranad R. Paranjape has aptly said, Reality is harsh, unkind, and cruel, but fantasy, art, love is more fulfilling, satisfying and energizing.(92) Literature reflects the society and delights the readers. Girish Karnad has the potential to transport the performer as well as the spectator to a heightened form of pleasure. Through his imaginative skill, he introduces shapeshifting of characters in his plays and thus entertains his audience. In traditional Christian belief, only the devil has this power and therefore the shapeshifters were usually evil, like witches or vampires. This is quite true as it is only the evil minded Satan, assuming the form of a serpent, tempted Eve and brought about the expulsion of man from his blissful existence in the heaven. Of course, there had been legitimate and good shape-shifting also but the same was reserved only for Christ, the Son of God, who came alive the third day of his crucifixion. Indian epics, puranas and folk tales also are impregnated with examples of shape shifting. Shape shifting takes place in nonrealistic fantasies, fables, myths or folklores. It takes place under unusual circumstances and at the behest of a powerful person or spell. As a medium of entertainment, drama depends on shapeshifting which enables the characters to be someone else and thus create a make-believe world

within the make-believe world that is drama. Even though it is temporary it seems to be a catalyst for entertainment. Shapeshifting is a device very cleverly and effectively used by Karnad. Karnad makes use of this device in his plays not merely for entertainment or as a central structural strategy but as a means of reviving the ancient and sacred function of drama as ritual. Karnads first play Yayati is a self-consciously existentialist drama which through shapeshifting entertains the audiences and illuminates the theme of responsibility. Though according to Sinha, Karnads interpretation of the familiar old myth on the exchange of ages between father and son seems to have baffled and even angered many of the conventional critics (106), this fantastic episode helps focus the attention of the audience on one of the old myths of Kannada that the filial loyalty of the son shall at times descend even into blind loyalty. Conversely, it also helps in highlighting the facts that 1) how disastrous ones non-acceptance of his responsibility for his own evil deed can become, 2) the loyalty of the subjects cannot be taken for granted and 3) all cannot be always foolishly and blindly loyal even if it is for the kingdom served on a platter. A young obedient son performs an unbelievable, but Himalayan sacrifice by exchanging his youth with that of his old father. Yayati, the old King, expected someone in his kingdom to volunteer to accept his old age, but when he discovers that no one is willing, he feels extremely dejected and hurt. In compensation he is ready to part with money, land and even a part of his kingdom. Helplessly, Yayati weeps bitterly and gazes pathetically at his youngest son Puru with folded hands. Unable to be a mere witness to the pathetic condition of the King, Puru accepts the old age and its concomitant ills inflicted on his father. Purus young wife Chitralekha, finding it too much to bear this reality, consumes poison in order to escape from the frustrations and misery to which she has been exposed by the foolish action of her husband. Though in reality, it is impossible for such exchanges to occur, the dramatist through his artistic skill succeeds in making the readers feel ill at ease over such blind loyalty as well as enthralling them. Although it appears to be absurd and baffling it delights the audience. Makarand R.Paranjape has aptly said, Real entertainment doesnt just refresh you or titillate you, but it recreates you. It makes you anew (89). Though Karnads unheroic hero Puru is a challenging character, who has taken an extraordinary decision, the dramatist through his imagination entertains and thus relieves the audience from their umpteen sorrows and humdrums of life. Shape-shifting need not always be physical, a person or animal assuming a shape other than that of his or its own. Karnads next play Tughlaq, deals with

dissimulations, illusions, lies and hypocrisiesall these various forms of shape shifting. The major example of shapeshifting is the Kings attempt to shift his Capital from Delhi to Daulatabad. By doing so, he has brought utter ruin to himself and as well as to his kingdom. In actuality shapeshifting does not occur; instead, there is merely acting, dissimulation, pretence and betrayal. He plays the role of a rescuer. But the people like Aziz exploit all his reforms thwarting his attempts at becoming a saviour and thus he is forced to do the role of a victim. He persecutes the people who try to obstruct his plan and by so doing he shifts his role to one of a persecutor. Soon, he returns to his original role the rescuer. This shifting of roles continues till the end of the play. In Hayavadana, shape shifting is instrumental, as it illumines the characters. The prominent shapeshifting is the interchanging of the bodies of Kapila and Devadatta. In a fit of tension, in the Kali temple Padmini joins Devadattas head with Kapilas body. Both of them come back to life. Each becomes a blend of both. Though in reality it is impossible for such things to occur, when it is shown to happen on the stage it amuses the audiences. Devadatta confesses: You know, Id always thought one had to use ones brain while wrestling or fencing or swimming. But this body just doesnt, wait for thoughts it acts! (2.113). These strange unbelievable experiences undergone by the fragment creature makes one to feel ill at ease. Neither the death of the lovers nor the subsequent sati performed by Padmini is presented as a tragedy; the death serves only to emphasize the absurdity of the situation. In the sub-plot, shapeshifting occurs in the life of Hayavadanas father and mother. She was a beautiful Princess of Karnataka and when she came of age, her father gave her the liberty of selecting her husband and so Princes from different parts of the world were invited. Hayavadanas mother didnt like any of them. The Prince of Araby was the last person to come and Hayavadanas mother, the Princess at that time, had a look at that handsome Prince who had come on a white stallion and then she fainted. When she woke up, to the utter shock of everyone she revealed that she would marry that horse. No one was able to dissuade her and so she married the white stallion. She lived with him for fifteen years but one fine morning, in the place of a horse a beautiful celestial being stood. He was Hayavadanas father who had been cursed by the God Kuvera to be born a horse for some act of misbehavior. After fifteen years of human love, he became his original self again. When he asked the Princess to accompany him to his Heavenly Abode, she said, she would come only if he becomes a horse again (1.80). So he cursed her to become a horse. Finally Hayavadanas mother became a horse again and ran away happily, while Hayavadanas father becoming a celestial being went back to his Heavenly

Abode. Though this episode has left Hayavadana in a plightful situation, the dramatist was successful in entertaining his audience. The play Naga-Mandala has several examples of shapeshifting. The prominent one of course is the cobra assuming the form of Appanna in order to make love to Rani. As the play opens Appanna is portrayed as a very dominating and cruel husband. He locks his wife Rani in the house, flirts with a harlot, and comes home everyday only for lunch separating her from male and female companionship. Initially Rani becomes a passive victim of her husbands oppression. As she is confined within the four walls, she feels isolated, lonely and frustrated. But with the ingression of the snake into her life, her transformation begins. The snake, after consuming the charm, a magical potion, which is poured by her into the anthill, becomes her lover. Taking the shape of Appanna, it stealthily enters the house of Rani every night and its intense and sincere love satisfies her. But when her pregnancy is revealed to her husband, she is again tormented and accused of infidelity. Then she is compelled to prove her virginity for which she undergoes the snake ordeal. By the shapeshifting of the Cobra, Karnad makes Rani and Appanna transform into better human beings. Rani emerges from a very weak, frail, archetypal Indian woman as an extremely bold person who is very well aware of the ways of the world. She tells her husband, I was a stupid, ignorant girl when you brought me here. But now I am a woman, a wife, and I am going to be a mother. I am not a parrot, not a cat or a sparrow (2.51). Similarly, Appanna also changes and accepting his wifes superiority, utters, forgive me, I am a sinner. I was blind (2.59). Naga, through shape shifting, gives everything Rani wishes for a loyal husband and a beautiful child. In Naga-Mandala, shape shifting results in role-shifting. Rani, who has been an ordinary village woman performing the domestic chores and living like a prisoner, now occupies an elated position as the head of the family. She is unbelievably elevated to the status of a living goddess, an object of veneration and worship. Appanna now becomes Ranis slave, and a devoted husband and so he decides to spend the rest of his life in serving her. In addition, Rani gets a servant also. Appannas harlot who was present at the trial feels ashamed and as a mark of repentance volunteers to do menial work in Ranis house. Yet another example of shapeshifting which takes place is the flames taking on human shapes and gossiping in the temple after they have been put out in the houses. When a new flame comes and joins the other flames, it narrates a story of the old woman who knew a story and a song. The story becomes a young woman and the song a sari. Wearing the sari, the story walks out of the old womans house.

Thus strange and fantastic things happen in Karnads play. Freuds view that a happy person never fantasies and that The motive forces of fantasies are unsatisfied wishes and every single fantasy is the fulfillment of a wish, a correction of unsatisfying reality (38) is applicable to Rani in Naga-Mandala. Such fantasies introduced by Karnad may also bear witness to his neurotic desire for striking at the superstitious faiths and beliefs of his people at the very root. Shape shifting served as a vehicle for the dramatist to project his ideas. This structural and thematic device is a kind of transgression, which always has a heavy price tag as Markarand R. Paranjape has said, the artifice of shape shifting is traditional, ritualistic, mythical, but the outcome is tragic(91). Usually there is death or destruction. In the mythical play, Yayati, the daughter inlaw Chitralekha becomes a victim due to the exchange of ages between the father Yayati and his son Puru. It also drives Devayani into madness and Sharmistha becomes a fallen person. Thus all the characters end their life tragically. Though actually no shape shifting in the physical sense occurs in Tughlaq, the protagonist himself assumes various roles as a dreamer, reformer, murderer, and victim. In Hayavadana all the three characters Devadatta, Kapila and Padmini end their lives tragically and in Naga-Mandala, Naga dies. Though the plays end tragically, this device permits a person to be someone else for a short while, in order to provide recreation to the audience and scope for the dramatist to highlight that which is only fantastic and not realistic in certain myths. Karnads profound skill is at its fullest play when he fantasies the exchange of ages between father and son in Yayati and mix-up the heads and the bodies of the friends in Hayavadana. All this could happen only in dream. Therefore his plays are plays of fantasy and the dramatist has just tried to lift his audience from the thorns of life. According to Subramanian, a mask can create fantasy and bizarre worlds(97). Role-play and disguise are alternatives to mask. In Hayavadana Karnad makes use of mask as a folktale convention in order to create a bizarre world. So, the dramatist creates characters like a man - horse (Hayavadana) and two friends (Devadatta and Kapila) whose heads are interchanged. Along with those strange characters, he also introduces Lord Ganesha who is worshipped by all as a mixture of human, animal and divine forms. He is considered to be a God with a human body. Though he is called as Lord and Master of success and perfection, the Image of purity and Holiness, and Mangalamoorthy, he, according to Bhagvatha, is the embodiment of imperfection. He is considered to be the most popular Hindu deities. It is believed that he is the remover of obstacle, so he is propitiated at the beginning of every undertaking.

The origin of the pot bellied elephant headed deity is a fantasy. One version relates that Shiva was in the habit of surprising Parvati in her bath. As she disliked this habit, one fine day she scraped the scurf from her body, mixed it with oils and ointments, formed it into a mans figure and gave it life by sprinkling it with water from Ganges. She then set this figure, Ganesha, outside the bathhouse to guard. When Shiva tried to enter and finding his way barred, he chopped off Ganeshas head. Parvati was overcome with grief and so Shiva sent out messengers to seek another head for him. The first creature they found was an elephant, so they brought his head and it was planted on Ganeshas shoulders. There are many other versions regarding the origin and parentage of the elephant headed Ganesha. The story of the birth and parentage of Hayavadana is a fantasy somewhat similar to that of Lord Ganesha. The Princess marrying a white stallion and living with it for fifteen long years and becoming a horse again is pure imagination. Rajendran has asserted that the Hayavadana (horse man) story that forms the sub-plot of the play is Karnads imaginative addition (68). In the unrealistic plot of Devadatta, Kapila and Padmini, Padmini is permitted to enjoy both Devadatta and Kapila without violating traditional sanctions. Prompted by remorse at their dealings with each other, the two friends commit sacrificial suicide in Kalis temple. The frightened Padmini lifts the sword and puts its point on her breast when, from behind the curtain; the goddesss voice is heard. Padmini freezes and though it is quite unbelievable, the voice says put it down! Put down the sword! (1.101). Padmini jumps in fright and throwing the sword tries to run out of the temple. But she stops and then shuts her eye in terror. It is unbelievable that the Kali appears and asks Padmini to open her eyes and asks, What do you want? Tell me. Im pleased with you. Then it says, Put these heads back properly. Attach them to their bodies and then press that sword on their necks(1.102). Eagerly, Padmini places the heads but in her excitement she mixes them up. Then she presses the sword on their necks, does namaskara to the Goddess, walks downstage and stands with her back to the goddess, her eyes shut tight. She stands immobile. A long silence follows. The dead bodies move. Their breathing comes loud and laboured. They sit up, slowly, stiffly. Their movement is mechanical, as though blood - circulation has not started properly yet. They feel their own arms, heads and bodies, and look around, bewildered. (1.103 104) But while joining the severed heads to their bodies, she in her flurry attaches Devadattas head to Kapilas body and Kapilas head to Devadattas body. Padmini is fully satisfied as she has a whole man as her husband. But this ideal

situation does not last long. Kapilas body succumbs to the sedentary life imposed on it by Devadatta, and Padmini is again left unfulfilled. Karnad seems to suggest that such wholeness, although immensely desirable, is seldom possible for human beings and it could only be fantasized as a means of wish fulfillment. When Devadatta and Padmini go out for swimming, the dolls are left in the house. It is a fantasy that the dolls converse and they feel that they should have got a palace. A real palace and a Prince to play with. A real Prince (2.114). Through these dolls Karnad describes the sub-conscious images and dreams that cannot be represented visually. The dolls, a childs discarded playthings, tattle and cluck like scandalized crones as they look into Padminis eyelids. They discover that in her reveries she perceives a man, not her husband, who looks rougher and darker. Then they watch and they get baffled to see him climbing a tree and then diving into a river. Finally the wretched dreams they just tickle and fade away (2.119). Devadattas transfiguration is also communicated through the dolls. When he touches Doll I, it feels the change and says, his palms! They were so rough, when he first brought us here. Like a laborers. But now they are soft- sickly soft- like a young girls (2.116). Doll II notices that his stomach, which was so tight and muscular, has now become loose. Nagini has aptly commented: For those who wondered what it was all about, it was a very enjoyable drama, and for those who were familiar with the play there was a slight disappointment, with the play taking shape as unreal and farcial, but it elevated itself to fantasy in a few scenes when the live dolls appear. (31) Padmini then wakes up and she reveals to Devadatta Kapilas mother died this morning. Poor thing! (2.119). But Devadatta gets embarrassed and he orders his wife to get the lime juice ready soon (2.120) as the pundits are coming to see him. Meanwhile the dolls start arguing, then fighting. They roll on the ground, on top of each other, biting, scratching, hitting each other. They shout, scream and giggle. As they fight, the giggles become louder and more frantic .Their clothes get torn. At last they lie side by side panting, bursting with little giggles (2.120). As Kaushal opines, the play Hayavadana tells a story embellished with the harsh truths of life and the incongruities of our existence capsuled in fantasy. It is simultaneously a grandmas story, a social satire and the

psychological study of a woman. It is a comment on blind faith devoid of any reason (40) This opinion is quite true especially regarding the episode of the dolls. It is a fantasy that Hayavadanas mother, then a Princess, prefers a stallion to a human Prince. Unbelievably she lives with the stallion for fifteen years and when it becomes a Gandharva she requests him to remain a horse. She doesnt regret becoming a mare when the enraged Gandharva curses her. It is highly unbelievable that Hayavadana the son of the Princess of Karnataka is possessed with a horses head but a mans voice and body. Contrary to his longings to become human, he changes in the end to a full-fledged horse like his own mother. It is a fantasy that he gets liberated from his incompleteness when the five-year-old son of Padmini makes him to laugh and the laughter soon turns into proper neighs. Karnads versatility as a director is evident in the dolls scene in the play Hayavadana. Nagini has aptly complimented as follows: Along with melody, rhythm and colour Karanths Hayavadana was meant to entertain and delight the audience and it did. For those who wondered what it was all about, there was a very enjoyable drama, and for those who were familiar with the play it was a slight disappointment , with the play taking shape as unreal and farcial, but it elevated itself to fantasy in a few scenes when the live dolls appear. (20-21) It is a fantasy that in Karnads Tughlaq, the Sultan forgoes his physical comforts such as sleep, marital bliss and even his mental peace in order to rescue his people from misery. He even dreams of building an ideal kingdom for his people. He thinks that he alone can rescue his people from misery. All this could happen only in a dream. Muhammad tries to do what he thinks is good for his people without their asking for it. He acts as a rescuer and since rescuing is not realistic, he never succeeds in reaching the goal. His policy of complete impartiality between Hindus and Muslims, of equal justice to all without considerations of caste, creed and class is a fantasy under the prevailing social order. Karnads Naga-Mandala, originally written as a family opera in the Lok Katha tradition of Karnataka, is a folk tale with love potions and metamorphoses belonging to the world of childrens fantasy. This play presents a fantasy world. It has the ingredients present in dreams of every individual. With the prologue it sets the tone and mood of the play. The audience is taken to a world of make-believe. As Rangan has commented, this play is all the

more fanciful (28). The play opens in a surrealistic setting, a dilapidated temple, a broken idol, which could be of any God, nighttime with only moonlight creeping into the temple through the crevices of the walls and ceiling. A man in a morose stance is forced to keep awake at least one whole night this month (Prologue 22). If not he will die on the last night of the month (Prologue 22). It is pure imagination that he has been cursed because he has written plays and staged them, thereby causing many good people to fall asleep twisted in miserable chairs(Prologue 23), and all that abused mass of sleep(Prologue 23) has turned against him and becomes the curse of death. Different flames like kerosene lamp flame and Kusbi lamp flame carrying images after the lights have been put out for the night escape from their houses to gossip and have some entertainment; they meet in the ethereal ambience in the sanctum of a ruined temple. The fantasy element is enhanced when they speak like the humans invested with female voices and evoke an ambience of a magical world. It renders the impossible events that ensue in the course of the play quite probable. In such a setting, the non-human things are articulated; even a cobra speaks and fathers a human child; the story itself becomes a dramatic person and gossips with the flames. A folk mind conjures up many fanciful things. A man, on seeing the lamp speaking says, I dont believe it! They are naked flames. No wicks, no lamps. No one holding them. Just lamp flames on their own floating in the air! Is that even possible? (Prologue 23). It is a fantasy that " flames begotten of flames all trying to save a dying man, a man shocked by the floating images, shade more than image more image than shade (Sridhar Rajeshwaran 37). It is an unreality that a dying man is saved by the story clad in a song, manifested as a woman in a sari and at last he manages to spend a sleepless night and live. In Naga-Mandala, the naga or cobra creates a protective circle for Rani and from an innocent girl longing for her parents, she is changed into a woman, becomes a loving wife and is then transformed into the Divine Mother at the end of the play. Appanna too changes from a hostile husband into a doting one. The various stages in Ranis development of her personality are influenced by her fancies and daydreaming which are the projections of her suppressed persona. When the story begins narrating the tale we are told that she is an only daughter. Hers has been a child marriage, for she has lived with her parents till she came of age. Her husband Apanna a rich man, then takes her away only to lock her up in the house and goes gallivanting. Marriage is a milestone in a persons life and since it presents a hostile environment, her mind indulges in dreams in order to calm her troubled self. Her unbearable loneliness makes her weave stories about herself that express her deepest longings. These fantasies and dreams reveal her psychological development. At

first, her deepest wish is to go back to her parents. She, like a hurt child, dreams of a fairy land and in the seventh isle dwell her parents in a magic garden and the eagle carries her across the seven seas back home. She sleeps between her father and mother. The girl-wife is not yet a woman. In her second daydream she wakes up to find a stag with golden anklets at the door calling out to her. She refuses to go. She is afraid to accept her invitation and he replies, I am not a stag, I am a prince (1.28). This could be seen as the rich husband trying to take her away. In her next wish dream, the demon locks her up in his castle. Then it rains for seven days and nights. It pours. The sea floods the city. The water breaks down the door of the castle. Then a big whale comes to Rani and says: Come, Rani, let us go (1.35). Her story grows and perhaps it is in her fantasy that she accepts a lover. Her story expresses her psycho erotic needs, which she does not fully understand. The old lady Kurudavva has been the best friend of Appannas mother. Kurudavva feels very much concerned for Ranis miserable plight. The root, vasikarana mulika, the herb of lure, an aphrodisiac, is a folk belief. She gives Rani the piece of root, which has been given to her by a mendicant, saying, Take it! Grind it into a nice paste and feed it to your husband. And watch the results. Once he smells you he wont go sniffing after that bitch (1.34). The act of Kurudavva using the root for bringing the husband and wife together is similar to the act of Puck in Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream who uses love philter to unite the lovers; in the case of Puck, the act goes adverse causing confusion and bringing together a grotesque pair of lovers. Like Pucks misdeed, Kurudavvas action also brings an imposter. In both cases, though the intention is good, circumstances make the love potion work differently. So, love potion is a magical device which the simple folk believe in when human attempts fail. Appanna in Naga-Mandala, having lost interest in his dutiful, obedient and quiescent wife Rani, gets involved in an extramartial relationship. Rani yearns to retrieve her straying husband and so she feeds him with a curry, mixed with the herbal unction prescribed by Kurudavva. The effect on him is minimal and he just loses his consciousness. The next day she feels scared to feed the curry to her husband and so she pours it into a snake pit. It is a fantasy that the snake having tasted the curry with the herbal unction gets physically attracted to Rani and later that night it enters into the house through the bathroom drain and takes the shape of Appanna. Naga is considered as the shadow Appanna, the unconscious part of his personality or the projection of Ranis fantasy about Appanna. In South Indian villages, women observe the custom of pouring milk into the holes of anthill encroached by cobras ritualistically on Nagulachaviti and

Nagapanchami, the fourth and the fifth day of the waxing moon. It is believed that the cobra is a phallic symbol and so it is worshipped by unmarried girls and barren women, the former for getting good husband and the latter to become mother. The RaniNaga relationship is neither complete nor healthy. Rani is innocent and she is trapped in the fantasy world. This is objectified when she is unable to reconcile herself to the two Appannas and she says, All these days I was never sure I didnt just dream up these nightly visits of yours (2.50). She is projecting her fantasy about Appanna. When Rani is sleeping in her bedroom, the Naga moves close to her and caresses her. It is unreal that Rani is unable to recognize Naga disguised as Appanna and submits to Nagas advances. It is unbelievable that it spends the night with her in her bed and as it dawns it goes to the bathroom, turns into his original self and slithers away. In the morning Appanna comes, unlocks the door, steps in, has his lunch and goes away. It goes on like this for many days. Rani is puzzled whether she has been dreaming or she has gone mad. She is confounded by the diametrically opposite behaviors of the Naga and Appanna. She says to Naga Goodness! Goats have to be sacrificed and buffaloes slaughtered to get a word out of you in the mornings. But at night how you talk! (2.45) Rani has many reasons to believe that the Naga is not Appanna. One night when the cobra enters the darkened front yard of Ranis house, she hears the sounds of the dogs growling and fighting mixed with the hiss of the snake which ends shortly after the dog gives a painful howl. That night when she moves into his arms, she notices blood on Nagas cheeks and shoulders. She opens her mirror box in which she has kept the healing ointment. She screams in fright as she looks at the Naga in the mirror. At the place where the Naga is sitting she sees a cobra. The next morning when Appanna comes, Ranis confusion is confounded. She says: But last night he had blood on his cheek and shoulders. Now .. (2.48). In the next episode relating to the cobra and the mongoose, the mongoose dies in its fight with the cobra. But mongoose gives a tough fight, and the Cobra is badly bitten by the mongoose. The Naga therefore could not visit Rani for the next fifteen days. So, Rani spends her nights crying, wailing, pining for him (2.49). When he starts coming again, his body is covered with wounds, which has only partly healed. She without questioning him applies ointment to the wounds and tends him. Needless to say, when her husband comes during the day, there are no scars on him. The dramatist keeps the audience under a spell and creates the fantasy world wherein Rani continues to be under the impression that it is the same person who visits her twice a day and relishes every moment of Nagas stay with her.

She wishes the night to last forever and seems to be seeking the carpe diem like Tawhai in Douglass Stewarts The Golden Lover. Rani is baffled by the difference she experiences in the angry expression of Appanna in the morning and the gentle, tender, caressing touch in the night. In course of time Rani conceives. Appanna disowns any responsibility for the pregnancy and demands a local enquiry by headman of the village. He questions her purity. At the enquiry she prefers the option of swearing by putting her hand into the snake hole as per the advice of the cobra to prove her purity and innocence. She goes to the anthill, plunges her hand into it, pulls the cobra out and says as, Since coming to this village , I have held by this hand, only two My Husband and . And this Cobra Yes, my husband and this King Cobra. Except for these two, I have not touched any one of the male sex. Nor have I allowed any other male to touch me. If I lie, let the Cobra bite me (2.58). The Cobra doesnt bite Rani. It is unbelievable that it slides up her shoulders, spreads its hood like an umbrella over her head, moves over her shoulders like a garland, and then slips back into the anthill. The villagers become spell bound by the miracle. Then there are hosannas and cheers from the crowd. It is a fantasy that even the elders fall at her feet and the crowd surges forward to prostrate, before her declaring, She is not a woman. She is a Divine Being (2.59). Appanna becomes dumb founded, and unable to protest, submits himself to the will of the villagers and accepts the wife and the child. The couple is seated in a palanquin and is taken in a procession to their house. The elders say to Appanna: Your wife is not an ordinary woman. She is a goddess incarnate. Dont grieve that you judged her wrongly and treated her badly. That is how goddesses reveal themselves to the world. You were a chosen instrument for revealing her divinity. (2.59) All disperse except Rani and Appanna. Appanna falls at her feet and begs her for forgiveness. Rani gently takes him in her arms. She gets everything she wished for-- a devoted husband and a happy life. She even gets a life-long servant to draw water for her house. For Appannas concubine, who was present at the trial, when she sees the glory, feels ashamed of her sinful life and volunteers to do menial work in Ranis house as a penance. It is unbelievable that Rani gives birth to a son and she lives happily ever after with her husband, child and servant.

Days later, the snake plans to take a look at Rani. He feels, I have given her everything. Her husband, Her child. Her home. Even her maid. She must be happy. But I havent seen her It is night. She will be asleep. This is the right time to visit her (2.61). Naga finds Rani, her husband and the child sleeping peacefully. It is unable to bear the scene of happiness and even thinks of killing her. But the sense of gratitude holds it back from doing so, and so it changes its shape and merges into the locks of Ranis hair. When Rani wakes up she feels that her head weighs a ton. She feels that something is caught up in her tresses and tries to comb her hair. When Appanna helps her, to the utter surprise, a cobra falls to the ground. Appanna too thinks that Rani is a goddess and he says, Your long hair saved us, Rani. The Elders were right. You are no common person (2.63). According to Rani, her son has been given the gift of life by the Cobra, as by a father. She even requests Appanna to cremate the cobra ritually and she lets her son lit the fire. It is a fantasy that the cobra has fathered her son. When Rani further says that every year on that day their son should perform the rituals to commemorate its death, Appanna tells her, thats done only for ones own father. And I am still alive (2.63). But he is unable to oppose this view of Rani as he feels that she is the goddess herself incarnate (63), and any wish of hers should be carried out. When Rani and Appanna are sleeping she suddenly moans and sits up as she feels her hair to be heavy. She tries to comb her hair but finds it difficult. When Appanna does, a live snake falls out of her hair and lies writhing on the floor. He wants to kill it and looks for a stick. But it is a fantasy that she asks the snake to climb into her hair. Then she says, Good. Now stay there. And lie still. You dont know how heavy you are. Let me get used to you, will you? (2.64). It is unbelievable that she pats her hair and says, this hair is the symbol of my wedding bliss. Live in there happily, for ever. (2.64) Everything in the play is from the perspective of Ranis fantasy. The Naga taking the shape like Appanna and appearing only in the absence of Appanna are pointers to the fantasying inclination of Rani. It is Rani who manipulates a play and she plays the role cleverly. The birth of a child may be a reality and the father could be Appanna but Rani assumes or imagines that it is the child of Naga. Appannas concubine serving her as a maid and Appanna accepting Rani as a deity are creative fantasies, which Rani thinks have come true. It is to the artistic credit of the dramatist that human feelings like jealousy get articulated in the play. K.R.Srinivasa Iynegars comment that people needed relaxation and entertainment and if moral or religious instruction could consort with forms of drama and dance, they were welcome all the more (24) is quite true in the world of fantasy created by Karnad in this play.

This play gives the public what it wants. It has the ingredients present in the dreams of every individual. Ranis confinement in a solitary house makes her dream about a fantasy world where she can have a doting Appanna. When Rani is unable to attend to the call of her husband he beats her and then goes off. She goes to bed and begins to sleep. From then onwards she seems to long for a loving Appanna and creates him in her world of fantasy. So in her fantasy, the Cobra in the anthill becomes Naga. She also fantasizes the two ends of Naga. The snake dies by getting embroiled in Ranis tress and Rani allows the infant snake to hide in her tress. What she thinks about Naga is nothing but her fantasy. Karnad allows his female protagonist to fantasize freely because, as Veena Noble Dass says, the play Naga-Mandala presents a fantasy world (276). Theatre, as explained by the actor-manager and the actors in The Fire and the Rani, is an attempt to get away from the dreariness of reality and the boredom of modern life as a means of entertainment. The Yajna is a sacred performance with a social purpose for an audience and this is the key to an understanding of Girish Karnads The Fire and The Rain. There is a major officiating priest, the chief performer, called the Chief Priest. He is known as Adhvarya; he chants mantras and supervises the entire Yagna; he is the master of ceremonies. All the people involved in the Yajna are to follow strictly the codes of austerity and concentration. Then only the yajna can be fruitful. In the play, the fire sacrifice is to be performed to propitiate Lord Indra, and Paravasu is honored to be the Chief Priest. He is a man well versed in Vedas and sastras and knows the rules and codes of conduct to perform the Yagna. He is a young man of twenty-eight, abstains from sex, and even forgets that his wife exists. It is a fantasy that such a personality lacks basic goodness, purity of mind and integrity of character. He kills his father and puts the blame on his brother, Arvasu. He even turns against his brother, calls him a demon and drives him out of the precincts of the sacrifice. The sacrificial yajna turns out to be a mockery because Indra never appears; it is a fantasy that Indra is not pleased with the vicious performer, Paravasu. It does not rain and the purpose for which the yajna was conducted is thwarted. Yavakri, a ravaging beast with lust, accosts the daughter-in-law of sage Raibhya and violates her. As Raibhya learns through his daughterin-law the shameful outrage, he is seized with implacable anger. Yavakris misdemeanor incenses Raibhya .It is a fantasy that Raibhya meditates, and then opens his eyes, pulls out a strand of hair from his head and throws it to the ground. The Brahma Rakshasa appears. Arvasu, trying to save Yavakri, goes to his hermitage and finding him not there, asks the blind gatekeeper Andhaka to be vigilant and not to allow Yavakri to come out of the hermitage once he returns

to it. Vishakha for her part, finding Yavakri under the banyan tree, warns him of Raibhyas plan and determination. But Yavakri is so confident that he impatiently waits for the Brahma Rakshasa. In his Kamandala he has sanctified water, which is enough to make him invulnerable to danger. What follows is a comedy of errors; Vishakha herself pours out the water and, Andhaka not recognizing him, jumps up and grabs Yavakri preventing him from entering the hermitage, his magical haven of safety. The Brahma Rakshasa comes and spears him. Yavakri collapses in Andhakas arms. The demon pulls out the trident and goes away. Thus Karnad through the elements of fantasy portrays as to how Yavakri receives his punishment for molesting Vishaka, Raibhyas daughter-in-law. With the dead Nittilai on his shoulders, Arvasu enters the sacrificial space. Suddenly the emotive atmosphere gets an ethereal colour. It is a fantasy that the voice of Indra from the skies is heard as follows: Know that all Gods are pleased with you. We are pleased with you. We loved the way you challenged Indra and then pursued himin the play. (Epilogue 59). Indra who never responds to the fire sacrifice, responds to Arvasu. Arvasu has to make a choice between bringing back Nittilai to life, freeing the Brahma Rakshasa from limbo and bringing rain for the villagers. Indra tells Arvasu, the wheel of Time must roll back if Nittilai is to return to life. It must roll forward for the Brahma Rakshasa to be released. You cant have it both ways. Choose (Epilogue 60). Painfully the natural order is upheld in keeping with Nittilais spirit. Ultimately, Wind blows. Lightening. Thunder. People shout Rain! Its raining! . People dance with joy (Epilogue 62). It is a fantasy that Arvasu sits clutching Nittilais body while it is raining. Thus the element of fantasy predominates in the play The Fire and the Rain. Fantasies are purely in a world of the imagination and make-believe. Familiar examples of fantasy are Tobias and the Angel by James Bridie, Mrs. Mc.Thing by Mary Chase, Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward and On Borrowed Time by Paul Osborn. A classic example of fantasy building is Charles Lambs Dream Children. Rejected by Anne Simmons, he dreams as though he has married her and imagines that he is surrounded by their children. He projects the world as it might have been rather than as it is. He wakes up from his dream and the children disappear, as they were merely children of imagination. Imagination is an inherent quality of human nature. The elements of fantasy have also given scope for the modern producers of television to relieve people from the fret and fever of contemporary life. The

stories of Panchatantra, Thenali Rama and Birbal enthrall and captivate the children to a greater extent. But Karnads drama serves as a collective feast for people of all ages and different kinds.

CHAPTER V TREATMENT OF MYTH

Any traditional tale is likely to present a combination of reality and fantasy. Drama, one among the literary genres, pleases all men with an infinite variety of taste. It is considered to be a common entertainment for people of different tastes. Its power is that it lives in the borderline between fantasy and reality. G.S.Kirk opines, Myth seems to possess essential properties like their fantasy, their freedom to develop and their complex structure (25). One of the reasons for the invention of tales and myths is that they act as a vehicle for relieving boredom. They are sought by people all over the world and at all times, not only in modern western culture. This is often masked as something that seems more worthy. Myth is imaginative and it is defined as that which has no real existence in French language. Kirk considers myth as a sacred or religious story (26). Northrop Frye asserts, Myth is primarily a certain type of story The things that happen in myth are the things that happen only in stories: they are in a selfcontained literary world (163-64). It is an anonymous story rooted in primitive beliefs. Myths are the tales that have been passed on from one generation to another and they have become traditional. For Plato, the first known user of the term, mythology meant

no more that the telling of stories but in actuality they have some serious underlying purpose beyond that of telling a story. It attempts to interpret, create divinity and religion. They deal with love, war, tyranny, courage, fate and with the relation of man to those divine powers which are sometimes felt irrational, sometimes to be cruel and sometimes to be just. (8) Indra Nath Chouduri affirms that myths are one of the segments which serve to determine the Indianness in our literature(22). The inexhaustible lore of myths, parables and legends that pattern and define our culture offers immense scope for the dramatist. The myth is neither tragic nor comic; it is only a perfect vehicle of embodying reality. It is a mode for expressing reality and it is logical and concrete. They represent the collective unconscious of a society. As Naik says, if the playwright in English has neglected myth, he has likewise failed to make full creative use of his extremely complex historical heritage. (190). The inexhaustible lore of myths, parables and legends that pattern and define our culture offers immense scope for the Indian dramatists as Harry Levins says, Myth, at all events, is raw material, which can be the stuff of literature (229-230). Our early playwrights writing in English like Sri Aurobindo and Kailasam selected their themes from the myths and legends of Indian Literature. Though Karnads themes appear to build castles in the air, he took refuge in the myths and legends and made them the vehicle of a new vision. His childhood exposure to street plays in Karnataka villages and his familiarity with western dramas staged in Bombay have induced him to retell the secular legends of India to suit the modern context. A vigorous vitality that combs the past for apt myths to analyze the present has been the hallmark of Girish Karnad, the pre-eminent Indian playwright in the Kannada language. Karnads creative genius lies in taking up fragments of historical-legendary experience and fusing them into a forceful statement. By using the grammar of literary archetype, Karnad links the past and the present, the archetypal and the real. Issues of the present world find their parallels in the myths and fables of the past, giving new meanings and insights reinforcing the theme. By transcending the limits of time and space, myths provide flashes of insight into life and its mystery. They form an internal part of cultural consciousness of the land, with different meanings and it reflects the contemporary issues. Karnad believes in the Jungian collective racial consciousness and so turns to the past habitually for the source materials. As Clyde Kluckhohn says, the borrowed myths are reinterpreted to fit pre-existing cultural emphasis (58). All his plays are literary excavations of the Indian collective past the racial, mythical, legendary and the historical and they have a strong contemporary relevance.

By using these myths he tried to reveal the absurdity of life with all its elemental passions and conflicts and mans eternal struggle to achieve perfection Markaranad R.Paranjape has said that Literature and Myth merely dramatize, heighten and highlight what is theoretically possible in nature and science (89). According to Sinha, Girish Karnads art can be described as a vision of reality (123). So, Karnad delves deep into the traditional myths to spell modern mans anguish and dilemmas that are created in his mind. Karnad does not take the myths in their entirety, he takes only fragments that are useful to him and the rest he supplements with his imagination to make his plots interesting. His interest was not in recreating old myths and legends but in representing them to suit his artistic purpose. Karnad himself has revealed that Theatre can simultaneously be entertainment, political commentary and artistic statement and can be composed in traditional, realistic and post modern forms . Like masks worn by actors that allow them to express otherwise hushed truths, Indian theatre enables immediate, manipulative representations of reality. (331) Gifted playwrights have discovered source materials from myths and legends and have employed them creatively. Realism in drama was a totally new concept and it was alien to theatrical conventions. Myths and legends serve as a surrogate for Karnads plays. When Karnad was asked the reason for his handling of myths and legends, he replied that his sole purpose was to narrate the particular story effectively and so, the borrowed tales are given a turn of the screw, as it were, which works wonders with his plays (Chakravartee 36). All his plays right from Yayati to Tale-Danda have a story line with which his audience is more or less familiar. Karnads handling of the sources of his plot in the plays makes it abundantly clear that his interpretation of the ancient Indian history not only differs substantially from his originals but also indicates a bold attempt at investing an old legend with a new meaning which has an urgent relevance to present day thinking about man and his world. For his first play Yayati, which was a major success on the stage, he borrowed the myth partially from Mahabharata and other Puranas. In the Mahabharata, Yayati was one of the six sons of King Nahusha. Devayani, whose love for Kacha remained unrequited, marries Yayati to spite Sharmistha for whom she nurses a childhood jealousy. Sharmishta is deeply in love with Yayati and subjects herself to a lot of mental and physical torture for love. A son is born to her out of her clandestine liaison with Yayati. Consequently, Devayani brings a curse of old age upon him. Yayati, blinded by his insatiable thirst for sensual pleasure, dreads old age. Puru, Sharmishtas son offers to exchange his youth for the age of his father. Enlightened at the end, Yayati gives up the throne and retires to forest to lead a life of renunciation with Devayani and Sharmistha.

Girish Karnad has given this traditional tale a new meaning and significance highly relevant in the context of life today. The symbolic theme of Yayatis attachment to life and its pleasures and also his final renunciation are retained. In the Mahabharata Yayati recognizes the nature of desire itself and realizes that fulfillment does not diminish or end the sexual desires. In Karnads play, however, Yayati recognizes the horror of his own life and assumes moral responsibility after a series of symbolic encounters with reality. Thus the playwright takes liberty with the original myths and invents some new relationship to make it acceptable to modern sensibilities Karnad seems to have used this myth with a view to exposing the absurdity of life with all its elemental passions and conflicts, and also to show mans eternal struggle to achieve perfection. His Yayati, on the one hand, rejects passionate attachment to sensual pleasures to which the King is a slave and on the other hand, pleads for a life of responsibilities and self-sacrifice as represented by the Kings son Puru in the play. Chitralekhas proposal to Yayati, who has become young by exchange of ages, to accept her may be a test to Yayatis sensuality on the one hand and on the other hand it may be Chitralekhas own selfishness. Thus Karnads Yayati successfully conveys his message of disapproval of improper sensuality as well as performance of duty and acceptance of responsibility. Karnads handling of the sources in the plot makes it abundantly clear that his interpretation of the ancient Indian story not only differs substantially from the originals but also indicates a bold attempt at investing an old legend with a new meaning, which is quite relevant to present day thinking about man and his universe. Ramasamy compliments Karnad as follows: Talking of myths and legends, the one modern English playwright who has used them with imagination and creativity resulting in stage-worthy plays is Girish Karnad. The technique of bringing together myth and legend to folk narrative style is the way in which he succeeds where many others have not. (278) A theatre is a place where the spectators are transformed into a magic world, and so there is an extensive use of songs, dance and mask in his plays for spectacular effect. When Shukracharya curses Yayati of old age, he accuses Sharmistha and looses hope over his sons. It is a fantasy that Puru comes back and informs that Yayatis curse can be redeemed if some young person exchanged his old age and the decrepitude it brings. In reality nobody will opt to accept the burden of old age but, quite unbelievably, his son Puru willingly comes forward to exchange his youth. After the exchange, Puru starts feeling weak and is about to fall when Sharmistha holds him. Ultimately Yayati succeeds in transforming his old age and his sins to Puru. When Sharmistha

tells Chitralekha the news that Puru has accepted his fathers old age, though she gets absolutely stunned, courageously she declares that she is lucky to be honored. When Puru wants her to support him for the responsibility he has undertaken she gladly extends a helping hand. It is a fantasy that so far she is not able to realize the reality but only after seeing his face she understands the misfortune which has befallen her. She gets scared and tells him not to touch her or even come near her. Finally she requests Puru to reconsider his decision but to no avail. Karnad through this imaginative plot makes his audience feel free from boredom and monotony. Though women are held compactly by the patriarchal society, she does not accept her husbands sacrifice of his youth in the name of filial loyalty. All this could never happen in reality. Karnad breathes into the mythical story a new consciousness, which is contemporary and highly imaginative. Karnad, in Hayavadana, which won the Natya Sangh Best Play Award in 1971, gives expression to Indian imagination in its richest colors and profound meanings. As a significant mark of achievement Karnad makes bold innovations, fruitful experiments and new directions in the history of Indian drama. In Hayavadana, Karnad combines the western techniques with Indian folk psyche, socio-cultural and political reality. The entire play is cast in the form of traditional Indian folk drama, which took several features of ancient Sanskrit drama. Karnad in Hayavadana strikes a significant note by exploring the dramatic potential of the ancient Indian myths, legends and folk traditions. As Tutun Mukherjee points out, in Hayavadana Karnad has made available the rich sources of both the great and the little tradition, the classical and the folk elements of Indian Literature (9). He has re-oriented the traditional forms by introducing contemporary themes. Hayavadana stands as an outstanding example for a play in which the playwright has used the folk form without diluting the contemporary appeal. One of the striking features of Hayavadana is the introduction of the device of making inanimate objects animate. This device of Bhagvata helps enhance the psychological reality of the characters in the dramatic form. He has also made use of the female chorus, which is absent in the Yakshagana tradition, the source of the play. His use of the character of Bhagavata contributes to the drastic achievement of the play. He does not merely borrow the character of Bhagavata from a typical Yakshagana play but increases the scope of the role by making the Bhagavata not a mere commentatornarrator but also making him one of the characters. The dramatist has presented his characters as representatives though they have been highly individualized and the names given to the characters are generic.

He has drawn from the rich sources of the folk theatre Yakshagana and other folk forms with great deftness for his play Hayavadana. The supernatural plays a significant role in this play. The dramatist employs the conventions of folk tales and motifs of folk theatre, that is, masks, curtains, mime, songs, the commentatornarrator, dolls, horse-man, the story within the story, an amalgamation of human and non-human (half man half animal) in order to create a magical world. Savita Goel comments, It is a play with a realm of incomplete individuals, magnanimous Gods, of vocal dolls and mute children, a world apathetic to the longings and frustrations, ecstasies and miseries of human beings. (204 205) In this play Karnad uses poetry and music in order to evoke a sense of gaiety and celebration traditionally associated with the theatre. He has employed folk-theatre strategies as a thematic and technical device in order to convey his ideas and explore different characters and situations. The main plot (the transposition of heads) is set in the mythical past, but the frame postulates a reality, which co-exists with the present audience. It is the story of two friends, who embody the two extremes: intellectual and physical perfection. Devadatta, the Brahmin scholar and poet, and Kapila, the low caste, ingenious wrestling champion, are attractive but incomplete individuals. Karnad suggests mans cravings for wholeness through Padminis dissatisfaction of her marriage with Devadatta and her longing for Kapila. The unrealistic plot allows Padmini to enjoy both Devadatta and Kapila without violating traditional sanctions. Prompted by remorse in their dealings with each other, the two friends commit sacrificial suicide in Kalis temple. Left alone, Padmini discovers the corpses within the temple and so she decides to choose death, too: Kapilas gone-Devadattas gone- Let me go with them (1.101). However, the Goddess Kali appears and assures Padmini that the men will come back to life if their heads are reunited with their bodies. Padmini fixes the heads, but interchanging the bodies. Goddess Kali comments that Padminis mistake is deliberate as she yearns for a whole man. Karnad suggests that such wholeness, though immensely desirable, is seldom possible for human beings. Padminis tragedy is that she is destined to live a life of sexual dissatisfaction as Devadattas wife. But she tries to change her destiny only to fail miserably and finally jump into the funeral pyre of both the men she hankered after. Naik, observing the plight of Padmini, reveals the truth that this is Womans vain attempt to unite Man as intellect and as flesh in order to further her creative purpose . Integration cannot be

achieved by trying to reconcile the irreconcilable but by accepting cheerfully the fundamental disharmony in human life. (196) Thus Karnad reveals the way of the contemporary world, which hankers for the best of both the worlds through the character of Padmini in Hayavadana. The play Hayavadana is based on a tale from Vetalpanchavimshika (also known a Vetal Pachisi). But Karnad has relied on Thomas Manns reworking of the tale in The Transposed Heads. While the Sanskrit tale poses a moral problem, Mann uses the story to ridicule the philosophy which holds the head superior to the body. For Mann, the human body is a fit instrument for the fulfillment of human destiny and even the transposition of heads will not liberate the protagonists from their natural psychological demands. For Karnad, the confusion of the identities reveals the ambiguous nature of the human personality. Karnad examines the psychological and sociological problems of his characters but offers no cure. Of all the mythical and legendary figures, Goddess Kali of Mount Chitrakoot plays a decisive role in the plot of Hayavadana-- the half horse and half man. She is indifferent to the suicides of Devadatta and Kapila but interferes in Padminis affair when she attempts to kill herself. She helps Padmini to revive the dead men. The Goddess plays a negative role in the case of Hayavadana. She does not allow him to complete his prayer for a complete man and so transforms him into a horse but does not remove his human voice. Thus Padmini and Hayavadana are tortured by the Goddess for no specific reason of their own. Karnads presentation of the story of Kali, Padmini and her two men may serve as good entertainment to relieve the boredom and ennui of human beings in an indifferent and hostile world; all this could exist only in a world of fantasy and myth; could never happen in reality. Karnads use of folk forms is neither casual nor incidental. In his Hayavadana, he has made innovative experiment to offer a new direction to modern theatre. The dramatist has proved that the traditional forms need not be treated as precious artifacts, but can be adapted to treat modern themes suitable for the urban Indian audience. It is a play of mythical wonder and is enshrouded in a realm of magic and supernatural, which is a frequent feature in a folk play. Goddess Kali, a super natural element in the play, is portrayed as a terrifying figure, her mouth wide open with the tongue lolling out but possessing human attributes. She gets vexed when she is disturbed in sleep and wakes up yawning and wonders why Devadatta should sacrifice his head to Rudra and his arms to her. The Goddess

who sees and knows everything, is however, not taken in by these platitudes. She spells out clearly what the audience might have only vaguely felt along. She tells Padmini, The rascals! They were lying to their last breaths. That fellow Devadatta he had once promised his head to Rudra and his arms to me! Think of it-head to him and arms to me! Then because you insisted on going to the Rudra temple he comes here and offers his head. Nobly too- wants to keep his word, he says-no other reason! (103) From this sarcastic statement it is fully evident that Devadatta has made his promise to the Goddess as an excuse for hiding his real motive. The Goddess continues, Then this Kapila died right in front of me but for his friend And what lies! Says he is dying for friendship. He must have known perfectly well he would be accused of killing Devadatta for you. (1.103) The Goddess fully comprehends the motives behind the actions of the characters. By employing this strategy the playwright stresses the fact that there are no smooth and practical solutions to human problems. Karnad also employs the ingenious folk device of Yakshagana to project the personalities of different characters. In the beginning of the play, Devadatta appears on the stage wearing a pale mask and Kapila a dark mask. Later on, to signify the transposed heads, their masks are transposed. Lord Ganesha wears an elephant-headed mask and Kali, a terrible mask. Initially Hayavadana appears wearing the mask of a man and in the end the mask of a horse. Miming makes the audience think about the problem in a more detached manner. It makes the universal framework easier. The action of the play is mimed when the three characters proceed to Ujjain. A cart does not appear on the stage; rather Kapila followed by Padmini and Devadatta, enter miming a cart- ride. Kapila is driving the cart (1.95). The play is replete with miming and for all these techniques, Karnad owes a great deal to folk theatre. The main thrust of Karnads urge was not to revive the tradition but to understand and assimilate it for creative use, namely to express the contemporary situation and its varied manifestation. Savita Goel says, through the use of folk theatre strategies, the contours of fresh, innovative and flexible dramatic form have gradually emerged enabling Karnad and his contemporaries to telescope different

points in time and space, to bring in many levels of reality simultaneously or to negotiate them freely in any order. The new form promises to restore the essential imaginative character of drama suitable for presenting complex human experience. (212) Further, as Subhangir S.Rayakar says, one does not know whether the choice of the form determines the choice of the story or vice-versa, but Karnads choice of a folk tale for his play is very apt because it lifts the above limitations of time and space. (61) Karnads Naga-Mandala is based on two oral tales from Karnataka as we know from what he says in his Introduction to Three Plays: these tales are narrated by women- normally the older women in the family-while children are being fed in the evenings in the kitchen or being put to bed. The other adults present on these occasions are also women. Therefore these tales, though directed at the children, often serve as a parallel system of communication among the women in the family. (16) The dramatist also attempts to instill an alienation effect by driving the material of the play from the folk tales, and also by using the non-materialistic techniques of the traditional Indian theatre. The title of the play is not the name of a human character, but it is that of a snake. As the name suggests, it revolves around a woman and a serpent. As this play is based on a folk tale it could be observed that the serpent plays an important role as in most such narrations all over the world. We are forced to believe that there exists a theory that the mothers of great men in history such as Scipio, Alexander the great, and Augustus Ceasar were all impregnated by serpents (276). It is believed that snake myths are found extensively in Brahmanism, Buddhism, Lamaistic and Japanese writing. In Naga-Mandala, the story of the cobra suggests that the play is intended to dramatize not merely the folk tales, but also to imply a deeper meaning at various levels. The folk-tale element of the Naga-Mandala and the magical power, which the cobra possesses continually, remind the spectators that they are only watching a play. The play deals with a self-involved hero, who undergoes a test put to him by his wife in order to survive. The psychological inadequacy he is trapped in causes acute lack of understanding and communication between him and his wife. It is a threat to family and society. Every man through adolescence faces this existential problem and so he must learn to overcome and this becomes more comprehensive in Karnads plays. Naga-Mandala is not only about the

male difficulty to trust and love women, it seems to be about the socialization process of both men and women, particularly in the Indian society, where marriages is more often than not the first experience of sex and love for most people. The transition from childhood into adolescence and then into adult roles has, in India, very different stages and psychological and cultural relationships are totally different from other less tradition-bound societies. The NagaMandala probes into the female and male growth into selfhood, and their mature adjustment with the social roles appointed for them by the traditional society. Myths and folk tales in a patriarchal society represent primarily the male unconscious fears and wishes and are patriarchal constructs and male-oriented. In these stories the womens experiences and inner feelings are not given importance. They do not probe much light on womens fears, anxieties and psychological problems. It is a remarkable achievement of Karnad that he adapts this male-oriented folk tale in such a manner that it becomes a representation of the experience of man and woman in the psychologically transitional phase. In a folk tale, there is a magician or a snake that assumes the form of the Prince, enters the palace and woes the beautiful Princess, locked up in the palace. When the Prince becomes aware of this, he gets the snake/magician killed and the Princess then sets him a riddle. If he fails to answer, he has to die. This existential crisis is treated in the folk tale in different ways. In Karnads play, the story takes a happy turn, both Rani and Appanna adjusting to the family and community in a socially useful manner. But this is achieved after upsetting the male egoism and exaggerated sense of power over women. The male assumption of keeping full control over the body, sexuality and virtue of women through the insinuations of family and values like chastity are mocked in the story. Appannas violent reaction to his wifes infidelity does not make him consider for a moment his infidelity towards her. The other villagers also ignore this lapse on his part but they emphasize the institution of marriage and the procreative function of the couple. The importance of the family and progeny are established. The husband and the wife run towards each other, with a greater sense of relationship. The girl-bride now becomes the mother to be and as such gains a social recognition. This stage of Ranis social integration brings her a new sense of respect and her own worth. This is another significant aspect of the Indian social and cultural life in its treatment of women. In Sudhir Kakars words, an Indian woman knows that motherhood confers upon her a purpose and identity that nothing else in her culture can

(57). As a mother, Rani is seen in the last part of the story to be in command of the household with some authority and decision making power. Appanna even agrees to her rather strange demand that their son should perform an annual pinda-daan in the memory of the dead snake. In the alternate end to the play suggested by the playwright, the snake does not die. It is allowed by Rani to live in her dark, long and cool tresses. The lover is always present; he lives with her, within the family. The danger to male authority as a husband and patriarch lives on constantly at close quarters but mostly within the womans imagination. The dutiful and loyal wife may observe the social, moral code entirely; yet within her live the memories of the perfect lover who had given her first emotional and erotic experiences. These desires may haunt her or lie dormant within. Rani can understand emphatically why Kappanna, the young man, who was bound by filial duty to his old and blind mother, runs away one night. He had been pursuing his dream of a beautiful woman. Though he resisted the alluring voice and presence of the dream girl, he was trying to be a dutiful son carrying his old mother on his back. Finally he is pulled away when the dreams become too powerful. Rani has gone through these new desires, the daydreaming and fantasizing about love and she understands their power over the social and moral duties. In The Fire and the Rain, Karnad treats the problem of amoralism in contemporary life. It is a criticism of the Brahmin society on the one hand, while on the other hand, his approach is realistic and existential. He has artistically and beautifully handled the power of myth. In the Prologue, Arvasu declares, this is a fiction, borrowed from myths (Prologue 4). It is a reenactment of a puranic myth from the Mahabharata of Indras destruction of his brother out of jealous fury. Arvasus cry, But why, Brother, why? (2.38), rings throughout the play frequently voicing the puzzled fury and heart-rending agony of betrayal by a worshipped brother. The play has a complex framework with a central myth assuming the form of a framework of the story of Arvasus betrayal by his brother Paravasu, the chief priest performing a yajna to bring rain to the drought -stricken land. The Indian mythology, according to Girish Karnad, expresses a deep concern over the fear of brother destroying brother where the bonding of brothers within the Pandava and the Kuru clans is as close as the enmity between the cousins is ruthless and unrelenting. (246) It is a play, which is based on the myth of Yavakri, Indra and Vritra. The eternal conflict of good and evil continues from the period of the Mahabharata to the modern contemporary society. The myth of Yavakri is a story of ambition to achieve the universal knowledge directly from the Gods but not from the human gurus, which is unjustified and immature. Knowledge without

experience is dangerous to humanity is the message passed on by Gods to Yavakri as well as to human beings on earth. The mythical play within play is enacted in the last section of the play and depicts Indras attempt to destroy Viswa, his stepbrother, in order to be unrivalled in all the domains. Indra considers himself to be the legitimate son of Brahma; he cannot tolerate the existence of Viswa, the son of Brahma from an earthly woman or Vritra. It is a fight for supremacy. Viswa is played by the theatre manager; Vritra by Arvasu. Arvasu is a character in the original play and his task is to protect humanity. He is severely wronged by his elder brother Paravasu and falsely accused by him as their fathers murderer. Paravasu, the chief priest of the seven years fire sacrifice conducted in the Kings palace in order to propitiate God Indra, represents Indra in the play. The drama of real life runs parallel to the myth. The play underlines the need for supreme human quality, that is mercy and compassion represented by Nittilai, the beloved of Arvasu, who belongs to the Shudra classthe tribe of hunters. Nittilai as a lamp into hurricane symbolizes the rains of human love. The play illustrates the use of myth in a powerful way. The game of trickery and treachery adopted by Indra in order to kill Virtra in self-defence is the story of modern politicians in the realm of reality. They are much superior to Gods even in their art of treachery, deceit and cunningness. The myth of the Mahabharata is the story of modern hero of every family and the play through the myth of Yavakri, an elitist Brahmin, tells the sad aspect of jealousy, power politics, and neglect of woman. Myth mirrors the contemporary reality of existentialist society. The context of the mythical play in The Fire and the Rain is relevant, morality-oriented and thought provoking. It possesses the merits of morality with shades of reality and ideology. Fire is used as a myth in The Fire and the Rain. Fire, that is, Agni, is worshipped as a deity in Indian mythology. All the rituals and rites are to be performed in the presence of this deity. In this play, it is presented for various purposes, such as for penance in the case of Yavakri, for warning Nittilai and for cremation of Raibhya. And Rain is also equally important in this play. From the beginning to the end it is Indra, that is rain, who plays the most vital role in the story of the play. Whether it is Yavakri or Paravasu or any one else like the King or the ActionManager, all are seen trying their best to please Indra who grants the last will of Arvasu and gives rain to the world. In the plot dealing with the myth of Yavakri, Karnad has very intelligently incorporated the Indian myth of the slaying of the demon Vritra by Indra. Significantly enough at the end of the play rain occurs only when Arvasus mask of Vritra is removed from his face. This is in conformity with the Indra myth found in the Rig Veda as

well as in the Mahabharata. Summarizing this myth, Karnad in his Notes to the play says, In the Rig Veda, Vritra, the shoulderless one (a serpent) swallows rivers and hides the waters inside him. Indra, by killing him, releases the waters and like lowing cows, the rivers flow out. The importance of this deed to the Vedic culture is borne out by the epithet, Vritrahan or the slayer of Vritra, by which Indra is repeatedly hailed. ( 68) Thus Indra is the source of all actions in The Fire and the Rain. Yavakri undertakes penance for ten years and Paravasu for seven years in order to please Indra, the God of Rains. The Epilogue very significantly presents the myth of the slaying of the demon Vritra by Indra. Through the dramatization of the mythological episode of Arvasus love for a tribal girl, Karnad very significantly condemns and ridicules the caste system, which has been a social stigma for ages. The mythical Paravasu represents modern man, who, because of his self-centered materialistic approach to life, seeks progress even at the cost of his own father and brother. Thus Karnad in The Fire and the Rain has made use of myth for social, religious and philosophical purposes. To sum up, Karnad has dramatized the myth of Yayati in his play Yayati with the specific purpose of glorifying the existential philosophy of the performance of duty and acceptance of responsibilities. In Hayavadana he significantly projects the myth of Ganesha who, in spite of himself being an embodiment of imperfection and incompleteness is worshipped as the destroyer of incompleteness. The love story of Devadatta, Padmini and Kapila has been effectively presented in the mythical framework to drive home the lesson that man must find harmony in disharmony. Naga-Mandala depicts the sex-starved, pitiable condition of Rani; she represents young maids who, just after marriage, fall victim to the ill treatment and atrocities of their husbands.

Tale-Danda is a dramatic representation of the undesirable complications caused by the Hindu myth of origin of varnas. By projecting Bijjala, a Sudra, a barber by caste, as the King of Kalyan, Karnad challenges the myth of Varnas which declares that Brahmins have come from the mouth of Brahma and therefore they are fit to be priests, poets, teachers and ministers, Kshatriyas emanated from the arms were Kings and warriors, Vysyas who came from thighs were tradesman and, therefore, fit to be tradesmen and shudras have derived their existence from the feet of Brahma, and therefore are supposed to do menial work. The play The Fire and the Rain represents the myths of Yavakri, Bharadwaja, Raibhya, Paravasu, Arvasu, Vritra and Indra. Fire, that is Agni, is known as a deity in Indian mythology and Rain represents Indra himself. Thus myths constitute the major theatre idiom of Karnad -the myth of Yayati in the play of the same name, of Indra in The Fire and the Rain and of Ganesha in Hayavadana. Ancient legends and folk tales too have formed the basis of some of his plays like the story of the horseman taken from Vetal Panchavimshati and Somadevas Brihat Kathasaritsagara and the story of Naga in Naga-Mandala. Subhanghi S.Rayakar has rightly pointed out that Karnad takes leap from the original story and develops it further. This further development is the play of the artists imagination and it challenges the glib solutions offered in the original stories. (48)

In fact Karnad has taken this leap in order to provide new meaning to the myths and legends and has examined them from the vantage point of the present. Karnad himself has justified that he has gone back to the old myths, histories and oral tales not because he does not have an amazing inventive power, but because they are very much relevant even in the present context. Thus, Karnads use of myth and folk elements to deal with a theme which has a striking contemporary relevance is wholly authentic and salutary and has the weight of experiment successfully made in contemporary world literature (Devindra Kohli 15). The purpose of drama is solely to depict the life of the whole universe and Girish Karnad through the element of myth has effectively portrayed the contemporary world making his portrayal universally appealing. There is no wonder that he has been hailed as one of the most appealing and successful dramatist of the contemporary Indian theatre.

CHAPTER VI CONCLUSION

One can have roots, and roots can grow into flowering trees. And on those trees are birds ready to spread their wings and fly. That is the completeness of life and its representation is called theatre. (Mahesh Dattani 4) Theatre has always been a mirror for man, a reflection of the world, of the eternal conflicts that plague him, through which he has experienced the gamut of human emotions. This complex language of theatre has the ability to redefine the natural concepts of time, space and movements. The aim of the theatre is to represent the ways of the world, both good and bad; to instruct and delight; and to bring peace of mind to those inflicted with the ills of the world

and its problems. Drama, as against other genres, has an affinity to theatre. . It is a social literature. As Abha Dahibhate has said, Drama was expected to comprehend the whole arc of life, ranging from material to spiritual, the phenomenal to transcendent and provide at once the relaxation and entertainment, instruction and illumination (70). Drama was a subtle means of communicating the truth of life. The aim of drama is to add grace to precept and teach virtue by multiplying delights. The development of drama was a slow process but in the recent decades it could safely challenge comparison with other genres, as it is highly influenced by the classical tradition and western techniques. In the introductory chapter the researcher has focused on the origin and development of Indian Drama. At a time when Indian drama was in its infancy, Sri Aurobindo and Rabindranath Tagore emerged as prominent playwrights. Although their plays dealt with sociological, historical and legendary themes, the dramatic companies never staged them as they failed to cater to the demands of the stage. Apart from Tagore, Aurobindo and other playwrights of the pre-independent phase, there was a host of playwrights who wrote plays, which were highly lyrical, allegorical and symbolical. The economic depression of the 1930s and the struggle for independence paved the way for Indian English drama towards a new mission and a vision to be fulfilled. As a result of these impacts, drama of social realism initiated by A.S.P.Ayyar, Harindranath Chattopadhyaya and J.M. Lobo Prabhu emerged. They portrayed the problems like untouchability, widow remarriage, the custom of dowry, and exploitation of the poor by the rich and the practice of conventional moral outlook. Though their portrayal of social evil is considerably appreciable, the lack of stage worthiness is highly regrettable. Among the early playwrights Kailasam has a stage sense but not to the extent of Asif Currimbhoy of the post-independence phase who has achieved national and international recognition for writing the stageable plays in English. Apart from these playwrights many playwrights have tapped their sources from history, current politics and they have made an attempt to extend ancient myths to modern times. Translations also accorded greater scope for the Indian plays written in regional languages. Among the contemporary playwrights like Mohan Rakesh, Vijay Tendulkar and Badal Sircar, Girish Karnad is a prominent dramatist who belongs to the Indian theatre tradition and ethos of Indian life. Karnad, though highly influenced by his contemporaries, differs from them to a great extent, as he understood that the purpose of literature is essentially the enhancement of life and the propagation of human values. Karnads aim is to bring about a co-existence between man and all creatures. The present in-depth study of Karnads selected plays, entitled

Treatment of Reality, Fantasy and Myth in the Select Plays of Girish Karnad, has proved that he has directed his attention to the helpless, the trapped, the inarticulate, the handicapped, the oppressed, the down-trodden, the neglected, the exploited and the abused, as he is quite aware of the perennial human problems. Chapter II, entitled Treatment of Reality: Indian Ethos, deals with Karnads handling of the beliefs and ideas about the social behavior and relationships of the people of India- in the past and the present as well. Of all forms of literature, drama- a performing art, affords greater scope for realism. Drama as a form of art is inherently social and what the audience derives from it is a shared communal experience. Since a playwright is a cameraman who projects the reality, follies and foibles of mankind, it has been highlighted in this study that the characters created by him are not just carbon copies but lifelike characters reflecting the issues of contemporary India. He has reflected the mores and ethos of the Indian society in a convincingly realistic manner through his notable plays Yayati, Tughlaq, Hayavadana, Naga-Mandala, The Fire and the Rain and Tale- Danda. Each and every individual is an architect of his own future. He is expected to perform his task. To be a man is to be responsible. Shirking responsibility leads to drastic consequences. This is the prominent message revealed by Karnad through his plays. In Yayati, almost all the characters are irresponsible. The protagonist, Yayati, is an irresponsible King and father; Puru, though a considerate son, shirks his responsibility as a husband. Chitralekha, though irresponsibly chooses to commit suicide by consuming poison, doesnt want to die at the very last minute. Ultimately Yayati is forced to lead a life of renunciation with Devayani and Sharmistha. While Puru appears to be great in sacrificing his youth for the sake of his father, he drives his wife Chitralekha to death. Chitralekha mocks both Puru and Yayati for their ingenious notions when she commits suicide. She affirms life by her own death. The play presents the agony that Yayati undergoes in the absence of a firm moral base, and how the selfless love of another alone generates in him a faith in moral values. As Santosh Gupta asserts, Yayatis final realization implies not a check on pleasure but an awareness that calmness may be achieved through giving up desires. (151) M. Winternitz distinguishes between the Brahmanical code of values and that of the ascetic. The former deals with the pursuit of power and pleasure and permits man enjoyment only in accordance with his means and status while the latter deals with renunciation, which is based on inner image. This ascetic code of values is realized and it is considered to be nobler than the Brahmanical. The play also reveals the predicament of man in the nihilistic modern world devoid

of clearly defined moral values. The prevailing moral confusion and mans difficulty in accepting given values is portrayed through the character of Yayati. Yayatis selfish demand of his sons youth reveals that he doesnt stand as a model father. He is quite unlike Babar who, praying for his sons recovery from illness was willing to lay down his own life for the sake of his son. A close study of Karnads second play, Tughlaq, proves it to be a unique one interfusing the historical and the universal, the temporal and the timeless. An able emperor like Muhammad Bin Tughlaq fails and suffers. Though several historians, writers, critics and readers have referred to his impatience, impulsive nature, lunacy, cruelty and over- confidence, a close study of his plays makes us to understand that a very different factor named abhinivesa, according to an Indian philosopher and psychologist Patanjali, is responsible for his tragedy. G. D. Barche has interpreted this concept as follows: A man, even a wise man, has an innate interest, passion or notion. Gradually this passion or notion enters deep down into the psyche of a person and gets settled there. This passion then assumes the role of a horse and the person that of the rider, Now if the person acquires control over this horse i.e., passion, through some well-directed guidance then there isnt any tragedy; and if not, then there is fall and suffering. (1) Tughlaq is a learned, intelligent Sultan of a vast country, India. He has become a victim of passion though all the characters admit that he is not a common man. His stepmother reveals to Barani that he is such an intelligent boy (2.160); Sheikh Imamuddin, the saint admits: God has given you everythingpower, learning, intelligence, talent (3.164). Barani, the sensible man, says, But you are a learned man, Your majesty, you are known the world over for your knowledge of philosophy and poetry (8.195). But the irony is that such a high and mighty personality has failed to control his passions. He himself gets puzzled as to what has happened to him. He himself reviews, ponders and reveals his tragic tale thus: I started in Your path, Lord! why am I wandering naked in the desert now? I started in search of You. Why am I become a pig rolling in this gory mud (10..205). Through his failures, the Sultan is elevated to a man of wisdom and maturity and this becomes evident when he says to the historian Barani as follows: But I am not alone, Barani, Thank heaven! For once I am not alone. I have a Companion to share my madness now the omnipotent God. (13.220) This conversation brings to our mind Lord Krishnas instruction to Arjuna in the Bhagwad Gita that the latter should participate in the war simply as an instrument as He (Lord Krishna) himself is the one who performs the

action. In another couplet Lord Krishna says that God is omnipresent and it is He who directs the course of life of the people. As Muhammad Tughlaq reveals that he has God as his companion, it becomes evident that he is revealing a deeper understanding of life though he is drowned in the whirlpool of passion. It is clear that he is so much overtaken by passion that he evades the other possible sides or effects of his actions and thoughts. The outcome of this way of life leads him to an all-round failure and suffering. Lane Poole aptly says that the Sultan made no allowance for the native dislike of innovations and so, with the best intentions, excellent ideas, but no balance or patience, no sense of proportion, Mohammad Tughlaq was a transcendental failure (125). The handling of the theme suggests that it transcends Muhammad Tughlaq of a specific period and encompasses men of all times. Ultimately the message conveyed by the dramatist is that God alone is the Supreme Being and not man: Alla Ho Akbar! Alla Ho Akbar!

Ashahado La Elaha Illilah. (13.220) The Sultans awareness that life is short and the stupendous task before him make him to dedicate his life for the well being of his subjects. A King is no King, Muhammad claims, if he is not one with his subjects. The greater the struggle he undergoes to define himself as a unique King, the more he becomes diverse and fragmented. The drought in Doab causing cracks in the soil is symbolic of a fragmented King and his fractured kingdom. In the play Tughlaq, Karnad makes use of symbolism and allegory to focus the contemporary history and reality. The beginning of prayer and its rise and fall symbolize the fact that life is corrupted at the very source. Politics deprives the man of prayer, which alone can save. Reading this play, one can understand that the idealism of a ruler can fail and ruin him. Secularism, equality and unity in a country like India are the concepts that are very much alien and ahead of the times. But it is pathetic that the Indians are led away not only by self-serving politicians but by the saints and religious heads also who meddle with politics which is a game of sea-saw. The Muslim saints like Bokhari of Delhi and the Imam of Garib Nawaz of Ajmer go round talking about the parties they propagate, as people blindly believe them even more than believing politicians. People are swung to and fro by their fiery speeches and vote for or against the rulers. Life of the people is corrupted due to the interaction of the saints and politicians. Ultimately people suffer as they suffered during the reign of Tughlaq. The fictional Muhammad evokes in our minds not one but many political figures of the colonial and postcolonial India by embodying their different

impulses. At times, he represents Gandhi who experimented with truth, Nehru who aimed at cultural modernity and Indira who chose self-destructive authoritarianism for their respective concept of national well-being. His hopes of building a new future for India remind the readers of the anxiety of Nehru to give (Independent India) the garb of modernity. Indira Gandhis mercurial, manipulative and brilliant leadership quality is reflected in the Sultan. Her yearning to modernize and discipline India, and her serious reformative urges made her the most controversial political figure of her time. By evoking Gandhi, Nehru and Indira, Karnads protagonist lends contemporary relevance to the multiple aspects of his personality. Moreover the dual role played by Muhammad convincingly resembles the politicians of the contemporary world. The craftiness of the Sultan is similar to the trickery and meanness adopted by those in power to demolish the opponents, and also that of the opponents to destroy the rulers. In India after Independence, especially in the eighties, the longing to rule by all means and the urge of the aspirants to put an end to the incumbent rulers was and is as true as it was during the reign of Tughlaq. In Tughlaq, the administrators behaved indifferently and caused a lot of inconvenience to the subjects by demanding bribes from them. Even in the present times, millions of rupees are spent to check the natural calamities and for the upliftment of poor and the depressed, but their condition remains the same as most of the money is swindled by the politicians and administrators. The state of affairs of todays India is in no way different from that of the conditions that prevail during the reign of Tughlaq. Hayavadana and Naga-Mandala, the tales drawn from the written and oral traditions of Kannada, offer adequate scope for Karnads imagination, which help predict the aspects of human nature. Karnads view is that woman being the creative principle should not be suppressed or dominated over. But the male protagonists of Karnads plays attempt to condition the mind of woman. The men in the Indian society are conditioned by the age-old and customary mindset that women from their very birth should be cared either by their father, brother, husband or son. Puru (Yayati), Devadatta (Hayavadana), Appanna (Naga-Mandala) and Paravasu (The Fire and the Rain) try to have complete control over their women partners. It is paradoxical that the ethos of the Indian society even while according a place of preeminence equating her to Goddess Sakthi tries to delimit her role within the narrow confines of family as a daughter, wife, and mother out of which she should never play any other independent role. Karnad effectively portrays this predicament of women through his women characters like Chitralekha in Yayati, Padmini in Hayavadana, Rani in Naga-Mandala, and Vishakha in The Fire and the Rain

who are the victims of post-colonial dialectic. Padmini is repressed by the power of patriarchal values of the ruling class ideology. But she appears to be relatively freer and more capable of distancing herself from the hegemonisitc contexts. She is brave and forthright unlike the archetypal Indian women. She does not suppress her desire for Kapila and wants both of them alive, although she is fully aware that her living with two men would be socially unacceptable. Throughout the play she appears as a symbol of emancipated woman. She does not play the part of a demure wife and refuses to accept the passive feminine role. Though she falls a prey to the patriarchal society, she proves her worth and viewpoint before she enters the fire. She is as witty and vibrant as Gangambika (Tale-Danda), as courageous as Sharmistha (Yayati), as experimental as Rani (Naga-Mandala), and as compassionate as Nittilai (The Fire in the Rain). She succumbs like Vishakha but she does not permit herself to be abused by the designs of man. She is both a challenging personality and a dutiful wife to Devadatta. But her circumstances compel her to drift towards Kapila and then to mix up the heads of Devadatta and Kapila. Like Nittilai she risks herself to make Kapila a complete man. She affirms her life in fire, when she cannot do it in rain. Surprisingly Rani gives life but it corrupts the human heart. Therefore fire is necessary to burn up the corrupt heart for obtaining further life. Through Padmini, Karnad successfully picturises the predicament of a modern, free and bold woman who is torn between polarities, a woman who loves her husband as well as some one else for two different aspects of their personalities. After the exchange of heads, Padmini experiences the best of both men, but slowly she becomes aware of the reality. In the end the two friends die and Padmini performs Sati. From this we learn the ultimate truth that one man cannot possess all the good qualities and that the world is full of incomplete individuals. The world is indifferent to the desires and frustrations, joys and sorrows of human beings. The only possibility for man is to find harmony in disharmony. In Chapter III, Treatment of Reality: Evil, the corruptibility of evil and the susceptibility of man to the same have been analyzed in detail. In his plays, Karnad deals with some perennial evils that have been plaguing the Indian society from times immemorial like casteism in Tale-Danda, violence, bloodshed, murder, impersonation and treachery in Tughlaq, and adultery in Hayavadana and Naga-Mandala. In The Fire and the Rain, the concept of murder, revenge and jealousy within the learned families of Raibhya and Bharadwaja is projected prominently. In Tale-Danda, Karnad exposes the ugly face of the caste system and the ills of marriage laws, which have been plaguing the Indian society for long. Karnad is of the opinion that Tale-Danda is relevant, for religious fanaticism

has claimed thousands of lives even in todays world. What has happened in Tale-Danda is still happening. In Tale-Danda, the message is that the Indian society has built a trap for the untouchables, which create intolerable tension and frustration. Though Karnad does not offer any specific solutions to the problems which are eating into the vitals of our society, the play induces us to think about the efficacy of the laws of Hindu religion with regard to the hypergamous marriage. A great tragedy in our society is that human beings are condemned to a life of wretchedness, mental and moral degradation simply because they belong to lower classes. The truth is that if our country is to progress, it is a must that we should take into account the services rendered by those classes of people whom we call as lower class also.
Initially Tughlaq is presented as a man imbued with lofty idealism. But soon he becomes blood thirsty and brutal. He is so cruel that he kills his father and brother to usurp the throne. He sets out to banish everybody who happens to be a stumbling block in his way. Sheikh Imamuddin is an archenemy and a great critic of Tughlaq. Sheer treachery is involved in trapping Sheikh Imam and getting him killed. He cunningly invites his friend Shihabuddin to take charge of the kingdom in his absence and hacks him to death when he rebels against him. It is he who decrees his stepmother to be stoned to death, when he comes to know that she has got Najib killed. He is every inch a bloodthirsty murderer. If the central plot is filled with violence and bloodshed, the sub plot accommodates impersonation, bribery and treachery. Aziz, a comic figure, goes on impersonating one person after another. At first Aziz impersonates Vishnu Prasad, the Brahmin, and takes advantage of the royal decree that all are equal before law and that the people can file a suit against the sultan himself for the misbehavior of his officers. He files a case against the Sultan and gets five hundred silver dinars and a job in the civil service. When the people of Delhi move to the new capital Daulatabad he takes

bribes from them mercilessly. When the King introduces copper-currency, which has the same value as that of the silver dinars, he makes counterfeit coins. He even goes to the extent of killing Ghijasuddin and presents himself before the Sultan in the guise of Ghijasuddin. He also kills his bosom friend Azam and escapes from the eyes of law. Thus in Tughlaq, evil dominates in the forms of violence, murder, treachery and impersonation. Padmini in Hayavadana commits adultery knowingly, and Rani in NagaMandala cuckolds her husband by having sex with the Naga. Both Rani and the Naga pine for the forbidden fruit. According to the Indian tradition a woman should be chaste until her death and she should consider it evil to cohabit with a man other than her own husband. But the love of Padmini (Hayavadana) and Rani (Naga-Mandala) is not a spiritual one but mere passion for physical pleasure. There are occasional references to Padminis infidelity in the play. She is drawn towards Kapila. She waters her mouth looking at the charm of Kapilas body. This is not fair on the part of an ideal wife. The scope and the meaning of Padiviratha are being questioned here. When Kali asks her to put the heads of the two friends properly she, exploiting the situation, mixes the heads of Devadatta and Kapila in order to have a better husband: head of Devadatta and body of Kapila. Thus she tries to enjoy the phallic pleasures of Kapila and the intellectual powers of Devadatta. She herself admits that her son has two fathers. When Devadatta and Kapila die, she asks the Bhagavatha to make a large funeral pyre for them and she jumps into it, which proves that she has had illegal

relationship with Kapila. Thus Padmini is guilty of infidelity and Kapila proves to be a traitor. Naga-Mandala also is a story of adultery in which Rani commits adultery with full knowledge about it. The King Cobra consumes the curry, which Rani pours into the anthill, squeezes through the bathroom, takes the shape of Appanna, and thus the worm consumes Ranis long preserved virginity. She has many reasons to doubt that the Naga is not Appanna but she hesitates to lose the heavenly bliss that she has been enjoying night after night. But it is comical that the evil always triumphs. The watchdog and the mongoose are killed by the Naga, the evil incarnation, and the Naga succeeds in making love with Rani; the guilty Rani successfully completes the ordeal of facing the village panchayat and in the end is considered as a goddess. Thus Karnad succeeds in portraying evil on the stage in a convincing manner and this element of make-belief gives his plays a universal appeal and the test of time.

In The Fire and the Rain, Karnad focuses on the evil of caste war. This play mirrors the growing war between saints, rishis, Brahmins and lowcaste people, actors, hunters and manmade classification of caste war as a tool of achieving the height of superiority and power. He also concentrates on purusharthas like dharma, artha, kama and moksha as the four ethical goals of human existence. Dharma governs the spiritual sphere, artha relates to political and economic power, kama to the sexual and aesthetic gratification and moksha to the final liberation from human bondage from the cycle of births and deaths. The characters Bharadwaja and Raibhya, the two saint friends, propound the quest for supremacy of knowledge. But their dharma becomes adharma for achieving the post of chief priest of the fire sacrifice, a symbol of arthapolitical and economic power. Paravasu and Yavakri are also a part of such political ambitions. Yavakri is involved in fulfillment of his kama with the wife of Paravasu and finally, they all deviate from the moral standards of purusharthas, which creates a hellish world for them and to repent as cursed beings. Unable to find any liberation from human bondage, they

become victims of their attitudes. These characters represent the men of contemporary society who are trying to achieve their goal of political heights without caring for dharma. Yavakri is a symbol of an ambitious person who wants to get knowledge without maturity and experience, not knowledge from human gurus (9) but knowledge from the Gods, direct (1.9) and the whole world is at its feet (1.10). Such shortcut of knowledge for supremacy is a dangerous act and it may lead humanity to disaster. Even Indra has appeared before him and has said that, No, Yavakri, you cant master knowledge through austerities. It must come with experience. Knowledge is time. It is space. You must move through these dimensions (1.13). The Gods again come and suggest, you cant cross a full stream on a bridge of sand (1.14). Yavakri represents the contemporary scholar of knowledge who tries to remove all ladders of experience and to reach the peak of knowledge and seat of learning with less experience and less knowledge. The story of Yavakri is a lesson to people that knowledge should be acquired in the right manner. It is a story of modern pundits of the intellectual society that Karnad has beautifully narrated through Yavakri in The Fire and the Rain. The Fire and the Rain is, on the one hand, a criticism of the Brahminic society while on the other hand, Karnads approach is to realism and existentialism. The prevailing evil in man is a natural vice, which doesnt spare anyone. It is not caste that upholds the society, but virtue that maintains the quality of life on earth. This moral consideration is greatly important as it has ensnared mankind from the onslaughts of evils. It is immorality or vice which is attacked and criticized, and after the rehabilitation of values, the face of contemporary society emerges in its triumphant design of richer human and moral values. In this play, Karnad emphasizes that Brahmanism is no Godism. He deals with the merits of Brahminic qualities such as goodness, gentlemanliness, truth and sacrifice, but condemns the evils like priesthood and inhuman acts of fire sacrifice at the cost of human life. Paravasu, Yavakri, Raibhya, Bharadwaja and Arvasu belong to a high Brahminic class and their quest for spiritual power and universal knowledge does not bring them to the state of supremacy as they are involved in the sub human, sub-standard and unBrahminic acts of jealousy, power hankering, and ruthless curses for total ruin of each other. Brahmins are considered to be the torchbearers of society but they themselves are lost and misguided in the way of ignoble deeds. The greatest tragedy in the contemporary society is that the educated, talented and meritorious people of the upper strata of society exploit the underprivileged men and women.

Arvasu, the son of Raibhya, a superior Brahmin in the play, the brother of Paravasu and the chief priest, propounds the values of love, kindness and humanity as the rarer virtues of mankind. Nittilai, Andhaka, Sudra and state manager represent the greater virtues of goodness, humanity, love, kindness, broad mindedness and sense of human touch and human belonging in the play. These minor characters are represented as the makers of a humanistic society while major characters represent a class of higher status who lack impassioned hearts. Arvasu forgets and forgives everybody and on his prayer to Sun God, everybody including his father Raibhya, brother Paravasu, cousin Yavakri are revived. Finally, after the sacrifice of Arvasu and Nittilai all condemned souls are released and moksha, the ultimate desire of man on earth takes place because of purushartha of Arvasu and sacrifice of Nittilai. It is a great sacrifice of Arvasu and Nittilai for the sake of humanity. Rain falls like gentle mercy and kindness, and all fires of sex, hunger, power and jealousy are defeated, shattered and condemned as evil acts. The final note of the play is the quest for humanity since, according to Ambika Ananth, the Blood which runs in humans is devoid of humanity No elbow- room for love and emotions of a mother, lover, sister or son All are same, rulers are same in the game of gunning pandemic violence. (3) The men like Yayati in Yayati, Appanna in Naga-Mandala, and Yavakri in The Fire and the Rain seek sexual satisfaction only and they deny the importance of love as they are unaware that Love is the purest form of human emotion (Rabindranath Menon 7). Love is the immediate need of man for lack of it leads to many maladies. Men do not trust the women in the family and so Karnad has mocked the fragile hold they have on the womans mind, heart and body. Fredrick J. Hoffman reveals the truth that lack of belief poses great

cracks in the human landscape and this crack in human landscape is induced by lack of genuine love for fellow human beings, lack of values and meaning in life. (145) Appanna locks up Rani in the house and she is forced to lead a life of loneliness. But Naga understands that a life of loneliness could be destroyed by the fire of love since it is the purest form of emotion. As M.K.Gandhi has said, the hardest fibre must melt in the fire of love (35), Rani gets consolation through the Naga. The need to provide great space to the women is accepted by the village elders, who respect the procreative role of woman, compel the man to accept and respect his wife and change his egoistic and violent behavior. It is an extremely comic moment in the play when Appanna is left holding in public another mans child and asked to respect his wife as a Goddess. In Naga-Mandala, if the cobra is regarded as a totem possessing magical powers, the play is a folk drama. But if the Naga alludes to Ranis paramour, the play arouses our critical faculties, and our minds and thoughts are aggravated by many problems. It leaves the audience to reflect on the efficacy of the social laws which discriminate a woman from a man and which demands a wifes faithfulness even to her callous husband. Rani is compelled to undergo the trial to prove her innocence, but Appanna could afford to indulge in adultery. Since neither Appanna nor Rani nor the Cobra is chaste, the spectators may assume that in this world dominated by compromise, happiness is

incompatible with purity. Though Appanna and Rani know that their child has not been born out of their wedlock, they accept it as their own. They do not share the secret even with each other. They probably think it better to let the secret remain buried in their hearts and keep the family together. An analysis of the plays of Karnad reveals that evil reduces an individual to the level of the beast. Thus Karnads plays have a universal appeal and have stood the test of time. The unsatisfied impulses seek their appeasement through the secret window of imagination or dream and Chapter IV of the study, entitled Treatment of Fantasy, deals with this aspect. According to the classical poet Ovid, the mission of poetry is docere delictends to teach by delighting. Uniquely, the primary aim of literature is to give pleasure to the reader and any moral or didactic element is necessarily either secondary to that, or at least, unlikely to succeed without that. The real world is full of sufferings and hatred for one another; it is unable to yield satisfaction to the impulses. Literature or art reflects the mind of the depressed person. As David Daiches says, Imaginative literature can be justified if it communicates historical or philosophical or moral truths in a lively and pleasing manner, and if this means telling things which are not literally true, the untruths can either be interpreted allegorically as ways of representing an underlying general truth, or in the case of the

historical poet, as plausible reconstructions of what might well have occurred. (53)
Karnad through his imaginative skill makes his characters shape-shift and thus entertains his audience. Shape shifting takes place in non- realistic fantasies, fables, myths or folklore. Though it is temporary, it seems to be a catalyst for all entertainment. In Yayati, Puru sacrifices his youth for King Yayati. Though in reality it is impossible for such exchanges to occur, Karnad through his artistic skill makes the reader feel at ease and enthralls them. In Hayavadana, shapeshifting illuminates the characters. The prominent shape shifting is the interchange of the bodies of Kapila and Devadatta. In the sub-plot, shape shifting occurs in the life of Hayavadhanas father and mother. These strange unbelievable experiences undergone by the characters make one to feel at ease and have a good laugh. In Naga-Mandala, there are several examples of shape shifting and the prominent one is the cobra assuming the form of Appanna in order to make love to Rani. Yet another example of shape shifting is the flames taking on human shapes and gossiping in the temple after they have been put out in the houses. Thus strange and unimaginable things happen in Karnads plays. But Karnad does not stop with this; instead he elevates his characters, and through imagination, stages unbelievable things making his audience forget their own selves and thus fulfills his task as a dramatist. Though these plays end tragically, the device permits a person to be someone else for a short while, in order to provide recreation both to the audience and to the performer. Karnads profound skill is highly

tantalizing when he fantasizes the exchange of ages between father and the son in Yayati, and mixes the head and the body of the friends in Hayavadana. In Hayavadana, Padmini is fully satisfied after the mix up of heads as she now has a whole man as her husband. But this ideal situation does not last long. Kapilas body succumbs to the sedentary life imposed on it by Devadatta, and Padmini again is left unfulfilled. Karnad seems to suggest that such wholeness, although immensely desirable, is seldom possible for human beings and it could be thought of only as a fantasy. In the sub-plot, the story of the birth and parentage of Hayavadana is presented with all the elements of fantasy. The Princess marrying a white stallion and living with it for fifteen long years and becoming a horse herself at the end is pure imagination. The dolls are made to converse and through them, Karnad describes the sub-conscious images and dreams of Padmini that cannot be represented visually. Devadattas transfiguration is also communicated through dolls in Hayavadana. Karnads Naga-Mandala also presents a fantasy world. Though Rani is innocent she is trapped in the fantasy world. Naga is considered as the shadow Appanna, the unconscious part of his personality or the projection of Ranis fantasy about Appanna. The Naga taking the shape of Appanna and appearing only in the absence of Appanna are pointers to the design in the mind of Rani. The birth of a child may be a reality and the father could be Appanna but Rani assumes or imagines that it is the child of Naga. Appannas concubine serving Rani as a maid and Appanna accepting Rani as a deity are fantasies. Rani in Nagamandala is allowed to fantasize freely as the play itself presents a fantasy world. (Veena Noble Dass 276)

It is pure fantasy beyond any iota of belief that different flames escape their houses to gossip and have some entertainment in the sanctum of a ruined temple. The fantasy element is enhanced when they speak like the human beings in female voices and evoke an ambiance of a magical world. A cobra not only speaks but also fathers a human child. All this could never happen in reality. Therefore, Karnads plays are plays of fantasy and the dramatist has tried to lift his audience from the fret and fever of the modern world through imagination.

In Chapter V, Treatment of Myth, an analysis has been made to find out as to what extent Karnad was able to interpret the present in the light of the mythical past. It is a well-known fact that the themes of Karnads plays are mythical, historical or legendary but his treatment of them is quite modern. He is the only modern playwright who uses them imaginatively and creatively resulting in stage-worthy plays. Ian Watt, in the following account of Malinowskis description of primitive myth, elucidates myth as something not of the nature of fiction, such as we read today in a novel, but it is a living reality, believed to have once happened in primeval times and continuing ever since to influence the world and human destinies. (159) Karnad takes refuge in the Indian myths and legends and uses them as a vehicle for a new vision. By using these myths, he explicitly portrays the absurdity of life with all its elemental passions, conflicts and mans eternal struggle to achieve perfection.

Karnads use of the myth of Yayati reveals the perennial clash between the expectations of parents and the aspirations of younger generation. The immediate cause was a particular incident, which took place in the young age of Karnad. Karnad was awarded a prestigious scholarship for studying abroad. His parents were reluctant to permit him go there as they were of the notion that he might settle down there forever. This was an extremely puzzling situation to the young mind of Karnad, which later on when he became a writer might have influenced him to deal with this theme. In Yayati the selfish tendency of the King is revealed when he willingly exchanges his old age with the youth of his youngest son for the satisfaction of his youthful urges. The myth becomes so relevant to the puzzled sensibility of the dramatist that it reflects his own anxieties about his future, his own resentment with all those who seemed to sacrifice his future. The anxieties are not the anxieties of Karnad alone but a perplexing issue to all the people of his generation. The gradual increase in generation gap has heightened its intensity. Regarding the use of myths and legends it can be said without any hesitation that the one modern playwright who used them with imagination and creativity resulting in stageworthy plays is Karnad. Myths and legends serve as metaphors for contemporary situation in Karnads plays. They are used as subterfuges to discuss socio-cultural evils. Modern theatre directors also choose

myths, as these myths have elements of modernity and relevance to the present day audience. A study of Karnads plays affirms the view of Indra Nath Choudhuri that Theatre has, in all its history and greatest moments, brought to man hope, courage, an uplifting of heart, an awareness and understanding of what he is up against, a vision towards better times to come and a determination to battle for them. (184)
From an in-depth study of the plays of Girish Karnad it is evident that Karnad as a dedicated writer has seen the whole arc of life with unflinching uprightness and has presented the utter truth of life in a language that is destined to survive and move and rule mans heart forever.

By a clever manipulation of the old myths and folktales, Karnad is able to serve a slice of reality mixed with fantasy. It helps him not only to reflect the fret and fever of the contemporary world, but also enables him to prepare his readers and audience to face the problems without simply existing quite complacently. A study of the plays of Karnad also reveals the humanistic concern he has for his fellow human beings. It is hoped that the present study, which has made a genuine attempt to highlight Karnads treatment of these elements for the purpose of delight and instruction, will be helpful to the society of our times, which is devoid of humanism.