Pleased and with laughter Tughlaq exclaims that he was

checkmated. Aziz explains himself and says that he had followed his

polices faithfully and says that a saint was no match to a dhobi when the

matter was of washing filth. Ultimately after announcing the shift to

Delhi Sultan realizes that all his ideals and dreams have come to a naught.

The play ends when there is a call for prayers and Tughlaq is found

sleeping as he had passed many sleepless nights. But when the Muezzin’s

call fades away, Tughlaq wakes up and casts a frightened and

uncomprehending look. Hence ‘Tughlaq’ is Kamad’s outstanding play

which has won international praise.

Kamad’s plays, regardless of genre or subject matter, have been

praised for their contemporaniety and their capacity for capturing the

aesthetic senses of the audience and penetrating their consciousness. By

combining historical facts with imagination he creates an atmosphere of

fantastic recreation and here lies his unassailable greatness. Kamad’s play

explores the sense of loss and despair that the Indian disunited rulers

underwent right up through the times of Tipu Sultan. The play “Dreams

of Tipu Sultan” portrays Kirmani and Mackenzie’s descriptions of Tipu

Sultan’s valour and his downfall due to the treachery of his own people

and his dreams regard him as a modem mler capable of innovation and

experimentation. With the conversation of the two historians the play

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opens and the year is 1803. Mackenzie has employed Kirmani to write

the history as he believes that, one can’t buy genuine court historians in

the bazaar, Mir Hussain Ali Khan Kirmani feels immensely grieved in

writing. The fall of Tipu Sultan’s capital Srirangapatna had passed before

his presence and the death and incidents that followed had produced a

psychological depth of pain in him. His strongly affected state of mind

finds him in a confounded and confused manner. Mackenzie’s records

have been widely approved and he is supposed to have travelled

extensively over Karnataka and amassed a lot of information from local

history and folk tales.

The scene proceeds with Kirmani recalling the incident of the

British attack. The severity of the situation and the clouds reluctant to

shower increased the tension of the day. As a brave man and an unfailing

spirit Tipu Sultan washed his hands, got up, buckled the sword belt and

was ready to face the English that very moment brashly. He hands over a

sealed envelope from his pocket to Kirmani asking him to preserve it

until his return and it contained his last dream. Next follows the fourth of

May, 1799. The face of the disaster increased in its intensity as it leads us

to the scene where the British soldiers are found searching Tipu Sultan’s

body amidst the other dead bodies, Qilledar Nadeem Khan another tyrant

in the utter darkness and with the help of some torches finds out Raja

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Khan, the Sultan’s personal assistant. Mackenzie assumes the body to be

close by and Nadeem Khan points out to him lying with the gold buckle

summoned by fate, uncompromising in dire consequences his strong will

power and love for righteousness. Tipu Sultan died a martyr’s death. He

visualized the approaching danger of the Britisher’s presence in India and

likewise the horrors did not subtract. Tipu Sultans indomitable valour is

ineffable and rests in the inexhaustible memories and folk songs which

the Britishers indignation cannot erase.

Once again we are led to the mentioning of the last dream which

deviates to the habit of the Sultan of recording dreams in his diary.

Dreams act like revelation to some great souls through which indications

of coming events are prior noticed. They identify themselves as guiding

stars. His handing off of the sealed envelope displays his farsightedness

and preparedness amidst a threatening situation. If he returns he would

take it and if otherwise the matter was in the hands of a reliable historian.

His marvellous dream faculty and achievements are unfolded as his major

engagements. The first dream which is recorded in the play is the one

which occurred to him on the 3rd day of the month of Thamari and the last

night of the month of Ramzan. The next day was Id. He was returning

from Farrukhi near Salamabad with his army.

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 He dreams that he had been on an elephant shikar and on his way

back was walking with Poomaiya, the Finance Minster, when we saw a

big temple. It was in a dilapidated state and asks Poomaiya to look at that

structure which looked quite mysterious. When they go within they see

the statutues and some of them come alive. The Sultan asks the ladies to

keep themselves occupied with thoughts of God and assures of no

disturbance and promises rebuilding of the temple.

His dreams indicated his passion for reforming and transforming

the mental and physical condition of his subjects by high standards of

moral attitudes, which he wanted to communicate. His war was for the

sole intention of freedom of the Indian inhabitants. The dreams form the

major source of inspiration and his actions to some extent are dictated by

them. He dreams further that two old men present him a white elephant

and horses as a token of friendship and affection from the Emperor of

China. Tipu Sultan interprets it as God Almighty’s will of making him

another Alexander. He had many dimensions to his personality. He had

an artistic bent of mind, a foresighted person with an immense interest in

science. He looks to it that his sons too are adequately involved in the

discussions held. He pioneers in flourishing the silk industry of his own.

He is adept in encouraging traders, ambassadors and craftsmen from

other countries and the list runs to doctor, surgeon, smelter, carpenter,

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weaver, blacksmith, locksmith, cutter, gardener.... His fervor reveals his

inclination towards the invention of thermometer. The play criticizes the

English philosophy that considers Indians depraved beings who must

constantly wait for the British orders for almost everything.

His next dream reveals the dangers from the native rules. It

occurred when he was preparing for a night attack on the Maratha armies

of Hari Pant Phadke at Shahnur near Devgiri. The interpretation of the

dream that though the Marathas are dressed in male attire, they would

infact prove to be women. He gauged the British intention of placing one

native king against another and ruling the country with their divide and

rule policy. His firm determination and constant struggle to root out the

existence of the British makes him approach and awake the French.

The dialogues exchanged between Nana Phadnavis, the Maratha

statesman and Charles Malet, representative of Lord Cornwallis concerns

the tactics of English urging the native rulers to enmesh with Tipu Sultan.

They plan to vandalize the country’s strength and then rule. Malet begins

planting the seed of suspicion by stating that they wished to assure the

Maratha rulers that they were good friends who could be relied upon in

moments of crisis. Malet succeeds in gaining confidence from other

rulers and involves them in the conspiracy against Tipu Sultan, The scene

that follows next visualizes Tipu Sultan with his family. Sensitive and

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alert about everything taking place around him he presents to his sons a

life like tiger as a toy which tears up a man. The children appreciate the

French toy as ingenious and life-like. His vision of progress and

eagerness to learn draws our attention when he says that he had two

teachers in his life. His father, who taught him war, and the English who

taught him trade. They taught him that the era of the camel was over, that

it was now the age of the sailing ship. His modem outlook made him

introduce cannon-founding, paper making, glass manufacture, ship

building, rearing of silk worms, pearl culture and import of fine asses

from Arabia. His optimism sparkles in every aspect of his life. Act one

concludes with Mackenzie and Kirmani’s description of the war in 1790

and the English disheartened retreat. Joining hands with the Marathas

Seringapatan is attacked and Tipu Sultan is forced to sue for peace.

Act two commences with heightened emotional and treacherous

disturbances. The Queen’s death followed by the four conditions imposed

by the British were heart rendering. Only a person like Tipu Sultan could

face such dire confrontations with perseverance and an outstanding

bravery. The first condition demanded the release of all English prisoners

unconditionally. The second condition impelled the cession of half his

domain, adjacent to the territories of the English, the Marathas and the

Nizam. Third was the indemnity of six crores. The last condition was two

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sons as hostages to be handed over to the English to be kept with them

until the terms of the treaty were agreed upon, signed, and sealed. The

shattering news declares the names of Abdul Khaliq and Muizuddin. The

commendable tenacity of unyielding before the Britisher’s forced

supremacy makes him agree to the conditions with a view to save his

kingdom from plunder ad prepare for the attack. He does not bow before

the English but sends his sons like heroes of the war. The sons too face

the situation bravely. They register their keen apprehension of the

tension, division tricks, and injustice that surround them.

Observing that they were left alone inside the tent the sons busy

themselves examining their mechanisms. Kirmani bears witness to the

intellectual genius of the princes who desire to develop a sophisticated

understanding of the developments around them.

The third dream acts as an interpreter of Tipu Sultan’s feelings

confronted with his father’s dislike towards his sending off of his sons.

The dream also depicts the Britisher’s solidarity in fighting for a cause or

selfish motive which the Indians do not possess. Their internal disunity

paves way for their total destruction. Tipu Sultan points out to their spirit

of oneness and the internal conspiracy among the natives.

Due to Lack of a strong camaraderie Tipu Sultan had to struggle

against both the forces internal and external. Yet he approaches Hari Pant

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to caution him. The discussions held by Momington, Kirkpatrick and

Richard Wellesley accompanied by his younger brother Arthur Wellesley

illustrate deliberately unrelenting demands that aim at ruining Tipu

Sultan. Conspiracy is hatched for he poses a danger to their existence in

India. His growing strength is viewed with an intention to curb.

The English return his two sons aged seven and eight after two

years of imprisonment. The next demand was four of his sons as hostages

and half of his kingdom again. The fourth dream sounds more real and

whatever the vision appears it speaks of the shocking reality in reality

contrasted to the dream. The Nizam and the Marathas bring in news of

triumph and happiness and assure him of victory from all quarters. The

English retreating without any disturbances adds further joy. While Tipu

Sultan is rejoicing at the success of his country and united force Mir

Sadiq, Poomaiya and Nadeem Khan convince him that they were happy

to have him as their triumphant king. Kamad’s depiction of ambivalence

in Poomaiya’s feelings of love and hate for Tipu Sultan and his father

may be traced when he falsifies his own words and joins hands in

washing hands with Tipu Sultan’s blood.

He wakes up from the dream and the reality stands in contradiction

to it and that very afternoon he died a matyr’s death and the treacherous

acts of Nadeem Khan, Mir Sadiq, Poomaiya and Qamaruddin were

rewarded by the British.

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 The roaring of tigers is silenced by their being shot dead and the

mechanical tiger shipped off to London. Arthur Wellesley is crowned as

the Duke of Wellington, the conqueror of Napoleon, Prime Minister of

England. The sons of Tipu Sultan under strict observation are kept out of

Shrirangapatnam. Within a span of twenty years the Maratha empire is

annexed to the British empire. All’s well that ends well and here nothing

is well as the end is not well.

The play is divided into three acts and it has sixteen scenes. Act

one revolves around Basavanna the accusations and the consequences of

those acts. The play commences in the Brahmin quarter of the city of

Kalyan. Sambashiva Shastri on his deathbed is eagerly waiting for his

son. The son Jagadeva is busy safe guarding the treasury in the absence of

Basavanna as a Sharana neglecting to attend his father.

The evil effects of caste is mirrored in Taledanda with a view to

provide equal status to the weaker sections. Discriminations are learnt at a

very early stage in life and it especially begins at home. The manifold

manifestations of the play present social violence in the form of caste

hierarchy. Bhagirathi’s attitude discloses and exposes the caste ridden

women who never mind hurting another human being.

The scorn, the jest is clearly pointed towards Mallibomma and such

descriptions in Taledanda offer insights on how to understand the

poignancy of the discriminated sects. Though bom as a Brahmin

Basavanna rejects the division of caste.

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