Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

Englisches Seminar
Seminar: Competing Knowledges on a Global Scale (SoSe 2018)
Prof. Dr. Anna-Margaretha Horatschek
Presentation: Sidra Umer
05.07.2018

Girish Karnad. “Author´s Introduction”

Karnad’s struggles and choices:
• The cultural past of the country in combination with the colonial baggage
• Shifts between western and eastern modes of thought
• Decision of being a playwright
• Scholarship for studying abroad

The experience of writing the first play Yayati:

• Written in Kannada
• In the middle of immense emotional turmoil
• Based on ancient Hindu mythology
• Dramatic structure influenced by Western playwrights

Discussion about the play Tughlaq:

• Based on the life of 14th century sultan of Delhi, Muhammed Tughluq
• A reflection of the slow disillusionment of author’s generation
• Mechanical succession of alternating shallow (ruled) and deep (rulers) scenes
• Tughlaq’s times ended because of anarchy

Difference between western and eastern individualistic values:

In western realist drama, a person needs to be seen as an individual, a valuable entity in itself, not
dependent on other family members and social circumstances. Whereas, in Indian realism, the
people define themselves in relation to their family, caste or class. It is this difference in the
individualistic values which is portrayed in the subsequent literary works of west and east.

Crystallisation and theme of the play Hayavadana:

• Based on a story from a collection of tales Kathasaritsagara, further development influenced
from Thomas Mann’s story The Transposed Heads
• Deals with the problem of “human identity in the world of tangled relationships” (vi)
• Play revolves around two best friends, who simultaneously fall in love with a girl
• Padmini gets married to Devadatta, who is intellectual, whereas Kapila has strong stature.
Padmini starts to drift towards Kapila
• The friends kill themselves and Padmini is asked by goddess to put their heads back to bring
them to life again, in her confusion she transposes their heads
• “The result is a confusion of identities which reveals the ambiguous nature of human
personality”. (vi)

Sources:
1. Girish Karnad. Three Plays. Naga-Mandala. Hayavadana. Tughlaq. Delhi: Oxford UP. 1994.
1-18.
2. Girish Karnad. Hayavadana. Oxford UP. 1975.