Women characters in fire and the rain

Girish karnad in his play The fire and the rain presents traditional Indian
patriarchal families. Karnad focuses on traditional Indian women characters
and describes the atrocities that they have to go through in a male dominated
society, and he does this through the presentation of two female characters,
Vishakha and Nittilai.

Both Vishakha and Nittilai are victims of a male dominated society. Here
Karnad focuses on terms like ‘arranged marriage’ and ‘inter-caste marriage’.
Neither Vishakha nor Nittilai are given the rights to choose their husbands
according to their wish; even Nittilai is prohibited to marry Arvasu because he
is an upper caste Brahmin.

The character of Vishakha stands as the epitome of sexual exploitation that

women in traditional Indian patriarchal society had to experience. Firstly, she is
almost forced to marry Paravasu who neglects her emotional needs and her
equal rights in the family. After exploiting her body for one year, he decides to
leave home or seven years after he is appointed as the chief priest of the fire
sacrifice. Here, Vishakha blames her husband for using her as a mere physical
instrument in their conjugal life, without even considering giving her the
respect or position of a wife. Through the character of Vishakha Karnad
explains the problems of women before and after the marriage. Her consent is
not sought when her marriage is fixed with Paravasu and her husband does not
pay enough mind to her emotional needs and her love when he leaves her
behind for the fire sacrifice.

However, her plight and suffering does not end here. More problems ensue
when Paravasu leaves her alone with her father-in-law, Raibhya. It is one of the
principles of male dominated society that when husband is not home the wife
must listen to the instructions of either her father-in-law or brother-in-law and
this would often subject her to sexual exploitation. And this is exactly what
happens with Vishakha when Raibhya tries and outrages her modesty: “... on
the other, there’s lust. It consumes him, an old man’s curdled lust.” Hence,
Karnad deals with the problems of women and shows how they are treated as
commodities to fulfil the carnal pleasures of men.
Karnad treats women’s extra-marital relationship as her natural desire and this
is best presented through the character of Vishakha. Traditional psyche
regarding marriage does not permit a woman to have physical intimacy with
any other man except her husband. But Karnad gives his women characters
equal space as that of men. Even a woman’s extra-marital relationship means a
kind of adjustment as to psycho-physical satisfaction. In the character of
Vishakha, one can find the qualities of a modern woman. After being
abandoned by Paravasu, she breaks the traditional image of a pious woman
and submissive wife and turns to her lover, Yavakri. She has no inhibitions in
accepting her extra-marital relationship and even confesses it in front of her
father-in-law : “Yes, there was somebody else there. Yavakri! And he had come
to see me. Alone.” However, it is to be noted that even Yavakri exploits her in
his own ways. He seeks revenge from Vishakha and desires to turn the tables
on Raibhya and this he does by seducing and sexually exploiting her. She is
merely used as an instrument by Yavakri, Raibhya and Paravasu. In this
manner, Vishakha’s personality presents the traditional tragic condition of
women in male-dominated society.

The second important female character is Nittilai, the hunter girl and the love
interest of Arvasu. Though she is a tribal girl, she is the one who questions the
beliefs and hypocricies of the upper-caste Hindu Brahmins. Karnad uses Nittilai
as an instrument to highlight the difference between low caste and high caste,
their behaviour and presets how high-caste men are glad to use low-caste
women to satiate their desires from time immemorial: “ ‘ these high-caste men
are glad enough to bed our women but not to wed them’”.

Through the character of Nittilai Karnad presents various social problems like
class system, orthodox religious principles and hypocrisy of Brahmin priests.
She is illiterate and does not understand the term ‘universal knowledge’. In
fact, she believes what is the use of this universal knowledge acquired by
Yavakri if it cannot even take away the plight and sufferings of humanity.
Instead of asking for universal knowledge, Nittilai argues, Yavakri should have
asked for rain from Indra. Hence, through the questions posed by Nittilai,
Karnad presents how the low-caste people were more considerate about
human beings and their problems.
Karnad presents the problems of inter-caste marriage through the relationship
of Nittilai and Arvasu. When Nittilai says to Andhaka that she would like to
marry Arvasu, who is a Brahmin, Andhaka says, “You two are brave... you’re
enough to know that the world can be cruel and ruthless.” It si the knowledge
and experience of an old man conveyed to Nittilai which makes her aware of
the fact that she stands against the traditional social rules. Hence, marriage
between Nittilai and Arvasu cannot take place but Nittilai’s love for Arvasu
remains spiritual. Nittilai is eventually married off to a boy from the same tribe
but she does not encourage the concept of extra-marital love. However, she
comes to Arvasu’s rescue when he needs her most and it is looked upon as an
act of adultery. Hence, at the end of the play Nittilai perishes at the hands of
patriarchy when her own husband kills her. Here, Nittilai’s death may be an
end of her physical life but truly just the beginning of her spiritual life. She is
free from the harsh and prejudiced patriarchal society.

Karnad’s women in The fire and the rain are forced to tolerate social relations
which subordinate their interests. The family is identified as the key instrument
in the oppression of both Nittilai and Vishakha. Nittilai was subjected to death
by her husband and Vishakha was forced into sexual slavery by her father-in-
law. Delving deep into it, one may come to the conclusion that liberation from
this male hegemony may be achieved by death or living life boldly.