Page 212 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Indian Writings in Literature

Notes (iii) Upward triangle means ............... .
(a) Kuruda Vva-Rani-Appana (b) Ring of the flames
(c) Appana Rani-Cobra (d) None of these
(iv) The cobra falls in love with ............... .
(a) Appana (b) Rani
(c) Shiva (d) None of these

25.2 Summary

• Girish Karnad has emerged as the most significant playwright of post-independence Indian
literature, according to the Indian critic P. Dhanavel (2000:11). The critic emphasizes Karnad’s
1
humanism, derived mainly from his profound concern for the “oppressed” and the
“downtrodden”, his compulsive return to and reinterpretation of the mythical past and oral
tradition, and his “determined demystification of the dominant beliefs and practices” (2000:16).
• Girish Karnad’s play Nâgmandla is consciously anchored in the ancient theory and tradition
of Indian theatre. The play thus reflects Karnad’s respect for technical elements of theatrical
art and also for the Indian tradition of storytelling, even though he innovates and experiments
by sharing twentieth century views. In Nâgmandla, the author brings his drama into line with
the changes occurring in Indian society and mentality.
• Karnad shows a great interest in the theatre as representation as well as in the incorporation
of stories which come from popular wisdom. His interest in storytelling contributes to the
success of his plays in Indian villages, as he proudly admits (Karnad 1995: 368). Karnad
looks for subjects in traditional Indian folklore, is attentive to the innovations brought about
by the European playwrights of the first half of the twentieth century, and uses magical-
surrealistic conventions to delve into the situation of the Indian men and women of today,
consciously giving expression to the concerns of people. 3
• As a playwright, he thus combines conventional and subversive modes, as is clear in
Nâgmandla. This play is labelled as “story theatre”, that is , theatre whose action is based on
5
folk stories. Karnad found his source of inspiration for this play in stories that he heard from
the poet and academic A.K. Ramanujan.
• Focusing on the four different stories which make up the play Nâgmandla , we see that they
are on four narrative levels. The frame story contains three other stories, each one of them
inside the previous story. On the first narrative level, the frame story tells of an author
whose plays were so boring that the audience often went to sleep.
• The second and third narrative levels contain magical elements. The second is formed by the
gossip-type tales that a group of personified flames tell each other when they gather at night,
after their work has ended. The Flames choose to go to the same ruined temple where the
Author is bewailing his plight. When he sees them arrive, he hides behind a column from
where he closely follows their stories.

25.3 Key-Words

1. Sacred level : The temple
2. Artistic level : The theatre
3. Nagmandla : Snake Circle
4. Appana : Any man

206 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY