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Unit 27: Girish Karnad: Nagmandla—Themes

symbolizes flight and freedom which represents Rani's yearning for release from the cruel clutches Notes
of Appanna. She yearns to fly away from the dark and dreadful world of Appanna, but to no avail.
Rani, being aggrieved and upset, dreams that she is in the comfortable company of her parents:
Then Rani's parents embrace her and cry. They kiss her and embrace her. Don't worry, Don't be
worry, they promise her. We don’t let you go away again ever. But the parents, in reality, do not
come to her rescue, holding the view that she would be happy with her husband or it would be an
act of encroachment on the territory of the husband. In her imagination she finds the stag with
golden antlers comes to the door. He explains, as I am a prince. It is evident that she has cherished
a desire that a prince would come and make her real Rani, but Appanna, in the form of monster,
has taken her away and reduced her to the position of a maid to look after his physical needs.
Then she alone in the house at night imagines: the demon locks her up in his castle. The demon is
none other than Appanna who locks her up in the house. Rani only duty is to cook food for him.
He locks her up in the house and brings home a watchdog and a mongoose to ensure her complete
alienation from the society.
At this critical juncture in Rani’s life, Kurudavva, a blind and aged woman, comes to her rescue,
but her help is limited in time and space. Kurudavva offers her magical roots as remedy to win
back her husband from the clutches of his mistress. But the magical potion turns into a disaster-
like situation as Appanna consumes it; he falls on the floor and becomes unconscious. On the
insistence of Kurudavva, Rani tries the bigger root to woo her husband, but the curry turns red-
--blood red. Frightened Rani stealthily rushes out and pours it into the anthill, but this gesture of
Rani infuriates Appanna. In fury, he slaps her hard and she collapses to the floor. It is Rani who
feels herself nothing without Appanna. That is why, she does not give him the blood coloured
curry even though it is believed to have power enough to win over Appanna’s love and attention.
Rani, alike the Indian wives, is concerned about the safety of her husband: Suppose something
happens to my husband? What will my fate be? Forgive me god. This is evil. I was about to
commit a crime. Father, mother how could your daughter agree to such a heinous act. No tradition-
bound Indian woman likes to see her husband die before her death and wants to become a widow.
Born and brought up in the man-made system, she is averse even to the idea of death of her
husband while she remains alive because she knows that the life of a widow is not only vulnerable
but also painful.
Ironically enough, the magical potion succeeds in wooing Naga living in the anthill. Now Naga
visits her at night through the drain in bathroom and puts on the guise of Appanna. Naga gradually
succeeds in breaking her frigidity and removing her feelings of fear and insecurity with the help
of honeyed words. Rani tells Naga: don’t feel afraid anymore, with you beside me. He praises her
long tresses and talks a lot about her parents, besides listening to her intently. Gradually, Rani
falls in love with Naga and waits for him impatiently when the evening approaches, and when he
does not come for fifteen days, she spends her nights crying wailing, pining for him. Naga coaxes
her into sexual union, and resultantly she becomes pregnant, but this turn of events invites anger,
insults and beatings from Appanna. At this critical juncture, Naga also expresses his helplessness:
sorry, but it cannot be done and does not like to be exposed publicly. But it is Naga who brings
about radical changes in Rani. Now she becomes bold and assertive. When Naga expresses his
helplessness to save her from the chastity test, Rani comes out with reactionary words:
I was 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 sparrow. Why don’t you take it on trust that
I have a mind and explain this charade to me? Why do you play these games? Why do you change
like a chameleon from day to night? Even if I understood a little, a tiny bit----but I could bear it.
But now---sometimes I feel my head is going to burst!
When Rani reveals her pregnancy to Appanna, he beats her up accusing her of adultery with the
indecorous ugly words: Aren’t you ashamed to admit it you harlot? I locked you in, and yet you

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