November - 2011 Orissa Review

Mythical Elements in Indian Plays : A Study of

ABSTRACT
Girish Karnad’s plays abound with the elements of myth. In this paper the researcher tried to
present the treatment of myth in Naga-Mandala of Girish Karnad. The aim of the researcher is to
find out how far the mythical elements have been exploited by the dramatist to portray the socio-
cultural problems and the evils of the society. It is concluded that although the ending of the play is
not within the orthodoxy of Indian epic texts and Hindu philosophy, it can be seen in the cultural
context of Indian woman of today who seeks to fulfil her needs and aspirations.

The middle and late nineteenth century saw many Tusker), and Indira Parthasarathi (Aurangzeb),
writers in colonial India, notably Michael to name just a few.
Madhusudhan Dutt (Sharmishtha in Bangla),
Annasaheb Kirloskar (Subhadra in Marathi), The inexhaustible lore of myths, parables
Vishnudas Bhave (who experimented with akhyan and legends that pattern and define our culture
or verse narrations and Yaksha-gaan, a Kannada offers immense scope for the Indian dramatists
folk art form) struggle with this atemporal legacy, as Shastri says, “Myth, at all events, is raw
and begin to reorient myth and folklore towards material, which can be the stuff of literature”.3 Our
negotiating contemporary Indian realities. As he early playwrights writing in English like Sri
avows himself, Girish Karnad1 owes as much to Aurobindo and Kailasam selected their themes
this strain of ‘Indian’ theatre history as he does to from the myths and legends of Indian Literature.
the psychological complexity and individualism of Though Karnad’s themes appear to build castles
the European dramatic tradition. 2 This sensitivity, in the air, he took refuge in the myths and legends
then, to the cross-pollination of multiple dramatic and made them the vehicle of a new vision. His
traditions is crucial to any assessment of Karnad’s childhood exposure to street plays in Karnataka
position vis-à-vis Indian drama. It allows one to villages and his familiarity with western dramas
recognise the uniqueness of Karnad’s dramatic staged in Bombay have induced him to retell the
vision and see him also as part of the post- secular legends of India to suit the modern
independence ‘modern’ phase of Indian theatre, context. A vigorous vitality that combs the past
one where he shares space with Badal Sircar for apt myths to analyze the present has been the
(Evam Indrajit), Vijay Tendulkar (Ghasiram hallmark of Girish Karnad, the pre-eminent Indian
Kotwal), K.N. Panikkar (Ottayan/The Lone playwright in the Kannada language.

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Karnad’s creative genius lies in taking comp osed in traditional, realistic and post
up fragments of historical-legendary experience modern forms …. Like masks worn by actors
and fusing them into a forceful statement. By that allow them to express otherwise hushed
using the ‘grammar of literary archetype’, truths, Indian theatre enables immediate,
Karnad links the past and the present, the manipulative representations of reality. 7
archetypal and the real. Issues of the present Gifted playwrights have discovered
world find their parallels in the myths and fables source materials from myths and legends and have
of the past, giving new meanings and insights employed them creatively. Realism in drama was
reinforcing the theme. By transcending the limits a totally new concept and it was alien to theatrical
of time and space, myths provide flashes of conventions. Myths and legends serve as a
insight into life and its mystery. They form an surrogate for Karnad’s plays. When Karnad was
internal part of cultural consciousness of the asked the reason for his handling of myths and
land, with different meanings and it reflects the legends, he replied that his sole purpose was to
contemporary issues. Karnad believes in the narrate the particular story effectively and so, “the
Jungian collective racial consciousness and so borrowed tales are given a turn of the screw, as it
turns to the past habitually for the source were, which works wonders with his plays”. 8
materials. As Dhanavel says, the borrowed
myths are “reinterpreted to fit pre-existing Karnad’s Naga-Mandala is based on
cultural emphasis”.4 All his plays are literary two oral tales from Karnataka as we know from
excavations of the Indian collective past – the what he says in his “Introduction” to Three Plays:
racial, mythical, legendary and the historical … these tales are narrated by women- normally
and they have a strong contemporary relevance. the older women in the family-while children are
By using these myths he tried to reveal the being fed in the evenings in the kitchen or being
absurdity of life with all its elemental passions put to bed. The other adults present on these
and conflicts and man’s eternal struggle to occasions are also women. Therefore these tales,
achieve perfection Vanashree Tripathy has said though directed at the children, often serve as a
that “Literature and Myth merely dramatize, parallel system of communication among the
heighten and highlight what is theoretically women in the family. 9
possible in nature and science.5 According to The dramatist also attempts to instil an
Jyoti Sahi, “Girish Karnad’s art can be alienation effect by driving the material of the play
described as a vision of reality”.6 So, Karnad from the folk tales, and also by using the ‘non-
delves deep into the traditional myths to spell materialistic techniques’ of the traditional Indian
modern man’s anguish and dilemmas that are theatre. The title of the play is not the name of a
created in his mind. Karnad does not take the human character, but it is that of a snake. As the
myths in their entirety, he takes only fragments name suggests, it revolves around a woman and
that are useful to him and the rest he a serpent. As this play is based on a folk tale it
supplements with his imagination to make his could be observed that the serpent plays an
plots interesting. His interest was not in important role as in most such narrations all over
recreating old myths and legends but in the world. “We are forced to believe that there
representing them to suit his artistic purpose. exists a theory that the mothers of great men in
Karnad himself has revealed that Theatre can history such as Scipio, Alexander the great, and
simultaneously be entertainment, political Augustus Ceasar were all impregnated by
commentary and artistic statement and can be serpents”. 10 It is believed that snake myths are

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found extensively in Brahmanism, Buddhism, of the experience of man and woman in the
Lamaistic and Japanese writing. In Naga- psychologically transitional phase.
Mandala, the story of the cobra suggests that In a folk tale, there is a magician or a
the play is intended to dramatize not merely the snake that assumes the form of the Prince, enters
folk tales, but also to imply a deeper meaning at the palace and woes the beautiful Princess, locked
various levels. The folk-tale element of the Naga- up in the palace. When the Prince becomes aware
Mandala and the magical power, which the cobra of this, he gets the snake/ magician killed and the
possesses continually, remind the spectators that Princess then sets him a riddle. If he fails to answer,
they are only watching a play. he has to die. This existential crisis is treated in
The play deals with a ‘self-involved’ hero, the folk tale in different ways. In Karnad’s play,
who undergoes a test put to him by his wife in the story takes a happy turn, both Rani and
order to survive. The psychological inadequacy Appanna adjusting to the family and community
he is trapped in causes acute lack of understanding in a socially useful manner. But this is achieved
and communication between him and his wife. It after upsetting the male egoism and exaggerated
is a threat to family and society. Every man through sense of power over women. The male
adolescence faces this existential problem and so assumption of keeping full control over the body,
he must learn to overcome and this becomes more sexuality and virtue of women through the
comprehensive in Karnad’s plays. Naga- insinuations of family and values like chastity are
Mandala is not only about the male difficulty to mocked in the story.
trust and love women, it seems to be about the Appanna’s violent reaction to his wife’s
socialization process of both men and women, infidelity does not make him consider for a moment
particularly in the Indian society, where marriages his infidelity towards her. The other villagers also
is more often than not the first experience of sex ignore this lapse on his part but they emphasize
and love for most people. The transition from the institution of marriage and the procreative
childhood into adolescence and then into adult function of the couple. The importance of the
roles has, in India, very different stages and family and progeny are established. The husband
psychological and cultural relationships are totally and the wife run towards each other, with a greater
different from other less tradition-bound societies. sense of relationship. The girl-bride now becomes
The Naga-Mandala probes into the female and the mother to be and as such gains a social
male growth into selfhood, and their mature recognition. This stage of Rani’s social integration
adjustment with the social roles appointed for brings her a new sense of respect and her own
them by the traditional society. worth. This is another significant aspect of the
Myths and folk tales in a patriarchal Indian social and cultural life in its treatment of
society represent primarily the male unconscious women.
fears and wishes and are patriarchal constructs In Kiranth’s words, “… an Indian
and male-oriented. In these stories the women’s woman knows that motherhood confers upon her
experiences and inner feelings are not given a purpose and identity that nothing else in her
importance. They do not probe much light on culture can”.11 As a mother, Rani is seen in the
women’s fears, anxieties and psychological last part of the story to be in command of the
problems. It is a remarkable achievement of household with some authority and decision
Karnad that he adapts this male-oriented folk tale making power. Appanna even agrees to her rather
in such a manner that it becomes a representation strange demand that their son should perform an

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annual “pinda-daan” in the memory of the dead orthodoxy of Indian epic texts, the play must be
snake. studied and interpreted not only by keeping
elements of Hindu philosophy as points of
In the alternate end to the play suggested
reference, but also by taking into account the
by the playwright, the snake does not die. It is
cultural context of the Indian woman of today who
allowed by Rani to live in her dark, long and cool
seeks to fulfil her needs and aspirations.
tresses. The lover is always present; he lives with
her, within the family. The danger to male authority References :
as a husband and patriarch lives on constantly at 1. Girish Karnad was born in Matheran, near Bombay,
close quarters but mostly within the woman’s in 1938 and grew up in Sirsi (Karnataka). He writes
imagination. The dutiful and loyal wife may his plays in Kannada and he himself translates
them into English.
observe the social, moral code entirely; yet within
2. ‘The door banged by Nora in The Doll’s House
her live the memories of the perfect lover who did not merely announce feminist rebellion against
had given her first emotional and erotic social slavery. It summed up what was to be the
experiences. These desires may haunt her or lie main theme of Western realistic drama over the
dormant within. Rani can understand emphatically next hundred years: a person’s need to be seen as
an individual, as an entity valuable in itself,
why Kappanna, the young man, who was bound independent of family and social circumstance.’
by filial duty to his old and blind mother, runs away See Girish Karnad, Three Plays, New Delhi: OUP,
one night. He had been pursuing his dream of a 1994, p.9.
beautiful woman. Though he resisted the alluring 3. Shastri, J.L., ed., Ancient Indian Tradition and
voice and presence of the dream girl, he was trying Mythology, Vol. 1: “The Shiva Purana”, Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidas, 1970, , pp. 229-230.
to be a dutiful son carrying his old mother on his
4. Dhanavel, P., The Indian Imagination of Girish
back. Finally he is pulled away when the dreams Karnad : Essays on Hayavadana, Delhi: Prestige,
become too powerful. Rani has gone through 2000, p.58.
these new desires, the daydreaming and fantasizing 5. Tripathi, Vanashree , Three Plays of Girish
about love and she understands their power over Karnad: A Study in Poetics and Culture, New
the social and moral duties. Delhi: Prestige, 2004, p.89.
6. Sahi, Jyoti, The Child and the Serpent: Reflections
The unique challenge of Naga-Mandala on Popular Indian Symbols, London : Routledge
lies in its exposure of its own limitations as a work & Kegan Paul, 1980, p.123.
of art. In this sense, the play is attuned to its 7. Karnad, Girish, Three Plays Nagamandala ,
contradictions with regard to women’s Hayavadana , Tughlaq , New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1994, p. 331.
experiences of desire, and the modes of self-
8. Chatterji, Suniti Kumar, Indian Drama, New Delhi:
expression available to them within existing Publication Division, 1981, p.36.
discourses. The play hints, indeed, that these 9. Karnad, Girish, Collected Plays : Tughlaq,
contradictions lie at the heart of myths as a whole. Hayavadana, Bali: The Sacrifice, Nagamandala
Karnad’s way of reckoning with the anxiety this (Play with a Cobra), Vol. One. Oxford: Oxford UP,
can generate is the classic postmodern theatrical 2005, p.16.
device of multiple endings. It appeals to the 10. Ibid., p. 276.
postmodern sensibility of the late twentieth- 11. Kiranth B.V., Translation of Hayavadana into
Hindi, Delhi: Radhakrishna Prakashan, 1975, p.57.
century of which Naga-Mandala is a good
example.
It can be concluded that, though the Dr. Tuta Eswar Rao, Lecturer, Department of English,
ending of Naga-Mandala is not within the M.K. Degree College, Gurandi, Dist. Gajapati, Orissa.

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