Identity Crisis in the Plays of Girish Karnad

Girish Karnad states that his was a generation that was the first to come of age after India became independent of British rule. It was a generation that that had to tackle tensions between the cultural past of the country and its colonial past, between the attractions of Western modes of thought and native traditions, and finally between the various visions of the future that opened up once the common cause of political freedom was achieved. This, he says, is the historical context that gave rise to his plays and those of his contemporaries, in the introduction to his Three Plays. Therefore, these writers were at the threshold of identity crisis as they stepped onto a post-independent India and it is this sensibility that gives rise to their plays.

Karnad encountered a state of identity crisis not only on the social level and cultural level, but on the personal front as well. At the end of his stay in Mumbai, he received a scholarship to go and stay abroad for further studies. This sparked off disturbances in Karnad's family. In those days, it was a infrequent phenomenon to go abroad. It was tougher for him as he was from a close-knit family and was the first member of the family to ever go out of the country. Karnad's parents were apprehensive lest he would choose to settle abroad. Karnad echoes his thoughts at the moment in his Introduction to his Three Plays:"Should I at the end of my studies return home for the sake of my family, my people and my country, even at the risk of my abilities and training not being fully utilized in what seemed a stifling claustrophobic atmosphere, or should I rise above such parochial considerations and go where the world drew me?"(2)

It was this situation that gave rise to his first play, Yayati. The plot of Yayati is drawn from the Mahabharata. The king for moral misdemeanor, is cursed to old age in the prime of his life. Distressed at losing youth, he approaches his son, pleading with him to lend his youth in exchange for old age. The son accepts the curse and becomes old, older than his father. 'The old age brings no knowledge, no self-realization, only the senselessness of a punishment meted out for an act for which he had not even participated.'(3) The father is left to face the penalty of shirking responsibility for his own actions. At that point, for Karnad, the act of writing a play was just an act to escape from his stressful situations. But on looking back, he realizes how the myth mirrored his apprehensions at that moment and his indignation at all those who demanded that he forgo his future.

This explains why we find the recurring theme in his plays. It manifests itself through various features. Such as, in the use of masks, use of allegorical names and the bringing together of the human and non-human worlds. Most of the time, it is titular, as in

-Haya/vadana

-Broken Images

-Tale-danda(cutting of the head)

-The Fire and the Rain(two opposing elements)

-Tughlaq(a person embodying contradictory traits)

-Yayati(a myth that chooses between two worlds)

Sometimes, the idea occurs right at the beginning of the play.

In Broken Images:

...for you know only

A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,

And the dead tree gives no shelter,...(1)

In Nagamandala:

The inner sanctum of a ruined temple. The idol is broken so that the presiding deity of the temple cannot be identified.(22)

In Hayavadana, the Bhagavata sings praises to Lord Ganesha:

O single-tusked destroyer of incompleteness,

We pay homage to you and start our play. (73)

In Bali, the Sacrifice:

As the world is divided

Into two orbs:

One lit up by the sun

the other hid in the shade.

So also the human soul,

the habitation of gods,

is split into two realms-(73)

And again on the same page:

The inner sanctum of a ruined temple.

The pedestal on which the deity once stood is intact. But as for the image, only the feet survive, suggesting a standing figure.

In addition, we find the topical idea in his other plays as well. If Karnad's Hayavadana explores man's identity within the framework of the head/body hierarchy, and Nagamandala within the gender hierarchy, Tale-danda examines man's identity in the social hierarchy with special reference to caste, and how far social institutions shape his role and identity. While reading the play, one is perplexed whether man creates social institutions or social institutions by default creates his identity.

Social institutions do indeed play a powerful role in the play. King Bijjala, the most powerful person in the kingdom, in spite of everything cringes at reference to his caste.

I am a Kalachurya, Katta churra. A barber. His Majesty King Bijjala is a barber by caste. (21)

One's caste is like the skin on one's body. You can peel it off top to toe, but when the new skin forms there you are again, a barber- a shepherd- a scavenger. (21)

The Dreams of Tipu Sultan brings together the conflict between the colonial past and cultural past, in the Sultan's quest for certain truths. What were the Indians striving for by fighting against each other, the Sultan wonders. They went to the extent of backstabbing each other for monetary gains. However, the British endeavoured for something larger than life. They did not deceive their own race as they believed deeply in the destiny their race. They identified with a dream called England. The Sultan asserts that "it is not a religion that sustains them nor a land that feeds them. They wouldn't be here if it did. It's just a dream for which they are willing to kill and die Children of England."

While the Marathas, the Nizam and the Rajas sided with the British for material prosperity. Tipu held his own, maintained his integrity and individuality and hence immortalized himself as the 'Tiger of Mysore'. Such was his status that it was enough for Lord Cornwallis to overthrow him to reinstate his position from his devastating defeat with the American colonies. Never the one to adopt aggressive tactics by taking advantage of his enemies' weak stance-Tipu would always fight his equal -something that made him grow even more in power and prestige. Nevertheless, the transience of a towering personality is evident at the outset of the play as the soldiers treat him as a mere 'carcass' and behave grotesquely by chopping of his whiskers in a somber moment as the inevitability of death and transitoriness of life come to light .One wonders what colour political glory and material prosperity lends to one's identity at moments like these?

Even though, Karnad deals with the subject of identity crisis in most of his plays, there remains no reservation to the fact that he has a strong sense of identity- as Rani tries to discover hers, Tughlaq attempts to establish his, and Basavanna immortalizes his principles. Call him an Indian English writer or dub him a writer caught between Indian ethnicity and Western outlook; a wise man once said that a man's feet should be firmly rooted in his own country, but his eyes must survey the world. And Karnad bears testimony to this adage.