Epic Themes in Indo-English Plays

In Indo-English literature, drama is, of course, not so rich as poetry and fiction. Yet we find some 400 plays and playlets as shown in thelatest bibliography prepared under the auspices of Karnatak University and published in Perspectives on Indian Drama in English (OUP, Madras, 1977). Though many of them are not fully stageworthy, some playwrights have made significant contribution to the field in the treatment of their themes. Of course, the plays with social themes are many; but we find that the rich sources of the history, epics, myths and legends of this ancient country do not seem to have been fully tapped by the playwrights of both the pre-Independence and the post-Independence phases. Yet there are some plays with such themes, and the present article attempts at analysing the plays that have drawn from the two great epics of the country The Ramayana and The Mahabharata. While in the pre-Independence phase these epics have interested playwrights like T. P. Kailasam and K. S. Ramaswami Sastri, in the post-Independence phase they have supplied themes to some playwrights like V. V. Srinivasa Aiyangar, Mathuram Bhutalingam, Smt. K. B. Thakur, Sadar-Joshi and others.

Pre-Independence Phase

T. P. Kailasam is one of the major playwrights in the pre-Independence phase. Though essentially a Kannada playwright, he has to his credit some plays and playlets in English also: The Burden, The Purpose, Fulfilment, The Curse or Karna and Keechaka. While the story of The Burden is from The Ramayana, the other plays are based upon some episodes from The Mahabharata. A blending of genius and vision, a fertile imagination can be found in his plays in general, and ready wit and subtle humour in his Kannada plays in particular. In his treatment of the epic themes, he tries to highlight the greatness of the epic characters.

            The Burden is perhaps Kailasam’s indirect attempt of modification of Bhasa’s Samskrit work Pratima natakam (The Statue-play) further elevating the theme to tragic heights.

While returning from their grandfather’s place to Ayodhya Bharata and Satrughna scent some catastrophe in the capital by seeing the dimlit royal path. They first meet two aged Chamberlains-at-court and make enquiries with them, who are too sad to narrate the incident. At last, with great difficulty they get information about the death of their father Dasaratha and the banishment of Sri Rama; and they are totally upset. Bharata is so much enraged that he even takes the Royal Priest Vasishtha to task for not having saved his father. In the end, Vasishtha consoles him and directs him to do his duty next.

Next, The Purpose, a play in 2 acts, is one of the main contributions made by Kailasam to Indo-English Drama. It is a matter of wonder that the only a few words mentioned by Vyasa about Ekalavya in Adi Parva and a passing reference made in Drona Parva of The Mahabharata could become a powerful play in his hands.

While in The Burden Bharata is directed to do “the man’s task of bearing the burden that fate hath placed” and thus the title is significant, the title of The Purpose highlights the purpose of Ekalavya’s life. In this direction, Kailasam makes his own imaginations. He naturally makes his Ekalavya observe from a distance the skills in archery, and then practise in his place with the image of his Guru in his mind. Further, when Drona is helplessly caught in a mental conflict on Arjuna’s serious charge, Ekalavya, though, placed in between dual loyalty (towards his teacher on one side and his fawns on the other), realises Drona’s awkward position and voluntarily sacrifices his right thumb as gurudakshma. This voluntary act creates a romantic world altogether and takes the story to dramatic heights; and the scene is so moving that even Drona is aghast looking at the maimed hand of Ekalavya. There cannot be a better denouement for the suspense though the playwright’s attempt to make his Ekalavya a tragic hero of the Elizabethan type has not met with full success.

In handling the theme of The Purpose, Kailasam lays an emphasis on the power of penance, its potentiality of concentration and a single-minded effort on the one hand and the purpose of doing a thing (here, learning archery) on the other. Among the three kinds of people whose purposes are different, Ekalavya belongs to the third category whose “one aim is in his labour that others might reap the harvest his toils without the least profit to himself (karmana pararthaha).”

Kailasam’s next playlet Fulfilmentis a natural sequel to The Purpose. It is said that Dr. C. R. Reddy, after listening to a recital of The Purpose, posed a question: “Well; what becomes of Ekalavya then?” Kailasam readily replied, “Fulfilment” and Reddy said, “Kailasam, you must write the whole series.” As Sri B. S. Rama Rao informs, a MS possessed by him connects the two pieces (forming a full-fledged tragedy), and according to it, Ekalavya had given his consent to join the Kauravas in the ensuing fray.

In Fulfilment, the divine-human Krishna tries to dissuade Ekalavya from joining the Kauravas; but in vain. At last, while Ekalavya goes on narrating the story of the Bird’s Tree, Krishna stealthily stabs him to death (and next, his mother too) and tries to justify his act with the words, “It is the purpose of the killing, and not the manner of killing that decides the fairness of the killing.”

The romantic sense of Kailasam calls for such a drastic dramatic imagination, and it is no wonder if Dr. K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar is tempted to remark, “Fulfilment is almost the crown of Kailasam’s dramatic art.” But, however, the playwright’s imagination, one has to question the probability of Ekalavya’s joining the Kauravas in view of the fact that Ekalavya’s sacrifice of his right thumb has already rendered him almost unfit for archery. Further, compared to Ekalavya, Lord Krishna of the playlet seems to be debased as highly selfish and partial. One would be simply stunned and would find it difficult to reconcile oneself to the horrible treacherous act committed by Krishna, though Ekalavya is supposed to have transgressed his purpose in life. Thus the obnoxious character of Krishna created by Kailasam tarnishes his powerful imagination, and brings down the dramatic status of Fulfilmentcompared to that of The Purpose.

Next, The Curse or Karna also bears evidence to Kailasam’s originality in handling the theme from The Mahabharata. To Kailasam, the entire epic is nothing but the tragedy of Karna (as remarked by Pampa a Kannada poet). As such, the playwright makes Kama the nucleus, around which all the main events take place. In his design of idealising the hero, he deviates from the original to some extent. His concept of Karna is briefly stated in his sonnet, according to which Karna is a–  

Befooled babe ’gainst fate’s bewild’ring odds!
Bejewelled bauble of the jeering gods!

In the play, Kailasam creates a romantic atmosphere and gives all importance to characterisation, particularly in some scenes. In the court scene, instead of rejoicing at the insult attempted by Dussasana to Droupadi, Karna shows chivalry by threatening the tyrant with the words, “Desist! Move but a step and you die!” His loyalty to Duryodhana and helping nature are highlighted in the play. Further, even just before his death, he takes Aswatthama to task for the latter’s curse; this innovation made by Kailasam adds a sense of pathos and deepens the tragic situation.

Like Bhasa, the playwright ennobles Suyodhana who advocates Karna’s right to become a king:

Thy lowly birth, my brother, it will prove
No robber of thy noble worth, not while
I am Crowned Prince of Kuruland.

According to Kama, “intrinsic worth it is, not accidental birth,” and “ ’tis worth that counts, not idle boast of blood or birth.” This reminds us of Karna of Bhattanarayana who says to Aswatthama in his Samskrit play Venisamharam: “I may be a Soota (fisherman) or the son of a Soota or somebody else; fate is responsible for birth, but valour is mine.” Further, while Kailasam’s Kunti does not reveal her identity to Karna at the time of taking the desired promise, his foster-mother Radha is given greater importance, and in her he could observe a real mother that “may not, will not see or know a world beyond her son.”

As Dr. K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar remarks, “the working out of the curse punctuates the dramatic action, giving every time a new edge of despair to Karna’s giant endeavours to redeem himself and his royal friend and master Duryodhana,” and thus the tragedy deepens at each stage. But it is difficult to understand how the play could be “an impression of Sophocles in five acts” though Kailasam calls it so. Still less is the playwright’s success in making Karna a tragic hero of Shakespearean type for want of a major tragic flaw of his own. Further the play lacks suspense as the ill-fated Karna reveals the secret of his curse at every stage; and also the whole piece looks like a series of pictures.

Next, Kailasam’s Keechakais disappointing so far as the handling of the epic theme is concerned. Entirely different from Keechaka of The Mahabharata, the playwright’s hero is so much exalted and idealised that the essense of the original story is lost, though the romantic impulse is there. Yet some of the changes made by Kailsasam could interest the audience of romantic temperament. Unlike the cruel and lusty epic hero, the playwright’s Keechaka is a man of valour, who is highly skilled in mace (not in archery) and who returns disappointed from the wedding contest of Draupadi where, to his misfortune, archery is given importance. Thus frustrated, he resorts to war campaigns and brings wealth and fame to the Virata kingdom every year. Also, he differs from the epic hero as he is tired of too many victories and thus he himself craves for defeat and death at the hands of an equally strong man. Some of his virtues are his chivalry, his impartiality in seeing potential talent in others and his reverence for Guru. Further, in taking the audience to a world of romance, Kailasam shows his knowledge of wrestling and gives details of some grips like the death-grip used in the fight between Keechaka and Valala.

To conclude, Kailasam can effectively present the epic themes on the stage so as to highlight the great qualities of characters. While The Purpose serves as a good example in this regard, the playwright goes to the other extreme in Keechaka(because of his over-idealisation and excessive sentimentality), the other plays coming in between. In handling such themes, he does not fail to create the world of romance; and also he shows his ability to make sequences (like the learning of archery by Ekalavya) logical. But, compared to Sri Aurobindo, Girish Karnad and others, he does not seem to be so much inclined to presenting contemporary problems through old myths and legends as to show greatness in his epic heroes.

Another playwright in the pre-Independence phase who draws his theme from The Mahabharata is K. S. Ramaswami Sastri. The story of the epic as presented in Droupadihis verse-play in 5 acts revolves round Droupadi as nucleus, at the same time highlighting the divinity of Lord Krishna. The playwright dramatises some important incidents connected with the heroine’s life, viz., her marriage, the game of dice between the Pandavas and the Kauravas the former losing everything, their life in the forest and incognito, Keechaka’s death, the war, the Pandavas’ victory :and the final journey of their life.

Like Kailasam in The Curse or Kama, Sastri tries his best in all the scenes to focus light on the central character. Particularly, the revengeful attitude of Droupadi is well-portrayed in the scene lot the Pandavas, defeat in the game, her suffering in the forest and in the Virata kingdom, and finally the death of Dussasana and Duryodhana. Though thus revengeful, she could redeem even enemies like Aswatthama and also rise to spiritual heights making a final appeal to the Lord “to absorb me in thy love’s eternal sea”. Thus Droupadi of the play is idealised to some extent compared to the heroine of the epic. But the idealisation is not carried too far to make us forget the original story itself as done by Kailasam in his Keechaka. But in dealing with the theme, the playwright unnecessarily introduces some imaginary conversations of citizens, and thus fails to maintain the tempo of the play on the stage.

Post-Independence Phase

Among the Indo-English plays published after Independence, V. V. Srinivasa Aiyangar’s Ramarajyais one, its theme being the depiction of an ideal kingdom of an ideal king. Here is a small attempt to interpret the story of The Ramayana from a contemporary angle of view. The playwright demonstrates his wishful thinking for a modern ideal State by imagining some pictures: King Rama as a common man, his sacrifice for the good of humanity, his socialism shown in the episode of Harihara Sastry and Bhaskara Gupta, controls on currency and trade, employing the armed forces to supervise various industries during the time of peace, protection to infant industries and the people’s realisation of their responsibilities shown in Satyamurthi’s episode.

As expounded in the works like Valmiki’s The Ramayana, Plato’s republic and Lewis’ The Magnetic Mountain, it is but natural that the concept of an ideal State differs from time to time though the basic principle remains the same; and it is in the light of this fact that Aiyangar’s play is to be analysed. As Sir C. P. Ramaswamy Iyer points out, “he has, with the instinct of a true playwright, interwoven into the ancient story, episodes and lessons bearing on the life of today.” The modern concept of democracy and socialism is traced in the ancient benevolent monarchy; which idea is expressed in the statements like “the king is like a common man and the common man like a king” and “All food is the common property of those who are hungry”; and the hero of the play is portrayed as one who is wedded to truth, justice and service to humanity. But the playwright does not develop the plot so as to present a continuous story, and thus the “five acts” look like some fragments artificially knit together. Further the play may fail to impress the audience on account of its excessive dialogue without action and the lack of suspense in it.

Another attempt to view the hero of The Ramayana from a modern angle and make him more human than divine is made by Mathuram Bhoothalingam in the play Alone in Ayodhya. Here is an imaginative reconstruction (in 6 scenes) of an episode from the last part of the epic (sending Sita to the forest). The inner struggle of Sri Rama, the conflict between his duty as a king and his human emotions constitutes the theme of the play. Of course, the epic story is there–Sri Rama’s order of banishment of his queen Sita, the purity of whose character is doubted by the malicious tongue of a washerman as she had lived in Ravana’s capital for a year. With this nucleus, the playwright develops the plot inventing a number of events to highlight the struggle; expecting Sita to declare her purity before the People’s Assembly; the character of Soudasa the Governor of the province of Madhuvana and the Lavanas’ rebellion; the intrigue of Rama’s ministers, Mantrapala and Jayanta, and their attempt to lower the power of the Chief Minister, Sumantra; the assault on the sage Uttama by his son Somadeva; the language and other issues.

Thus, in addition to maintaining the nobility of Rama, the playwright makes him perfectly human with the aid of innovations of various political intrigues and his democratic way of treating the People’s Assembly; and also, unlike Aiyangar’s Ramarajya, Mathuram’s play has a coherence of sequences and logical plot-construction; and does not give an impression of a collection of unconnected fragments. Further, unlike the heroine of the epic, Sita of the play is not fully submissive; in spite of her deep love towards Rama, she argues and also desires to participate in the politics of the kingdom. Also, like the heroine of Maithilisaran Gupta’s Hindi work Saketh, Urmila is given much importance and portrayed as a woman of high self-respect who takes her husband Lakshmana to task for being too proud of Raghu’s race and neglecting his wife; but her conversations occupy an unwarranted space in the play, making the main plot somewhat loose and thereby impeding its development.

Next, as in the pre-Independence phase, The Mahabharata supplies themes to some plays in this phase also. Smt. K. B. Thakur’s Mother and Child, a Bhavan’s Journal Competition Prize-winner, is a 3-act play which deals with the tragic story of Karna of the epic. The playwright concentrates on a few events of Karna’s life: The sage Durvasa’s boon to the maiden Kunti, the Sun-god’s grace leading to the birth of Karna, leaving the child for the fear of social scandal, Krishna’s useless persuasion (at Kunti’s instance) of Karna to desist from the war, finally her revelation of truth of Karna’s birth and her direct persuasion resulting only in a promise to spare his other brothers excepting Arjuna.

As in Tagore’s Karna and Kunti, Mrs. Thakur focusses light on the natural inseparable bondage between a mother and her child and the consequent conflict she has to undergo when it comes to a question of occurrence of her child’s birth in a manner not sanctioned by rigid society. As this natural attraction and the conflict from the nucleus here, the playwright judiciously chooses only such events as are directly pertaining to them, though it is rather an unbearable strain on the audience to imagine the hero’s life in the big gap left between the first and the second acts, between Karna’s birth and the commencement of the war (where the Pravesaka technique of our classical Samskrit drama would have come to her aid). In addition to the maiden Kunti’s curiosity to test the effect of the sage’s boon, the unfolding of her motherly feelings is well-presented (in Act I) by her strong wavering to part with the child. Now, in the second act, she is the legitimate mother of the Pandavas, and though she is compelled to hide the birth of Karna, her motherly dimensions are broadened. Here are the outpourings of her maternal heart: “A mother’s heart trembles for the safety of her sons who alone are her life” and they are similar to what Kailasam’s Radha says to her foster-son. In the last act, the playwright enhances the conflict in her Kunti who is helplessly swayed between her tender motherly heart and the man-made code of conduct, vis-a-visthe loyal and outspoken Karna. Thus, with suspense she successfully develops her plot concentrating on the theme of relation between the mother and the child.

The theme of D. A. Sadar-Joshi’s 5-act play Acharya Drana is also drawn from The Mahabharata and, as the title suggests, it attempts to glorify the life of one of the great characters of the epic. According to the play, Acharya Drona the preceptor of the Pandava and the Kaurava princes has a material-minded wife by name Krupi. She induces her husband to be the Commander of the Kaurava forces in the war; at which Sakuni raises a great controversy by attributing the charges of his partiality towards the Pandavas and traces them to the affair of the teacher’s fee that he demanded from his tribal student Ekalavya. Caught in a mental conflict arising from the moving incidents around him, he finally accepts Generalship against his own will and also against the currents and cross-currents of opinions about him. Though he reconciles himself to fate, he performs his duty with all sincerity in the battlefield and meets his downfall on account of the net tactfully spread by Krishna.

The playwright is successful in his design of universalising the teacher’s character by his imagination of other suitable characters like Drona’s wife who is unable to rise from the general social order to her husband’s level of thinking and also of the acute mental conflict encountered by the Acharya at the time of his acceptance of the Commandership of the Kaurava army; and this addition to Vyasa’s portrayal of the great Acharya contributes to the characterisation of the hero in shining contrast with others...Here Drona is the symbol of a teacher who, with his simple living and high thinking, is always engaged in moulding the character of his pupils and unfolding their hidden power to sustain them through the storm and stress in the ever-changing phases of life; who, frank and outspoken, stands on principles without caring for the consequences; and who, in addition to his rich spiritual heritage of a Brahmin, is a master of archery. Further, there seems to be an echo of the Sankhyaphilosophy in the play (vide the terms ‘Prakriti’ and ‘Purusha’ mentioned in the dialogue) and this may inherently mean the Energy in the form of the universal teacher activating the inert Matter of the world.

But, there is no suspense except in the scenes presenting his mental conflict; and moreover, the speech being more and action less, the whole play looks more like an essay on Drona’s character than a well-developed plot suited for the stage. Further, in his enthusiasm to idealise the character of Drona, the playwright unwarrantedly imagines a conversation between Ekalavya and some tribesmen in act 2; and this unnaturally prolongs the tense moment of Ekalavya’s offering of the teacher’s fee and impedes the tempo of the main plot. Also, while Kailasam makes his Ekalavya first observe the practices in archery from a distance and thereby gives a natural tinge to the epic story, Sadar-Joshi lessens our interest in the episode by simply arranging an earlier meeting of the teacher and the pupil. These factors can make the play rather dull on the stage though the thought-provoking dialogues make good reading.

Next, in his one-act play Uttara Gita or The Gita Reminded, Padmanabhi Krishna Murthy conceives a scene in the last portion of The Mahabharata in order to highlight the Vedantic thought enshrined in the Bhagavad Gita. After the war, Arjuna is grief-stricken on account of the loss of his kith and kin as well as his elders like Dronacharya. He has no mind to attend the coronation ceremony of his elder brother Yudhishthira; nor would he accept the post of the Commander-in-Chief offered. He decides to renounce all mundane pleasures and lead the life of a vanaprastha. To put him in the path of action again, Lord Krishna takes him to a forest where they meet a family of a Brahmin. The son of the Brahmin is dead; but none of the members of the family is upset by it. First they treat the guests and tell them that they will attend to the funeral rites of the dead man only afterwards. At last, the maid-servant explains the practice enunciated in the Gita. This reminds Arjuna of the immortal poem, and then ashamed of his conduct, he returns to the capital thinking of his duty.

According to the epic, it seems that, after the war, Yudhishthira (and not Arjuna) develops disgust at the kingdom gained at the cost of so many lives of the nearest and the dearest, and hence thinks of going to the forest; and, persuaded by Droupadi, Arjuna and others, he occupies the throne. Thus, in the context of the original epic story, it is rather difficult to appreciate the playwright’s imagination that Arjuna seeks the life of a hermit...However, the play has suspense and action throughout and each minute of the host’s treatment of the guests at the critical moment arouses curiosity among the audience. Further, according to the requirements of the one-act play form, the playwright concentrates on the single theme of reminding Arjuna of the preachings of the Gita; and it is but natural that man (symbolised here by Arjuna) needs such frequent reminders from the Lord in regard to discharging his worldly duties without much attachment to both the joys and the sorrows of life. Thus, so far as the plot-construction is concerned, the play is stage-worthy; but the language in raw style employed in the dialogue can mar its success.

Dramatic Dialogues

In Indo-English Drama, there are a few dramatic dialogues (not full-fledged plays), the themes for which are drawn from the epics. “Ketaki” conceives two such dialogues of which one is about two characters of The Mahabharata (and the other about those of The Bhagavata. (“Bheeshma and Drona” by “Ketaki” –Triveni, Jan. 1951). His dialogue Bheeshma and Drona is imagined to have been held just before the marriage of Droupadi. Drona tells that he is in search of a young Kshatriya whom he can train in archery so that the insult suffered by him at the hands of Drupada could be avenged. Bheeshma who foresees annihilation, welcomes Drona to train the future kings of the Kuru race; for “you are the fittest person to train them in the art of hatred, filled to the brim, as you are yourself with hatred.” Their conversation next turns on to Karna’s story, the evil steps taken by Duryodhana against the Pandavas and finally the Kaurava’s preparation to go to Droupadi’s Swayamvara. Thus, in the dialogue, the author does not concentrate on a single topic; but he achieves success in his design of contrasting the wisdom of Bheeshma with the skill, in archery and determination of Drona.

In Gandharee and Aaikeyee, Kamala Subramanian extends her imagination too far and brings together two queens (probably in heaven) belonging to two different yugas. Each explains to the other her standpoint about the peculiar situation which caused some mistaken notions among the people. Kaikeyee tells Gandharee how she first rejoiced at the news of Sri Rama’s coronation and then how Manthara’s words forced her to demand Sri Rama’s exile and her son’s coronation. According to Gandharee, it is her extreme affection to her son Suyodhana that urged her to hear the tinkling laughter of Droupadi insulting Suyodhana, but not her sobs when she was insulted by him at the royal court. Thus, within the scope available, the author projects the image of two characters; Kaikeyee as the victim of circumstances and Gandharee as a mother to whom blind affection towards her own son is of greater importance than protection of another lady’s honour.

In conclusion, one can find that only a few Indo-English playwrights have attempted at interpreting the ancient myths and legends of our country from a contemporary angle of view; but in handling the epic themes, many have successfully portrayed the greatness of their heroes. However, it is disappointing to note that, in Indo-English Drama, the rich fund of material available in our ancient lore has not been fully tapped.