Sunday, August 21, 2022

The Curse of Karna

 Thanking Activities: The Curse Of  Karna





Tyagaraja  Paramasiva kailasam , popularly known as T. P. Kailasam was both a great playwright and a talented actor. His plays are lively representation of themes taken mostly from ancient Indian literature.  Commenting upon it S. Krishna Bhatta observs : 

It appears that his knowledge of ancient Indian literature and his long stay in England urged him to contribute something concrete to this sparsely cultivalted field. In spite of

The Curse of Karna 



Kailasam, in The Purpose, has beautifully concealed the conflict of the High-born and low-born behind the curtain of the struggler for supremacy in archery. However, as the play belong to pre-independent India, there can be identified certain hints and suggestions of colonial expansion and the exploitation of the have nots like Ekalavya. In this context Ekalavya seems to be representing fighters of freedom, wolves the English rulers, deer and fawns the people of India, and Arjuna symbolizes the feudal lords who obliquely helps the wolves.

Interpret the 'End' of all acts and scenes.

Act - 1

Raama : POOR KARNA! POOR, POOR KARNA !

Act - 2

 Gandharaj : POOR ANGA ! POOR POOR HONEST ANGA!

Act - 3

 The King Suryodhan :THE KING POOR ANGA !OUR POOR GREAT ANGA !

Act - 4 

 Bheema : Ange crumples into Bheema's arms who carries him out muttering amid tears : POOR ANGA ! POOR GREAT ANGA !" THE THRONE ROOM, empty now, is exposed for a minute before -

Act - 5 

Aswatthama : "OUR ANGA !" "OUR GREAT ANGA!"

                                   "OUR POOR POOR ANGA!"

2. Is ' moral conflict' and 'Hamartia' there in Karna's character ?

Hamartia is the tragic flaw or error that reverses a protagonist’s fortune from good to bad. Hamartia, pronounced hah-mahr-tee--uh, is derived from the Greek phrase hamartanein meaning “to err” or “to miss the mark.” Hamartia includes character flaws such as excessive ambition, greed, or pride which result in tragic consequences.

Karna - The Voice of Subaltern

The  story  of  Karna  begins  with  the  misfortune  of  his  secret  birth  and  unfolds  itself  amidst  the  unremitting gloom  of  injustice  and  insult.  A  long  time  ago,  a  beautiful  young  princess  named  Kunti  lived  with  her  Uncle, King Kuntibhoj, in a lovely palace along the banks of a wide river. One day Maharishi Durvasa visited the palace of Kuntibhoja. He stayed there for almost a year. During his stay Kunti was given the responsibility of attending to his needs. Kunti served the Maharishi with great reverence without caring for her own comfort. The sage had a very peaceful and happy stay and wanted to reward Kunti for her services. Maharishi said, “Child, one day you will  need the  help of the Gods. I am going to teach  you a  secret  mantra for  inviting the  Gods  into your  life. Be very careful with this mantra! Use it wisely.” (Sperling, 5)  Early the next morning Kunti was playing by herself in the royal garden. The sun had risen and Kunti watched its rays touched a flower here, a leaf there. She felt its warmth  on  her  skin.  She  thought  about  the  Sun  God  waking  up  the  whole  world.  Forgetting  her  promise  to Durvasa,  she  began  to  recite  the  mantra.  She  closed  her  eyes  andconcentrated  the  way  she  had  been  taught  to summon the Sun-God Surya who is compelled to give her a child, fearful that a child conceived before marriage may ruin her reputation, Kunti places the child-born with natural armour and divine earrings-in a wicker basket. She coated the basket with the wax to make it waterproof, and lined it with layers of the silk to make it soft and warm. She placed the baby carefully in his new bed and carried the basket to the river. Then she kissed him good-bye and set the basket afloat and whispered, “May the Sun-God watch over you always and keep you safe. May you find parents who will love you and care for you.” Downstream,  Adhiratha  was  sitting  on  a  rock,  hoping  to  catch  a  fish  for  the  midday  meal.  He  was  a gentleman,a  charioteer  by  trade,  and  his  wife  Radha  was  a  gentle  and  good  woman.  They  were  often  sad, however,  for they  were  unable  to  have  children.  Adhiratha  cast the  line  out over the  river  and  sighed  again,  he waded out into the current and caught hold of the basket.

Karna  was lodgedin  the  section  reserved  for ordinary pupils and away  from the  section reserved  for princes and other high caste students.  After a  few days when Adhiratha visited his son in his lodgings, he found him tense and somewhat angry as well. Before entering the room he had assured him that his son was very bright and a quick learner. But on entering the room he found him in a different frame of mind which made him apprehensive. On being asked, Karna started asking all sorts of questions with his father. He asked, “Baba is it a crime to be a Suta-Putra? Why do scriptures sanction this class-based  discrimination?  Why  the  princes  and  other so-calledupper-classstudents  should  be  given  better  food, better lodgings,and  better  education  as  compared  to  students  like  me,who  seem  to  have  an inbornstigma attached to their names? Where does my fault lie in all this?” (Zutushi, 68) Similarly, this scenario is also denoted by the term ‘subaltern’conventionally denotes an inferior military rank, it is more generally used as ‘a name for the general attribute of subordination in South Asian society’ often expressed in terms of caste and gender as it is being  acquired  at  birth  and  is non-changeable. The  term ‘Subaltern’was  coined  by Ranjit  Guhaand  later  it was adopted by Marxist Antonio Gramsciand further it was discussed by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak in her essay ‘Can  the  Subaltern  Speak?’People  consider  Subaltern  as  the  unrepresented  group  of  people  in  the society, people of  inferior race, not fit  for making any real  contribution to the society and therefore they cannot speak,  but  in  reality  subaltern  can  speak  but others  do  not  have  the  patience  to  listen  to them  and  same  can  be seen with Karna, he is capable but he ultimately he is Suta Putra.


No comments:

Post a Comment

The Mechanics of Writing

  what is Mechanics of Writing ?  The mechanics of writing refer to the technical aspects of writing, such as spelling, punctuation, grammar...