Displaying The Theatrical Effectiveness: (Re) Cording Through Techniques in Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq

Here again Karnad confesses that he must have been attracted to the fear of failure in Tughlaq “And I think basically as a person struggling against failure and failing more, somewhat must have found an immediate echo in me” (Paul: 3). However, the play has been perceived to be contemporary, particularly in its political analogues to the Nehru period of disillusionment. Karnad has himself testified to the political contemporary of Tughlah in his interview with Rajinder Paul. He comments on this issue. “Whastruck me absolutely about Tughlaq’s history was that it was most contemporary.

The fact here was the most idealistic, the most intelligent king ever to come on the throne of Delhi…. and one of the greatest failures too. And within a span of twenty years this tremendously capable man had gone to pieces. This seemed to me both due to his idealism as well as shortcoming within him, such as his impatience, his cruelty, his feeling that he had the only correct answer and I felt in the early sixties India had also come very far in the same direction…the twenty year period seemed to me very much striking parallel” (Murthy: VIII).

P. Bayapa Reddy has highlighted the specialized techniques employed by Girish Karnad in Tughlaq to uphold the theatrical effectiveness of the play for the spectators. He says: “Tughlaq experiments with a verity of theatrical techniques to create visual and auditory images, thereby producing the desired dramatic effect on the stage. By employing a variety of theatrical devices –spectacle, quick shift of scenes, blackout – he tries to control the movement of the play and its impact on he audience. Spectacle refers to all the visual aspects of production, scenery, costume, make-up and the business and the movement of the actor….the very appearance of Tughlaq in his striking costume adds a lot to the element of spectacle in the play” (Bayapa: 153).

Girish Karnad has corded the poetic elements to exploit the sentiments of the spectators who feel with Tughlaq when they heed to his visionary and convincing utterances. Sample the speech: “My beloved people, you have heard the judgment of the Kazi and seen for yourselves how justice works in my kingdom—without any consideration of might or weakness, religion or creed. May this moment burn bright and light up our path towards grater justice, equality, progress, and peace—not just peace but a or purposeful life” (CP One: 7). He plays with the emotions of the people when he says: “Come, my people, I am waiting for you. Confide in me you worries. Let me share your joys. Let’s laugh and cry together and then, let’s pray. Let’s pray till our bodies melt an flow and our blood turns into air” (CP One: 16). But when he fails to translate his visions and ideals, his poetic imagination gets shocked and he himself realizes that he does not need a rose garden. He built it because “I wanted to make for myself an image of Sadi’s poems. I wanted every rose in it to be a poem. I wanted every thorn in it to prick and quicken the sense. But I don’t need these airy tapings now; a funeral needs no separate symbol” (CP One:76). Along with poetic element Karnad has exploited disguise in order to make the drama more effective. It seems to be exciting to see Aziz in the guise of Vishnu Prasad and later in the guise of Ghiyasuddin Abbasid. A dhobi deceives all and even Taghalq who is known for looking through fails to see. To see Tauglaq falling before Aziz is something thrilling. Suspense throughout the play keeps the spectators spell—bound and they anxiously wait for the next occurrence. The episodes of Aziz and Aazam show Karnad’s skill and imagination as they though are not the part of history, contribute in understanding the character of Tughlaq. Aziz offers a parallel line to the character of Tughlaq. Aziz’s filling the skin of the dead with straws, his working in the camp, his role of robber and his disguise of the saint after killing the saint etc, are the instances that make the drama appealing to the spectators who love to see such incidents on the stage.

Symbols speak themselves. Girish Karnad knows how to exploit technique of symbol, which reveals the inner landscape of the dramatic persona. The characters of Aziz and Azam have been presented as symbols. They stand for opportunistic and unprincipled people who take undue advantage of the liberal ideals and welfare schemes of the democratic government and fill their own pockets. Karnad has presented chess as symbol. In the play it symbolizes that the whole kingdom is as complicated and full of problems as the game of chess. Karnad has presented Python as symbol. The python is a symbol of increased brutality and blood thirstiness of the Sultan. It symbolizes the complete degeneration of his personality. In some books prayer has also been told as a symbol. But the writers do not make it explicit of what symbol it is. What does it symbolize? The manner in which prayer is exploited as an instrument of murder against the same of man who has made prayers mandatory in the state and the role played by Aziz. Tughlaq’s asking Barani not to cover the bead body of Shihab’s dead body, the presence of the witty Aziz pitied against the gentler Aazam all stand out as striking examples of situational irony. Lying alongside the situational irony are the example of verbal irony represented through Barani(the historian) who is interested in “playing chess with the shadows of the dead”.

The prayers offered by Tughlaq are ridden with disease and his sins have become “shadows that entwine round his feet.” In the words of B.P. Bayapa Reddy, “at the micro level, prayer symbolizes the religious idealism of Tughlaq. At the macro level, it connects man’s unconscious need for divine protection and guidance in an hour of anguish. In the beginning prayer is made compulsory but later it is banned for a few years and again it is revived. It is reduced to a mockery when the Sultan’s life is threatened at the time of prayer. ‘Sleep’ on one level represents the need for rest in man’s life. At the macro level it becomes symbolic of peace, which eludes man often. The rose is a symbol of the aesthetic and poetic susceptibilities of Tughlaq. It later on becomes a symbol of the withering away of all the dreams and ideals of Tughlaq. At the macro level, the game of chess is an ordinary game, which is popular in India. It also symbolizes a political game in which the most intelligent and clever politician is checkmated by an ordinary washer man. Through this symbolist technique, the playwright has succeeded in creating the right political atmosphere” (Bayapa: 155).

In a very real sense, Karnad has recorded history in the play Tughlaq with a new look cording all the aspects together in order to have a desired effect on the stage. The techniques of symbols, disguise, spectators, irony, poetic utterances, imagery etc., are corded in one piece and being corded they have the strength to cord the head and heart of the spectators. We can conclude the discussion with the remark of Veena Noble Dass: “Tughlaq is not only good literature but good theatre, a play in which the intellectual symbolic-allegorical levels harmonize with the level of external dramatic action by a proper balancing of theatrical and literary concomitants. The play is essentially modern, may be more modern that most Indian plays written in English, despite being called a historical play”(Veena: 94).

Works Cited: 1. Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker, “introduction”, collected palys: Girish Karnad Volume One, (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005): VII-XXXVI.
2. Collected plays: Girish Karnad Volume one, (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005).
3. Girish Karnad, “Introduction to Three Plays”, The Plays of Girish Karnad Critical Perspective, (ed.) Jaydipsinh dodiya. (New Delhi: Prestige: 1999): 21-37.
4. P.Bayapa Reddy, “The Theatrical Representation of history : Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq”, the plays of Girish Karnad Critical Perspective, (ed.) Jaydipsinh.

Contributed By:  Dr. Ram Sharma, Lecturer in English, Janta Vedic College MEERUT, U.P. dr.ram_sharma@yahoo.co.in  

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