Tughlaq by Girish Karnad

 

Tughlaq by Karnad

Introduction : 

Girish Raghunath Karnad is an Indian actor, film director, writer, playwright, and a Rhodes Scholar, with prominent work in South Indian and Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of the 1998 Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honor conferred in India, and was also bestowed with Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by the Government of India, along with a few Filmfare Awards.

  

Girish Karnad was born in Matheran, Maharashtra in a Saraswat Brahmin Konkani family to Rao Saheb Dr Karnad and Krishna Bai Mankeekara. While in Sirsi, Karnataka, Girish was exposed to the traveling theater group, Natak Mandalis. He was 14 years old when his family moved to Dharwad in Karnataka, where he grew up with his two sisters and niece. In 1958, he graduated with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Statistics from Karnatak Arts College, Dharwad (Karnataka University). After graduation, he went to England to study at Magdalen in Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar (1960-63), earning his Master of Arts degree in philosophy, political science and economics. He was elected President of the Oxford Union in 1963.

Introduction : 

Girish Karnad's Tughlaq is a representation of one of the most important but nevertheless neglected periods of Indian history, the reign of the fourteenth century Mughal emperor Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq remains till date one of the most turbulent periods of history. This is the first and most significant play in the post-independence period to have engaged with the Sultanate period in Indian history, this period brought an end to the golden age of classical Hinduism and introduced Islam as a dominant force. This is one of the most important phases of Islamic imperialism in India, but it remains neglected in the nationalism imaginary because of the attention given to the later Mughal and British imperialism.

‘Tughlaq’ is Karnad’s second play written in 1964; the play was originally written in Kannada and then translated in Kannada by Karnad himself. It is all about the life of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq who has ruled in India in 14th century. There is a lot of controversy among the historians about the character of Tughlaq but Karnad has presented this man as a man of opposites.

The central theme of the play is the complexity in the character of Sultan Tughlaq, who has both the elements good as well as evil. He is a visionary man as well as man of action. Other characters also present Tughlaq’s dual personality; his close associates Barani and the scholarly historian Najib are practical politician like him. From the very first scene we come to know about the complex personality of Tughlaq, he can be considered as a learnt and an intelligent man. He has abilities to learn and curiosity to know and he is master in playing chess, he has the knowledge of ‘Quran’more than any sheikh, and also a good reader who has read Greek, farcical and Arabic literature. Tughlaq wanted his life as a garden of roses, where even thrones also give delight; his imagination expresses his sense about literature.

The character of sultan Tughlaq can be compared with Christopher Marlow’s “Dr. Faustus” who has same hunger of knowledge and he had a tragic end and same tragic end Tughlaq has also faced. He wanted to make a new India, and for him it was very difficult but he is ready to explain what people don’t understand,“How he can explain tomorrow to those, who have not even opened their eyes to the light of today.” But theneven i remember few things like Tughlaq change dcapital from Delhi to Daultabad, and from there again to Delhi.

Tughlaq written by Girish Karnad in 1964, is his best loved play, about an idealist 14th-century Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad bin Tughluq, and allegory on the Nehruvian era which started with ambitious idealism and ended up in disillusionment.Karnad shows the evolution of Tughlaq from an idealist to a tyrant lusty for power and fame, something anyone, any Indian for that matter can relate to easily especially people who are familiar with the Nehruvian Era of Indian politics.

Girish Karnad's play Tughlaq explores the character of one of the most fascinating kings to occupy the throne in Delhi, namely, Mohammed-bin-Tughlaq. He ruled for 26 years, a period of unparalleled cruelty and agonising existence for his subjects. He's fascinating because though he was one of the most learned monarchs of Delhi, and had great ideas and a grand vision, his reign was also an abject failure. He started his rule with great ideals — of a unified India, of Hindus and Muslims being equal in the eyes of the state (he abolished the onerous tax Jaziya on the Hindus) and the Sultan being the first among equals.He understood the value of money as not deriving from its intrinsic worth but from the promise behind it: and introduced copper coins. Yet in 20 years his reign had degenerated into an anarchy and his kingdom had become a "kitchen of death". Girish Karnad's play explores why this happened.

The play was immensely popular at the time it was produced (1964). India had, within the same span of nearly20 years (a mere coincidence?), descended from a state of idealismto disillusionment and cynicism, and hence theplay found a chord that resonated in the minds of many people at that time. The issues posed by the play remain relevant even today, not only in a political sense, but also for organisations.

The play recaptures the significant events starting shortly after Tughlaq's ascension to the throne: his proclamations of idealism, his calling upon his people to be a part of the building of a new empire, of prosperity, peace and amity. But he ascended the throne by dubious means, killing his father and brother during prayer time, though no one was sure. This led to a lack of credibility among his followers from the time he ascended the throne — no one believed what he professed. The play outlines his clever plots to eliminate his opponents and his surviving an assassination attempt by his own courtiers. This was a turning point in his life: he decided to shift his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad,or dered every single subject to move from Delhi, banned prayer altogether, and imposed unspeakable cruelties on his subjects. The miseries of the people during the journey, the corruption that was huge and endemic, and Tughlaq's progressive alienation and isolation from his people are dramatically portrayed. The play ends with scenes of utte rchaos and misery in the kingdom, and Tughlaq being left alone, having been abandoned by those who survived him, that is.