2. 2 Name:- Hinaba Sarvaiya
Roll no:- 09
Submission:- Department of
English, MKBU.
Paper:- Indian English
Literature (Pre-
Indipendence)
Email id:-
hinabasarvaiya1711@
gmail.com
3. Introduction:-
•Indo-Englishbplaywright wrote only for light entertainment on different
occasions. Some appear to have taken up writing in a serious manner,
and thus they experiencented on the Elizabethan model and on the rich
Sanskrit tradition.
•It may be rather difficult to find the Sanskrit tradition directly in a play
taken as a whole.
•But here and there we can find the influence of Sanskrit regarding the
theme, the techniques and a few other traditions.
•In the field of Indo-English drama, there are only few names worth
mentioning, like, Sir Aurobindo, Bharati Sara bhai Harindranath
Chattopadhyay, Kailasam a few others. In oder to study the influences of
Sanskrit. 3
4. About Author:-
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￮ •Kailasam, or Thyagaraja Paramasiva Kailasam (1884-1946), was a
playwright and a prominent writer of Kannada literature.
￮ •His contribution to Kannada theatre, and especially comedy, earned
him the title Prahasana Prapitamaha, “The Father of Humorous Plays”.
￮ •His plays mainly focused on social problems like the dowry system,
religious persecution, woes in the extended family system and
exploitation of women.
￮ •Kailasam‟s language was poetical even as it was satirical and
sarcastic.
5. •No Indian writer can easily escape the
influence of great works like the Upnishads,
the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
•In T.P. Kailasam who, with sparking wit and
humour, ushered in new era in Kannada
Social Drama, drew profusely for the themes
of his English plays Frome these great
namely,
The Purpose
The Curse of Karna
Keechka
The Burden
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6. The Purpose:-
￮ The Ekalavya episode forms the theme
of the play, the purpose which some
deem as the Magnum opus of
Kailasam.
￮ The Playwright gives some natural
touches to Vyasa’s Story. Making
eklavya observe the practice in
archery from a distance before his self
practice, making him voluntarily offer
his thumb to Drana and thereby relieve
his guru of a dilemma.
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7. •In Drona’s enunciation of the essential requirements for study
like the potentiality of co centration and single-mindedveffort,
we can find the echo of the Tauttireeya Upanished.
•It is Kailasam’s wonderful imagination; according to
whichlord Krishna fulfils his mission by killing ekalavya and
theyby preventing him from fighting against the Pandavas.
And also fulfils his promise to the dying Eklavya by killing the
letter’s mother too.
•These plays of Kailasam as well as his play Karna focus light
on the element of fate or the inexorable law of Karma.
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8. Karna, the great warrior of the great
epic The Mahabharata, is seen
throughout his journey of life as
ignored and rejected by most of
the elite clan of kaurava as well as
pandava due to his low-birth.
As Playwright himself describes in a
sonnet karna is a “befooled babe
against fate’d bewildering odds”. 8
The Curse of
Karna:-
9. 9
•In Act 2, Scene 1, we find Karna’s words;
￮
“Intrinsic worth it is, my Liege, not accidental
birth that gauges human’s use for Mother
earth”
•These line can favourably be compared with
his words in the play Venisamharam:
दैवायत्तं क
ु ले जन्म मदायत्तं तु पौरुषम्
। 3.33
10. ￮ Further Kailasam did not probably like to
mar the comprehensive nature of Sanskrit
word’s like dharma, brahmancharya,
pariksha, Karma and hence used the same
in his English plays.
￮ •Even a scope for modification or
contradiction can itself be a sort of indirect
influence.
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11. Keechaka:-
The play, originally conceptualized
by TP Kailasam and written by GP
Rajarathnam, is not about a man
of lust as depicted in the
Mahabharatha, but a man of love.
He remains unmarried, or perhaps
does not want to get married.
Kailadam’s Keechaka
reconstructed from his memory by
Sri B.S. Rama Rao.
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12. The Burden:-
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￮ •The Burden, Kailasam resorts to the
Ramayana for his theme.
￮ •It appears that Bhasa’s play; Pratuma
has directly influenced Kailasam, through
the Playwright’s own skill and beauty can
be seen in The Burden.
13. Conclusion:-
Such is the wonderful influence of Sanskrit on
Kailasam.
In conclusion, let me quote the late prof. K.
Sampathgiri Rao;
“Sanskrit and the Sanskrit epics and classics
made a profound impression on Kailasam”
Thank you
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14. Reference:-
￮ Bhatta, S. Krishna. “Influence of Sanskrit on Contemporary
Drama.” Indian Literature, vol. 21, no. 3, 1978, pp. 88–100.
JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23334394. Accessed 1
Oct. 2022.
￮ TNN (Ed.). (2014, March 21). Kailasam Keechaka:A play
about a man of love, not of lust . Retrieved from
https://m.timesofindia.com/entertainment/kannada/thea
tre/kailasam-keechaka-to-be-staged-at-ranga-
shankara/articleshow/32377887.cms
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