Reimagining Women: A Socio-Cultural Reading of the Selected Plays of Girish Karnad

Sonu Kumar Mishra; Dr. Ram Avadh Prajapati

doi:10.53724/ambition/v10n4.06

Authors

Sonu Kumar Mishra Research Scholar, Department of English, Bareilly College, Bareilly, Affiliated to M.J.P. Rohilkhand University, Bareilly, U.P., India. https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1533-8127
Dr. Ram Avadh Prajapati Ph.D. Supervisor & Assistant Professor, Department of English, Bareilly College, Bareilly, Affiliated to M.J.P. Rohilkhand University, Bareilly, U.P., India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3805-2733

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53724/ambition/v10n4.06

Keywords:

Socio-cultural criticism, Myths and modernization, Womanhood, Tradition, Patriarchy

Abstract

This article seeks to investigate Girish Karnad’s role in reconfiguring traditional narratives as vehicles of exploring the socio-cultural status of women in Indian societies. Through a text-based analysis of selected plays, Yayati, Hayavadana, Naga-Mandala, Tughlaq, and The Fire and the Rain, this article illustrates how Karnad uses myths, folklore, and historical events to fashion creative narratives discussing the concepts of womanhood, morality, and patriarchal norms. The women in Karnad’s narratives emerge as strategic actors navigating a thin balance between personal freedom and societal conformity as per the moral and cultural standards of their communities. His dramaturgy repurposes inherited myths as live tête-à-tête on ideological changes over time, revealing the two forces; tradition and modernization, desire and duty, and personal conviction and societal affirmation. Hence, as his laser-focuses on lived experiences and stories of women, his dramaturgy becomes a vessel for moral thinking and cultural revitalization, ensuring that the redefined traditions open up vistas for gender justice and a humanistic universe.

References

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