essay on indian drama

Indian Drama in English | Ananda Lal

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Published on 13 May 2022.

MLA: Lal, Ananda. “Indian Drama in English.” Indian Writing In English Online , 13 May 2022,  INDIAN DRAMA IN ENGLISH Ananda Lal – Indian Writing In English (uohyd.ac.in)  .

Chicago: Lal, Ananda. “Indian Drama in English.” Indian Writing In English Online. May 13, 2022.  INDIAN DRAMA IN ENGLISH Ananda Lal – Indian Writing In English (uohyd.ac.in)  .

Despite noteworthy contributions in recent decades, Indian literature in English remains a fledgling discipline with vast regions of terra incognita lying unmapped, as well as frustrating due to the unavailability of primary material –  the books themselves. The absence of a culture of methodical library acquisition in India, compared to the repositories and networks in Europe and North America, the randomness of specific collections, and the haphazard manner in which most of them are stocked and catalogued (if at all), frequently result in the abandonment of projects simply because one cannot locate a rare title essential to one’s work, even after time-consuming and exhaustive searches. Ironically, these missing volumes do not date to a remote past, but to periods closer to us such as the nineteenth and even the early twentieth century.

The field suffers so much from these lacunae that it affects the writing of its authentic history. Many of its trailblazing books published in the early nineteenth century do not survive in our libraries. We may know their titles from secondary sources, but we cannot read them because we cannot trace them. Since many of the authors of these sources could not find them either, substantial misinformation about them circulates in print, recycled by later researchers who rely on those sources without investigating them. Dependable literary histories themselves become questionable: one can cite any number of instances where a scholar has claimed a particular book as a milestone, overlooking earlier ones that had certainly existed, though they may have vanished from our ken. The most celebrated and somewhat debated recent example is The Travels of Dean Mahomet (1794), rediscovered in the 1990s and thereby automatically pushing back the start of Indian writing in English.

Let us narrow our scope to the area covered in this essay: Indian drama in English. For a long time, following K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar’s authoritative tome, Indian Writing in English (1962, up to its fifth edition, 1985), readers accepted that the first play in English by an Indian was Michael Madhusudan Dutt’s Is This Called Civilization? (1871) [1] . As I have proved in a new anthology [2] , that was not the case, but many recent critical works continue to perpetuate this incorrect information, and sometimes even credit Dutt himself as the translator (he wrote the Bengali original, Ekei ki bale sabhyatā ). In fact, my quest for this English rendition—one of those books referred to above that seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth—revealed that it was translated by D. N. (Dwarkanath) Banerjee, certainly not by Dutt [3] . If anyone stumbles upon a copy of this translation anywhere, please let me know.

Meanwhile, Kumudini Mehta’s doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of Bombay in 1960, which gained notice much later because it remained unpublished, appeared to suggest that one of the fathers of Parsi theatre in Bombay, Cooverji Sorabjee Nazir, had composed and published a verse drama titled “The First Parsi Baronet” in 1866 [4] . Unlike her customary meticulous annotation, she did not provide bibliographical details for this book. I believe she confused it with the biography of Sir Jamsetji Jeejeebhoy by the same name (except for the spelling Parsee instead of “Parsi”) which Nazir indeed authored and published that same year, based partly on a poem by “Munsookh” [5] . It seems improbable that one person would have written an identically titled play and biography, both published in 1866. It is more plausible that Nazir, who did compose drama in English, may even have staged such a biographical play by himself in verse, but did not eventually print it. Only a researcher in Mumbai who can access archival collections and newspaper libraries may confirm or reject this speculation.

Proceeding backwards to the 1840s, we come across two early plays that do survive. One, Kishun Koovur: a tragedy in five acts by Soobrow, Dewan to the Raja of Travancore (Trivandrum: Government Press, 1840), has been digitised online by Google Books, thus allowing scholars to read and write about it [6] . The other, The Spirits of the East: a lyrical drama by “A Bengal Civilian” (Calcutta: Ostell and Lepage, 1844), exemplifies works by British temporary residents exclusively about their life in India, which does not fall within our purview, strictly speaking. For similar reasons but at an even further remove, we cannot admit the eighteenth-century tragedies by Alexander Dow, who spent a long period here in the employ of the East India Company, such as Zingis (1769, on Genghis Khan) and Sethona (1774, on ancient Egypt).

Indian Drama in English, illustrated by Guru G

The recent restoration of Krishna Mohana Banerjea’s The Persecuted, or Dramatic Scenes, Illustrative of the Present State of Hindoo Society, in Calcutta (1831) to its rightful chronological position marks the true commencement of Indian drama in English. Consequently, this genre too, alongside her sisters, poetry (with Henry Derozio) and fiction (with Kylash Chunder Dutt), debuted before Macaulay’s controversial and demonised Minute, which most detractors blame for the imposition of English on Indians after 1835. Evidently, many Indians chose English for their literary excursions prior to that date. Furthermore, it proves what may come as a matter of disbelief to many, that original Indian drama in English predates drama in any other modern Indian language. However, the lack of easy access to The Persecuted led to merely generalised comments on it in the history books [7] . Nobody could write a thoroughly-considered study of it. By reprinting it in my anthology, I hope to encourage critics to examine it closely, as well as the two other early original plays in English also made available to an English readership for the first time since their first publication. (As I observe there, a few books in Bengali have included the text by Banerjea and fragments of M. M. Dutt’s Rizia: Empress of Inde (written in 1849), but these collections would be unknown to non-Bengali audiences and, besides, they contain far too many typographical mistakes that misconstrue meanings.)

By pure happenstance, the dramatic representation in my anthology originated from British-ruled Calcutta. Of course, it could be argued that Dutt lived, wrote and printed fragments of Rizia in Madras (in 1849-50), but he returned to his hometown Calcutta afterwards and won renown as a Bengali author based there. The writer of the third play, Kaminee: The Virgin Widow (1874), preferred to remain anonymous and may not have been an Indian by birth, but it seems likely that he (she?) resided in Calcutta, since they deal with urban Bengali society, and published it from a respectable Calcutta press. Most significantly from our contemporary perspective, these three plays spanning forty years offer important themes — from religious orthodoxy and persecution of liberal youths ( The Persecuted ) to the historical tragedy of a Muslim queen victimised by sexism and racism ( Rizia ) to the social restrictions on teenage widows ( Kaminee ). I do not claim that they constitute excellent drama, but no literary tradition produced a masterpiece at its beginning, whereas these three do present core issues that concern us today. They were not written for entertainment.

A different point that should be made—and one that might explain a certain amateurishness in their composition—is that none of these plays made it to the stage, as far as we know. English-language theatre did exist in India at the time, but mainly by the British and for the British, while “native” students at the academies and colleges only recited and enacted scenes from Shakespeare supervised as part of their education. Thus, Banerjea and Dutt, both pupils at Hindoo College in Calcutta, not only knew their Shakespeare perfectly but also performed in Shakespearean roles for invited audiences in public spaces: Banerjea as Horatio in 1829 at Government House, Dutt as Gloucester ( Henry VI ) in 1834 at Town Hall [8] . We can therefore discern the influence of a somewhat dated English in the dialogues of their own contrivance, as they could not test their writing in the theatres.

On the other hand, I should draw readers’ attention to a relatively little-known fact: “as Samachar Darpan in its issue of 17 September 1831 reports, a Committee was formed for establishing a theatre on the model of the English theatre. The plays, it was said, would be presented in English” [9] . The committee consisted of prominent Bengali Hindus, one of whom, Prosunno Coomar (Prasanna Kumar) Tagore, acted on the resolution and established the Hindu Theatre at his garden estate in Narkeldanga, Calcutta. The stage historian Sushil Kumar Mukherjee describes it as “the first theatre founded by a Bengali, housed in the Bengali quarter of the city, for a Bengali audience.” It opened on 28 December 1831, just a month after Banerjea published The Persecuted , but not with an original play. The programme, performed by students of the Hindoo and Sanskrit Colleges as well as others, for a private invited audience of Europeans and Indians, started with Act I of Bhavabhuti’s Sanskrit classic Uttara-Rāma-charita , translated into English by an eminent member of the management of Hindoo College, H. H. Wilson, and ended with Act V of Julius Caesar . On 29 March 1832, Hindu Theatre staged a slight farce with an oriental theme, titled Nothing Superfluous .

Into the 1850s, before turning once and for all to the performance of new drama in their mother tongue, Bengalis cultivated publicly their theatrical aspirations in English. Two amateur initiatives in mainly Bengali-inhabited north Calcutta introduced ticketed shows (not exclusively for invitees) of Shakespeare in English: the Oriental Theatre presented Othello , The Merchant of Venice and Henry IV (1853–55) and the Jorasanko Theatre (not the later, more famous one of the same name set up by the Tagores) produced Julius Caesar in 1854. Lest we forget, Dutt was writing Rizia in Madras at this time. Thus, we should not presume that conditions were not conducive for theatre by Indians in English, though they naturally favoured Shakespeare, whereas dissenting scripts on controversial matters by young dramatists may indeed have not interested the ruling elite.

In fact, they did not even interest the Bengali aristocracy, as Dutt learnt unfortunately when he proposed to his Raja patrons that he could present them with Rizia in Bengali for their new theatre. I have recounted in my anthology the pure circumstantial luck behind my discovery of Dutt’s English manuscript—something that Indian researchers rarely encounter, unlike our counterparts in the developed world who can avail of comparatively easier access to authorial scripts and typescripts thanks to the advanced culture there of acquiring and preserving such literary material. Nevertheless, my serendipity emboldens me to suggest that fellow Indian researchers could be just as lucky as I was in locating nineteenth-century writings that we did not even know existed. Or, as in the case of Kaminee , which I traced to the British Library, finding in a foreign archive a copy of an Indian book that has vanished from India.

Proceeding to the first half of the twentieth century, we obviously come across many more plays by Indians in English, but these too have not received the kind of critical commentary routinely and fashionably lavished on our postcolonial drama. Shanta Gokhale named several of these neglected dramatists in her article on the genre in my Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre [10] , but we should mention some of them here to serve the purpose of a comprehensive overview [11] . We have expatriates like Niranjan Pal, who wrote The Goddess (1924) and other plays, and started a group in London, The Indian Players, to produce them. While Sri Aurobindo’s closet dramas have attracted attention owing to his venerable stature and poetic accomplishments, Harindranath Chattopadhyaya’s have not.

The Indian characteristic of writing bilingually also deserves separate treatment. The greater proportion of this output arises from self-translation by an author, usually into English, of his own originals composed in his mother tongue. Since the author translated them himself, taking liberties that only he could, they can qualify as original literature according to many theorists. The respectable lineage of this tradition begins with Dutt himself ( Sermista , 1859, from Sharmishtha ), goes on to the international phenomenon called Tagore, and continues to the works of Girish Karnad. However, we also have the intriguing pre-Independence split-creativity of T. P. Kailasam, who wrote one kind of drama in Kannada (colloquial and contemporary) and a completely different kind in English (mythical and epic).

Tagore’s self-translated plays require special notice. Whereas other translators are credited on the title pages for some of his plays (like The Post Office ), he did not acknowledge a few that remain under his own name and therefore these should be regarded technically as his originals even though we know who did the translating, while he himself actually translated several more. His celebrity status after the Nobel Prize led to a spate of theatrical productions worldwide that demand investigation and, if nothing else, disprove Girish Karnad’s pronouncements that Tagore was an inferior dramatist and that Karnad’s plays in English were the first modern Indian plays staged in the US or UK [12] . We must also research early Indian performances of Tagore’s English translations, which unquestionably inspired readers across our own country. I have discovered that the world premieres of two Tagore classics occurred in their English versions (and not in Bengali) in India: Lucknow University’s The Waterfall ( Muktadhārā ) in 1923, and the Bombay production of Red Oleanders at New High School for Girls in 1928 [13] . Primary documentation needs to be unearthed from these cities to reconstruct as much of these historic performances as possible.

We need to pay proper tribute and appreciation to the long-forgotten pioneers of Indian drama in English and their pre-1947 successors, rather than chase the done-and-dusted plays written after Independence that monopolise the critical discourse quite predictably and boringly, as if India has produced only half a dozen worthwhile playwrights in English over two hundred years. True, the number of plays increases exponentially after 1947 [14] , yet the relatively few scholars of the genre (including those conducting doctoral studies) have followed a safe and well-trodden path, confined mainly to the canonical works by Asif Currimbhoy, Girish Karnad, and Mahesh Dattani , regurgitated ad nauseam. Readers should not misunderstand: I consider them great playwrights, but I am disappointed by the shortage of originality and imagination among critics, despite the availability of other roads less travelled. Next to that trio, the few plays written by Nissim Ezekiel, Dina Mehta, Partap Sharma, Gieve Patel, Gurcharan Das and Manjula Padmanabhan have drawn some appraisal, but since drama has not been the main creative focus of these authors, their poetry or prose has garnered greater attention.

Because there is considerably more knowledge in circulation about the contemporary scenario, I do not think it necessary to explicate it in detail like I have for earlier times. Still, I wish to see definitive monographs on ignored playwrights with a substantial output like Joseph M. Lobo Prabhu, who wrote on social reform, and Leo Brooks Fredericks, who had a penchant for exotic settings. They may have produced quantity rather than quality; nevertheless, their individual trajectories and thematic preoccupations merit study for a deep evaluation of the entire movement. Among the seniors now, Poile Sengupta and Gowri Ramnarayan have proved themselves repeatedly on the stage, but have surprisingly not received analysis commensurate with their achievement. A whole new generation of younger dramatists work and have published in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata – some even facing political trouble like Abhishek Majumdar – without any critical assessment whatsoever. Scholars have also not tapped the genres of radio drama and television drama, many scripts of which were written in English.

A major lacuna in our academic criticism is theatre history and appreciation. The West gives respect to theatre as an art, and many developed countries teach it formally in university departments, adding to its cachet. But its neglect in India rubs off on the negligible secondary literature on it. The large majority of publications on Indian drama deal exclusively with its texts from a literary perspective, although the plays were intended for the stage, and some even had considerable success there. This huge unexplored territory is waiting to be researched, whether going back in time to the importation of the proscenium arch in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, or down to recent theatrical activities.

Every city has its own fascinating history of English-language theatre, which has not been recorded, except by Kumudini Mehta for early Bombay. This statement applies not just to the metropolises, but also to smaller places like Lucknow (as mentioned above) or Shimla, Shillong or far-off Aizawl with its Christmas plays. The nativisation of English on stage throws up many interesting facets, as for example the integration of British and local actors, dating back to the sensational “real unpainted nigger Othello” in 1848 in Calcutta. There are sociological, political, and even legal aspects to be examined, like the ban in Bombay on Currimbhoy’s The Doldrummers (1961) and Sharma’s A Touch of Brightness (1965). Directors who specialised in English theatre by Indians—Ebrahim Alkazi, Alyque Padamsee, Lillete Dubey—and groups like The Madras Players in Chennai, Yatrik in Delhi, and The Red Curtain in Calcutta demand documentation. In the 21st century, mainstream as well as radical productions of originally-written drama continue in the hands of such active groups as Prime Time Theatre (Delhi), Rage and QTP (Mumbai), Padatik (Kolkata), JustUs Repertory (Chennai), and Centre for Film and Drama (Bengaluru).

And in terms of language, the fact that English has now been appropriated by Hindi theatre into a miscegenated “Hinglish”, that seems to have a certain commercial potential for a nationally-growing English-knowing audience willing to pay for an evening’s entertainment, raises linguistic and economic implications worth discussion. Do we possibly have here the seeds of a Parsi theatre-like reincarnation in the live performance industry, more democratic in reach compared to the elite spectators of English previously? Even better, since Indians are naturally bilingual if not multilingual in their day-to-day communication, can we hope that hybridised Englishes may form a medium of our thought-provoking urban theatre in future? For that is the reality of an increasingly globalised world, that would indeed be verisimilitude, and I see experiments in that direction already happening in Kolkata and Mumbai.

[1] K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar, Indian Writing in English , 5th ed. (New Delhi: Sterling, 1985), p. 226. Repeated in such standard books as S. Krishna Bhatta, Indian English Drama (New Delhi: Sterling, 1987), p. 6, and reference works as Amaresh Datta, ed., Encyclopedia of Indian Literature , volume II (New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1988), p. 1069.

[2] Ananda Lal, ed., Indian Drama in English: The Beginnings (Kolkata: Jadavpur University Press, 2019).

[3] “Bengal Library Catalogue of Books”, Appendix (No. II) to The Calcutta Gazette , 20 September 1871, pp. 18-19. The slim play had 42 pages and was published by Light Press, Calcutta.

[4] Kumudini A. Mehta, “English Drama on the Bombay Stage in the Late Eighteenth Century and in the Nineteenth Century”, p. 180.

[5] Preface to Cooverji Sorabjee Nazir, The First Parsee Baronet (Bombay: Union Press, 1866), vi. Munsookh, or Mansukh, was the pen name of Muncherji Cawasji Shapurji, a prolific Parsi Gujarati author.

[6] https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Soobrow_Kishun_Koovur?id=HV5gAAAAcAAJ

[7] For example in Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, ed., An Illustrated History of Indian Literature in English (Delhi: Permanent Black, 2003), pp. 6 and 337.

[8] Ananda Lal and Sukanta Chaudhuri, ed., Shakespeare on the Calcutta Stage: A Checklist (Calcutta: Papyrus, 2001), pp. 25-26.

[9] Sushil Kumar Mukherjee, The Story of the Calcutta Theatres: 1753–1980 (Calcutta: K P Bagchi, 1982), p. 13. The next quotation also comes from this page.

[10] SG, “English theatre”, in Ananda Lal, ed., The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2004), updated in Ananda Lal, ed. Theatres of India: A Concise Companion (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2009).

[11] For a very helpful bibliography of this early period, see the University of Washington South Asian Studies checklist under Drama in https://guides.lib.uw.edu/c.php?g=341864&p=2301845#9577519

[12] A full account of the reception of Tagore’s drama abroad in English, through book reviews and theatre criticism, can be found in the introduction to Ananda Lal, trans. and ed., Rabindranath Tagore: Three Plays (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001).

[13] I have described briefly the revolutionary political circumstances of the Bombay production in Ananda Lal, “Rabindranath Tagore: Drama and Performance”, in Sukanta Chaudhuri, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Rabindranath Tagore (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020), p. 119.

[14] See an exhaustive list and individual appraisals in Abhijit Sengupta, In Order of Appearance: A Compendium of Indian Playwrights in English 1947-2010 (Amazon e-book: Kindle edition, 2018).

Works Cited

Anonymous. Kaminee: The Virgin Widow. In Lal, Ananda, ed. Indian Drama in English: The Beginnings . Kolkata: Jadavpur University Press, 2019.

Aurobindo, Sri. Collected Poems and Plays . Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1942.

Banerjea, Krishna Mohana. The Persecuted, or Dramatic Scenes, Illustrative of the Present State of Hindoo Society, in Calcutta. In Lal, Ananda, ed. Indian Drama in English: The Beginnings . Kolkata: Jadavpur University Press, 2019.

A Bengal Civilian. The Spirits of the East: a lyrical drama . Calcutta: Ostell and Lepage, 1844.

“Bengal Library Catalogue of Books”, Appendix (No. II) to The Calcutta Gazette , 20 September 1871.

Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath. Five Plays . London: Fowler Wright, 1929.

Currimbhoy, Asif. The Doldrummers . Bombay: Soraya, 1962.

Das, Gurcharan. Three English Plays . Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Datta, Amaresh, ed. Encyclopedia of Indian Literature , volume II. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1988.

“Drama”. University of Washington South Asian Studies Bibliographies. https://guides.lib.uw.edu/c.php?g=341864&p=2301845#9577519

Dutt, Michael Madhusudan. Rizia: Empress of Inde. In Lal, Ananda, ed. Indian Drama in English: The Beginnings . Kolkata: Jadavpur University Press, 2019.

——-. Sermista . Calcutta: Stanhope Press, 1859.

Ezekiel, Nissim. Three Plays . Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1969.

Fredericks, Leo. Individual plays published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta.

Kailasam, T. P. Individual plays published by Madhava and Sons, Bangalore.

Krishna Bhatta, S. Indian English Drama . New Delhi: Sterling, 1987.

Lal, Ananda, ed. Indian Drama in English: The Beginnings . Kolkata: Jadavpur University Press, 2019.

Lal, Ananda. “Rabindranath Tagore: Drama and Performance”. In Chaudhuri, Sukanta, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Rabindranath Tagore . New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Lal, Ananda, and Sukanta Chaudhuri, eds. Shakespeare on the Calcutta Stage: A Checklist . Calcutta: Papyrus, 2001.

Lobo-Prabhu, Joseph. Collected Plays . Madras: Royal, 1954.

Majumdar, Abhishek. The Djinns of Eidgah . London: Oberon, Bloomsbury, 2013.

Mehta, Dina. Brides Are Not for Burning . New Delhi: Rupa, 1993.

Mehrotra, Arvind Krishna, ed. An Illustrated History of Indian Literature in English . Delhi: Permanent Black, 2003.

Mehta, Kumudini A. “English Drama on the Bombay Stage in the Late Eighteenth Century and in the Nineteenth Century”. Ph. D. dissertation. University of Bombay, 1960.

Mukherjee, Sushil Kumar. The Story of the Calcutta Theatres: 1753–1980 . Calcutta: K P Bagchi, 1982.

Nazir, Cooverji Sorabjee. The First Parsee Baronet . Bombay: Union Press, 1866.

Padmanabhan, Manjula. Blood and Laughter . Gurgaon: Hachette India, 2020.

Pal, Niranjan. The Goddess. London: Indian Players, 1924.

Patel, Gieve. “Mister Behram” and Other Plays . Kolkata: Seagull, 2008.

Ramnarayan, Gowri. “Dark Horse” and Other Plays . Chennai: Wordcraft, 2017.

Sengupta, Abhijit. In Order of Appearance: A Compendium of Indian Playwrights in English 1947-2010 . Amazon e-book: Kindle edition, 2018.

Sengupta, Poile. Women Centre Stage . New Delhi: Routledge, 2010.

SG [Shanta Gokhale]. “English theatre”. In Lal, Ananda, ed. The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre . New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2004. Updated in Lal, Ananda, ed. Theatres of India: A Concise Companion . New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Sharma, Partap. A Touch of Brightness. New York: Grove Press, 1968.

Soobrow. Kishun Koovur: a tragedy in five acts . Trivandrum: Government Press, 1840. See https://books.google.co.in/books?id=HV5gAAAAcAAJ

Srinivasa Iyengar, K. R. Indian Writing in English , 5th ed. New Delhi: Sterling, 1985.

Tagore, Rabindranath. The English Writings , volume II. Ed. by Sisir Kumar Das. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1996.

Tagore, Rabindranath. Three Plays . Trans. and ed. by Ananda Lal. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Sections of this essay appeared in Lal, Ananda. “Introduction.” Indian Drama in English: The Beginnings,  Jadavpur University Press, 2019.

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Drama is one of the most beautiful and the highest form of artistic expression. It is a harmonious blending of dance, art, verse, melody and action. It is a long literary composition like the novel, a great source of

R a j anwar

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Evolution of Drama in India, History, Types, Origin, Timeline

Origins of Indian drama can be traced to the Rigveda, with hymns containing dialogues and scenes. Check here Evolution of Drama in India, History, Types and its Origin in this article.

Table of Contents

The evolution of drama in India is a rich and diverse journey that spans centuries and reflects the country’s cultural, social, and historical changes. Indian drama has its roots in ancient theatrical traditions and has evolved over time, incorporating influences from various regions, languages, and cultural practices. Here is an overview of the evolution of drama in India.

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Origin of Drama in India

The roots of drama in India can be traced back to the Rigveda, which was written between 1200 and 1500 BCE. The Rigveda contains hymns in the form of dialogues and scenes, as well as hymns that use other literary forms.

Indian theatre dates back to the 2nd century BC. It began in ritualistic practices and took formal shape through Sanskrit drama. Notable playwrights who contributed to the development of Sanskrit drama include Bhasa and Kalidasa.

The golden period of Sanskrit drama began in the 2nd century BCE and ended in the 10th century CE. The decline of Sanskrit drama was caused by several foreign invasions and rulers that banned the art form.

Indian theater has a diverse history. Its forms differed from region to region, but they were all committed to the idea that theater can be a force for social change. The states with the largest theater movements were Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Bengal, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala.

Check here: Famous Modern Dramas and Dramatists

Ancient Indian Drama (2nd century BCE-10th century CE)

The origins of Indian drama can be traced back to the Natya Shastra, a comprehensive treatise on performing arts attributed to the ancient sage Bharata Muni. Composed between the 2nd century BCE and the 2nd century CE, this foundational text outlined the principles of dramatic theory, encompassing aspects of acting, music, dance, and stagecraft. It provided a systematic guide for the creation and performance of drama.

Sanskrit drama flourished during this period, and its golden age is often associated with renowned playwrights such as Kalidasa, Bhasa, and Shudraka. Kalidasa’s plays, such as “Shakuntala” and “Malavikagnimitram,” are celebrated for their poetic beauty, intricate plots, and exploration of human emotions. Bhasa, though relatively less known due to the loss of many of his works, is recognized for his innovation and experimentation in dramatic form.

The performance of these early dramas was closely tied to religious and courtly contexts, with royal patronage supporting the arts. The Natya Shastra classified drama into ten major types, providing a framework for the diverse narratives that could be presented on stage, ranging from mythological epics to tales of everyday life.

Medieval Indian Drama (10th-18th Century)

The medieval period witnessed the diversification of theatrical traditions across different regions of India. Local forms of drama began to emerge, often influenced by regional folklore, traditions, and cultural practices. These performances were not confined to Sanskrit but were conducted in various regional languages.

In Maharashtra, the Tamasha tradition incorporated elements of dance, music, and humor. Gujarat saw the development of Bhavai, a folk theater form that combined social commentary with entertainment. Bengal witnessed the rise of Jatra, a popular folk theater form that traveled from village to village, narrating stories of mythology and contemporary issues.

Despite the regional variations, these forms of drama often retained a connection to religious themes, folk tales, and societal values. They served as a means of both entertainment and cultural expression for the local communities.

Colonial Era (18th-19th century)

The colonial era marked a significant shift in Indian drama due to the influence of British colonialism. English-language plays became prominent, reflecting Western theatrical traditions. The proscenium stage became popular, and European-style theaters were established in major cities.

Notable figures like Raja Ram Mohan Roy recognized the potential of theater as a tool for social reform and education. Playwrights such as Michael Madhusudan Dutt and Dinabandhu Mitra began to write plays in English and Bengali, addressing social issues, promoting education, and challenging traditional norms.

Modern Indian Drama (20th Century-Present)

The 20th century brought about a renaissance in Indian drama with the emergence of influential playwrights. Rabindranath Tagore, a Nobel laureate in literature, contributed significantly to the fusion of traditional Indian drama with Western influences. His plays, like “The Post Office” and “Muktadhara,” explored humanism and spirituality.

Girish Karnad, a prominent playwright and filmmaker, delved into historical and mythological themes. Vijay Tendulkar, through works like “Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe” (Silence! The Court is in Session), addressed social and political issues, challenging societal norms and advocating for change.

The Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA), formed in the 1940s, played a pivotal role in using theater as a medium for social and political commentary. Experimental and avant-garde theater gained momentum, with playwrights like Badal Sircar exploring new forms and styles.

Contemporary Indian Drama (21st century – present)

In the 21st century, Indian drama continues to evolve with the emergence of new voices and forms. The influence of globalization, technology, and social media has impacted the way stories are told and consumed. Playwrights and theater practitioners explore diverse themes, experiment with styles, and often draw inspiration from both traditional and modern sources.

Contemporary Indian drama is characterized by its diversity, reflecting the complex and dynamic nature of Indian society. Issues such as identity, gender, politics, and globalization are explored on stage, providing a platform for dialogue and reflection. The theater scene is not limited to metropolitan areas; smaller cities and towns also witness a growing interest in drama, fostering a more inclusive and widespread theatrical culture.

In conclusion, the evolution of drama in India is a fascinating journey that spans millennia, reflecting the country’s cultural richness and adaptability. From the ancient Sanskrit plays to the diverse regional forms, the impact of colonialism, and the dynamism of contemporary theater, Indian drama continues to be a powerful medium for storytelling and cultural expression.

Types of Drama in India

India has a rich tradition of various types of drama, encompassing a wide range of styles, themes, and regional variations. Here are some of the prominent types of drama in India:

Sanskrit Drama

• Sanskrit drama, dating back to ancient times, is characterized by classical texts like those of Kalidasa and Bhasa. It follows the guidelines outlined in the Natya Shastra and often features intricate plots, poetic language, and a combination of music and dance.
• Tamasha (Maharashtra): A lively folk form that combines dance, music, and drama. It often portrays social issues in a humorous way.
• Bhavai (Gujarat): A vibrant form of folk theater known for its colorful costumes, energetic music, and social commentary.
• Jatra (Bengal): A popular folk theater form that involves traveling troupes, narrating stories of mythology and contemporary issues.
• Originating in Karnataka, Yakshagana is a traditional dance drama that combines elements of dance, music, dialogue, and elaborate costumes. It often depicts episodes from the epics like the Mahabharata and Ramayana.

Koodiyattam

• Originating in Kerala, Koodiyattam is one of the oldest existing forms of Sanskrit theater. It involves highly stylized and ritualistic performances, often based on ancient Hindu texts.
• Popular in North India, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, Nautanki is a form of musical drama characterized by lively music, dance, and exaggerated acting. It often tells stories of romance and social issues.

Puppet Theater

Puppetry has a strong tradition in India, with various forms such as:

• Kathputli (Rajasthan): String puppetry with colorful wooden puppets, often used to narrate folk tales and myths.
• Bommalattam (Tamil Nadu): Shadow puppetry using leather puppets to depict stories from epics.

Contemporary Theater

Modern Indian drama has evolved to address contemporary issues and diverse themes. Playwrights like Vijay Tendulkar, Girish Karnad, and Badal Sircar have contributed to this form, often using theater as a medium for social and political commentary.

Street Theater (Nukkad Natak)

Street plays are a popular form of dramatic expression, addressing social issues and raising awareness. They are performed in public spaces to engage a wide audience.

English-Language Theater

With the influence of colonialism, English-language theater gained prominence in India. Contemporary playwrights continue to write in English, addressing global and local themes.

Experimental and Avant-Garde Theater

In the 20th century and beyond, there has been a surge in experimental theater, challenging traditional norms and exploring new forms of expression. The Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) played a significant role in promoting experimental theater.

Evolution of Drama in India UPSC

The origins of Indian drama can be traced to the Rigveda, with hymns containing dialogues and scenes. The formalization of Indian theater began in the 2nd century BCE with Sanskrit drama, featuring playwrights like Bhasa and Kalidasa. The golden age of Sanskrit drama, spanning the 2nd century BCE to the 10th century CE, faced decline due to foreign invasions.

Regional variations in drama flourished, driven by the belief in theater as a force for social change. The medieval period saw diverse forms like Maharashtra’s Tamasha and Bengal’s Jatra. The colonial era introduced English-language plays, and the 20th century witnessed a renaissance with playwrights like Tagore and Karnad. Contemporary Indian drama, marked by diversity and social exploration, continues to evolve in the 21st century.

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Evolution of Drama in India FAQs

What is the origin of drama in india.

The roots of Indian drama can be traced back to the Rigveda, composed between 1200 and 1500 BCE, featuring hymns in the form of dialogues and scenes.

When did Indian theater formalize, and what was its early focus?

Indian theater began to take formal shape in the 2nd century BCE through Sanskrit drama. Initially rooted in ritualistic practices, it later diversified its themes.

How has contemporary Indian drama evolved in the 21st century?

Contemporary Indian drama in the 21st century reflects diversity, exploring themes like identity, gender, politics, and globalization, utilizing both traditional and modern influences.

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English literature.

For students and researchers of English

INDIAN ENGLISH DRAMA: AN OVERVIEW

Post a comment, popular posts, the bangle sellers by sarojini naidu: multiple choice questions with answers, model question paper for the students of m.p.: ug i year- fc- paper i (b) (english language & indian culture), the daffodils by william wordsworth: multiple choice questions with answers.

Journey of Indian English Drama

Indian English Drama: An Essay

Table of Contents

Introduction

Drama is a composite art form. It is mimetic like all other performing arts in literature. It imitates life, particularly reflecting the three unities of time, place and action.

“It is designed for representation on the stage by actors who act the parts of the characters of its story, and among whom the narrative and the dialogue are distributed.”

India has a long and fertile history in Drama, starting from Sanskrit plays of Vedic Age. Dramatists of Indian Writing in English have scaled the length and breadth of the experimentation in dramaturgy of India during and after independence. To fathom the depths of Indian Drama in English certain characteristic features are to be kept in mind. Basically, the Indian Writings in English during Modern Age articulate the budding and the already present writers as well as the influence of Existentialism, Globalisation, Surrealism, Dadaism, Magic Realism and the Post Colonial issues. India had been under the colonial shackles for a time period of three hundred years and as a matter of fact the colonial language and culture had cast its direct shadow on the Indian literary venues.

Classical Indian Drama: It’s Origin

Drama in India has had a rich glorious tradition. It begins its journey with the Sanskrit plays. Indian tradition preserved in the  Natyasastra . The oldest of the texts of the theory of the drama, claims for the drama divine origin and a close connection with the sacred Vedas themselves. Origin of English drama can be traced to the ancient rules and seasonal festivities of the Vedic Aryans. The most renowned and talented dramatists of the ancient era are Ashwaghosh, Bhasa, Shudraka, Kalidas, Harsha, Bhavabhuti, Visha-khadatta, Bhattanarayana, Murari and Rajeshkhora, who enriched Indian theatre with their words like  Madhya Mavyaayoda ,  Urubhangam ,  Karnabharan ,  Mrichkatikam ,  Abhigyana Shakuntalam ,  Malankagnimitram ,  Uttar Ramacharitam ,  Mudrarakshasa ,  Bhagavadajjukam ,  Mattavilasa  etc.

Pre-Independence Indian English Drama

The Indian English Drama began in the 18th century when British Empire came and strengthened its political power in India. It is started with the publication of Krishna Mohan Banerjee’s  The Persecuted   in 1813. It is a social play in which the author tries to present the conflict between the East and the West. The real journey of Indian English Drama begins with Michael MadhuSudan Dutt’s  Is This Called Civilization  which appeared on the literary horizon in 1871. Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo, the two great sage – poets of India, are the first Indian dramatists in English worth considering. R.N. Tagore wrote primarily in Bengali but almost all his Bengali plays are available to us in English renderings. His prominent plays are  Chitra ,  The Post Office ,  Sacrifice ,  Red Oleanders ,  Chandalika ,  Muktadhara ,  Natir Puja  and  The Mother’ Prayer  etc.. These plays are firmly rooted in the Indian ethos and ethics in their themes, characters and treatment. Sri Aurobindo’s complete plays are  Perseus the Deliverer ,  Vasavadutta ,  Radoguna ,  The Viziers of Bassora and Eric  and each of these plays is written in five acts.

• Notes on Origin of Drama in English Literature

Harindranath Chattopadhyaya added a new dimensions to Indian English drama . He sympathizes with the underdogs same like Mulk Raj Anand. His collection of social plays include  The Windows ,  The Parrots ,  The Santry Lantern ,  The Coffin   and  The Evening Lamps .

Post Independence or Post Modern Indian English Drama

D. M. Borgaonkar’s Image-Breakers (1938) is a problem play that aims to break the conventions of caste system, horoscope, dowry, etc. S. Fyzee’s Rahamin’s D aughter of Ind   (1940) portrays the conflict between love and social barriers, featuring a low-caste girl loving an Englishman. Balwant Gargi’s  The Vulture ,  Mung-Wa,   The Fugitive   and  The   Matriarch  “ dealt with themes which are engaging the attention of people everywhere.”

Another dramatic voice on the Indian literary scene that demands attention is that of T.P. Kailasam. He wrote both in English and Kannada. Though Kailasam is regarded as the father of modern Kannada drama, his genius finds its full expression in his English plays such as The  Burden  (1933),  Fulfilment  (1933),  The Purpose  (1944),  Karna  (1964) and  Keechaka  (1949).

Bharati Sarabhai is the modern woman playwright during the colonial era of Indian English drama. She has written two plays  The Well of the People  (1943) and  Two Women  with some considerable measure of success.

J.M. Lobo Prabhu is the last great name in pre-Independence Indian English drama. He has written over a dozen plays but only  Mother of New India : A Play of India Village in three Acts (1944) and  Death Abdicates  (1945) appear before Independence.

The use of blank verse is flawless and the last play compels us to remind of T.S.Eliot’ s  Murder In The Cathedral . Other verse plays of the period include P.A.Krishnaswami’s  The Flute of Krishna  (1950) M.Krishnamurti’s  The Cloth Of Gold  (1951). S.D.Rawoot’s  Immortal Song .  Karm and The Killers  (1959) Satya Dev Jaggi’s  The Point Of Light  (1967) Pritish Nandy’s  Rites for a Plebian Salute  (1969). P.S. Vasudev’s  The Sunflower  (1972) etc.

Nissim Ezekiel’s Three Plays (1969) including  Nalini : A Comedy ,  Marriage Poem : A Tragi Comedy and  The Sleep Walkers : An Indo-American farce are considered to be a welcome addition to the dramaturgy of Indian English drama.

Girish Karnad in the capacity of writer, director and actor substantially contributed to enrich the tradition of Indian English theatre. His well known plays are  Yayati  (1961),  Tughlaq  (1962),  Hayvadana  (1970),  Nagmandala  (1972). He borrowed his plots from history, mythology and old legends.

Vijay Tendulkar symbolizes the new awareness and attempts of Indian dramatists of the century to depict the agonies, suffocations and cries of man, focusing on the middle class society. In the plays  Silence! The Court Is In Session  (1968) and  Ghasiram Kotwal  (1972), the theme of oppression dominates.  Sakharam Binder  (1972) is a study in human violence amounted to powerful dramatic statement.

Gurucharan Das (1943- ) is known for his popular play,  Larins Sahib  ( 1970). Set in Punjab, it is about the political career of a British Resident in Punjab. Vera Sharma wrote a number of one act plays, including  Life is Like That  (1997) and  Reminiscence   (1997) which deal with the plight of women.

Badal Sircar too is a prestigious name in the realm of contemporary theatre. He represents New Theatrical Movement in India. His earlier plays are  Evan Inderjit  (1962)  That Other History  (1964) and  There Is No End  (1971). All these plays are based on political, social, psychological and existential problems.

Post Independence era witnessed the birth of several one act plays. R. Raja Rao’s  The Wisest Fool   on Earth and Other Plays   (1996) is on the theme of homosexuality. T.S. Gill’s  Asoka   (1983), V.D. Trivedi’s  Gandhi: A Play  (1983) and Prema Sastri’s  Gandhi,   Man of the Millions   (1987), Gieve Patel’s  Princess ,  Savaksha   and  Mr. Behram , Dina Mehta,s  The Myth Maker   (1959) and  Brides Are Not for   Burning , Uma Parameswaram (1938- )’s  Sons Must   Die and Other Plays   (1998) are some to quote.

The Post Modern era ushered in new changes in the Indian English drama. Mahesh Dattani (1958- ) a playwright of World stature, has added a new feather to the Indian English drama. His plays deal with serious and sensitive issues like communalism, homosexuality, female infanticide, domestic abuse, child sexual abuse, condition of eunuchs in Indian society. His plays include  Where There’s a Will ,  Tara ,  Bravely Fought the Queen ,  Final Solutions ,   Dance like A Man  and  Thirty Days in September .

Post-Independent Indian Drama in English falls short of the level reached by poetry and fiction in India. There are four reasons for this:

i) drama is essentially a composite art involving the playwright, the actors and the audience in a shared experience on the stage-has its own problem of which the other literary forms are free.

ii) As Srinivas Iyenger attributes  “the failure to the fact that English is not a natural medium of conversation in India.”  

iii) Lack of living theatre in our country.

iv) The Indian English playwrights do not give much importance to the rich and varied Indian dramatic traditions involving the native myth and Indian historical heritage.

In short, Indo-Anglican literature continues to grow and flourish and this despite all the misguided and prejudiced and politically motivated campaign against English as a foreign language , a language which comes in the way of its growth. More Indians are writing in English than ever before, and the Indo-Anglican writer is enjoying a much wider market. Indo-Anglican drama has, indeed, a bright future.

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Drama Criticism › Indian Literary Theory and Criticism

Indian Literary Theory and Criticism

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on November 13, 2020 • ( 0 )

The Western tradition of literary theory and criticism essentially derives from the Greeks, and there is a sense in which Plato, Aristotle, and Longinus mark out positions and debates that are still being played out today. At a moment when we are questioning the sufficiency of such Western critical methods to make sense of the plethora of literatures produced by the world’s cultures, it may be useful to remind ourselves that other equally ancient classical critical traditions exist. There is an unbroken line of literary theory and criticism in Indian culture that goes back at least as far as the Western tradition. Indian criticism constitutes an important and largely untapped resource for literary theorists, as the Indian tradition in important respects assigns a more central role to literature than the Greek tradition does.

While explicit literary theory in India can be traced as far back as the fourth century b.c.e., placing Indian critical theory at the same time as Aristotle and Plato, there is much discussion of poetic and literary practice in the Vedas, which developed over the period 1500 BCE-500 BCE. In India, literary theory and criticism was never isolated simply as an area of philosophy; the practice and appreciation of literature was deeply woven into religion and daily life. While Plato argued in The Republic that the social role of the poet was not beneficial, Ayurveda , the science of Indian medicine, believed that a perfectly structured couplet by its rhythms could literally clean the air and heal the sick. We know this perfect couplet today as the mantra , literally “verse.” Sanskrit poetry has to be in the precise meter of the sloka, comparable to the heroic couplet, to be able to speak to the hearer. The Vedic Aryans therefore worshipped Vach, the goddess of speech or holy word (De Bary et al. 5-6). Like the Greeks, Indian critics developed a formalistic system of rules of grammar and structure that were meant to shape literary works, but great emphasis was also laid on the meaning and essence of words. This became the literary- critical tenet of rasadhvani . In contrast to Plato’s desire to expel poets and poetry from his republic, poetry in India was meant to lead individuals to live their lives according to religious and didactic purposes, creating not just an Aristotelian “purgation of emotions” and liberation for an individual but a wider, political liberation for all of society. Society would then be freed from bad ama , or “ill will” and “feelings that generate bad karma ,” causing individuals to live in greater harmony with each other. This essay outlines the various systems that aimed at creating and defining this liberatory purpose in literature through either form or content.

The three major critical texts that form the basis of Sanskrit critical theory are Bharata’s Natyasastra (second century C.E.), Anandavardhana’s Dhvanyaloka , which was the foundation of the dhvani school of criticism, and Bhartrhari’s theory of rasa in the Satakas, the last two dating to about c.E. 800. We shall discuss these works in the order in which the three genres—poetry, drama, and literary criticism—developed. Interestingly, these works asked questions that sound surprisingly contemporary. For example, a major question concerned whether “authority” rested with the poet or with the critic, that is, in the text or in the interpretation. In his major critical treatise, Dhvanyaloka, Anandavardhana concluded that “in the infinite world of literature, the poet is the creator, and the world changes itself so as to conform to the standard of his pleasure” (Sarma 6). According to Anandavardhana, kavirao (“poet”) is equated with Prajapati (“Creator”). The poet creates the world the reader sees or experiences. Thus, Anandavardhana also jostled with the issue of the role of the poet, his social responsibility, and whether social problems are an appropriate subject for literature. For Anandavardhana, “life imitated art”; hence the role of the poet is not just that of the “unacknowledged legislator of the world”—as P. B. Shelley stated (Shelley’s Critical Prose , ed. Bruce R. McElderry, Jr., 1967, 36)—not just that of someone who speaks for the world, but that of someone who shapes social values and morality. The idea of sahrdaya (“proper critic”), “one who is in sympathy with the poet’s heart,” is a concept that Western critics from I. A . Richards through F. R. Leavis to Stanley Fish have struggled with. In the Indian tradition, a critic is the sympathetic interpreter of the poet’s works.

But why interpretation? Why does a community that reads the works of its own writers need interpretation? How does the reader read, and what is the role of criticism? Indian philosophers and priests attempted to answer these questions in terms of the didactic purpose of literature as liberation. As we shall see, rasadhvani approximated closely to the Indian view of life, detachment from emotions that would cause bad karma , purgation of harmful emotions, and the subsequent road to moksha, “liberation.” Twentieth-century critics such as K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar and Kuppuswami Sastriar (both South Indians, the latter being the major Tamil interpreter of Sanskrit literary criticism) have brought about a revival of the rasadhvani schools of criticism. Similarly, Bengali writers such as Rabindranath Tagore were greatly influenced by the didactic purpose of literature that rasadhvani critics advocated.

To understand how these critical theories developed, we need to look briefly at the development of Indian literature. The Rig Veda is considered the earliest extant poem in the Indo-European language family and is dated anywhere between 2500 b .c .e . and 600 B.C.E. It does, however, make reference to kavya , “stanzaic forms,” or poetry, that existed before the Rig Veda itself. The word gatha , referring to Zoroastrian religious verses that are sung, also occurs frequently in the Rig Veda. Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, is considered the first poet, but as we shall see, Valmiki is also considered the first exponent of poetic form. The period between 600-500 B.C.E. and c.E. 200 is labeled the epic period by Sarvepelli Radhakrishnan (the first president of the postcolonial Republic of India and the most prolific scholar of Indian philosophy and critical theory) because it saw the development of the great epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata (Radhakrishnan and Moore xviii). According to Radhakrishnan, the Bhagavad Gita, which is a part of the Mahabharata , ranks as the most authoritative text in Indian philosophical literature because it is considered to have been divinely revealed and because it apparently was noted down as it was revealed and therefore was not merely transmitted orally. In the Gita , Krishna and Arjuna philosophize about the role of the poet. The responsibility of maintaining order in the world is on the shoulders of the poet-sage, such as Janaka, for ordinary mortals tend to imitate the role model as portrayed by Janaka. Thus it is the poets who set the standards for the world to follow.

The period of Indian philosophy that spans more than a millennium from the early Christian centuries until the seventeenth century C.E. is considered the sutra period, or the period of treatises upon the religious and literary texts. It was this period that saw the rise of the many schools of literary criticism and interpretation. Radhakrishnan calls this the scholastic period of Indian philosophy, and it was in this period that interpretation became important. Sanskrit is the language in which the Vedas are written, and because the Vedas are the basis of the all-Indian Hindu tradition, all of India’s religious, philosophical, literary, and critical literature was written in Sanskrit. Sanskrit served as a lingua franca across regional boundaries but predominantly for the learned, upper classes and the Brahmins, who made up the priestly class. The Brahmins then interpreted the religious, literary, and critical texts for local individuals by using the indigenous languages.

While Sanskrit remained the language of religion in the south, local versions of the religious literature began to emerge in order to meet the needs of the South Indian people, who spoke predominantly Tamil or Telugu. It was not until the breakup of the Brahminical tradition in about the seventh century c.E. (Embree 228-29) that literary religious hymns emerged in Tamil. The Indian- English writer R. K. Narayan’s version of the Ramayana is based on the Tamil version by the poet Kamban in the eleventh century. Tamil literary criticism remained rooted in the classical Sanskrit critical tenets, however, as is evidenced by the continuance (even in the 1900s) of Dhvanyaloka criticism by Kuppuswami Sastri in Madras.

Early Indian criticism was “ritual interpretation” of the Vedas, which were the religious texts. Such ritual interpretation consisted in the analysis of philosophical and grammatical categories, such as the use of the simile, which was expounded upon in the Nirutka of Yasaka, or in applying to a text the grammatical categories of Panini’s grammar. This critical method, which consisted in the analysis of grammar, style, and stanzaic regularity, was called a sastra, or “science.” Panini’s Sabdanusasana [Science of sabda, or “words”] and the Astadhyayi [Eight chapters of grammatical rules] (Winternitz 422) are perhaps the oldest extant grammars, dated by various scholars to about the beginning of the Christian era. Alankara sastra is “critical science,” which emanated from Panini’s grammar and was dogmatic and rule-governed about figures of speech in poetry. The word alankara means “ornament” (Dimock 120), and as in Western rhetorical theory, this critical science consisted of rules for figurative speech, for example, for rupaka (“simile”), utpreksa (“metaphor”), atisya (“hyperbole”), and kavya (“stanzaic forms”). As Edwin Gerow has noted in his chapter “Poetics of Stanzaic Poetry,” in The Literature of India :

Alankara criticism passes over almost without comment the entire range of issues that center around the origin of the individual poem, its context, its appreciation, and its authorship. It does not aim at judgement of individual literary works or at a theory of their origin. (Dimock 126)

The idea of criticism as a science is rooted in the centuries- old Indian belief that vyakarana, “grammar,” is the basis of all education and science. Rules were to be learned by rote, as were declensions and conjugations, as a means of developing discipline of the mind.

Patanjali, whose work is ascribed to the second century b .c .e ., believed that a child must study grammar for the first twelve years; in fact, before studying any science, one must prepare for it by studying grammar for twelve years (see Winternitz 420). Since grammar lay the foundation of all other study, a series of rule-governed disciplines arose, each of which had categories and classifications to be learned by heart. These disciplines were arthasastra , a grammar of government or political science; rasa-sastra, the science of meaning or interpretation specifically for poetry, that is, literary criticism; natyasastra, the science of drama or dramaturgy; and sangitasastra, the science of music or musicology. Each was further broken down; for instance, musicology was divided into jatilaksana (“theory”), atodya (the “study of musical instruments”), susira (“song”), tala (“measure”), and dhruva (“rhythm”).

Poetry was most governed by the alankara , the rules of critical science; but since poetry existed before criticism, it in itself was generative of that criticism. Critics in the last few centuries b .c .e . believed that any association of word and memory having a special quality generates kavya . The creation of mnemonic rhymes was considered essential to poetry. Poetry was considered as having two qualities: alankara , here loosely translated to mean “formal qualities”; and guna , or “meaning” and “essence.”

According to the Alankara sastra , form has as much to do with creating the sphota, the “feeling evoked by a poem,” as the sphota has to do with creating meaning. Tradition has it that Valmiki, the sage wandering in the forest, heard a pair of Kaunca birds mating. When the male of that pair was shot down by a hunter, Valmiki heard the grieving of the female bird, which was metrically so perfect that Valmiki himself expressed her grief in the form of a perfect couplet. Ever since then Valmiki is considered the father of Sanskrit poetry as well as of poetic criticism. T he appropriate vibhav, “cause,” in this case grief, gives rise to the anubhav , “effect,” which in turn gives rise to perfect rhythmic expression. Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana , which is contemporaneous with the Mahabharata and belongs to the epic period, thus became the first poet to proclaim a critical tenet (see Sankaran 5-7).

Drama developed later in India than in Greece. Bharata’s Natyasastra [Science of drama], written about the second century C.E., not only lay down rules governing the creation of drama but also prepared the way for developing the theories of rasa, “meaning” or “essence.” Lee Siegel provides the following explanation in his important book on comedy in Indian drama:

Playing upon the literal meaning of rasa, “flavor” or “taste,” [Bharata] used the gastronomic metaphor to explain the dynamics of the aesthetic experiences. Just as the basic ingredient in a dish, when seasoned with secondary ingredients and spices, yields a particular flavor which the gourmet can savor with pleasure, so the basic emotion in a play, story, or poem, when seasoned with secondary emotions, rhetorical spices, verbal herbs, and tropological condiments, yields a sentiment which the connoisseur can appreciate in enjoyment. Love yields the amorous sentiment, courage the heroic mode. (7-8)

Thus Bharata provided formulas for producing the corresponding sentiments in the audience—recipes similar to Aristotle’s definition of “tragedy” and “comedy” but corresponding mostly with the means to produce homeostasis or balance in an audience by having the audience identify with certain rasas.

It is in the idea that literature is meant to cause a purgation of emotions and create a homeostasis in the audience that Indian criticism most approximates Aristotle’s theory of tragedy. This idea, though, is drawn from Indian philosophy and religious emphasis on liberation and freedom from bad karma. All literature is supposed to generate the feeling of moksha (“liberation”). Literature, more particularly drama or tragedy, must cause the purgation of the emotions of satva (“happiness”), rajas (“anger”), and tamas (“ignorance” or “laziness”) so as to free the soul from the body.

Bharata divided up the Natyasastra into hasya-rasa (“comedy”) and karuna-rasa (“tragedy”). The effect of drama can be obtained through, first, vibhava, the conditions provoking a specific emotion in the audience, which are controlled by alambana-vibhava, or identification with a person, as in Aristotle’s dictum of identification with the fall of a great man, and uddipana-vibhava , the circumstances causing the emotion to be evoked, as in the role of fate, pride, ambition, and so on; second, anubhava, or the technicalities of dramaturgy, gesture, expression, and so on; and third, vyabhicari , the buildup toward the dominant emotion, or as Aristotle would put it, the climax and subsequent catharsis. S. N. Dasgupta says that the theory of rasa

is based on a particular view of psychology which holds that our personality is constituted, both towards its motivation and intellection, of a few primary emotions which lie deep in the subconscious or unconscious strata of our being. These primary emotions are the amorous, the ludicrous, the pathetic, the heroic, the passionate, the fearful, the nauseating, the wondrous. (37)

Each of these, however, can be classified under the three primary emotions— satva, rajas, tamas . In freeing the audiences of these emotions, dramaturgy functions rather like karma yoga , or the “yoga of good deeds.”

The other major dramaturgist is Dandin. His poetics, entitled Kavyadarsa, dated to the eighth century c.E. (He also wrote the first prose romance, Dasa Kumara-carita. ) He, too, emphasized the gunas, or emotions generated by the “excellence of arrangement” (Mishra 202). Thus he attempted to bring rasas together with alankaras .

Literary criticism in India resulted from the historical developments in poetry and drama. It was Anandavardhana who, in writing the Dhvanyaloka , first explicitly developed a systematic literary criticism. This was the beginning of a formal literary criticism as opposed to the critical criteria that were generated alongside poetry and drama by the pronouncements of poets and dramatists. Anandavardhana, poet laureate of the court of Avantivaranan (C.E. 855-85), the king of Kashmir, turned to the centuries-old theory of dhvani and for the first time succeeded in establishing that dhvani , “sense as suggested by the form,” is the soul of poetry (Banerji 13). He chose to oppose the rasa theorists by going back to the emphasis on words laid by the grammarians, or Alankarikas , exponents of the Alankara school of criticism. Mishra describes the theory of dhvani as follows:

The theory of Dhvani was based on the Sphotavada of grammarians who held that the sphota is the permanent capacity of words to signify their imports and is manifested by the experience of the last sound of a word combined with the impressions of the experiences of the previous ones. The formulation of the doctrine of sphota was made in order to determine the significative seat of a word and the Alankarikas concerned themselves first with this grammatico-philosophical problem about the relation of a word to its connotation in order to get support, strong and confirmatory for their theory. (209)

Anandavardhana then ruled form over content and felt that the best poetry, especially dramatic poetry, suggested not only meaning but also poetic form.

To the alankaras Anandavardhana added slesa, “rules that governed the stylistic choices” of homonyms, synonyms, and so on. Slesa can be considered roughly equivalent to rules for parsing and metrical analysis. Two types of slesas are sabdaslesa, “word play” or “word sound,” and arthaslesa, “meaning and sense.” The closest analogy to this in Western terms is, perhaps, Robert Frost’s theory of “getting the sound of sense” ( Poetry and Prose, ed. Edward Connery Lathem and Lawrance Thompson, 1972,261).

In light of contemporary Western critical theory, there is a very interesting twist to the theories of Anandavardhana. For him, vyanjana, “revelation,” is an important characteristic of poetry. But the revelation rests in the heart of the “hearer,” that is, the reader. In other words, readers make meaning. To make this move to the reader, Anandavardhana turned to the grammarians. According to Mukunda Madhava Sharma, “The grammarians do not recognize any suggestive function of the expressive words but they hold that the syllables that we hear suggest an eternal and complete word within the heart of the hearer, which is called sphota and which alone is associated with meaning” (35). Therefore, if a poet follows the correct rules for combining sounds and words, meaning will follow from the sphota that exists within the reader.

Rasadhvani, then, became the critical tenet of currency following the 41 literary-critical commentaries written by Abhinavagupta (dated variously between the ninth and eleventh centuries C.E.) on the Dhvanyaloka and the Natyasastra . With the commentaries of Abhinavagupta, the emergence of the rasadhvani school was finally complete. This school of criticism recognizes the importance of both rasa and dhvani as critical principles that influence and permeate a creative work. Rasadhvani can be summed up simply in Aristotle’s language as a theory that believed in both “language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action,” and also in emotions (and their role in the aesthetic experience), which “through pity and fear effect the proper purgation of emotions” (61). It is in this sense that Indian criticism is closest to that of the Greeks, and it is also here that it begins possibly via influences to pick up on Plato’s rejection of poets.

With the rasadhvani theory, the reader becomes the central focus of literary criticism. The aim of kavya is to give pleasure, but this pleasure must not bind the soul to the body. Thus, the idea of aucitya, “content,” becomes important. According to Anandavardhana, as well as to Bharata, “poetry must not propagate deplorable ideas” (Sharma 252), must not cause attachment or bad karma, and must aim at liberation as “the highest goal of human life.” Anandavardhana’s definition of the santarasa is very similar to Aristotle’s idea of katharsis : “excess of bliss on account of loss of desires.” Aucitya is properly translated as “propriety” or “appropriateness,” which is linked to vakrokti, “technical ability with words,” with the emphasis on anumana , “inference.” Ksemendra, a Kashmiri writer who lived about the eleventh century and who helps us date the commentaries of Abhinava Gupta, who lived just before him, wrote in his Aucitya-vicara-carca that “whatever is improper detracts from rasa and is to be avoided” (Banerji 417). It is from this that the usual association of the rasa theory as didacticism or moral criticism is made.

While aucitya is greatly elaborated on by these later critics, the word actually occurs first in Anandavardhana’s Dhvanyaloka. Anandavardhana feels that aucitya, the “soul of poetry,” is the result of rasa-dhvani (Raghvan 115)—this is the only mention of rasa and dhvani together. Thus, in Anandavardhana, as in all earlier Indian criticism, the effect literature has on the reader is of prime importance.

What is interesting about the emphasis on readers is that the public was

expected to possess a certain amount of theoretical knowledge [communicated by the Brahmin priests as they taught the religion and interpreted the literature]; for the rasika or Sahrdaya [the “proper critic”] is a man of taste. The true appreciators of poetry must be, according to the conception of the Sanskrit theorists, not only well read and wise and initiated into the intricacies of theoretic requirements, but also possessed of fine instincts of aesthetic enjoyment. The poet naturally liked to produce an impression that he had observed all the rules, traditions, and expectations of such an audience; for the ultimate test of poetry is laid down as consisting in the appreciation of the Sahrdaya . (De 43)

Rasadhvani is the basic foundation of Indian critical theory. Earlier criticism leads up to it, and later criticism simply elaborates on it. Some later Sanskrit critics include Mammta, who lived close to the end of the eleventh century, Visvanatha, and Jagannatha Pandita. Visvanatha’s Sahityadarpana, dated to about the fourteenth century, draws together all the earlier critical tenets emphasizing lakshana, “the characteristic of a work,” essentially an analysis of theme or content; alankara; and riti, “style.”

This essentially Sanskrit tenet of rasadhvani had a major exponent in the South Indian Tamil critic Kuppuswami Sastri. In 1919 he presented 20 lectures at Madras University on the methods and materials of literary criticism in Sanskrit, making frequent comparisons between the traditional sastras and the criticism of John Dryden, Samuel Johnson, and S. T. Coleridge. His student V. Raghvan did much to promote Sanskrit literary criticism in South India.

Lee Siegel, in Laughing Matters , points out that so many of the ancient critical and theoretical principles have been handed down and kept current that they are absorbed by contemporary Indian writers and critics, whether working in indigenous Indian languages or in English, almost by osmosis. Thus these ancient critical tenets have a curious currency even today. In fact, Siegel’s entire discussion of wordplay and punning draws a line from the ancient alankarikas through couplets about Krishna to the work of Indian-English writer R. K. Narayan and that of his brother, the cartoonist R. K. Laxman. Siegel’s discussion shows the power of a tradition that has been learned by osmosis, passed around, and handed down for centuries.

S. Radhakrishnan notes that “after the sixteenth century India in philosophy and criticism lost its dynamic spirit”:

First the Muslims and then the British assumed control of the country, not only physically but also in the realm of thought. The Muslims undermined Aryan culture and thought as far as possible, and the British in their time did as much as they could to belittle the thought of traditional India. For a long time, the English-educated Indians were apparently ashamed of their own philosophical tradition, and it became the mark of intelligence as well as expediency to be as European and as English in thought and life as possible. (Radhakrishnan and Moore xxi)

These historical trends are of course reflected in the literature and critical practice of India since the sixteenth century. With Emperor Akbar on the throne, Persian poetry and Persian and Islamic critical practice became the norm. Persian couplets influenced by Islamic antirepresentational traditions tended toward the abstract. Love for God in the Sufi tradition became the subject of poetry. Yet the doha , the poetic rhyming riddle as developed by Kabir, had its roots in the Hindu tradition of the “perfect” sloka , the perfectly rhyming heroic couplet. The Muslims also brought with them a tradition of Bait Bazi , a kind of Shakespearean rhetorical retort—an Indian form of stichomythia. Hyperbole and verbosity characterized poetry, while the function of satire was reserved only for the court jester, the qawal. Islamic tradition put an end to drama.

Verbosity and the florid Persian style merged with the European traditions to produce a pseudo-Tennysonian literature in English written by Indians such as Raja Rammohun Roy and Aru and Toru Dutt. By the beginning of the twentieth century, a new development in Indian literature was beginning to call for a reexamination of the indigenous critical tradition. This development, a twentieth-century phenomenon, was the increasing production of literature in English by Indians. Early South Indian critics such as K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar and C. D. Narasimhaiah, educated at Cambridge, where their teachers included F. R. Leavis, sought to apply European standards to a literature that increasingly defied judgment by those standards. Indian writing, it appeared, failed to use English “properly.” It seemed to these critics that writers such as Narayan, Raja Rao, and Mulk Raj Anand did not write in what they considered to be “good English.” And yet they were increasingly being read abroad and championed by the E. M. Forsters and Graham Greenes that these critics held in great esteem. And so the questions began to arise, How should new Indian writing in English be judged? What yardstick should be applied?

K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar, in his landmark assessment of this literature, Indian Writing in English, attempted to turn to Hippolyte Taine’s formula of race, moment, and milieu. And yet with the emergence of a literature that is both Western and Indian but is even more permeated with Indianness, the question of a return to the rasadhvani criticism is becoming increasingly urgent. In a reversal of his previous position, which was based on European standards, Narasimhaiah has established at Mysore University in South India a critical school called Dhvanyaloka . In response to new theoretical and Marxist approaches to what are increasingly coming to be called the new literatures in English, nationalist critics ask whether Indians must even import their radicalism from the West. Does it not make more sense, for example, to see a writer such as Salman Rushdie in the Indian tradition of wordplay and the Islamic tradition of a qawal than to see him as a post-Joycean, postmodern Marxist spokesperson for an oppressed other—an “other” that has, ironically, vehemently rejected him? What constitutes the Indianness of a writer such as Rushdie or Anita Desai, who is albeit a mixture of East and West? What Indian critical and theoretical positions have these writers absorbed by osmosis? A new Indian literary theory needs to be forged to suit the multicultural Indian context of the newer literatures, whether those of the vernaculars or in English.

Bibliography Aristotle, Poetics (trans. S. H. Butcher, 1894, 4th ed., 1911, reprint, 1961); Sures Chandra Banerji, A Companion to Sanskrit Literature (1971); Bhartrhari, The Satakas (ed. and trans. J. M. Kennedy, n.d.); S. N. Dasgupta, “The Theory of Rasa” (Raghavan and Nagendra); S. K. De, Sanskrit Poetics (1960); William Theodore de Bary et aL, eds., Sources of Indian Tradition, vol. 1 (1958, rev. Ainslie T. Embree, 1988); Edward C. Dimock, ed., The Literatures of India: An Introduction (1974); R. C. Dwivedi, Principles of Literary Criticism in Sanskrit (1969); Ainslie T. Embree, The Hindu Tradition (1966); K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar, Indian Writing in English (1962, 2d ed., 1973); Feroza Jussawalla, Family Quarrels: Towards a Criticism of Indian Writing in English (1985); P. V. Kane, History of Sanskrit Poetics (1971); Hari Ram Mishra, The Theory of Rasa in Sanskrit Drama (1964); R. K. Narayan, The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic (1972); S. Radhakrishnan and Charles Moore, eds., A Source Book in Indian Philosophy (1957); V. Raghavan and Nagendra, An Introduction to Indian Poetics (1970); A. Sankaran, Some Aspects of Literary Criticism in Sanskrit or the Theories of Rasa and Dhvani (1926); D. S. Sarma, Literary Criticism in Sanskrit and English (1950); Mukunda Madhava Sharma, The Dhvani Theory in Sanskrit Poetics (1968); Lee Siegel, Laughing Matters: Comic Tradition in India (1987); Moriz Winternitz, History of Indian Literature (trans. Subhadratha Jha, 3 vols., 1967). Source: Groden, Michael, and Martin Kreiswirth. The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.

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23 Dharamvir Bharati’s Andha Yug

What is the Chapter About:

This module introduces you to the renowned playwright Dharamvir Bharati and more specifically to his play Andha Yug . In the first section you will be introduced to the life, career and other writings of Bharati which earned him recognition. Later on in this module you will learn about the play, AndhaYug , its themes and critical analysis along with some other interesting facts about the author or play.

About the Playwright; Dharamvir Bharati:

Dharamvir Bharati was born on 25th December, 1926 in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. He lost his father at a young age that left a vacuum in his life and also financial difficulties for the family. In these difficult times he managed to continue his education and received Master of Arts in Hindi from Allahabad University in 1946. After completing his master’s degree he worked more than five years as a magazine sub-editor of Abhyudaya and Sangam . After this  he started working for his PhD and received the doctorate degree in 1954. Soon he joined as a lecturer in Allahabad University. He left the post in 1960 to join as a Chief Editor of the Hindi weekly magazine Dharma Yug which was run by the Times India Group in Bombay. Under his editorship the magazine earned wide circulation and he remained associated with it till 1987.

During his free times he continued writing and gradually was acknowledged as a writer. Later, he turned out as a prolific writer. He wrote plays, poems, novels, essays and so on. For his literary contributions Bharati was honoured with the Padma Shree in 1972, the fourth highest civilian award given by the Government of India. Further, he was also awarded the Maharana Mewar Foundation Award in 1988. In 1989, once again the Indian Government honoured him with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the highest national recognition given in the area of performing arts. Later he was awarded the Maharashtra Gaurav, Kaudiya Nyas and Vyasa Samman too. Dharamvir Bharati died in 1997 due to heart disease.

Do You Know:

His most popular novels are Gunahon Ka Devta and Suraj Ka Satvan Ghodha ( The Seventh Steed of the Sun ). Both the novels were made into film by acclaimed filmmakers. Suraj Ka Satvan Ghodah is considered as one of the foremost examples of metafiction in twentieth-century Hindi literature. It was translated into Bengali by the noted poet Malay Roy Choudhury, for which he was awarded the Sahitya Academy Award for Translation.

Works of Dharamvir Bharati:

The following are some of his prominent works cutting across various genres.

Novels : Gunaho ka Devta (1949), Suraj ka Satwan Ghoda (1952), Giyara Sapno ka Desh , Prarambh va Samapan .

Poetry : “ Kanupriya ”, “ Thanda Loha ”, “ Saat Geet Varsh ” and “ Sapana Abhi Bhi ”.

Plays: Andha Yug (1953).

Essays : Thele par Himalayas , Pashyanty Stories: Unkahi , The River was Thirsty , Neil Lake, Human Values and Literature, Cold Iron .

Short Stories : “Swarg Aur Prathvhi”, “Band Gali Ka Aakhkri Makhaan”, “Chand Aur Tuthe Hue Log”, “Samast Kahaniya Ek Saath” and “Saas Ki Kalam Se”.

Literary Style of Dharamvir Bharati:

Dharamvir Bharati is considered as a modern creative writer whose writings are concerned with the immediate social and political issues of the time. He used elements of folk, chorus and poetic style of writing in his play. He was one of the pioneers of the experimental movement in poetry called Prayogavada which is known as NaiKavita movement.

Background of the Play:

Andha Yug is a verse play written in Hindi which was published in 1953. It was first staged in 1964 by the noted theatre personality Ebrahim Alkazi. The play is based on the mythologies of the Mahabharata . The play is one of the significant literary creations that were written soon after the Partition of India and Pakistan. The play stands against war, hatred and laments the loss of humanity and life. Bharati writes “ Andha Yug would never have been written if it had been in my power not to write. I was in dilemma when the idea of writing the play rose within me. It made me little afraid. I knew that if I set out to write it, I would never be able to turn back!” (Bharati in the Prefatory Notes of the play).

Setting of the Play:

The play has five acts and an interlude. Interval can be planned after the interlude. The writer gives instruction of the setting in the play itself as “A Note to the Directors” which indicates that the stage design should be simple and kept minimal. He also elaborates on change of a scene. The playwright says “There is a permanent curtain at the back and two more in addition. Scene change will be indicated through the dropping and lifting of the curtain in the middle of the stage. The proscenium curtain should be dropped at the end of the act. The curtain at the back and middle are not to be painted. The stage must be bare as possible. Lighting should be restrained and imaginative”.

The choric song style is borrowed from Indian folk theatre tradition. Here chorus is used to explain the significance of the actions or to provide information that is not shown on the stage. At times it also explains the symbolic importance of the events. The writer continues “There should be two choric voices and one should be of female and other should be of male. Instrumental music accompanying the choric should be minimal” (Bharati in “A Note to the Directors” of the play).

The Plot of the Play:

The play Andha Yug (1953) is set in evening of the last eighteenth day of the Great war of Mahabharata . The play was written after the turbulent times of partition of India and Pakistan that took place in 1947. It is a metaphorical play that mourns for the loss of ethical and human values. In other words, it is an interpretation of modern turbulent times that is depicted using the characters of the epic Mahabharata symbolically and metaphorically.

The play begins with the Mahabharata war which took place between Kauravas and Pandavas for the throne of Hastinapur. The kingdom is burning and the battlefield is now covered with dead bodies and vultures. It is about the post war disconcerted survivors of the Kaurava clan. However, when Pandavas won the war Kauravas, who lost once again decides  to avenge against the Pandavas. Ashwatthama releases the Brahmastra, the ultimate weapon that can destroy the world. The play centres on Krishna who could not ensure peace. However, Krishna’s presence throughout the play is significant that tells us that ethical and moral values are always at hand in all the situations and times to human beings. It is we, human beings who have to choose and follow the path.

Characters:

Ashwatthama : Son of Dronacharya; a Kaurava warrior.

Gandhari: Wife of the blind king, Dhritarashtra; mother of Duryodhana and his ninety-nine brothers. She voluntarily blindfolded herself when she married Dhritarashtra.

Dhritrashtra: He is the blind king of the Kauravas and husband of Gandhari. He is the father of Duryodhana and his ninety-nine brother.

Kritavarma: Born into the same Yadava clan as Krishna but fights against him, on the side of the Kauravas.

Sanjaya : Charioteer of Dhritarashtra; given supernatural vision by Vyasa to describe everything that happens in the war to Dhritarashtra and Gandhari.

Old Mendicant : Character who appears as an astrologer, as Vyasa, and as the hunter Jara.

Vyasa: Sage and author of the Mahabharata ; father of Pandu, Dhritarashtra, and Vidura; bestows divine vision on Sanjaya and is capable of influencing events.

Vidura : Sage and half-brother of Dhritarashtra.

Yudhishthira : Oldest of the Pandavas; son of Kunti by the God Dharma.

Kripacharya : Ashwatthama’s uncle; a master teacher of the warrior arts to the Pandavas and the Kauravas; fights on the side of the Kauravas.

Yuyutsu : Illegitimate son of Dhritarashtra by a slave girl; the only Kaurava to take the Pandavas’ side in the war.

Balarama : Older brother of Krishna; a master teacher of the warrior arts to the Pandavas and the Kauravas; chooses not to fight in the war.

Krishna: An incarnation (avatara) of the Godhead Vishnu; assists the Pandavas as counselor and as Arjuna’s charioteer.

There are other minor character too like Dumb Soldier, Guard 1 and Guard 2.

Major Themes and Other Relevant Issues Discussed in the Play:

The play deals with various issues and themes that are relevant and contemporary to all times for example Ashwatthama represents the blind affection, Dhritrashtra presents misplaced loyalty, Yuyutsu presents impotent visions, Sanjay symbol of anguish, Gandhari represents anger and Vidur becomes the representative of morality. Vyasa’s Mahabharata is a narrative that reinforces the point of Dharma, moral and ethical righteousness and conflict between the clans, that is, Kauravas and Pandavas.

In this great narrative of conflicts and dharma Krishna is the focal point around whom everything spins and grows. Krishna is the centre of the play however; he is never seen on the stage. His presence is felt through the symbols like feathers of peacock, flute etc. He is the axis at the same time he remains beyond these conflicts or issues like good vs. bad. His presence represents an end in itself. “This faith in Krishna sustains the moral well-being of all principal characters. Aggrieved Gandhari curses Krishna to death and yet feels acutely sorry  and even Ashwatthama admits the presence of divine peace on the face of Krishna at the time of his demise”

AndhaYug the title and the narrative present an age of blindness or Kali Yuga. An age that is devoid of dharma, reason and peace. Similar were the situations and incidents after the partition of India. The play was a representation of the modern times the degeneration of human values. Since the partition of the Indian subcontinent resulted in uprooting and displacing humans from their place of origin, butchery and savage atrocities on fellow human beings, disrespect to the modesty of women and so on and so forth. One finds the similar conditions prevalent in the play and the usage of words also direct towards it. For example the words like half-truths, inertia, blindness, barbaric, deformed and suicidal and so on. The freedom for which people sacrificed their lives suddenly turned out to be disillusioned for the residents of both the countries.

Further, the playwright uses the two guards as a metaphor to represents the predicament of the common man. Let us see a discussion.

• Guard 1 : Honour!
• Guard 2 : Disbelief!
• Guard 1 : Sorrow at the death of one’s sons!
• Guard 2 : The future that is waiting to be born!
• Guard 1 : All these grace the lives of Kings!
• Guard 2 : And the one they worship as their Lord takes the responsibility for all of them!
• Guard 1 : But what about the lives the two of us have spent in these desolate corridors?
• Guard 2 : Who shall take responsibility for us?
• Guard 1 : We did not violate honour
• because we did not have any.
• Guard 2 : We were never tormented by disbelief because we never had any faith
• Guard 1 : We never experienced any sorrow
• Guard 1 : nor felt any pain.
• Guard 2 : We spent our desolate lives in these desolate corridors
• Guard 1 : because we were only slaves
• Guard 2 : We merely followed the orders of a blind king.
• Guard 1 : We had no opinions of our own. We made no choices.

The two guards move on the stage and emphasize the hapless and concerns of common man especially of the turbulent and times of extreme atrocities. However, common man was never the concern or central to the ancient narratives but modern retellings situates and imagines their conditions. The works like AndhaYug and other varied and modern interpretations of ancient texts have highlighted the agony of common masses that was silenced from a very long time. These retellings are significant for the changing times and also make the masses compatible to the changing times.

Issues of Morality and Ethics in Andha Yug:

The play brings to our attention the battle between the good vs bad or dharma and adharma , duties and responsibilities of God and humans. The play by bringing in Krishna as the focal point of discussion and his absence and metaphorical presence draws our attention towards these complex issues and often vaguely understood concepts. Bharati invokes in the readers the emotions and sympathies for Gandhari who has lost her sons in the war. On the other hand we are forced to think that what role did Krishna play in the war? Why did not he stop the war and bloodshed? “Like hundreds of Kauravas, we invariably refuse to hear the voice of God and blame him when our ambitions are not fulfilled; refuse like the Kauravas in the play, to gaze inwards and find within the sources of grievous wrong” (4). Further, it is  seems simple and undemanding to ask what God has and ought to do for human beings rather  than questioning or introspecting ourselves how responsible we are for our actions and “what  we can do for God so that he searches for us”.

The figure of Krishna is very complex to understand. He is human with whom one can relate with and at the other end he is the God. His earthly presence makes humans to ask for his support to the actions of our contemporary times or desires. If he fails to respond to it we turn away from him feeling as if he is the sole responsible authority for our wrong deeds.

For example like the Kauravas.

Dhritarashtra : Vidura

For the first time

I am afraid.

Vidura : Afraid?

The fear you experience today

had gripped others years ago

Dhritarashtra : Why didn’t you warn me then?

Vidura : Bhishma did.

So did Dronacharya.

Indeed, in this very court

Krishna advised you:

‘Do not violate the code of honour.

If you violate the code of honour

It will coil around the Kaurava clan

Like a wounded python

And crush it like a dry twig’…

Vidura : Yet from the very first day

It was obvious that the Kaurava might

-the final arbiter of truth-

Was weak and vulnerable

Over the past seventeen days

You have received news

Of the death

-one by one-

Of the entire Kaurava clan. (32-34)

Vidura is correct in emphasizing that one cannot take virtue for granted used it as per one desires as a commodity or service whenever it is required and forgotten in other times (06). Alok Bhalla writes “A moral life demands perpetual attention. And those, like Dhritarashtra, who fail to understand this, cannot hope to escape the consequences. In the balance of things, then, it is right that, at the end of all the carnage which he had failed to prevent, Dhritarashtra is consumed by a relentless forest fire, a manifestation of the desolation and the affliction of his soul .

In this module we have discussed about Dharamvir Bharati, the playwright. We came to know about his personal life. We also learnt about Bharati’s literary works and his style of writing. Further, we have discussed the play Andha Yug . We came to know about the background and setting of the play. We have discussed the plot and summary of the play. Then we have also discussed the characters in it. After then we have focused on various themes and other relevant issues discussed in the play. Hope these are useful to you. For more on this module, please find the e-text, learn more and self-assessment tabs. Thank you.

• “About the Playwright and Translator” Manoa , vol. 22, no. 1, 2010, pp. 142–143. www.jstor.org/stable/20720745.
• Bharati, Dharamvir. Andha Yug. trns Alok Bhalla. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1953.
• Bhalla, Alok. “Defending the Sacred in Age of Atrocities: On Translating Dharamvir Bharati’s ‘Andha Yug.’” Indian Literature , vol. 49, no. 1 (225), 2005, pp. 88–104. www.jstor.org/stable/23346579.
• Joshi, Prabodh “Aftermath of Mahabharat: Dharamveer Bharati’s Andha-Yug and Kashinath Singh’s Upsanhar”. International Journal of English Language, Literature and Humanities , Volume IV, Issue III, March 2016. www.ijellh.com

Indian English Drama Essay Example

• Pages: 7 (1915 words)
• Published: September 1, 2016
• Type: Essay

India has a rich history in drama that dates back to the time of the Vedic Aryans. During this period, dramatic performances were uncomplicated and involved reenacting scenes from famous epics such as the Ramayana, Mahabharta, and Bhagavad-Gita. These performances showcased various situations with virtuous, malevolent, and apathetic characters, providing viewers with strength, entertainment, joy, and guidance. However, with the arrival of the British in India came a decline in Indian drama until it eventually saw a revival.

In 1920, a new drama emerged in various Indian languages, greatly influenced by ideologies such as Marxism, Psychoanalysis, symbolism, and surrealism. This marked a significant step forward for Indian drama. In January 1953, the establishment of Kendriya Natak Sangeet Akadmi further strengthened the Indian theatre scene. Additionally, the formation of the Nation

al School of Drama's Sangeet Natak Akadami in 1959 was another noteworthy development. The year 1972 proved to be a pivotal year for Indian theatre.

Badal Sircar, Vijay Tendulkar, and Girish Karnad have brought about a modernization of Indian theatre. They have introduced bold innovations and fruitful experiments in both thematic concerns and technical virtuosities. India has a long and rich tradition in drama, which can be traced back to the Vedic Period.

The Indian drama, known as the "fifth Veda," was a way of exploring and expressing truth. In the time of the Vedic Aryans, plays were performed in a simple manner and often depicted stories from the Ramayana, Mahabharta, and Bhagavad-Gita. These performances remain popular during the dussehra festival. Bharata's natyashastra is a groundbreaking work on Indian dance and drama written in Sanskrit that covers various aspects such a

stage-setting, music, plot construction, characterization, dialogue,and acting. According to legend, as humanity transitioned from the golden age to the silver age, people became consumed by sensual pleasure and experienced emotions like jealousy, anger,and desire.

During that time, the world was populated by various divine beings such as Gods, demons, yakshas, rakshas, and nagas. Lord Indra then requested God Brahma to provide something that would both educate them and be visually and audibly pleasing. After careful consideration, God Brahma devised the concept of Natya Veda by combining elements from the four Vedas - incorporating dance from the Rig Veda, song from the Sama Veda, mimicry from Yajur Veda, and passion from Athar Veda.

Vishwa karma constructed a stage in the Indian heaven that was managed by Bharta. Bharta's 'Natyashastra' is a comprehensive treaty that includes dance, music, poetics, and general aesthetics, all of which are crucial to classical Indian drama. According to Bharta, drama involves imitating people's actions and behavior (owashanukri lirnaalym). Thus, drama is unique as it encompasses the eight fundamental emotions of love, joy, anger, sadness, pride, fear, aversion, and wonder.

The text explores different situations experienced by men, whether positive, negative or neutral, and how these situations can foster courage, amusement, happiness and advice. According to the dramatic theory of Bharat muni in the sixth chapter of 'Natyashastra', Natya is defined as a combination of rasa, bhavas, abhinayas dharmics, vrittis, provrittis, siddhis avaras,instruments, song and theatre-house (Bharat Gupt: 86). Sanskrit drama thrived until the fifteenth century but waned due to invasions on India. Nevertheless, with the arrival of the British in India, Indian drama regained its strength.

The western

influence in India has awakened the critical impulse that was dormant, resulting in Indians being exposed to new ways of life and literature. This exposure has facilitated the exchange of ideas and forms of expression. According to Iyengar (4), this awakening gave rise to a new drama in different Indian languages around 1920, which was heavily influenced by movements like Marxism, Psychoanalysis, symbolism, and surrealism. However, unlike poetry and fiction, Indian English drama has faced challenges and not experienced similar growth due to various reasons.

Many renowned writers such as Ravindernath Tagore, Shri Aurbindo, and Bharathi Sarabhi attempted to overcome these challenges and introduced new possibilities in the genre. However, despite the remarkable poetry, diverse themes, technical skills, and the symbolic and moral significance of their works, this group of playwrights before India's independence did not prioritize the acceptance and stage-worthiness of their plays (Prema Nandan kumar: 1). Indian drama took a significant step forward when the Kendriya Natak Sangeet Akadmi was established in January 1953. Another milestone was reached when the National School of Drama set up the Sangeet Natak Akadami in 1959.

In the 1960s, the modern Indian theatre underwent a transformation by blending different styles and techniques from Sanskrit and Western theatre. This resulted in a more dynamic and expansive approach to creativity. The year 1972 was particularly significant for Indian theatre, as it marked a turning point. Playwrights such as Badal Sircar, Vijay Tendulkar, and Girish Karnad played a pivotal role in modernizing Indian theatre. They introduced bold innovations and conducted fruitful experiments in terms of themes and technical skills.

Using legends, folklores, myths, and history with great

success, Indian playwrights have transcended regional boundaries and produced numerous excellent works at the national level. Consequently, they not only represent Indian drama nationwide but also explore universal aspects of human life in India. For instance, Mohan Rakesh's plays illustrate the complete lack of communication between individuals in modern society, aiming to present something groundbreaking.

Nirad Chaudhry observes that Mohan Rakesh diverges from pseudo modernism and traditional symbolism in Hindi drama. Instead, he focuses on the concept of 'non-communication' as a true tragedy of human life - the failure of modern individuals to understand each other (Badal Sircar: 25-26). Rakesh accomplishes this by using historical characters to shed light on real-life issues. On the contrary, Badal Sircar chooses contemporary situations to establish a new society where individuals can work according to their own desires without exploiting one another.

Badar Sircar, an influential figure in Indian theatre, is renowned for his work "Third Gaze; The theatre of Badal Sircar." According to Rustom Bharucha, it represents the most non-commercial political theatre in India (Raustom Bharucha:127). Sircar's plays explore the existential mindset of contemporary individuals, while Tendulkar's works delve into the challenges faced by the middle class in India. Both playwrights depict isolated individuals struggling amid unfavorable conditions and a hostile environment.

Shoma Choudhary (65) states that Vijay Tendulakar believes our ideas are deeply ingrained in us from a young age, affecting our attitude. Tendulakar's plays, including 'Sakharam binder', 'Ghashiram Kotwal', and 'Silence! The Court', delve into themes of love, sex, marriage, and moral values in Indian society. He extensively uses irony, satire, pathos, and mock elements. Tendulakar has received prestigious awards such as the

Kamladevi, Chattopadhaya, Sangeet Natak Akadmi, and Kalidas Samman awards.

Girish Kumar Karnad abolished the traditional three-act form of plays and created new models to bridge the gap between modern and traditional theatre. He believes that the traditional form needs to be utilized in order to revitalize Indian English Theatre. According to Karnad, the past is never completely lost, but rather coexists with the present as a continuous flow. He states, "A rich variety of theatre form still exists, with a continuous history stretching over centuries" (Girish Karnad:11). This new phase of Indian theatrical development coincides with Karnad's personal development as a dramatist.

In addition to his work in theatre, Karnad has also directed feature films, documentaries, and television serials. He has represented India internationally as an ambassador of art and culture. Karnad is known for his innovative approach to combining traditional and modern forms of drama and content. Through the use of traditional forms, he aims to offer a unique perspective on contemporary reality by acknowledging that the complexities of post-colonialism have roots in both colonial and precolonial times. Thus, it is impossible to fully separate the experiences depicted in precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial literature.

The play 'Tughlaq' by Karnad showcases the interconnectedness of different playwrights, highlighting the evolving times and the diminishing gap between rulers and the ruled. Karnad, like T.P. Kailasam and Rangacharya, employs myths and legends to underscore the absurdity of modern life and humanity's unyielding pursuit of perfection. Over recent years, India has witnessed the emergence of talented playwrights such as Manjula Padmanabhan and Mahesh Dattani. Manjula Padmanabhan gained global recognition with her futuristic play 'Harvest', which explores

the exploitation of the human body in the 21st century.

Padmanabhan presents a society that is both dehumanizing and frightening. It depicts mothers who are willing to trade their sons for rice. However, her plays have an intellectual nature that may not be suitable for the theater. In contrast, Dattani is considered the true heir to Girish Karnad's legacy and is recognized for his groundbreaking contributions to English drama. Not only does he educate through his plays, but he also excels as a stage director and sociologist, exploring the complexities of society. Dattani emerges as a captivating playwright who delves into postcolonial contradictions on various levels. He places women at the forefront of his dramatic universe and can be described as an innovative feminist.

The author was greatly influenced by the works of Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and playwright Madhurye from Giyratti. Drawing inspiration from them, he was particularly impressed with how Madhu Rye depicted middle-class Giyrati hypocrisies in his works (Lakshmi Subramamyam: 13-14). In his own play 'Tara,' the author aims to shed light on a supposedly progressive and forward-thinking modern society. Through this play, he exposes the prevailing male chauvinism in today's society and highlights the harsh reality that women are consistently subordinate to men.

Homosexuality is a significant subject chosen by Dattani in 'Bravely fought the Queen'. Dattani emphasizes the absurdity of the situation where a woman is trapped by her birth. Dattani also raises several questions regarding homosexuality, such as whether it is an assertion of individuality, guided by conviction, leads to meaningful goals, and what is the purpose of marriage for such individuals. Additionally, Dattani explores

the idea of homosexuality as a quest for an exclusive identity. In 'Seven Steps Round the Fire', the popular play, Dattani focuses on the theme of eunuchs, discussing their identity, constitution, and connotation.

Dattani's plays, such as 'Where there is a Will' and 'Do the Needful', depict complex modern urban families where traditional patriarchal norms clash with feminist ideals. One theme that emerges from his works is the erosion of the sanctity of marriage, which has become a mere compromise for personal gain. In line with the postcolonial condition of writing, Dattani explores the dichotomy and challenges faced in society. He suggests that change takes time and that people often become more liberal out of necessity rather than choice. (Vandana Datta:157)

Dattani credits his success to his theatre company, Playpen, which was formed in 1984. He is the first Indian playwright to receive the Sahitya Akadani award and aims to use theatre as a powerful medium for social change. His plays cover a wide range of themes and he is known for choosing the most topical and controversial issues to portray. A close examination of his plays also allows for an intriguing exploration of stagecraft in Indian theatre, as Dattani has introduced innovative techniques.

The previous stage was a basic platform built in a palace or temple courtyard as a backdrop. However, Mahesh Dattani's stage setting is much more intricate. It includes multilevel sets that allow the audience to see the entire interior of the house. Italian Director Jhon Mckae praises Dattani's innovative use of theatrical space, which includes multiple levels, breaking free from the limitations of the Proscenium, and creatively using

lighting to create an illusion of height, breadth, and depth.

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Indian teen allegedly kills two while drunk driving. As punishment, he was told to write an essay

Nc state, unc will move up to acha division 1 men's hockey, report: 5 a.m. workouts help dj burns lose 45 pounds after nc state's final four run, toronto awarded wnba's first franchise outside us, with expansion team to begin play in 2026, top-seeded unc must topple acc pitcher of the year for spot in baseball semifinals, 18-year-old in raleigh wins $1 million lottery prize.

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Officials change course amid outrage over bail terms for Indian teen accused in fatal drunk driving accident

By Arshad R. Zargar

May 22, 2024 / 1:37 PM EDT / CBS News

New Delhi — Indian justice officials have changed course amid outrage over the bail terms set for a teenager accused of killing two people while driving a Porsche at high speed while drunk and without a license. The 17-year-old son of a wealthy businessman had been ordered to write a 300-word essay and work with the local traffic police for 15 days to be granted bail — a decision that was made within 15 hours of his arrest.

He is accused of killing two young people while speeding in his luxury car on Sunday in the western Indian city of Pune.

The lenient bail conditions initially imposed by the local Juvenile Justice Board shocked many people, including officials, across India. The local police approached the board with an appeal to cancel his bail and seeking permission to treat the boy, who is just four months shy of his 18th birthday, as an adult, arguing that his alleged crime was heinous in nature.

In 2015, India changed its laws to allow minors between 16 and 18 years of age to be tried as adults if they're accused of crimes deemed heinous. The change was prompted by the notorious 2012  Delhi rape case , in which one of the convicts was a minor. Many activists argued that if he was old enough to commit a brutal rape, he should not be treated as a minor.

On Wednesday night, after three days of outrage over the initial decision, the Juvenile Justice Board canceled the teen's bail and sent him to a juvenile detention center until June 5. It said a decision on whether he could be tried as an adult, which would see him face a more serious potential sentence, would be taken after further investigation.

Late Sunday night, police say the teen, after drinking with friends at two local bars in Pune, left in his Porsche Taycan, speeding through narrow roads and allegedly hitting a motorcycle, sending the two victims — a male and female, both 24-year-old software engineers — flying into the air and killing them.

The parents of both victims have urged authorities to ensure a strict punishment for the teen.

The suspect was first charged with causing death by negligence, but that was changed to a more serious charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. On Wednesday he was also charged with drunk driving offenses.

Police have arrested the suspect's father and accused him of allowing his son to drive despite being underage, according to Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar. The legal age for driving in India is 18. Owners of the two bars where the minor was served alcohol have also been arrested and their premises seized.

"We have adopted the most stringent possible approach, and we shall do whatever is at our command to ensure that the two young lives that were lost get justice, and the accused gets duly punished," Kumar said.

Maharashtra state's Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had described the original decision of the Juvenile Justice Board as "lenient" and "shocking," and called the public outrage a reasonable reaction.

Road accidents claimed more than 168,000 lives in India in 2022. More than 1,500 of those people died in accidents caused by drunk driving, according to Indian government data.

Under Indian law, a person convicted of drunk driving can face a maximum punishment of six months in prison and a fine of about $120 for a first offense. If, however, the drunk driving leads to the death of another person, the offender can face two to seven years in prison.

• Deadly Crash
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‘Too much drama’: Dubai CEO advises students to choose varsities with less Indians, netizens say ‘respectfully disagree’

C omplaining about “too much drama, lack of professionalism, and self-centred behaviour” a Dubai-based CEO has advised Indians planning to study abroad to avoid universities with more Indians. In a recent post on X, Shreya Pattar, warned that looking for Indian community abroad doesn't come with “homely” feeling and rather involves toxic Indian patterns. 

"A big Indian community of students doesn’t come with a “homely” feeling. It comes with toxic Indian patterns: Too much drama, lack of professionalism, no good role models, no leadership or responsibility towards juniors, self-centred behaviour, “group-ism”, back bitching, no seriousness towards the future. If you plan to move out of the country, make sure you are also staying away from that mindset, attitude, and nature of people," she wrote on X.

You shouldn’t need such people around you to “feel at home”. And if you DO, then might as well just not move abroad.

(Refresh for updates)

DramasHindi - Korean, Chinese and Turkish Dramas in Hindi

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Solomon's Perjury (Hindi Dubbed) | Complete Drama

• Full Name: Solomon's Perjury
• Episodes: 12
• Language: Hindi
• Release Year: 2016
• Size: 300 / 500 MB(each episode)
• Quality: 480P / 720P / 1080P

Storyline: 

"Solomon's Perjury" is a gripping South Korean legal thriller that immerses viewers in the midst of a high school scandal and the pursuit of truth. The series kicks off with the alarming discovery of a student's body on school grounds, which the authorities swiftly dismiss as a suicide. However, a determined group of students, led by the inquisitive and brave Go Seo-yeon, refuse to accept this conclusion. They opt to launch their own investigation and conduct a mock trial to uncover the real story behind their classmate's death. As secrets unravel and tensions escalate, the series delves into themes of justice, morality, and the impact of societal pressures on youth. "Solomon's Perjury" captivates with its compelling storytelling, intricate characters, and suspenseful atmosphere, making it a must-watch for mystery and drama enthusiasts.

Where can I watch Solomon's Perjury in Hindi Dubbed?

"Watch the thrilling investigation and courtroom drama of "Solomon's Perjury" in Hindi, exclusively dubbed on dramashindi. With its wide collection of dubbed Korean dramas, dramashindi ensures viewers can enjoy the series in their preferred language, providing a seamless streaming experience that brings the intricate world of "Solomon's Perjury" to life."

Final Thoughts:

"Solomon's Perjury" is a captivating drama that makes you think about what's right and fair. The show has a great story and interesting characters that really make you question how people behave and what's the right thing to do. Whether you like legal dramas or just want a show with lots of suspense and emotion, "Solomon's Perjury" is a must-watch. Don't miss out on the chance to solve the mysteries and see justice in action – watch it now on dramashindi and let "Solomon's Perjury" grab your attention.

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There’s a New Covid Variant. What Will That Mean for Spring and Summer?

Experts are closely watching KP.2, now the leading variant.

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By Dani Blum

For most of this year, the JN.1 variant of the coronavirus accounted for an overwhelming majority of Covid cases . But now, an offshoot variant called KP.2 is taking off. The variant, which made up just one percent of cases in the United States in mid-March, now makes up over a quarter.

KP.2 belongs to a subset of Covid variants that scientists have cheekily nicknamed “FLiRT,” drawn from the letters in the names of their mutations. They are descendants of JN.1, and KP.2 is “very, very close” to JN.1, said Dr. David Ho, a virologist at Columbia University. But Dr. Ho has conducted early lab tests in cells that suggest that slight differences in KP.2’s spike protein might make it better at evading our immune defenses and slightly more infectious than JN.1.

While cases currently don’t appear to be on the rise, researchers and physicians are closely watching whether the variant will drive a summer surge.

“I don’t think anybody’s expecting things to change abruptly, necessarily,” said Dr. Marc Sala, co-director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive Covid-19 Center in Chicago. But KP.2 will most likely “be our new norm,’” he said. Here’s what to know.

The current spread of Covid

Experts said it would take several weeks to see whether KP.2 might lead to a rise in Covid cases, and noted that we have only a limited understanding of how the virus is spreading. Since the public health emergency ended , there is less robust data available on cases, and doctors said fewer people were using Covid tests.

But what we do know is reassuring: Despite the shift in variants, data from the C.D.C. suggests there are only “minimal ” levels of the virus circulating in wastewater nationally, and emergency department visits and hospitalizations fell between early March and late April.

“I don’t want to say that we already know everything about KP.2,” said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, the chief of research and development at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Healthcare System. “But at this time, I’m not seeing any major indications of anything ominous.”

Protection from vaccines and past infections

Experts said that even if you had JN.1, you may still get reinfected with KP.2 — particularly if it’s been several months or longer since your last bout of Covid.

KP.2 could infect even people who got the most updated vaccine, Dr. Ho said, since that shot targets XBB.1.5, a variant that is notably different from JN.1 and its descendants. An early version of a paper released in April by researchers in Japan suggested that KP.2 might be more adept than JN.1 at infecting people who received the most recent Covid vaccine. (The research has not yet been peer-reviewed or published.) A spokesperson for the C.D.C. said the agency was continuing to monitor how vaccines perform against KP.2.

Still, the shot does provide some protection, especially against severe disease, doctors said, as do previous infections. At this point, there isn’t reason to believe that KP.2 would cause more severe illness than other strains, the C.D.C. spokesperson said. But people who are 65 and older, pregnant or immunocompromised remain at higher risk of serious complications from Covid.

Those groups, in particular, may want to get the updated vaccine if they haven’t yet, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. The C.D.C. has recommended t hat people 65 and older who already received one dose of the updated vaccine get an additional shot at least four months later.

“Even though it’s the lowest level of deaths and hospitalizations we’ve seen, I’m still taking care of sick people with Covid,” he said. “And they all have one unifying theme, which is that they’re older and they didn’t get the latest shot.”

The latest on symptoms and long Covid

Doctors said that the symptoms of both KP.2 and JN.1 — which now makes up around 16 percent of cases — are most likely similar to those seen with other variants . These include sore throat, runny nose, coughing, head and body aches, fever, congestion, fatigue and in severe cases, shortness of breath. Fewer people lose their sense of taste and smell now than did at the start of the pandemic, but some people will still experience those symptoms.

Dr. Chin-Hong said that patients were often surprised that diarrhea, nausea and vomiting could be Covid symptoms as well, and that they sometimes confused those issues as signs that they had norovirus .

For many people who’ve already had Covid, a reinfection is often as mild or milder than their first case. While new cases of long Covid are less common now than they were at the start of the pandemic, repeat infections do raise the risk of developing long Covid, said Fikadu Tafesse, a virologist at Oregon Health & Science University. But researchers are still trying to determine by how much — one of many issues scientists are trying to untangle as the pandemic continues to evolve.

“That’s the nature of the virus,” Dr. Tafesse said. “It keeps mutating.”

Dani Blum is a health reporter for The Times. More about Dani Blum

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Indian teen who killed 2 while allegedly drink driving ordered to write essay as punishment

PUNE, India – Anger is growing in India after a teenager who allegedly killed two people while drink driving was ordered to write an essay as punishment, with many demanding a harsher penalty and accusing the judiciary of leniency.

The 17-year-old boy was allegedly speeding in a Porsche in the city of Pune on May 19 when the vehicle hit a motorcycle, killing two people, according to Maharashtra state’s deputy chief minister, Mr Devendra Fadnavis.

The minor was taken into custody and later presented to the Juvenile Justice Board, where he was released on bail and given 15 days of community service. He was also asked to write an essay about road safety, Mr Fadnavis said.

“The outrage grew after this. According to police, the boy is 17 years and eight months. This is a heinous crime,” he told reporters on May 21, pointing to the 2015 changes to India’s juvenile laws, which allow children above 16 to be tried as adults if they allegedly commit a “heinous” crime.

“This was a surprising order passed (by the Juvenile Justice Board),” Mr Fadnavis said.

CNN has attempted to contact the alleged driver’s lawyer Prashant Patil for comment.

Mr Fadnavis added that Pune police are investigating the minor for alleged culpable homicide not amounting to murder. They have also asked the Juvenile Court to review its bail order, he said.

CCTV video, purportedly filmed moments before the crash, shows a white Porsche speeding down a busy main road. People can be seen rushing to the scene of the crash, which is not pictured in the video that was shared widely on social media and broadcast on local news channels.

The minor’s father has been arrested for allegedly allowing his son to drive despite the boy being underage, according to Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar. The legal driving age in India is 18.

Three people who served the minor liquor have also been arrested, Mr Kumar added.

“We have adopted the most stringent possible approach, and we shall do whatever is at our command to ensure that the two young lives that were lost get justice, and the accused gets duly punished,” he said.

The incident has dominated headlines in India and sparked widespread anger, with many taking to social media to condemn the boy’s bail conditions.

Mr Suresh Koshta, whose 24-year-old daughter was killed in the crash, urged the authorities to take tougher action against the alleged driver.

“It was wrong (to allow the minor to drive),” he told reporters outside his home, while fighting back tears. “One needs to know how to drive first.”

Mr Rahul Gandhi, the leader of India’s main opposition, the Indian National Congress, questioned whether a bus or taxi driver would be given the same punishment.

“If a 16-17-year-old son of a wealthy household, driving a Porsche under the influence, is caught, he is asked to write an essay,” he said on X. “Why aren’t essays assigned to truck drivers or bus drivers?”

This isn’t the first time a court’s verdict has been scrutinised in this manner.

In 2015, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, who was facing a lengthy prison sentence for a fatal hit-and-run, got a reprieve when the Mumbai High Court tossed out his conviction for lack of evidence, causing widespread outrage.

“On basis of evidences produced by the prosecution, the appellant cannot be convicted, no matter how differently the common man thinks,” the court said.

The hit-and-run incident took place outside a Mumbai bakery in September 2002, with prosecutors saying Khan ran over five sleeping men after losing control of his vehicle. He was returning from a bar after a night of drinking, they said.

The actor said he wasn’t the driver.

One of the victims was killed, the others injured. CNN

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