“He Was Seeking God so he Could Ask for Universal Knowledge”: Knowledge as a Super Narrative in Karnad’s Hayavadana, Naga-Mandala and the Fire and the Rain

Girish Karnad, the veteran Indian playwright talks of Knowledge in multifaceted understanding of the term. While knowledge stands for wisdom, it suggests spiritual knowledge, the knowledge of the Universe, knowledge of the Self. It is interpreted as human’s power over the Universe, over Nature and at the same time Nature’s power over man or Unconscious’ power over the Conscious mind. The power in Karnad’s plays is placed in diverse points and every character whether the man or the woman or even snakes or dolls are given a will, a power that can topple other structures of power. The Unconscious rules over the conscious, the animal world becomes more intuitive than humans, the divine world intervenes into the human world and so on. The different worlds contest with each other to form a world that is subtle and curious at once.