The Role of Prayer in the dynamics of the pla...

The Role of Prayer in the dynamics of the play Tughlaq by Girish Karnad

Author Name : Dr. Kaneez Banoo Quraishi

ABSTRACT

Girish Karnad is a playwright with a purpose. He makes use of famous stories, mythological, legendary, and historical, to order to convey moral appropriate to, and much needed in contemporary India. Following the success of Yayati (1961), he wrote Tughlaq (1964), the year of Jawaharlal Nehru’s passing away, to bring out the contrariness and avoidable misery prevalent in today’s India. While Yayati is purely mythological. Tughlaq is based on historical facts. To a large extent Karnad has been faithful to recorded history.

In his view Tughlaq’s history has a contemporaneous relevance. Tughlaq has been admitted on all hands to be an intellectual and an idealist – perhaps the most intelligent king who sat on the gadi in Delhi. But he happens also to be the greatest failure among India’s rulers who have been loading it over a huge aea for a number of decades. What impresses Karnad most is that the royal youth so full of promise goes to pieces in the span of a score of years. The protagonist is a deeply religious man and had learnt Holy Quran by heart. He used to quote verses of the Quran during his conversation. Karnad has used many symbols in the play but prayer has been used for many dramatic purposes. The proposed article deals with the role of prayer at various points in the play.

Keywords : Tughlaq, Quran, God, mercy, prayer.