Monday, 23 January 2017

Girish Karnad's Tughlaq as a Historical Play:-

Girish Karnad's Tughlaq as a Historical Play:-
There are many definitions of history some critics believe that history is Distilled Rumour.the other famous critic Walter Scott says,The history is as dry as dust. Karnad himself says, It is playing the game of chess with the shadows of the dead.Barani's definition of history aims at two important facts Hasting results & produced by learned men.both these conditions are fulfilled in Karnad's Tughlaq which is a historical play as Shakespeare's Richard 2 & Christopher Marlow's Edward 2.
Tughlaq as a historical play:-
Karnad presented Tughlaq with aesthetic & artistic depth ness. He presented perfect political atmosphere of contemporary India. In Tughlaq a historical may find many changes or loopholes. But Karnad Molded the character of sultan according to his theme, Karnad wanted to convince a message to us that an idealist ruler can nor remain idealist if he is ambitious of applying his own power every now & then.his purpose is to show that in true history faces change but forces don't.Karnad's own Tughlaq should be studied to find parallelism between the realities of the 14th century India ruled by a prime minister & his colleagues in the cabinet.Karnad's own statement which is quoted by URA Ananthamurt by in this Introduction to Tughlaq should not be talent with a pincle of salt.
Some historical facts:-
In Tughlaq Karnad puts forward some of the historical facts. They are as follows:-
The burning of Kanpur
The revalt of the Nawab of Awadh
Fakrud-Din's revolt in Bengal
The uprising in Deccan & in Malabar
Ehasmasha's declaration of independence
Bahul-Ud-Din's collecting the army aganist the Sultan
The conflict with Ain-ul-Mulk & Shinab-ud-Din
These all incidents are facts that taken from the Indian history Karnad writes in the preface of his drama that how is the india of today different from that of Tughlaq's days..! Only the people & personages have changed the forces & the causes for fight have war.the straggleto gain power is the basic fact that remain unchanged.the fight of the individual against another individual has been substitute by the fight between one group & the alter to secure the power to rule.
Here again Karnad makes use of some actions of Tughlaq to bear upon the actions in contemporary India.Tughlaq lifted the jiziya from the shoulders of the Hindus & imposed taxes on the Hindus & Muslims alike.this was done with a view to maintaining absolute impart rality.but this move of his was mis conducted by the Hindus.
Karnad has succeeded in missing history & fiction to give the feel of life of the 14th century which is quite relevant to the contemporary reality in India. Though Tughlaq in has shown not just the form but copied interest of history Tughlaq was surrounded by the Amirs who were most stamped. They did not advice him correctly not did they carryout his plans honestly. Karnad has satirized an old man,an Amir & courtiers.
Story of a perfect contemporary Sultan:-
Even the enemies of Sultan recognize his learning & scholarship. Iman-ud-Din his critic tells the Sultan,"You are one of the most powerful kings on the earth today & you could spread th kingdom of heaven on earth. God has given you everything power learning intelligence talent.
But this learned & talented Sultan is very impulsive. He can met tolerate opposition. Tughlaq thinks that whatever he does is right & for the people. He want his path to lead towards greater justice equality progress & peace. He aims at a more purposeful life.he wanted to achieve movers as well as progress so he decided to transfer his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad.he explains all the things really well. But the people do not, give support to him.this conflict was taken from the contemporary history of India.
About Tughlaq,Karnad rightly said that..
"Osho & Tughlaq borned in mudh advance in a country like India. They were worshiped far more it they born lately."
This shows the intelligence of Muhammad Tughlaq but unfortunately all the people of this king were old minded.
Conclusion:-
Girish Karnad had perfectly blends the history with the imagination. He adds many humorous & dramatic scenes in this drama. He changes many contemporary facts. So the question arises that Is Tughlaq a historical play or not..? We must call it a historical play as it depicts most of the historical facts of the contemporary India. Karnad's changes are necessary to make it dramatic Karnad makes their characters more powerful than the original. Karnad's changes are not far away from Shakespeare's or Marlow's.Karnad never play with reality. His emotions are never killer or overlapping the reality. So Tughlaq can lie definately called a nice historical play.
Thank You.

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