Latest news with #Yayati
New Indian Express
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
I'm coming to realise what Appa wanted me to learn: Raghu Karnad, son of Girish Karnad, remembering the latter
The only book he had ever insisted that we read – putting copies in our hands – was the Mahabharata.' – Raghu and Radha Karnad, Afterword, This Life At Play. In 1959, when Girish Karnad was about to leave for Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, he felt compelled to read the epics and the Puranas before his departure. He had grown up watching these stories performed by lamplight, by Yakshagana and Company Natak troupes. Now he reached for C Rajagopalachari's concise but complete versions of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. This is the decision that would eventually lead him to write his first play, Yayati. Every aspect of this play took him by surprise, as Aparna Dharwadker notes, 'That it was a play and not a cluster of angst-ridden poems, that it was written in Kannada instead of English, and that it used an episode from the Mahabharata as its narrative basis.' This choice 'nailed me to my past,' Karnad said. It set him on a path of drawing narratives from myth, history and folklore, which dominated his playwriting for the next four decades. In the myth of Yayati, a king is cursed with decrepit old age, and Puru, his youngest son, agrees to bear the curse on his behalf. In This Life At Play, Karnad recalls, 'I was excited by the story of Yayati, where a son exchanges his youth with his father's old age. The situation was both dramatic and tragic. But the question that bothered me even as I was finishing the story was: If the son had been married, what would the wife do? Would she have accepted this unnatural arrangement?' This imaginary character's response became the seed of his first play, written at the age of 22: 'This was the first scene that formed in front of my eyes: the confrontation between Yayati and Chitralekha. ... As I thought about it, the rest of the play began to take shape around this climax. I did not feel as if I was writing a play… It was as if a spirit had entered me.' At the time, Karnad was a young man facing his own burdensome questions: Would he return to India when he was done at Oxford? What were his responsibilities, as a young man, to his own father, his family, or his country? When Karnad wrote the play, he could relate to the son, Puru, and the weight of obligation he feels in the story. When he read the play again, much later in his own life, he found himself identifying with the desperation of the father.
The Hindu
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
The return of ‘Yayati': Theatre Nisha revisits Girish Karnad's play
When V Balakrishnan of Theatre Nisha first staged Yayati in 2012, Girish Karnad was still alive, and the production travelled across multiple cities. Over a decade later, Balakrishnan, who also plays the titular role, brings the play back to life with renewed purpose, this time as both an homage to the playwright (his birth anniversary is on May 19) and a reflection on human desire, responsibility, and sacrifice. Written when Karnad was just 22, Yayati is a profound retelling of a moment from the Mahabharata, centred on a king cursed with premature old age. Redemption is possible only if someone else willingly takes on his curse and it is his son, Puru, who steps forward. While the story originates from ancient epic, Karnad's treatment transforms it into a powerful study of personal crisis, familial dynamics, and moral reckoning. Balakrishnan is struck by Karnad's subtle deviations from the original text. 'In the Mahabharata, Yayati demands that his sons give up their youth for him. Here, he doesn't ask. Puru offers his youth because he has a point to prove. He believes he is just as much a warrior, not the weakling others think him to be,' he explains. For the director, it is these nuances — psychological, emotional, and symbolic — that make the play rewarding. 'Yayati does not clamour to be with women,' he says, 'Instead, he wants to reclaim his youth to do his duty by his people. That shift gives the story a new moral complexity.' Having directed several of Karnad's other works, including Bali: The Sacrifice, Naga-Mandala, and The Fire and the Rain, Balakrishnan sees Yayati as unique for its intimacy. 'It's deeply embedded in the personal. It deals with jealousy, desire, and complicated relationships in a very internalised way,' he says. That depth is what excites him about revisiting the play. A significant feature of this production is its casting. With a predominantly female cast — KS Neeharika plays Puru, a male character — the production subverts traditional gender expectations. But for Theatre Nisha, such casting is routine rather than radical. 'We don't see gender as an impediment,' Balakrishnan says, 'We've had more women than men in many productions. If you're good at acting, you can play any role.' This approach is a gentle counter to historical norms in Indian theatre where men once played women's roles. True to Theatre Nisha's minimalist aesthetic, the staging remains neutral. Set in pre-Vedic times (around 12,000 years ago, according to the director) the production avoids over-dramatic visual cues. 'We have no visual records from that period,' Balakrishnan says. 'So the costumes are lightly embellished, just enough to suggest status, never to overwhelm the performance. The actor should stand supreme. Everything else must support, not distract.' While many directors seek to interpret or contemporise mythological tales, Balakrishnan resists the urge. 'I prefer to stay true to the playwright's words,' he says. 'The only change I made was to remove the Sutradhara's prologue and epilogue, which I felt were meant for audiences less familiar with the Mahabharata. Otherwise, I've kept everything as written. Let the audience interpret the play; it's not my job to impose that.' This revival is also deeply personal. Balakrishnan considers the performance a tribute to the Karnad's enduring legacy. 'Just think — how did a 23-year-old write this play?' he marvels. 'It's so steeped in psychology. The idea of the father demanding the son's sacrifice, the Rakshasa woman who looked no different from an Arya woman — these are layered, radical ideas.' As the play travels from its recent Chennai run to Bengaluru, Balakrishnan is eager to see how new audiences respond. 'The audience has changed dramatically over the years,' he says. 'I hope this production lingers in their minds for months. That's the power of good theatre; it doesn't end with the applause.' Yayati will be staged at Ranga Shankara on May 21 and 22. Tickets are available at ₹400 via BookMyShow.
Time of India
07-05-2025
- General
- Time of India
What Death Teaches Us About Living Fully
Authored by: Hansa Yogendra Deepen your understanding of the Bhagavad Gita: Explore chapter 2 with Sri Gaur Prabhu's guidance Death sits in the corners of human life, quiet, mysterious, yet all-pervasive. It is commonly misconstrued as the antithesis of life; however, it is not the opposite of life. It is, in fact, the logical and natural corollary to life because the only guarantee that life can ever truly offer is death. One that is born must and will die. Success, health, and companionship may or may not death is assured, waiting as a silent, inevitable companion of life. Despite its inevitability, the human mind struggles to accord acceptance to the process of death and dying. The Bhagwad Gita gently reminds us that: "Jatasya hi dhruvo mrityuh, dhruvam janma mrtasya cha," - For one who is born, death is inevitable; and for one who has died, birth is certain (Bhagwad Gita 2.27).While such an elucidation of death does not entirely erase the emotional pain death engenders, it can soften the sharpness with which death tears at the contours of life, emotions and relationships. Perhaps the problem is not so much that humans do not understand death. Maybe it is that understanding has very little to do with what or how we feel when those whom we love are taken from us. We know that death is a cessation, an emptiness in place of someone who was once an inextricable part of our lives. The human mind tends to struggle with emptiness, so to avoid it, it fills that space with pain and grief when someone has passed. Maharishi Patanjali observed in the Yog Sutras: Svarasavahi vidusho'pi tatha rudho abhiniveshah - Fear of death is inherent even in the wise, Yog Sutras Patanjali postulates that the fear of death is intrinsic to human nature. The ego fears dissolution upon death. Yog suggests that the true tragedy that befalls a person is not death. Instead, it is that she has never fully lived; living as she were with each moment filled with anxiety, worry and fear. Instead, you choose to meet it as an old friend to whom you will narrate tales you have seen, felt and for instance, King Yayati, preceptor of the Puru clan. Guru Shukracharya cursed King Yayati that he would lose his youth and succumb to old age and death. Yayati was so in thrall with the sensual pleasures of youth that he offered his crown and kingdom to the son who would exchange his youth for Yayati's old age. His youngest son, Puru, obeyed his father's command. Yayati exchanged his old age with Puru's youth and continued to enjoy sensual pleasures. One day, exhausted by the never-ending carousel of pleasure, Yayati gave Puru's youth and position to contrast stands Rishi Dadhichi, who willingly gave up his life so that devas could use his bones to craft weapons which could defeat the demon Vritra. Sage Dadhichi and King Yayati illustrate paths that are available to us. King Yayati fears what is only natural. Sage Dadhichi transforms even death into an opportunity for do not let fear control your life. Channel your entire focus on living purposefully, with a vision to contribute to society and make the world better. Yog guides you to immerse yourself fully in the life that is yours now, in the karm that is yours to fulfil, and in seva, which can become the foundation of universal joy, prosperity, and well-being.
