Hello friends,
I am Nidhi Dave student of the Department of English MKBU, This blog is response of my thinking Activity given by professor Yesha Ma'am. Here i discuss about some questions answers to the play The Curse of karna.
T. P. Kailasam:
Tyagraj Paramasiva Iyer Kailasam (1884–1946), was a playwright and prominent writer of Kannada literature. His contribution to Kannada theatrical comedy earned him the title Prahasana Prapitamaha, "the father of humorous plays" and later he was also called "Kannadakke Obbane Kailasam" meaning "One and Only Kailasam for Kannada".
The play was written in five acts. In the five act it is describing the life story of Karna and his Curse.
Two curses of Karna given to him by his guru Parshurama and by a Brahmana have some impact on his defeat to Arjuna and, ultimately, his death during the battle in Mahabharata.
Question - Answer
1, Interpret the 'End' of all acts and scenes.
Ans,
Act-1
Raama:
POOR KARNA! POOR, POOR KARNA!
Act- 2
Gandharaj
POOR ANGA! POOR POOR HONEST ANGA!
Act- 3
The King Suyodhan
The King POOR ANGA! OUR POOR GREAT ANGA !
Act- 4
Bheema
Anga crumples into Bheema’s arms who carries him out muttering amid tears: POOR ANGA! POOR GREAT ANGA!” The THRONE ROOM, empty now, is exposed for a minute before—
Act 5
Aswatthama
“OUR ANGA!” “OUR GREAT ANGA!”
“OUR POOR POOR ANGA”!
All the act of this play ends with Karna being Poor. All are sympathetic with Karnas character and this way all act end with same way.
2, Is 'moral conflict' and 'Hamartia' there in Karna's character?
Ans,
What is ‘Hamartia”?
Hamartia arose from the Greek verb hamartanein, meaning "to miss the mark" or "to err." Aristotle introduced the term in the Poetics to describe the error of judgment which ultimately brings about the tragic hero's downfall. As you can imagine, the word is most often found in literary criticism. However, media writers occasionally employ the word when discussing the unexplainable misfortune or missteps of celebrities regarded as immortal gods and goddesses before being felled by their own shortcomings.
Karna's role in moral context. Well there was nothing moral about karna. He was a great warrior but so was satyaki, bhagadatta, duryodhana and many others. If we read Mahabharata, we see that Duryodhana has done many evil things. Karna, he was involved in almost all of those evils and sometimes he was the instigator. We see that karna is known for his charity but he always boasted about his charity. He gave his kavach to Indra but received a weapon to kill Arjun so that was no charity it was a trade. Karna didn't even care for Duryodhana, all he wanted was a fight to the death with Arjun. If karna was morally correct then he would stop duryodhana from doing evil things.
If we read about karna's past then we see that he was a demon named sahastra kawach in his previous birth. Guess destiny didn't want him to lose his demon nature.
3, Karna - The voice of Subaltern
The story of Karna begins with the misfortune of his secret birth and unfolds itself amidst the unremitting gloom of injustice and insult. A long time ago, a beautiful young princess named Kunti lived with her Uncle, King Kuntibhoj, in a lovely palace along the banks of a wide river. One day Maharishi Durvasa visited the palace of Kuntibhoja. He stayed there for almost a year. During his stay Kunti was given the responsibility of attending to his needs. Kunti served the Maharishi with great reverence without caring for her own comfort. The sage had a very peaceful and happy stay and wanted to reward Kunti for her services. Maharishi said, “Child, one day you will need the help of the Gods. I am going to teach you a secret mantra for inviting the Gods into your life. Be very careful with this mantra! Use it wisely.”Early the next morning Kunti was playing by herself in the royal garden. The sun had risen and Kunti watched its rays touch a flower here, a leaf there.She coated the basket with the wax to make it waterproof, and lined it with layers of the silk to make it soft and warm. She placed the baby carefully in his new bed and carried the basket to the river. Then she kissed him good-bye and set the basket afloat and whispered, “May the Sun-God watch over you always and keep you safe. May you find parents who will love you and care for you.” Downstream, Adhiratha was sitting on a rock, hoping to catch a fish for the midday meal. He was a gentleman,a charioteer by trade, and his wife Radha was a gentle and good woman.
When Radha saw the tiny baby lying peacefully asleep, she was overjoyed and said to her husband, “Swamy, it seems that our prayers have been answered. We will keep this baby and bring him up as our own”.He repliedI agree with you. He is a gift from God in answer to our prayers. In fact,he himself is Godlike with these divine earrings and armor. After consultation with the Brahmins,he was named Vasushena since he was wearing a Vasu Varma(signifying rich armor; the significance of ‘wealth’ in his name was further validated by his legendary generosity later in adult life). He also came to be known as Radheya or the son of Radha, and more famously as Karna (signifying ear, because he was born with the divine earrings). Radheya was outgrowing like every other young boy of his age in the village. special features and personality, anybody could see that the boy did not quite belong to the category of ordinary village lads.
Adhiratha was particularly tense, as he recalled how Dronacharya had initially refused to do anything with a Suta Putra (charioteer’s son), and how he had to seek the intervention of King Dhritarashtrahimself.Guru Dronacharya had only agreed to impart basic education and training in arms to his son. In due course both father and son entered the hut of Guru Dronacharya and touched his feet with due reverence.
After a few days when Adhiratha visited his son in his lodgings, he found him tense and somewhat angry as well. Before entering the room he had assured him that his son was very bright and a quick learner. But on entering the room he found him in a different frame of mind which made him apprehensive. On being asked, Karna started asking all sorts of questions with his father. He asked, “Baba is it a crime to be a Suta-Putra? Why do scriptures sanction this class-based discrimination? Why the princes and other so-called upper-class students should be given better food, better lodgings,and better education as compared to students like me,who seem to have an inborn stigma attached to their names? Where does my fault lie in all this?” Similarly, this scenario is also denoted by the term 'subaltern conventionally denotes an inferior military rank, it is more generally used as ‘a name for the general attribute of subordination in South Asian society’ often expressed in terms of caste and gender as it is being acquired at birth and is non-changeable. The term ``Subaltern Was coined by Ranjit Guhaand later it was adopted by Marxist Antonio Gramsciand further it was discussed by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak in her essay ‘Can the Subaltern Speak?’People consider Subaltern as the unrepresented group of people in the society, people of inferior race, not fit for making any real contribution to the society and therefore they cannot speak, but in reality subaltern can speak but others do not have the patience to listen to them and same can be seen with Karna, he is capable but he ultimately he is Suta Putra. To console Karna Adhiratha sensibly replied, “My dear son, during your education you will surely study scriptures and find out for yourself that they don’t sanction any kind of discrimination. These divisions are all manmade and tools used by those people who wield power to subjugate those who are weak and less fortunate. Let me assure you, my son, being a Suta is not a crime. We earn our living by fair means and struggle hard to make both ends meet. Be assured there is no dishonor involved in all this. But you and I are not in a position to change the system. My advice to you is that you can earn recognition by hard work and dedication and outshine everyone with your superior capabilities.
Thank you.
Words: 1,440
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