Collected Plays Volume 1

Th e troubled reign of a fourteenth-century sultan of Delhi helps dramatize
the crisis of secular nationhood in post-Independence India. A twelft hcentury
folktale about ’transposed heads’ off ers a path-breaking model for
a quintessentially ’Indian’ theatre in postcolonial times. The folktale about
a woman with a snake lover explores gender relations within marriage.
Individual human sexuality meets the historical debate on violence in Indian
culture. The plays in this volume span roughly the fi rst half of the career of
Girish Karnad, one of India’s pre-eminent playwrights.
Th e three-volume set of Karnad’s Collected Plays brings together English
versions of his important works. Each volume contains an extensive
introduction by theatre scholar Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker, Professor
of English and Interdisciplinary Th eatre Studies, University of Wisconsin,
Madison. Th e introductions trace the literary and theatrical evolution of
Karnad’s work over six decades and position it in the larger context of
modern Indian drama. In addition, they comment on Karnad’s place as author
and translator in a multilingual performance culture and the relation of his
playwriting to his work in the popular media.
Each of these volumes serves as a collector’s item, making Karnad’s works
accessible to theatre lovers worldwide.

Girish Karnad, Collected Plays Vol 1, author, actor, ex-OUP editor

Girish Karnad, a playwright, film-maker, and actor, writes in Kannada and has translated his plays into English. The
International Theatre Centre of UNESCO, Paris, has declared him the World Theatre Ambassador of the International
Theater Institute, Paris. He has been honoured with the Padma Bhushan and was also conferred the prestigious Jnanpith
and Sahitya Akademi awards. He provided the voice of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India, in the audiobook of
Kalam’s autobiography by Charkha Audiobooks Wings of Fire.