"Nagmadala- Thinking Task"

  This blog is based on Thinking activity of our unit "Nagamandala". 

1.] Who do you think is the protagonist of this play..? Why..?

According to me, Naga is protagonist of the story. Character of Naga is shining as a real hero. After marriage of Rani and Apnna , she wasn't treated in proper manner. Apnna only came in noon for lunch and then go to his mistress. By accidently he drunk the milk and fall in love with Rani also treated her like queen. Naga trying to be caring and loving husband and makes Rani feel good. Rani loves to spend time with him and as a result she got pregnant and at the end Naga proves her innocence towards society and sacrifice his life for her love.

2.] Write down five dailouge of major character.

  1) Rani :

• "Nothing, he left me giddy. Fainted. Then got up and left."
• "ND. No, forgive me, God. This is evil. I was about to commit."
• "You talk so nicely at night, but during day I only have to open my mouth and you hiss like stupid snake..."
• "We are going have baby ..It doesn't makes you happy..?"
• "I  am young and immature, I know nothing ,but I ask."

2) Appana:

• " Well ,then I'll be back tomorrow at noon, keep my lunch ready. I shall eat and go."
• The blind woman and her son let them step here again and they'll know- I'll bathe."
• " I sware to you , I am not father's son."
• "Forgive me. I am a sinner. I was blind."
• "A snake! Stay away! It's tiny but it's cobra all right."

3.) Naga:

• " You are very beautiful...poor things.."
• "That's tender bud like you should get such a rotten."
• "What beautiful, long hair! Like dark, black, snake princess."
• I'll be back again at night."
• " Rani! My queen! The fragrance of my nights..! The blossom of my dreams."

3. Read the preface and write something about the basic of the story.

In the preface, we find a ruined temple with a broken idol. A man comes to the temple and says that he was a playwright earlier, who with his plays had made many audiences to sleep. They cursed him to death!

A mendicant had advised him that if he could keep awake at least one whole night he would not die. That day was the last day of the month, and he kept himself awake in order to overcome the curse of death. He then swore to himself that if he could survive that night without sleep, he would have nothing more to do with story writing.

After sometime, he heard some voices and then saw some flames. 

4.) 3 scholary article.

                                

                                 Like in most folktales, supernatural elements play the vital role in Nagamandala. Traditional beliefs help generate supernatural elements. There is always some magical power in specific roots, according to traditional belief. Kurudavva gives Rani the magical roots but the root is consumed by a king cobra which results in very interesting twists and turns in the play. Another belief is that the cobra has divine power and it can assume any form it desires. In the play, Naga takes the form of Appanna. It is by the form of Appanna that Rani becomes pregnant. So, in some sense, Rani has nothing to do with this "unlawful" sexual communion. It is with his supernatural powers, Naga saves Rani from her pitiable and dangerous plight prove her chastity.

The story of Appanna also has certain interesting touches. It is believed that some witch or fairy enchanted him away from his lawful wife. Once again, the act of the unfaithful husband is explained away through the use of some mysterious fairy. The identity of the woman who entices Appanna away is unknown and it remains a mystery. Are these anecdotal explanations intended to justify that we as human beings are simply pawns in the hands of the divine, or that these events are inevitably caused by Karma?

        Rani, the protagonist of Naga-Mandala, is a typical Indian girl who believes in all the values invented by patriarchal social set-up. She fits in the image of an ideal daughter and ideal wife. She has been an ideal daughter to her parents. She marries Appanna as her parents wanted her to. In patriarchal social set-up, a girl is often granted no right to choose her partner. 

       The woman is portrayed as dependent in all three phases of her life-as a daughter,as a wife and, as a mother. In Indian society, the woman is said to be complete only after marriage. However, paradoxically she neither belongs to this world or that: her parental home or her husband’s abode. For thewoman, the home is said be an expression of her freedom: it is her domain.

                However, Rani is imprisoned in

her own house by her spouse in routine manner that baffles others with the door locked from the outside.She does not shut the door behind her Nora does in “ A Doll’s House”, but God opens a door in the form of a King Cobra. The king cobra gets seduced by the love potion provided by Kurudavva to Rani to lure,pathetically, her own husband who turns a blind eye to her. The snake assumes the form of a loving Appanna is contrast to the atrocious husband at day. The climax is reached when Rani becomes pregnant and Appanna questions her chastity. Her innocence is proved by virtue of the snake ordeal that the village elders put before her, and she is eventually proclaimed a goddess incarnate.

# Work citation :

1.  Dattatraya Rajshri. Feminism in Girish Karnad's Nagamandala." JETIR'. 2014.

2. George Dolly . "Folk theatre and human complexity in Nagamandala". Language in India. 2001

3. Singh Ranveer. "Woman and patriarchy in Girish Karnad's Nagamandala." Proquest. 2013.