Masking and Unmasking: A Study of Girish Karnad’s The Fire and the Rain

Abstract

Girish Karnad was a versatile genius. He was a prolific Kannada writer, a brilliant playwright, a fantastic actor, a talented film director and a meritorious scholar. His long stay in Europe has confirmed him that the Western theatre has nothing to provide him. Therefore, in search of a new mode of expression, he has used ancient Indian myths and history to represent the contemporary issues. The Fire and the Rain is one of the most successful drama of Karnad. In this drama, Karnad has made a brilliant and innovative use of mask. In Indian dramatic culture, masks were used frequently to represent the dramatic characters. But in The Fire and the Rain, mask is both a stage-prop as well as an important tool for the dramatist, by which he has successfully been able to expose the brahminical society. In this paper I will focus on how Girish Karnad has used the mask to unmask the upper-caste Brahmins.