A DISCOURSE OF CASTE AND INTERRELATIONSHIP WITH POWER IN TALE-DANDA

Abstract

Girish Karnad is one of the famous modern Indian English playwrights. He wrote thirteen plays in Kannada language and translated them into English. Most of his plays are based on myth, history or folk tales. Though rooted in the past, the plays have contemporary relevance. He wrote the historical play Tale-Danda when the Mandal-Mandir movement reached its zenith in India. Tale-Danda is based on Basavanna’s life, the poet-saint, mystic, and social reformer.The play addresses the discourse of caste and its interrelationship with power in the light of the Sharana movement led by Basavanna, the poet-saint. Tale-Danda deals with power relationships in the caste discourse, with Bijjala-Basavanna and King Bijjala-attendants. Tale-Danda presents the evils of the caste system. Foucauldian conceptualisation of discourse is also applied to examine the link between discourse and the modality of power relations in Tale-Danda. The paper aims to discuss how caste discourse functions through power and its implications for understanding the traditional caste system.