Yayati by Girish Karnad


	Browse Categories

Our Price: $16.20 USD

Availability:
Usually Ships in 1 to 2 Business Days

ProductID: 23522 - Paperback - 74 Pages (Year: 2008)
Oxford University Press ~ ISBN: 0195692365

Delicious Facebook Digg

Explore Similar Items

Write a Review

Buy Together: Yayati ($16.20) and The Fire and the Rain ($14.95)

Top 10 popular recommendations

Indiaclub.com Description

In the Mahabharata, King Yayati is cursed to old age in the prime of life for a sexual misdemeanor of his and tries to circumvent the catastrophe by demanding that his son, Pooru, lend him his youth in exchange for the curse. This unusual myth about a parent’s aggression against his offspring has inspired some of India’s most eminent writers to explore it in fiction, poetry, and drama.

Girish Karnad was only twenty-two when he attempted his interpretation in the play, Yayati. What makes his version of the tale so resonant, and startlingly original, is that he rejects the traditional glorification of the son’s ‘self-sacrifice’ and, against a backdrop of lust, jealousy, and racial tensions, foregrounds the tragic choices with which the young prince and his bride are confronted. Angry, energetic, ambitious, and strongly influenced by the tragic vision of the Existentialists, the play immediately established Karnad’s reputation as a dramatist in Kannada and launched him on his celebrated career in the Indian theatre.

Yayati has been translated into different Indian languages and has continued to be performed all over the country during the half century since it was written.

About the Author

Girish Karnad Apart from working in the theatre, he has directed and acted in films. He has served as Director, Film and Television Institute of India; Chairman, Sangeet Natak Akademi (the National Academy of the Performing Arts); and Director, the Nehru Centre, London. He has been honoured with the Padma Bhushan and conferred the prestigious Jnanpith Award.

About Us | Customer Testimonials | Affiliate Program | Conditions of Use | E-Mail