THINK INDIA (Quarterly Journal)

ISSN:0971-1260

Vol-22-Issue-9-November-2019

Analyses Of The Characters In Girish Karnad’s Play 'Yayati'

Keerthana S. Kumar,
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
JAIN (Deemed to be University)

Abstract
Girish Karnad is one of the renowned playwrights of India. 'Yayati' is his acclaimed play
translated by him to English. This play is an adaptation of an episode in the mythological epic
Mahabharata, where the story revolves around the character Yayati. He was cursed by his
father-in-law for having married the latter's daughter's servant Sharmishte, who was once a
princess. In order to recover from the curse, Yayati had to transfer his cursed old age to a young
man. This curse was accepted by his son, Puru. The play involves such conflicts among the main
characters. Yayati is seen as an ambitious King. Devayani, his first wife is portrayed as an
insecure queen. Sharmishte, Devayani’s servant, is a very impactful and manipulating woman.
Puru is the one who sacrifices his youth for his father Yayati. And Chitralekhe a young lady with
natural desires who opposes the unnatural aging of her husband Puru. This paper aims to
analyze the characters in the play which are unique and dynamic in nature.

Keywords: Myth, curse, conflicts, ambitious and sacrifice.

Girish Karnad is one of the significant playwrights and is regarded as one of the pillars of
the Renaissance Indian theatre. His works are based on Mythology and History. But, he has
given them a contemporary resonance in plays such as Tughlaq, Yayati and Hayavadana. His
plays question stereotypes and the common notions and beliefs about different topics. Karnad
initially wrote in Kannada and translated most of his plays himself.

Yayati is Karnad's first play, published in 1961 and translated to English in 2007. It is a
revisionist play as Karnad revisits the epic Mahabharata and adapts it into the play. The story of
Yayati is taken from the chapters 75-93 of the Adiparva. There were other playwrights who
wrote about the story of Yayati, such as R. Venkataramanayya and Shriranga before Karnad.

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Their intention was to imbibe the Sanathana values and narrate the story as it is in the epic
respectively. However, Karnad has made changes from the main epic and has created new
characters and scenes. The changes in the play served the intention of giving it a new
contemporary perspective and build a stronger conflict in the play. Yayati is a story of a King
who is in constant longing for eternal youth and who usurps the youth of his son to fulfill his
desires. The symbolic theme is attachment to life and its materialistic pleasures with a contrast of
philosophical quest. This paper attempts to analyze the characters of the play: Yayati, Devayani,
Sharmishte, Puru, Chitralekhe and Swarnalathe.
Yayati-The character of Yayati is different from that of the one in the epic Mahabharata,
wherein he is portrayed as an ideal king, but here he is a grey character. In the beginning, he is
shown as a pawn in the hands of Devayani and Sharmishte. As the play progresses, Yayati
establishes his character by developing a relationship with Sharmishte and shows that he is not
merely a pawn, but also a player in their game. As a result, he suffers from the curse of
Shukracharya. He derives a sadistic sexual pleasure by making his queens and mistresses cry. He
is a mighty king and a good administrator. But, he fails to understand the minds of the common
people and his family. As a father, he fails to understand his son Puru's turmoil. He is ambitious
and hedonic; he rejects Sharmishte's suggestion of accepting the curse and going to the forest. He
cannot accept the sudden old age and is not ready to renounce his palace, kingdom, his queens,
mistresses and comforts. This character shows the difficulty in renouncing the materialistic
comforts for a man who is immersed in them. This contrasts Puru's character; Puru who is
supposed to be ambitious and energetic is very disinterested and on the other hand, Yayati who is
relatively older is still in the desire for youth. He believes that his people would be proud to take
up his old age by accepting the curse. But Puru makes him realize that common people would
always want to lead a normal life and they do not want to sacrifice their lives for the sins
committed by Yayati. We come across a slightly patriarchal aspect of Yayati; when Sharmishte
wins him with her wit and wisdom, he falls for her. But, he is not able to accept it and hence he
feels the need to win over her again by wooing her. This is also noticeable when he himself has

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taken his son Puru's youth, he asks Chitralekhe to be an ideal wife by succumbing to what has
happened to her husband. Yayati fails to understand the value of Puru's youth and is also unable
to think about the repercussions of taking his youth, which later costs the life of Chitralekhe.
Yayati is enlightened by the younger generation characters Puru and Chitralekhe at different
points of the play. The psychoanalytical concept of ‘Yayati Complex' derives its name from the
character Yayati wherein, parents expect sacrifices from their children in order to fulfill their
selfish motives. -Sharmishte-Sharmishte is one of the significant characters of the play who
gives life to it. Sharmishte is proud to be born as a princess in an Asura (demon) clan and she
believes that there is more humanity in the Asuras than humans, which she proves later in the
play. Although she is now a Dasi (slave) of Devayani, the qualities of a princess still remain in
her. She is not in want of the position of a queen, as she already behaves like one. Her words are
her strength and she plays through it. She can manipulate the minds of people according to her
wish which is the reason for the movement of the play. She is able to trigger Devayani, trick
Yayati and gain respect from Puru by merely being a Dasi. The master-slave relationship
between her and Devayani is subverted by her through her play of words and does not miss an
opportunity to taunt Devayani. Devayani and Sharmishte share a love- hate relationship. They
are not able to let go of each other as they were once friends and are now enemies. They are the
only characters who have understood each other very well but the irony is that they cannot
tolerate each other. Sharmishte wins Yayati not by seducing him, but only by her reasoning
power and wit. Although in the first half, Sharmishte is a witty and a taunting woman, in the later
half, we see a transition in her behavior and she exhibits a different aspect of her. We see her as a
woman who is completely aware of her actions. She is able to handle the situation and behave
accordingly. She is able to foresee and she knows the repercussions of getting the curse annulled.
Hence, she advises Yayati to renounce the palace life and go to exile. She is also ready to go
with him as his wife. She performs the duties of a wife with Yayati and behaves like a mother to
Puru in the absence of Devayani. The relationship between her and Yayati might begin with a
lustful intention, but eventually, Sharmishte becomes a philosophical guide and a symbol of true

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love to Yayati. Through this character, Karnad shows that the position or authority is of least
importance when compared to the qualities of an individual in managing an institution. Finally,
towards the end of the play, Sharmishte proves her saying that the Asuras have more humanity
than the humans themselves.
Devayani-Devayani is a crystal clear character in the play. She has no dilemma; her only
problem is with Sharmishte. Her decision of keeping Sharmishte as her maid despite so many
clashes with her shows her stubbornness. She cannot accept Sharmishte taking her position. Her
father is her strength. Initially, her temperament is soft and sober, but as the play progresses, she
becomes furious and strong. She is a character who acts according to what she feels; she is not a
hypocrite. This is noticeable in the scene wherein she is asked to perform the duties of a queen
by welcoming Puru and Chitralekhe irrespective of what was happening in the palace, she
chooses not to do it because she does not feel like doing so. Although she is the queen, she does
not behave like one. All her thoughts and actions are determined and triggered by her
maid Sharmishte. It is her anger towards Yayati and not Sharmishte that results in the turnover of
the events in the play. She has accepted Sharmishte as she is but is not able to accept the
justification given by Yayati about his relationship with Sharmishte. She is one of the self-
centered characters, as she leaves the palace without thinking about the new couple, the future of
the empire and her family when she is frustrated upon knowing about the relationship
between Yayati and Sharmishte. Her act of tearing and throwing away her marriage thread is a
bold move, an act ahead of her time. It is a blatant expression of rejecting Yayati as her husband
and walking out of the marriage.

Puru-Puru is a young prince who is in constant quest for completeness. He goes through Identity
crisis as he is not aware of who his mother is. This becomes the root cause for all his conflicts
throughout his life and is reflected in his decisions. His childhood is full of sorrow because of
this turmoil. He is different from his forefathers; he is not a mighty warrior, due to which he has
an inferiority complex and a sense of alienation from his family. This reflects in his disinterest
towards the Kingdom, its administration and the surrounding activities. He always feels
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incomplete. He feels responsible for the first time when Sharmishte asks Puru to get the curse
annulled. Seizing this opportunity, he takes up his father's old age by accepting the curse.
Superficially this act might appear as a sacrifice, but Puru takes this decision to get completeness
in life and also to attempts an experiment on himself thinking he would root himself back to the
family by getting some qualities of his father and his ancestors. Later he realizes that this is not
merely an ordinary old age but also an accumulation of his father's sins and hence although he is
physically transformed as an old man, he doesn't attain the completeness that he was looking for.

Chitralekhe-The character Chitralekhe is Karnad's own creation in the play. The princess
of Anga is well-educated and shrewd. When the play has witnessed the clashes between
Devayani, Sharmishte and Yayati, she gives a fresh wave with her aspirations and dreams about
her life in Hastinapura, as the daughter-in-law of the Chandra dynasty. Her imagination about the
dynasty, the royal family and her life in this new place breaks into the contrasting reality at
different stages of the play. Firstly with the understanding of Puru, who is not a warrior prince,
although he is from the renowned Chandra Dynasty. Later, as she enters the palace she is
welcomed by the pendant of the marriage thread of Devayani which is fallen on the floor and
not Devayani herself. This symbolism breaks her imagination and shows the reality about the
family that she is married to. When Chitralekhe is slowly learning about the events that has
happened, she also learns that her husband Puru has accepted his father's old age. Although
initially she is proud and very happy about the sacrifice that her husband has done, once again
when reality faces her, she is not able to face it and hence rejects Puru saying that she does not
deserve him. Her opportunity and dream of giving birth to a child of Chandra dynasty is also
taken away from her. Finally, when she realizes that all her dreams are shattered, she exhibits the
bold, confident and the straight forward aspect of her. She is the only one who directly rebels
against Yayati in the whole play, for taking away her husband's youth. Karnad creates this
character to show the generation gap between Yayati and Chitralekhe, the difference in their
thinking and attitudes. She questions the moral values and ethics of Yayati. During their

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conversation, when Yayati asks her to wait for about five years before he returns Puru's
youth, Chitralekhe speaks about the value of time. She is a woman who lives in the
present. Chitralekhe tries to get back her youthful husband from Yayati but when she fails to do
so, thinking about her own futility, she commits suicide. Her suicide is the point of realization
for Yayati after which he returns Puru his youth.

Swarnalathe-Swarnalathe is also Karnad’s own creation. The maid is older than Devayani and
Sharmishte. Hence, she also acts as an adviser to Devayani. Swarnalathe develops hatred towards
Sharmishte as she is constantly taunted by her. Since Sharmishte is also a maid to Devayani, she
expects her to remain in the standards of a maid and cannot accept Sharmishte violating the
norms of a maid and attempting to pursue the position of Devayani. She respects Devayani and
tries to protect her from Sharmishte's conspiracies, out of concern. Karnad shows the curiosity
and the opinion of a common man on different issues that take place in the palace, through her
character. All the other characters of the play represent the royal class. And hence, their thinking,
behavior and actions seem to be very eccentric to the common woman Swarnalathe. She has a
sense of responsibility and maturity. This can be noticed in the scene in which Devayani is
distressed by the relationship between Yayati and Sharmishte, Swarnalathe advises her to
perform the duties of a queen mother by welcoming the newlywed couple. Her motherhood is
seen when she comforts and befriends Chitralekhe who is new to the palace. When her husband
suffers from the dilemma between her love and suspicion for several years, Swarnalathe decides
to liberate him from this dilemma by lying and taking the blame on her, hence letting go of him.
While the other characters failed to accept the reality of their lives and find a solution to their
problems, a common woman of the same period found the solution for her problem and led a
realistic life.

Conclusion

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All the characters in the play are grey with their own strengths and weaknesses. The epic gives
an idealistic image of the characters especially Yayati and Puru, whereas Karnad portrays them
in a realistic fashion. While some of the characters undergo a change, the others reveal the
hidden aspects of themselves in the course of the play. A lot of irony is involved in the characters
themselves. They behave differently from what is commonly expected from them because of
their position, class or caste: Yayati, although is a King, fails to think about the repercussions of
his actions. Puru being a young prince is more philosophical and desires for the old age,
Sharmishte, a Dasi, who does not behave like one but later behaves like an ideal wife and a
queen despite being an Asura-princess. Lastly, Chitralekhe is seen as someone who is more
matured and realistic than a lady of her age. Hence, although there is an implied theme of social
differences, the conflict in the play is majorly brought about by the psychic conflicts of the
characters. The location of the play is the rooms of the place; the queens' abode. Hence, the
abode becomes a symbol of an individual's mind with the characters as his or her thoughts
constantly in conflict with each other. The characters of the play perform a vital role in giving
more weight and serving the intention of bringing a contemporary resonance to the revisionist
play.

References
Karnad, Girish. Yayati. Dharwad: Manohara Grantha Mala, 2016.
Rani, L. "Theme of Responsibility in Girish Karnad's Yayati ." Language in India (2016).
S.Bageshree. "Noted playwright, actor and Jnanpith awardee Girish Karnad dies at 81." The
Hindu 10 June 2019.

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