KARNABHARAM

Submitted by UMAMAHESWARI on Sun, 2006-12-17 22:11. Culture
My best generals Bhishma and Drona have

My best generals Bhishma and Drona have been killed in the battle. Take their place, for I believe you are stronger than them” said Duryodana, to Karna.

Karna appeared in the centre of the battle field-Kurushetra. He blew the conch and his charioteer Shalya proceeded with confidence.

Karna, the mighty warrior was suddenly disturbed. Why?

Chandradasan the director of the play Karnabharam analyzes the reason for the crest fallen face of Karna, and has successfully related it to a man who has lost his identity. The futile inner search makes him more miserable.

“What business a charioteer’s son has in the court?” Kripacharya’s words of insult echoed in his mind. This humiliation literally shook Karna. Duryodana his bosom friend immediately crowned him as the King of Anga. On the 16th day of the battle, the question of being a non-Kshatriya and the once raised question of his social status creates raging waves.

He is the son of the Pandava’s mother Kunthi, born to the Sun. Kunthi employs a mantra and the Sun robbed Kunthi of her virgin. Ashamed she put the child in a box and floated in the stream of Aswa. It reached the hands of Radha of the charioteer clan.

Who am I-son of Kunthi and the Sun or Radha and Suta? This question squeezes his heart. His throat choked. Karna is worried of his birth, his caste and the sarcasm he experienced due to this. Shalyar notices Karna’s angst. With the charisma of a tragic hero, Karna shares his agony with Shalya.
The incident of Parasurama comes to his mind. “How can a non Ksathriya learn archery?” asked the Rama with the axe. He frankly discloses that he is a suta putra. When Parasurama came to know of his birth he curses him saying that the astra he gave would be useless in times of dire need.
When his real mother pleads him to join the Pandavas he refuses. This act of disobeying mother too haunts him. He becomes energetic for a moment. But the thought of his father warning him the plot of Indira, flashes in. When born he had his ears shine with ornaments besides an armor of gold. “Your ornaments are like elixir and you will have deathless years. Hence do not spare them” warned his father, the Sun.

Undeterred by the persistent pleadings, he donates his ornaments to Indira, the father of Arjuna, his adversary and stood on his principle of charity ignoring its consequence.
Then he refuses to accept a weapon which can destroy one of the Pandavas. That was his magnanimity.
“This story written long ago has its relevance even today. It was staged in 1990, when Mandal commission report and its consequences were national issues. Dalit consciousness was at its peak then. This play thus enjoys contemporary relevance” said Chandrasan the director.

“Lokadarmi our theatre based at Kochi had staged plenty of Malayalam plays and English plays like the Tempest and Macbeth. I wanted to do a Sanskrit play. I read many plays, and Karnaharam by Bhasa influenced me. It is the 302nd stage” he said.
Stanislavsky and his method of acting have influenced me a lot. Accordingly I have given the freedom to the actor to imagine certain incidents that had tormented him, while performing, to bring out his emotion.”
“The great quality of charity becomes his terminator. The Sun is the first God worshipped by man, hence tribal God. Karna is the brilliant son of the ruby rayed Sun. How can he discard the element of the Sun in him? It is this energy that keeps him pulsating. This image of burning sun is the life of this play. Karna holds the effigy representing the Sun, and towards the end he burns and performs the guruthi. He tears the kavacha & kundala, and his emotions ebb and rise. He had no other way but to accept the harsh reality.

A team of Brahmins are always positioned on the stage watching and plotting strategies, to defeat Karna.

The director has wisely incorporated classical and folk forms. While essaying Karna to give more emphasis, red light and tribal instruments were used. On the contrary for Indira, blue color and classical instruments were employed.

Karnabharam, an adaptation of Bhasa’s Sanskrit play