A Study of Feminist Perspective in Girish Karnad’s Play: The Fire and The Rain

Girish Karnad, the renowned Kannada play writer, goes back to myths, folk tales and legends with view to making them a vehicle of another perspective. He explores broad concept of drama in his most remarkable work ‘The Fire and the Rain’. In this play main source of myth Yavakri is borrowed from forest canto of the epic ‘The Mahabharata’ It is originally written in Kannada with title ‘Agni Mattu Male’ later translated into English by writer himself. The story of play deal with various social issues of misapplication of spiritual knowledge, vengeance, existentialism and conflict between human relationship. Vishakha and Nittilai are main leading female characters of play. Toward, one side Vishakha is a woman of ambitious and Nittilai is a girl of self-sacrificing. Both carry individual and contrast characteristic or value but became of social patriarchy system they face violence, stress and suppression. The present paper aims to examine the feminist perspective in Girish Karnad’s play The Fire and the Rain. The paper discusses about main theme and portrayal the female characters, their identity and status.