Tughllaq Analysis

This paper attempts to examine the historical context and process of fictionalization of the actual facts of Indian history in the form of Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq, one of the most controversial and eccentric rulers of India. It is a well known fact that the literary writer has to represent human life in action and thought within the constraints which history set before him. It is interesting to analyze how Girish Karnad has portrayed the social, political and economic conditions of that time and how Tughlaq, the protagonist, with his wisdom, strong character and firm policy of secularism struggled to stabilize the kingdom. How does Karnad achieve excellence in this play by combining the fact and fiction? How does he interpret the political and psychological conflicts of human history?

Girish Karnad has not only created a niche for himself as a modern Indian dramatist but he has also taken the Indian drama to the international level. He wrote Yayati, Tughlaq, Hyayvadana, Naga-Mandala, Table-Danda, The Fire and Rain, The Dreams of Tipu Sultan, and Bali: The Sacrifice. He draws from various sources the
Karnad had picked up a historical figure and had given an intellectual, psychological and emotional re-orientation in such a way that the play was an immediate success on the stage and it greatly appealed to the readers also. Sigmund Freud explains that it is the individual’s ‘central reality’ that determines and shapes the person’s choices. According to him, “The central reality for any individual is the internal one and the socio-cultural and political systems have no independent existence but are collective response to or defenses against the turbulence of the inner world” (Freud 113). It is in these conflicting forces Tughlaq is caught and struggled till the end of the