Yayati (Girish Karnad) Summary by Dr.

Himanshu
Kandpal(MP3 160K)
Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.
Hello students, I am Dr. Himanshu Kanpal, Assistant Professor, English, Government,
Amherst College for Women, Bikaner. In this video, we are going to study the ancient myth
of Yayati from Mahabharata and the reinterpretation of Yayati myth by Girish Karnad. Girish
Karnad's first play was written in 1960 and won the Mysore State Award in 1962.

It is based on an episode in the Mahabharata where Yayati, one of the ancestors of the
Pandavas, is given the curse of premature old age by his father-in-law Shukracharya who is
incensed by Yayati's infidelity. Girish Karnad adopts this mythological story, turns it into a
play with additions of characters and situations to make it relevant to the modern age. As
his general practice, he takes stories from myths, folk tales, Puranas, epics etc.

as the sources for his plays. Many of the critics think that he is in this respect inspired by
Shakespeare who had the tendency of adopting stories from history. These stories are
interpreted in the spirit of modern times to draw attention of the people to the problems of
the modern age, to turn them into a criticism of the society as the literature is expected to
be.

The short stories are redesigned or reinterpreted with additions and alterations here and
there to deliver the message to the humanity at large. So, in Mahabharata, Yayati was the
son of Nahush who ruled as the Indra in the heaven and had two wives, Sharmistha and
Divyani. He was very fond of Sharmistha and her son Puru and would neglect Divyani and
her son Yadu.

Seeing Divyani depressed, Shukracharya, who was Divyani's father, cursed Yayati to lose his
youth and Yayati immediately became a decrepit old man. The only way he could regain his
youth back was by exchanging his curse with someone else. Yayati, now an old man, quickly
returned to his kingdom and called for his eldest son, my dutiful son, take my old age and
give me a youth at least for a while until I am ready to embrace my old age.

When Yadu was asked for an exchange, he refused, his father citing the ill-treatment of him
and his mother, but Puru politely agreed. Yayati then crowns Puru as the king for his
obedience and curses Yadu that he will beget cruel sons like Asuras. Yayati rushed out as a
young man to enjoy his life.

After years spent in vain effort to quench his desires by indulgence, Yayati finally came into
senses. He returned to Puru and said, dear son, sensual desire is never quenched by
indulgence anymore than fire is extinguished by pouring oil on it. Take back your youth and
rule the kingdom wisely and well.

Yayati then returned to the forest and spent the rest of his days in austerities, meditating
upon Brahman, the ultimate reality. In due course, he attained heaven. This conjuncture is
popularly known as the Yayati complex where the son sacrifices for his father.
The one who obeys, surrenders, submits is the son because obedience is of the highest
value. Father is the tradition and he must be followed and his mistakes are to be forgiven.
This is the episode from Mahabharata.

Karnad's Yayati, initially written in Kannada, conveys the message of performance of duty
and acceptance of responsibility. In this play, Karnad presents each old story of the
mythological king Yayati who was the 10th in the line of Brahma's family. But Karnad
reinterprets the myth of Yayati and makes certain changes in the play and presents it in the
form of modern context.

Once a conflict arises between Devyani and the daughter of Shukracharya, the guru of the
Asuras and Sharmistha, the daughter of Rishparva, the king of the Asuras and the latter
pushed Devyani into a well and escaped. Fortunately, King Yayati who came there saved her.
Since then, Devyani started loving Yayati and Sharmistha was punished with serving Devyani
forever along with her maidservants.

With the consent of Shukracharya, the marriage between Devyani and King Yayati was
solemnized and Sharmistha as a result of her punishment was sent to King Yayati's kingdom
along with his bride Devyani. But there Sharmistha developed secret relationship with Yayati
and when Devyani comes to know this she complains to her father who in turn curses Yayati
to become old. Yayati who is unable to bear this, loses control over himself, becomes
violent, adamant and refuses to accept the old age.

When his son Puru informs that Yayati can be redeemed if some person accepts his old age,
he becomes very happy. But when Puru informs that nobody is willing to take up his old age,
he is unable to accept the reality as he is of the wrong notion that all his subjects would
readily accept his old age. Karnad has portrayed the contours of the real world is that when
you laugh the world will laugh with you but when you are in sorrow you will be alone,
deserted even by your kid and kin.

And he feels that this is the reality of life. Yayati feels very much disheartened because old
age had not come to him in its normal course but by a curse. So, he feels that if somebody
accepts it as present, he would relieve him from his old age within five or six years.

Puru proves to be the best son as he gladly accepts the curse inflicted on his father and
willingly exchanges his youth for the old age of his father. Though Yayati succeeds in
transforming his old age and his sins to Puru, he acts in the most irresponsible way by
usurping the happiness of his son and daughter-in-law. Rajendra Paul has commented that
the protagonist in Yayati asks for eternal youth which his son sacrifices at the altar of
paternity, a very Indian theme of a process he feels disillusioned and loses faith.

Though his subconscious mind tells him that it is not fair on his part, he justifies that it is
only for his people he is doing like this. In actuality, King Yayati exchanges his old age with
the youth of his youngest son for the satisfaction of his own youthful urges and this is wrong
on the part of Yayati. In the end, Puru's wife Chitralekha commits suicide.

Through this action, the dramatist makes Yayati to accept his responsibility for the sin he
had committed. Yayati asks Puru to take back his youth and be a good king as he felt that
there could be no better lesson than Chitralekha's death. He also asks Sharmistha to
accompany him to the forest as he has to wash his sins by doing penance in the forest.

He finally says that he has spent his youth in the city but will spend his old age in the forest.
When Chitralekha dies, her husband Puru is astonished but he does not shed even a drop of
tear. Only when he regains his youth, he repents for the disastrous blunder he had
committed.

It is pathetic that King Yayati and his son Puru realize their evil deeds only at the cost of a
life. Chitralekha, the dramatist portrays the selfless nature and the helpless plight of Indian
women who by willingly sacrificing their lives make the members of their family to realize
their nobility. Thus, Indian women serve as a contrast to Indian men.

Karnad, through the character of Yayati, focuses on the theme of attachment to life and its
pleasures. Yayati realizes the horrors of his selfish action of exchange of youth in the later
period. Only after the suicide of his daughter-in-law, he readily owns the responsibility for
the disaster or the havoc that he fell the family and returns the youth of his son Puru and
retires to the forest as a hermit.

But then it is too late. Through the life of Yayati, what the dramatist wants to convey that
selfish paternal authority on the part of Yayati and blind filial loyalty on the part of Puru
could bring ruin to a family when it is misappropriated. Almost every character except
Sharmistha is irresponsible.

Yayati, who is cursed for his adultery, transfers the burden most irresponsibly to his son
Puru, his son who is married to Chitralekha and owes a dharmic responsibility to ensure her
happiness, equally irresponsibly vitiates her marital bliss by exchanging his youth with his
father for the sake of preserving the latter's happiness. He is caught between the devil and
the deep sea, filial loyalty and conjugal felicity, and whichever he chose, he would still be
caught in the web of irresponsibility. Divyani acts impetuously, brings a curse upon her
husband King Yayati and runs away irresponsibly when he is visited by the ugly
consequences of the curse.

There is an ongoing conflict between Sharmistha and Divyani in the course of the play. At
one point, Sharmistha says, who does not want to be immortal? He accepted you in the
hope of immortality. As soon as he came to know that you were Divyani, he had an urge to
conquer death.

When Divyani insists that Yayati did not know her identity when he married her, Sharmistha
comments, Yayati asks your name only after your marriage. Even a prostitute's name is
asked beforehand. Without bothering about your virginity, he would have passed you by.

Sharmistha is responsible for the turmoil in Yayati's life. The character of Chitralekha, an
invention of Karnad's imagination, plays a catalytic role and shapes the end of the novel. In
the course of time, Chitralekha, unable to bear the consequences of her husband Spuru's
exchange of youth with his father, commits suicide instead of fighting to restore her rights.

The only character that is willing to accept the responsibility for the consequences of what
she does is Sharmistha. The purpose and the theme of the play are revealed through the
character of Sutradhar. The Sutradhar says that neither a scholar nor an ordinary person can
escape the burden of responsibility.

Here Sutradhar plays a very important role in constructing buildings as his string tells
whether the walls are rising straight and the distance is the same from top to bottom. The
playwright wants to say that Sutradhar is none but the playwright himself. He has designed
the plot, developed the characters, written the dialogues, befitting their roles.

He appears on the stage to explain the theme of the play in the character of the Sutradhar.
So, in the play, Sutradhar says, The mythological tales fiercely convince that all suffering is
merely a calculated test devised by the gods to check our willingness to submit to their will.
If we crush our egos and give ourselves up in surrender, divine grace will descend upon us
and redeem us.

It boils down to the belief that man doesn't have his will or personality and that he has to
follow mechanically what is ordained. When life has no meaning, how death can have any?
The whole speech of the Sutradhar reminds one of the chorus of the English plays.
Sutradhar appears on the stage at the end of the play to inform the audience that Puru at
last found the courage to ask a question.

But was it really a meaningful question or was it a cry of despair that he could hope for no
meaning? Perhaps, the Sutradhar refers to the last ejaculation of Puru on finding
Chitralekha dead. She killed herself. But why? Let her go.

I am ready for any. These are the questions which crop up themselves but they stand
answered. Puru is evidently in despair but the reason therefore is also evident.

The play cannot be classified as tragedy or comedy yet the Sutradhar says that the play has
happy ending. Puru ruled long and wisely and was hired as a philosopher king. So, this play
makes a very strong impression.

The playwright has changed the iron ore of mythological story into good sterling gold. It
presents the theme of the absurdity of man's desire to be immortal. Yayati's desire to be
immortal, to enjoy the personal glory, luxuries, comforts and pleasures of the mundane life,
forgetting that the life of renunciation, asceticism can get him higher or better kind of joys
as Sharmistha advises him.

But these are the things far more important. Let us go and seek them in solitude. The
summary is taken from the paper.

The context of Yayati's play of Girish Karnad which is written by A. Vaishnavi Devi. I hope
you like the video. Share, like and subscribe.

Thank you.
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