Drama In Girish Naik's A History Of Indian English Literature

The notable Indian critic M.K.Naik deplores the pathetic situation of Indian English drama in a very sensitive way in his A History of Indian English Literature: Unlike poetry and fiction, drama has not registered very notable gains during the post-Independence period....This was mainly because the encouragement which drama received from several quarters immediately after Independence was monopolized by the theatre in the Indian regional languages, while Indian English drama continued to feed on crumbs fallen from its rich cousins’ tables. (255)
Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana, originally written in Kannada and later translated into English, is surely a notable addition to the lean body of Indian English Drama. This drama has successfully

While Devadatta reads a poem, Kapila returns from a gymkhana. Devadatta’s poetic sensitivity is contrasted with Kapila’s robust physicality. When Kapila gloats over his success and eagerly informs Devadatta about his wrestling match with Nanda, Devadatta is preoccupied with his own thoughts. Kapila understands Devadatta’s unmindfulness and cajoles him to reveal his thoughts. The very unmindful Devadatta becomes highly alert and energetic to flaunt his love for a new lady. This conversation explicitly denotes Devadatta’s megalomaniac nature. He wants only to talk about himself and pays a deaf ear to Kapila’s achievements. Devadatta requires Kapila to gratify his ego. He expects Kapila to play the only role of a silent listener. On the other hand, Devadatta is the be all and end all of Kapila’s life. Kapila is even ready to risk his own life for the sake of Devadatta: DEVADATTA. You call yourself my friend. But you haven’t understand me at all. KAPILA. And have you understood me? No, you haven’t. . . . Don’t you know I would do anything for you? Jump into a well--or walk into fire? Even my parents aren’t as close to me as you are. I would leave them this minute if you asked me to. DEVADATTA. (Irritated.) Don’t start on that now. You’ve said it fifty

I’ll go, find out her house, her name. . . .(86)
Like Shakespeare’s servants, Kapila carries the message, on behalf of his master, to the lady. Devadatta is quite anxious after sending Kapila. Devadatta thinks Kapila to be a rough and crude sort of person as he belongs to an Ironsmith family: DEVADATTA. He means well--and he is a wizard in his smithy, in his farm, in his field. But here? No. He is too rough, too indelicate. He was the wrong man to send. He’s bound to ruin the whole thing. (87)
Kapila seems to be stereotyped as dull and crude by Devadatta. According to Devadatta, Kapila is a ‘wizard’ in his smithy, but in a sensitive matter like marriage is an inept. However, the textual analysis reveals Kapila in a diametrically opposite way. Kapila is, in no way, a rough man. He evinces romantic sensibility when he describes Padmini, in an aside, as “Yakshini, Shakuntala, Urvashi, Indumati---all rolled into one” (87). We also find glimpses of his imaginative nature in his very poetic description of a particular flower as ‘Fortunate Lady’s Flower’: KAPILA. Here you are. The Fortunate Lady’s flowers. PADMINI. And why a ‘Fortunate Lady’,