Nāga-Mandala book review ( play with cobra) by Girish Karnad

 Hello friends!!

Today I share my view on Nāga-Mandala by Girish Karnad.

Preface of the text:

Nāga-mandala is based on two folktales from Karnataka which I first heard several years ago from Professor A. K. Ramanujan. But that is only the least of the reasons for dedicating this play to him. 

I wrote Nāga-mandala during the year I spent at the University of Chicago as Visiting Professor and Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence. I am most grateful to Professor Stuart M. Tave, Dean, Division of Humanities, and Professor C. M. Naim, Chairman, Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations as well as to the Council for International Exchange of Scholars for having made that visit possible. I am further indebted to Professor Naim for persuading me to put the play into English. 

I write in Kannada. English is the language of my adulthood. This translation must therefore be seen only as an approximation to the original. My deepest thanks are due to the colleagues and students who helped with the production of the play at the University Theater at Chicago, for their many valuable suggestions and textual corrections, as well as to Shri Shankar Nag who first presented the play in Kannada with his group, Sanket. 

I am conscious that Naga's long speech on p. 25 owes much to Jean Anouilh, although I have been unable to identify the play. Bombay 28 November 1988.