Published Paper Details:

Girish Karnad is a contemporary Indian Playwright who is known for writing plays in Kannada and English. He has written many plays in which Tughlaq, Hayavadana and Naga-Mandala are perhaps his best known works. He draws plots from history, myth and folklore and composes plays on contemporary issues. Tughlaq is a historical play that is based on the life of 14th century historical personality Muhammad bin Tughlaq. It presents political reality of sixties. Hayavadana is based on Transposed Heads of Thomas Mann. Naga-Mandala is his mythical play. Karnad accepts," Naga-Mandala is based on two oral tales from Karnataka which I first heard several years ago from Professor A. K . Ramanujan.These tales are narrated by women -normally older women in the family- while chilren are being fed in the evening in the kitchen or being put to bed. The other adults parents on these occasions are also women. Therefore these tales, though directed at the children, often serve as a open system of communication among the women in the family."( Author's Introduction. Karnad Three Plays:16-17) This play is full of mythical elements and this paper will try to find out the applied myths in it.