Bali ~ बलि

by Girish Karnad

Bali (Drama) [Paperback] [Jan 01, 1980] Girish Karnad

80 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2016

About the author

Girish Raghunath Karnad (Konkani : गिरीश रघुनाथ कार्नाड, Kannada : ಗಿರೀಶ್ ರಘುನಾಥ್ ಕಾರ್ನಾಡ್) (born 19 May 1938) is a contemporary writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and movie director in Kannada language. His rise as a prominent playwright in 1960s, marked the coming of age of Modern Indian playwriting in Kannada, just as Badal Sarkar did it in Bengali, Vijay Tendulkar in Marathi, and Mohan Rakesh in Hindi. He is a recipient of the 1998 Jnanpith Award for Kannada, the highest literary honour conferred in India.
For four decades Karnad has been composing plays, often using history and mythology to tackle contemporary issues. He has translated his major plays into English, and has received critical acclaim across India. His plays have been translated into several Indian languages and directed by eminent directors like Ebrahim Alkazi, B. V. Karanth, Alyque Padamsee, Prasanna, Arvind Gaur, Satyadev Dubey, Vijaya Mehta, Shyamanand Jalan and Amal Allana. He is also active in the world of Indian cinema working as an actor, director, and screenwriter, both in Hindi and Kannada cinema, earning numerous awards along the way. He was conferred Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.

Reviews

[Harini S T · Rating 3 out of 5]

|!•ಬಲಿ (ಹಿಟ್ಟಿನ ಹುಂಜ)•!|
ಗಿರೀಶ ಕಾರ್ನಾಡ

ಒಂದು ಅಂಕದ ರೂಪಾಂತರ ಹೊಂದಿರುವ ಹಿಟ್ಟಿನಹುಂಜ ನಾಟಕ "ಬಲಿ". ಪಾತ್ರಗಳು ಮಾವುತ,ರಾಣಿ,ರಾಜ,ರಾಜಮಾತೆ. ಮಾವುತನ ಹಾಡಿಗೆ ಮರುಳಾದ ರಾಣಿ ಸಂಗೀತ ಎಲ್ಲವನ್ನೂ ಮರೆಸುವ ಶಕ್ತಿ ಇದೆ ಅಂತ ಲೇಖಕರು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನಾಟಕದ ರೂಪದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಾರೆ.ರಾಜ ರಾಣಿ ಯನ್ನು ಪ್ರೀತಿಸಿ ಹೋಲಿಸಿ ಮದುವೆಯಾದನು ನಂತರ ರಾಣಿಯ ಜೈನಧರ್ಮವನ್ನು ಸ್ವೀಕರಿಸಿದ್ದು ಅದರ ಪರಿಣಾಮದಿಂದ ಪ್ರಾಣಿಬಲಿ ನರಬಲಿ ಪ್ರಾಣಿಹಿಂಸೆ ತ್ಯಾಗಮಾಡಿದ.
ಚಂಡಮಾರಿ ಪೂಜೆಗೆ ಕೋಳಿ,ಕುರಿ,ಕೋಣ,ಬಲಿ ಕೊಡುವ ಪದ್ಧತಿ ಖಂಡಿಸಿ ರಾಜಮಾತಿಗೆ ವಿರುದ್ಧವಾಗಿ ನಡೆದುಕೊಂಡು ರಾಜ ಜೈನ್ ಧರ್ಮ ಮನಃಸ್ಪೂರ್ತಿಯಾಗಿ ಸ್ವೀಕರಿಸಿದ್ದು.ಚಂಡಮಾರಿ ಪೂಜೆಗೆ ಹಿಟ್ಟಿನಿಂದ ತದ್ರೂಪಿ ಆಗಿ ಪರಿವರ್ತನೆಗೊಂಡ ಹಿಟ್ಟಿನಹುಂಜ ಚಂಡಮಾರಿಗೆ ರಾಜ ರಾಣಿ ರಾಜಮಾತೆ ಸಮರ್ಪಿಸಿದರು.

ಹರಿಣಿ

[Ravina P · Rating 3 out of 5]

A play indeed rich in poetic translated verses but not only that, it also has a cinematic setting. The readers are able to envision it playing in front of them, the garden, the abandoned temple and the ritual, everything.

The playwright does a very good job at bringing out the earliest sacrificial practices back into life. The Queen Mother worships the goddess who eats flesh and the Queen is a Jain... the conflict follows here after.

[Anitha GV · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karnad used Yashodhra Charithe by Janna, in different dimension. We can see the religious conflict between Queen and Queen mother(in law). Cast discrimination can be seen in the plot. Concept of Violence and non violence shown very beautifully.
Overall Karnad had bravely taken up the myth in his play and become successful.

Bali the sacrifice highly recommend book.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play discusses contradictory mind-sets with religious beliefs and simultaneously exposes the hollowness and futility of age-old rituals. The plot of the play has drawn upon the 13th century Kannada epic ‘Yashodhara Chante’ by Janna, which in turn refers back through an 11th century Sanskrit epic by Vadiraja to the 9th century Sanskrit epic ‘Yashastilaka’, by Somdeva Suri. The play, offers a fresh perspective of approach vis-à-vis man’s psychological struggle and manoeuvres. It presents the cultural, moral and religious dialogic in the context of the warfare between the losing grounds of reality and conscious right to social survival. The play discovers the existential quandary of passion and violence posed by an ancient Jain myth. The myth is less concerned with actual violence than with the morality of substitution, which permits violence, a wider and understated drama by masking its true nature. Violence has been the one of the decisive subjects of debate in the history of Indian civilization. Karnad came across the myth of the Cock of Dough when he was in his teens and the myth littered with discarded drafts of dramatized versions of it. The myth revealed unexpected meanings with long cogitation over it and this play is the result of over a two-decade fruition. Karnad transforms the story of the dough figurine that comes alive at the moment of sacrifice into a mature philosophical exploration of love, jealously, desire, betrayal, and violence between men and women who are bound by ties of blood and marriage, or encounter each other in the perfect freedom of obscurity. The originality of the play lies in the unconventionality of its major characters, and the seriousness with which it yokes warm personal acts to structures of religious belief and practice.

[Pradhumn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading the play but i felt it struggles to maintain the semblance between the story and the issue it's trying to deal with. Quite engaging but fails to make an emotional impact with the extremely thought-provoking message it delivers.

[Arun Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

गिरीश कारनाड हमेशा से ही पौराणिक कहानियों को बहुत अच्छे से लिखते हैं। बलि यानी sacrifice चाहे मन से हो या क्रिया से कितना सही है कितना गलत ये दो धर्मो के द्वंद्व के जरिए बखूबी दिखाया है।

[Deepak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lust feels like love until its time to make a sacrifice

[Libra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bali: the sacrifice is a very short yet very rich play of Karnad based on the ancient tale of Yashodhara which is traced back to ancient Sanskrit epics. The play deals with
🔹Jain-Hindu debate,
🔹 infidelity
🔹 violence/ non-violence and
🔹inevitability of sacrifice through very typical Indian saas bahu conflict (queen and King's mother).
A Brilliant play indeed....