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The Dreams of Tipu Sultan and Bali: The Sacrifice--Two Plays by Girish Karnad
Girish Karnad is one of India's foremost dramatists and actors. This play, first staged at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre, is based on a tenth-century Jain myth about a king who finds his queen involved with an elephant-keeper.
125 pages, Paperback
First published August 19, 2004
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165 people want to read
About the author
Girish Karnad
45 books156 followersGirish 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 29, 2024
Quite an okayish one. I didn't enjoy it. I have to look for other dramas.
Girish Karnad selectively used 4 dreams out of 37 where he is shown as a freedom fighter and wanted to throw away Britishers out of India and made play on this. Literally white washing the history of Tipu Sultan. Read the original The dreams of Tipu Sultan by Tipu Sultan. This book is actually written by him not by someone who twisted according to some agenda. You will be horrified to read his dreams. The original journal is there in the British library, London. You will understand the psyche of "secular king and freedom fighter".
Ignore this Girish Karnad book. Instead go for the one written by Tipu Sultan if you really want to know his dreams. If you want to read the biography/ collection of essays or articles. Go for.
1. Tipu Sultan: The Saga of Mysore's Interregnum, 1760–1799 by Vikram Sampath
2. Tipu Sultan: Villain or Hero? by Sita Ram Goel
3. Tipu Sultan - The Tyrant of Mysore by Sandeep Balakrishna
4. Tipu as He Really Was by Gajanan Bhaskar Mehendale
5. Real Tipu: Story of Tipu Sultan by H.D. Sharma
Girish Karnad selectively used 4 dreams out of 37 where he is shown as a freedom fighter and wanted to throw away Britishers out of India and made play on this. Literally white washing the history of Tipu Sultan. Read the original The dreams of Tipu Sultan by Tipu Sultan. This book is actually written by him not by someone who twisted according to some agenda. You will be horrified to read his dreams. The original journal is there in the British library, London. You will understand the psyche of "secular king and freedom fighter".
Ignore this Girish Karnad book. Instead go for the one written by Tipu Sultan if you really want to know his dreams. If you want to read the biography/ collection of essays or articles. Go for.
1. Tipu Sultan: The Saga of Mysore's Interregnum, 1760–1799 by Vikram Sampath
2. Tipu Sultan: Villain or Hero? by Sita Ram Goel
3. Tipu Sultan - The Tyrant of Mysore by Sandeep Balakrishna
4. Tipu as He Really Was by Gajanan Bhaskar Mehendale
5. Real Tipu: Story of Tipu Sultan by H.D. Sharma
March 5, 2017
The Dreams of Tipu Sultan deals with his resistance to the expansion of British empire. At two or three places Tipu tells about what he dreamed while sleeping. The dreams are only about his displeasure regarding his foes or about his hopes that he would win the war which is far from reality.
Bali: The sacrifice is based on 13 century Kannada epic which itself is based on an older Sanskrit epic. It deals with judging ones actions on the basis of one's intentions. It is wrong to cut a cock made of dough with an intention of offering a sacrifice because you have violence in your heart (and violence is bad) but it is OK to have sex with another person without your spouse's knowledge if you can do it without having an intention to do it (in case you don't know if it can be done, the play tells you that it can "happen"), and as you can see, no violence is involved in normal fornication !.
Bali: The sacrifice is based on 13 century Kannada epic which itself is based on an older Sanskrit epic. It deals with judging ones actions on the basis of one's intentions. It is wrong to cut a cock made of dough with an intention of offering a sacrifice because you have violence in your heart (and violence is bad) but it is OK to have sex with another person without your spouse's knowledge if you can do it without having an intention to do it (in case you don't know if it can be done, the play tells you that it can "happen"), and as you can see, no violence is involved in normal fornication !.
Read
September 3, 2013The first is a brilliant evocation of yet another tempestuous time in the subcontinent's history when the destiny of India was being fashioned, but somehow could not even begin to comprehend the second one which to my mind was immensely weird
December 16, 2017
One of the must-read plays for modern India. Cameos by Ruqqaya Banu and Haider Ali are mind-numbing and thought provoking. Having been asked to write a play for the BBC, Karnad does a great job giving us, readers, ample opportunity to ponder on Tipu's perception in general.
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November 28, 2019This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2022
The problems faced by the Successors of the freedom fighters is the one which I learned from this book of Dreams of Tipu Sultan...
December 13, 2023
I think I need more calibre to understand the work... :)
December 30, 2015
The Dreams of Tipu Sultan is good and informative , throws light on the life of Tipu Sultan.This play in a way gave me an answer why the portrait of Tipu Sultan was placed in NASA.
Coming to play Bali : The Sacrifice , I was jubilant to have my hand on this play as I want to know more about the Bali king from Vamana avtar and right from the second line I realized this is totally a different concept and the deeper I got into the play the more I realized why people admire Mr.Karnad a lot. He took the Infidelity concept and mixed up with Non violence , Jainism and gave out a beautiful play which he even dedicated to astuteness and sensitivity of Gandhi.I have no second thoughts to say this is my favorite play from Mr.Karnad's Works!
Coming to play Bali : The Sacrifice , I was jubilant to have my hand on this play as I want to know more about the Bali king from Vamana avtar and right from the second line I realized this is totally a different concept and the deeper I got into the play the more I realized why people admire Mr.Karnad a lot. He took the Infidelity concept and mixed up with Non violence , Jainism and gave out a beautiful play which he even dedicated to astuteness and sensitivity of Gandhi.I have no second thoughts to say this is my favorite play from Mr.Karnad's Works!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews