Use of mask in Girish Karnad's play Tughlaq

Abstract

Girish Karnad is a multiple personality- a regional, national and international playwright, actor, film-maker and director. His plays have been performed all over the world and translated into many languages. For his works, Karnads has received a number of awards including “Gnanapeeth Award.” In Indian folk theatres, half-curtain is used to introduce a character. It shows a well as hides the face of the character. Mask is also used either to conceal or reveal a character’s reality. So the paper’s aims to study the use of a mask in Girish Karnad’s play “Tughlaq.” Tughlaq is the most complex and complicated of Girish Karnad’s works. This play is about the rash actions of Tughlaq which finally lead to his downfall. His followers fail to grasp his idealism with the result that they become his enemies. There is a faint comparison between Tughlaq and Nehru, as the idealism of the two leaders created only confusion and topsy-turvydom.