In the post Independence era Girish Karnad emerges as the only playwright who brings the Indian Drama in English to the fore of the world literature with his indigenous ingredients and original patterns. Most of the time he adheres to the mythological legends or historical episodes to prove his own point of view regarding different faces of society, the traditional moors, family relationships and social practices. Behind the mythical facade, he deals with serious issues like identity dilemma, existential crisis and the primeval conflict between body and mind, etc. With substantial post-colonial reverberations, Karnad is unique in his approach and his technique portentous.

The present work is going to underscore his plays, centered on his endeavors to highlight the portentous taboo, famished ideology and grotesque orthodoxy; and my contention in this work is to vindicate the fact that Karnad's bizarre finding out of the treasure of mythology and selective historical chapters reflect his obsession and it may not be counted as a meaningless digging. Actually, he has been the spokesperson of the incarcerated condition of the other sex and the social condition, which perpetuated the superstitious belief in the past. He appears to be under some obsession and his plays have a specific pattern that invites wide interpretation and includes his unique approach towards the definition of gender, identity and culture.

GAURI SHANKAR JHA is M.A. (English & Hindi); LL.B., and has done his Doctoral Research Work in American Literature. At present, he is posted as Head, Dept. of English, Indira Gandhi Govt. College, Tezu (Arunachal Pradesh). He has a rich and varied experience of more than twenty-five years of teaching, research, and supervising Research Scholars for Doctoral works. He is widely published in National and International Journals. He is the Editor of International Literary Journals such as Reflections, and The Critique; he is Hon'ble Member of the Editorial Board of International Literary Journals such as Pegasus, Titas, Creative Forum, etc. He is the Founder Secretary/President of Writers and Writings, a Literary Forum dedicated to creativity and criticism. There are seventeen books to his credit and some more books are under publication. His areas of interest are American Literature and Indian Writing in English.

In the post Independence era Girish Karnad emerges as the only playwright who brings the Indian Drama in English to the fore of the world literature with his indigenous ingredients and original patterns. Most of the time he adheres to the mythological legends or historical episodes to prove his own point of view regarding different faces of society, the traditional moors, family relationships and societal practices. Behind the mythical façade, he deals with serious issues like identity dilemma, existential crisis and the primeval conflict between body and mind. With substantial post-colonial reverberations, Karnad is unique in his approach and his technique portentous, except his recent play Broken Images. His multidimensional personality, which includes his high stature as a celebrated dramatist, successful director and seasoned actor, establishes his towering figure. Besides the native influences, the profound impact of Western playwrights like Henrik Ibsen, G. B. Shaw and Shakespeare can also be discerned in his plays.

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