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Naga-Mandala: Folk Representations, Gender, and the Politics of Identity Girish Karnad’s *Naga-Mandala* is a significant modern Indian play that draws deeply upon folk traditions, oral narratives, myths, rituals, and popular beliefs. First performed in 1988, the play demonstrates how folk forms can be transformed into a sophisticated dramatic language capable of addressing contemporary social questions. Karnad does not merely reproduce a traditional folktale; rather, he reshapes it through theatrical imagination to explore gender relations, patriarchy, female sexuality, marriage, social morality, storytelling, and the relationship between illusion and reality. The play’s folk representations provide both its aesthetic structure and its critical method. The central narrative concerns Rani, a young woman married to Appanna, an indifferent and authoritarian husband. Appanna spends most of his time away from home with another woman and keeps Rani confined within the house. She is denied affection, companionship, and sexual fulfilment. Her loneliness reflects the condition of women whose identities are defined by patriarchal marriage rather than by their individual desires. Rani’s situation is not presented simply as a personal tragedy; it represents the wider social structure in which the husband possesses authority while the wife is expected to remain obedient and sexually controlled. The play’s most important folk element is the story of the Naga, or serpent. Kurudavva, a blind old woman associated with folk wisdom and magical knowledge, attempts to help Rani by giving her a magical root that is supposed to make Appanna fall in love with her. Rani prepares the magical mixture but, frightened by its appearance, throws it into an anthill. A cobra consumes it and subsequently __________ _______ _____ _______ ____ _____ ___ _______ __________ ____.
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