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What Is The Theme Of Naga Mandala

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Karnad’s Naga-Mandala is based on two oral tales from Karnataka as we know from what he says in his “Introduction” to Three Plays: … these tales are narrated by women- normally the older women in the family-while children are being fed in the evenings in the kitchen or being put to bed. The other adults present on these occasions are also women. It is a play taking its inspiration from the popular Myth and oral stories centring on the king cobra. Naga-Mandala discusses man-women relationship, position and identity of a woman about psychology and the impact of social and cultural modes on the feminine psyche. Therefore these tales, though directed at the children, often serve as a parallel system of communication among the women …show more content…

On the third narrative level, there is the tale tale told by one of the Flames who wants to be forgiven for arriving late. Her tale is about a woman who knew a beautiful story but refused to tell and share it with other people. One day, that story taking advantage of the fact that the woman was sleeping with her mouth open, escapes and is transformed into a young lady and the song that accompanies it turns into her beautiful sari. The story thus personified on the fourth narrative level relates the life of Rani, the main protagonist of Naga-Mandala. It also shows the male difficulty to trust and love women, it seems to be about the socialization process of both men and women, particularly in the Indian society, where marriages is more often than not the first experience of sex and love for most people. In a folk tale, there is a magician or a snake that assumes the form of the Prince, enters the palace and woes the beautiful Princess, locked up in the palace. When the Prince becomes aware of this, he gets the snake/ magician killed and the Princess then sets him a riddle. If he fails to answer, he has to die. This existential crisis is treated in the folk tale in different

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