Taledanda
Encyclopedia
Taledanda
Taledanda ((Kannada: ತಲೆದಂಡ, Hindi
: Rakt Kalyan, literally: Death by Beheading) is a 1990
Kannada play written by Girish Karnad
, an eminent person in Kannada literature, about the rise of the radical protest and reform movement, Veerashaivism, in 12th century Karnatak. He was awarded Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award (1993) and the Sahitya Akademi Award
in Kannada language for the play in 1994, and later awarded the Jnanpith Award
for his literature work in 1998.
-mandal
conflict, the drama
draws parallel between the Socio-Religious Political and Economic condition of existing times and southern India
in 12th century A.D. during Bhakti Movement
.
Eight hundred years ago in the city of Kalyan
a man called Basavanna assembled a congregation of poets, mystics, social
revolutionaries and philosophers, unmatched for there creativity and social commitment in the history
of Karnataka
, even perhaps of India
itself.
They opposed idolatry, rejected temple worship
, upheld equality of sexes, and condemned the caste system .But event took a violent turn when they acted on their beliefs and a brahmin girl married a 'low caste' boy.The movement
ended in bloodshed .Rakt Kalyan (Tale-Danda) deals with few weeks during which a vibrant, prosperous society plunged into anarchy and terror
.
In Hindi
its known as Rakt-Kalyan translated by Ram Gopal Bajaj
, first directed by Ebrahim Alkazi
for National School of Drama
and remarkable production by Arvind Gaur
(1995-2008, still running) for Asmita Theater
Telugu
translation of the play, by Bhargavi Rao
won her the Sahitya Akademi Award
Translation Award in 1995, given by Sahitya Akademi
, India's National Academy of Letters.
Romesh chander(The Hindu
)
Javed Malik (Times of India)
Kavita Nagpal (Hindustan Times
)
Taledanda ((Kannada: ತಲೆದಂಡ, Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
: Rakt Kalyan, literally: Death by Beheading) is a 1990
1990 in literature
The year 1990 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*J. K. Rowling gets the idea for Harry Potter while on a train ride from Manchester to London. She says "I was staring out the window, and the idea for Harry just came. He appeared in my mind's eye, very fully formed...
Kannada play written by Girish Karnad
Girish Karnad
Girish Raghunath Karnad is a contemporary writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and movie director in Kannada language...
, an eminent person in Kannada literature, about the rise of the radical protest and reform movement, Veerashaivism, in 12th century Karnatak. He was awarded Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award (1993) and the Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...
in Kannada language for the play in 1994, and later awarded the Jnanpith Award
Jnanpith Award
The Jnanpith Award is a literary award in India. Along with the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, it is one of the two most prestigious literary honours in the country...
for his literature work in 1998.
About the play
Written in 1990 in the backdrop of mandirAyodhya debate
The Ayodhya dispute is a political, historical and socio-religious debate in India, centred on a plot of land in the city of Ayodhya, located in Faizabad district, Uttar Pradesh...
-mandal
Mandal commission
The Mandal Commission was established in India in 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai with a mandate to "identify the socially or educationally backward." It was headed by Indian parliamentarian Bindheshwari Prasad Mandal to consider the question of seat...
conflict, the drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
draws parallel between the Socio-Religious Political and Economic condition of existing times and southern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in 12th century A.D. during Bhakti Movement
Bhakti movement
The Bhakti movement is a Hindu religious movement in which the main spiritual practice is loving devotion among the Shaivite and Vaishnava saints. The Bhakti movement originated in ancient Tamil Nadu and began to spread to the north during the late medieval ages when north India was under Islamic...
.
Eight hundred years ago in the city of Kalyan
Kalyan
Kalyan is a city in Thane district of Maharashtra, and a major railway station lying at the junction of the north-east and south-east lines of the suburban Mumbai division of the Central Railway, 53 km north-east of Mumbai. Kalyan is also a major Taluka place, a tehsil of the Thane district...
a man called Basavanna assembled a congregation of poets, mystics, social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
revolutionaries and philosophers, unmatched for there creativity and social commitment in the history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
of Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
, even perhaps of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
itself.
They opposed idolatry, rejected temple worship
Worship
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something, for example, Christian worship.Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The absolute...
, upheld equality of sexes, and condemned the caste system .But event took a violent turn when they acted on their beliefs and a brahmin girl married a 'low caste' boy.The movement
Social movement
Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change....
ended in bloodshed .Rakt Kalyan (Tale-Danda) deals with few weeks during which a vibrant, prosperous society plunged into anarchy and terror
Fear
Fear is a distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger...
.
In Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
its known as Rakt-Kalyan translated by Ram Gopal Bajaj
Ram Gopal Bajaj
Ram Gopal Bajaj is a noted Indian theatre director, academician, and a Hindi film actor. He has also been a faculty member and a former director of National School of Drama, New Delhi ....
, first directed by Ebrahim Alkazi
Ebrahim Alkazi
Ebrahim Alkazi is one of the most influential Indian theatre directors and Drama teachers in 20th century Indian theatre. He also remained the Director of National School of Drama, New Delhi He has also been a noted art connoisseur, collector and gallery owner, and found Art Heritage Gallery in...
for National School of Drama
National School of Drama
National School of Drama is a theatre training institute situated at New Delhi, India, established . It is an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. It was set up in 1959 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and became an independent school in 1975...
and remarkable production by Arvind Gaur
Arvind Gaur
Arvind Gaur , Indian theatre director, is known for his work in innovative, socially and politically relevant theatre. Gaur's plays are contemporary and thought-provoking, connecting intimate personal spheres of existence to larger social political issues...
(1995-2008, still running) for Asmita Theater
Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
translation of the play, by Bhargavi Rao
Bhargavi Rao
Bhargavi Prabhanjan Rao , a Sahitya Akademi Awardee, was an eminent translator in Telugu Literature. She was actively involved in Translating various works of celebrated author and playwright Girish Karnad...
won her the Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...
Translation Award in 1995, given by Sahitya Akademi
Sahitya Akademi
The Sahitya Akademi ', India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India...
, India's National Academy of Letters.
Press criticism
V M Badola (The Pioneer)- Among the best things that happened to the IndianIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
theatre in the recent times is the creation of Kannada play Taledanda , Rakt Kalyan , by Girish KarnadGirish KarnadGirish Raghunath Karnad is a contemporary writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and movie director in Kannada language...
. Arvind Gaur, the director knew the strength of the play lay in its excellent script and an equally brilliant translationTranslationTranslation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
, of it, into Hindi by Ram Gopal BajajRam Gopal BajajRam Gopal Bajaj is a noted Indian theatre director, academician, and a Hindi film actor. He has also been a faculty member and a former director of National School of Drama, New Delhi ....
.Arvind Gaur's main achievement was his deep understanding of the nuances of the play and his impeccable sense of choreographyChoreographyChoreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
, which was well effected, especially during the crowd scenes .What is more, he used the basement space very imaginatively.Rakt- Kalyan (Taledanda) owes its greatness to the fact that it does not unnecessarily attempt to politicize the issue and for good reasons. Although any attempt to bring about socialSocialThe term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
reformation does inevitably throw up certain political challenges it is the existing socio-religious turmoil that creates the biggest impediment and the ironyIronyIrony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
is that in such circumstances, the inherent Contradictions within a socialSocialThe term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
structure come in to the play. Emotion supersedes reason which consequently hurts the cause.Watching Asmita's Rakt Kalyan ,became apparent that lack of resources need not come in the way of good presentation, given the dedication and commitment of the actors and the director
Romesh chander(The Hindu
The Hindu
The Hindu is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Chennai since 1878. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1.46 million copies as of December 2009. The enterprise employed over 1,600 workers and gross income reached $40...
)
- Girish Karnad's "Rakt Kalyan" (Taledanda )is a superb play, which well illustrates how man has not learnt from history... it is remarkable for Gaur's handling of large crowdCrowdA crowd is a large and definable group of people, while "the crowd" is referred to as the so-called lower orders of people in general...
scenes...and for underlining the relevance of the playPlay (theatre)A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
set in 12th century in south IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
to the present day socio-political atmosphereAtmosphereAn atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, and that is held in place by the gravity of the body. An atmosphere may be retained for a longer duration, if the gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low...
in the country...like asmita's earlier productions "Rakt Kalyan" is mounted on a bare stage without The frills of period costumes with emphasis on the socio-political relevance of the play and in this production succeeds admirably
Javed Malik (Times of India)
- Play is a complex and incisive investigation of an actual historical experimentExperimentAn experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
in social reordering and its tragic failure on the individual as well as the collective level ...Asmita's Rakt Kalyan endeavors to foreground the play's political implications particularly in relation to caste.interesting piece of theatre…it is remarkable for director Arvind Gaur's skillful handling of the large cast in terms of blocking and movement.
Kavita Nagpal (Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period ....
)
- Girish wrote the playPlay (theatre)A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
in 1989 when the mandir and masjid movements were beginning to show how relevant the questions posed in the 12th century are Today. The anger of societySocietyA society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
, unwilling to abandon the safety net of the caste system, turns to frenzy when a brahmin sharana girl is married to a chamar sharana boy. They are lynched and kalyan is rift with war cries...Arvind GaurArvind GaurArvind Gaur , Indian theatre director, is known for his work in innovative, socially and politically relevant theatre. Gaur's plays are contemporary and thought-provoking, connecting intimate personal spheres of existence to larger social political issues...
repeated his Tughlaq technique. Bare sets, symbolic costumes, letting words and characters hold the reins of dramatic power.Bright scenes of lucid argument.House was packed and very responsive.
Trivia
- Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut's first play with Arvind GaurArvind GaurArvind Gaur , Indian theatre director, is known for his work in innovative, socially and politically relevant theatre. Gaur's plays are contemporary and thought-provoking, connecting intimate personal spheres of existence to larger social political issues...
was Girish Karnad's Taledanda (Rakt-Kalyan).In this classic play, she was playing Lalitamba's character. On the day of the show ( June 2003) a male actor fell ill. It was a crucial time for Arvind GaurArvind GaurArvind Gaur , Indian theatre director, is known for his work in innovative, socially and politically relevant theatre. Gaur's plays are contemporary and thought-provoking, connecting intimate personal spheres of existence to larger social political issues...
's team but Kangana came out and prepared Damodar Bhatt's role within an hour. Damodar Bhatt 's role is very challenging but that day Kangana 's performance in both Male & female characters was outstanding - Manu RishiManu RishiManu Rishi is an Indian film actor, lyricist, script and dialogue writer. Manu Rishi trained under theatre director Arvind Gaur for six years. He won the Filmfare Best Dialogue Award, 2009 for Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!...
(Filmfare Best Dialogue AwardFilmfare Best Dialogue AwardThe Filmfare Best Dialogue Award is given by the Filmfare as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films. Here is a list of the award winners since 1958 and the films for which they won.-Superlatives:Most AwardsGulzar - 4...
), Deepak DobriyalDeepak DobriyalDeepak Dobriyal is an Indian film and theatre actor.He worked in many films like Not a Love Story, Teen Thay Bhai, Gulaal, Delhi 6, Omkara, Maqbool, Daayen Ya Baayen, Shaurya, 1971, 13B, The Blue Umbrella, Tanu Weds Manu and Mumbai Cutting.-Ealy life and education:Deepak's parents belong to Kabra...
, Shilpa ShuklaShilpa ShuklaShilpa Shukla is an actress known for playing the role of Bindiya Naik, a member of the Indian women's national hockey team, in the sports-oriented movie Chak De India, starring Shahrukh Khan...
, Seema AzmiSeema AzmiSeema Azmi is an Indian cinema and theatre actress. films - Chak De India & Saas bahu aur Sensex.- Biography :Seema Azmi started her acting career with eminent Theatre director Arvind Gaur.She joined Asmita theatre group, Delhi in 1996...
, Shalini Vatsa acted in this play with Arvind Gaur.
Further reading
- Collected Plays: Taledanda, the Fire and the Rain, the Dreams of Tipu Sultan, Flowers and Images: Two Dramatic Monologues Volume 2, by Girish Karnad. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0195673115.