Themes in Tughlaq

Submitted by

S.L. Dhanya.

Tughlaq is the second attempt by Girish Karnad, which brought name and fame to him. This play was originally written in Kannada (1946) and translated in to English (1976).

Tughlaq is based on the historical character Muhammed-Bin- Tughalq who ruled in the 14th century and was called ''mad tughlaq''. Karnad uses the sultan only as a background to make people understand, judge and interpret contemporary realities. 

The play reflects the slow disillusionment of generation felt with new politics of independent India. The gradual erosion of the movement for independence. Politics, Violence, Agony of people, Cunningness, Cruelty and Dualism are the themes in the play, Tughlaq.

Violence

The play Tughlaq is packed with intrigues, machinations, bloodshed, murders, violence, and horror. There is  a long chain of deception and violence. Seven to eight characters are killed and countless people die while they excel. The sultan creates the situation in which his father and brother are killed. He invites Sheikh imam-ud-din and sends him to meet Ain-ul-mulk as a messenger of peace. Both these characters are headache for sultan and are killed in a single store. When seven to eight Amirs, Sayyads and Sheikhs are about to assassin the sultan, some twenty Hindu Soldiers rush on behind the curtain and assert the conspirators. After his Namaz is over the sultan kills Shahib with his own hands. The conspiracy is climax in the play. The sultan becomes very violent and vicious. The conspirators are beheaded and their bodies are hung for people to see. Aziz and Aazam kil Ghiyas-ud-din. A lot of blood shed is shown on the same stage and at the same time it is also narrated. The audience watches evil act and violence on the stage.

Politics and Power

In this play power and politics are linked with religion. The sultan wants that in his reign Muslims and Hindus are to be treated at equal level. This is political ideology of the sultan and in order to prove this he gives justice to a Hindu Brahmin, Vishnu Prasad. Tughlaq is known for his eccentricity, hypocrisy and insane policies. Moreover, the dual role played by Tughlaq convincingly resembles the politician of contemporary world.

The interpersonal relationship is based politics. Tughlaq loves his subject and he is all the time worried about the people of his reign. Karnad uses the character of Tughlaq to portraits the disguise and dualism of politicians. He consciously writes about Nehru era.

Another distinctive feature of this play is its exploration of man's search for power. Tughlaq motivates the action of play. Every sequence, every act originates from his desire for authority and total power. His interest and aspirations revolve with in in the emitting circle of power, the rest of his human impulses dry up, the needs of his being distorted.

Cruelness and Cunningness

There is an in congruent mixture of idealism, cruelness, cunningness that characterizes Tughlaq. He introduces copper coin instead of silver coins and pleads with his nobles to understand him and co-operate with him and kneel before them. He utters ''But please don't let me down, I beg you. I'll kneel before if you wish, but please don't let go of my hand''. This shows his cunningness. But when he finds them refractory he doesn't hesitate to send them death.

Aziz is representative of people who are self-centered and can do anything for money and power. Born as a Muslim dhobi, he disguises himself as a Brahmin Vishnu Prasad. He files a suit against the sultan and also wins. He is cunning and treacherous. He is the best representative of utter failure of Tughlaq administration in which good people suffer and criminals like Aziz are rewarded. His character is a satire on the working of democracy in which more emphasis is given on merit but in practice mischiefs persons and trouble makers are rewarded.

Agony of people

Tughlaq forced people to move from Delhi to Daulatabad with all their belongings. Muhammed doesn't realize that people wouldn't abandon their shelters except in unavoidable circumstances like natural calamities. It shows a vivid portrayal of the agony of people squirming under the impulsive idealism of the sultan untemper with mercy. He doesn't take in to account the emotional attachment of people to their native soil when he proposes a change of capital involving not only the shift in the administrative machinery but also of the people.

Thus, through analyzing the distinguishing feature of Tughlaq and by knowing that their overall contribution in creation of such well-knit plot with entirely different theme, it becomes an evident that Karnad's thematic concerns have a universal significance. In Tughlaq Karnad grappled with fundamental human motives with distinctive masterly control. Tughlaq presents a rich orchestration of themes subtly interlocked with one another, with a rapid progressive of events.