Representation of History in the Indian / English Drama by Basavaraj Naikar

Abstract

Basavaraj Naikar has made a singular contribution in the field of historical drama by making an in-depth analysis of the famous historical plays like Siddhartha : Man of Peace, Rodogune, Prince of Edur, Fall of Kalyana, Ramanujar, Tuqlaq, Aurangzeb, Begum Sumroo, Tiger Claw, Dreams of Tipu Sultan, Larins Sahib and Line of Mars. The main thrust of the author here is to bring to light the rich and complex history of India along with stressing the expertise of the dramatists belonging to both Indian regional languages and Indian English in completing historical research of that era prior to writing the plays of that eminence. According to him history provides the bare facts to the playwright as they are understood from the outside. The playwright has to furnish the feelings, thoughts, emotions, motives etc. of the major characters involved to describe their individuality and thus helping in forming judicious perspective about them and their actions. Inner conflict has to correspond to the outer (social-historical) conflicts and thus resulting in the synthesis for the betterment of the society.