Revisiting Girish Karnad's Yayati: A Study in Perversion

An analysis of the late Girish Karnad's maiden play, "Yayati." The playwright takes a profound Vedic story and infuses personal perversions into it.

YAYATI IS Girish Karnad’s first play, written in Kannada when he was twenty-three years old. It is also his seminal work of cultural vandalism, his first attempt at massacring everything that the Indian tradition and culture holds sacred, sublime, elevating, and valuable. Published in 1961, the instant success of Yayati became in many ways, the blueprin…