Literary and Historical Discourse in Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq

Aug 21, 2026

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The study examines a sub-text within Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq as a site that constructs discourse on historical thinking and literature. Drawing on post-structuralist theories of textuality, especially Roland Barthes, it argues that the play simultaneously establishes categories of the poetic and the historical while validating the literary through a dialectic juxtaposition of history and poetry. By reading the Tughlaq–Barani connection beyond simple roles, the analysis treats Tughlaq as a critique of historical writing and grounds the argument in close readings of their speech.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background on Girish Karnad and Tughlaq

The plot of Tughlaq

Historical figure and historical-fiction fusion

Main plot and subplot dynamics

Characterization of Tughlaq

ATLANTIS Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies 34.1 ( June 2012): 81-95 issn 0210-6124 Literary and Historical Discourse in Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq N.S. Gundur Tumkur University [seegundur@gmail.com](seegundur@gmail.com) Self-reflexivity has been identified by many critics as a distinctive feature of Girish Karnad’s dramatic texts. Accordingly, some of his plays, such as Tughlaq, Naga-Mandala and The Fire and the Rain, reflect on the nature of art and literature. They say something, overtly and at times covertly, about literature—poetry, playwriting and storytelling, drama and ritual. Hence, these plays can be read not only as literature but also as inquiries into the nature of literature itself. The present study reads a sub-text of Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq as a site which constructsa discourse on historical thinking and literature. Deploying the post-structuralist theory of textuality, especially that of Roland Barthes, it is argued here that a sub-text of the play, while creating the categories of poetic and historical, validates the literary by juxtaposing history and poetry dialectics. Reading the Tughlaq-Barani connection as more than that of a king and a historian—[i.e. fi](i.e. fi)nding a poet in Tughlaq and a historical discourse in the interaction between Tughlaq, the king, and Barani, his confidant—the present study views Tughlaq as a critique of historical writing. A close reading, especially of Tughlaq’s and Barani’s speech, forms the substance of this analysis. Keywords: Tughlaq; Karnad; post-structuralism; self-reflexivity; literary discourse; Indian theatre . . . El discurso literario e histórico en Tughlaq, de Girish Karnad La auto-reflexividad ha sido considerada por muchos críticos como un rasgo distintivo de los textos dramáticos de Girish Karnad. Algunas de sus obras, como Tughlaq, Naga-Mandala y The Fire and the Rain, llevan a cabo una reflexión sobre la naturaleza del arte y la literatura. Comentan, de manera abierta o encubierta, cuestiones literarias: cuestiones poéticas, teatraleso narrativas, o aluden a la dramaturgia y el ritual. Así pues, estas obras no sólo pueden leerse como literatura, sino también como indagaciones en la naturaleza de la literatura misma. El presente estudio propone una lectura de un sub-texto de Tughlaq, de Girish Karnad, como un espacio que construye un discurso sobre el pensamiento histórico y la literatura. A través dela teoría post-estructuralista de la textualidad, en especial la de Roland Barthes, se argumenta aquí que un sub-texto de la obra, al tiempo que crea las categorías de lo poético y lo histórico, valida lo literario mediante la yuxtaposición de la dialéctica de la historia y la poesía. Tomando la conexión Tughlaq-Barani como algo más que la de un rey y un historiador —es decir, al considerar a Tughlaq un poeta y un discurso histórico a la interacción entre Tughlaq, el rey, y Barani, su confidente—este estudio ve en Tughlaq una crítica de la escritura histórica. La basedel análisis es la lectura atenta de los discursos de Tughlaq y Barani. Palabras clave: Tughlaq; Karnad; post-estructuralismo; discurso literario; teatro indio ATLANTIS. Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies. 34.1 ( June 2012): 81-95· issn 0210-6124 “All reading is misreading”Paul de Man 1. Introduction Girish Karnad has been in the forefront of modern Indian theatre since the spectacular success of his much celebrated play Tughlaq, written in the Kannada language and translated into English by the author himself in 1972.1 One of the twenty-three officiallanguages of India, Kannada belongs to the family of Dravidian languages. It is estimated as being spoken by sixty million speakers in India alone, and by a further nine million as a second language. It is the state language of Karnataka and is one of the modern languages of India. Girish Karnad was born in 1938 at Matheran in Maharashtra state, India. He completed hi

FAQs

How does the study define the role of the Tughlaq sub-text?

It treats a sub-text of Tughlaq as a constructed site of discourse on historical thinking and literature, rather than as incidental background.

What theoretical framework does the study use?

The analysis deploys post-structuralist textuality, with emphasis on Roland Barthes’s ideas.

What does the study argue about the relationship between history and poetry in Tughlaq?

It argues that juxtaposing history and poetry dialectically creates categories of the poetic and the historical while validating the literary.

Aug 21, 2026

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