Debunking the caged identity: Muthal Naidoo’s Flight from the Mahabarath as a Critique of the Epic Conformity
In her play Flight from the Mahabarath (1992), Muthal Naidoo takes out the women characters along with Arjun (in his queer identity as Brihannala) and Sikandi from the grand narrative of the epic space and sets them free on the performance/drama space to explore their identities beyond the tradition...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sarat Centenary College
2024-01-01
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| Series: | PostScriptum: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Literary Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://postscriptum.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/pS9.iAmritendu.pdf |
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| Summary: | In her play Flight from the Mahabarath (1992), Muthal Naidoo takes out the women characters along with Arjun (in his queer identity as Brihannala) and Sikandi from the grand narrative of the epic space and sets them free on the performance/drama space to explore their identities beyond the traditionally imposed stereotypes. The feminist assertion of non-conformist identities has been carried out through metatheatrical experiments, ridiculing the grand narrative through intertextual referencing, problematizing the equation between perceived identity vis-à-vis identity unfastening (as evident in the unsustainability of Draupadi’s love for Arjun when the latter’s gender identity verges on liminality), and articulating positionality in the hierarchy of power. As a South African Indian woman playwright Naidoo underscores the voice of dissent against patriarchy and the apartheid regimentation of ethnic identities. In this play, almost playfully, the characters are free to explore their identities and to recognize the ways they were caged in the time of the epic. The paper attempts to read the play in order to explore the ways of freeing the self from the ascribed values of the epic time and the recognition of the self with respect to the different class positions as prevalent in society. |
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| ISSN: | 2456-7507 |