Caste, Patriarchy, and Resistance: Mapping Feminine Identity in Girish Karnad’s Tale-Danda

Abstract

Girish Karnad’s Tale-Danda (1993) stands as a profound historical drama that immerses the audience in the socio-religious ferment of 12th-century Karnataka. The play centres on the radical Sharana or Lingayat (Virashaiva) movement spearheaded by the poet-saint Basavanna. Through its narrative, Karnad delivers a trenchant critique of the deeply entrenched caste system, rooted in varnashrama dharma, and its inseparable entanglement with patriarchal structures that relentlessly marginalize women across social strata. At the same time, the drama illuminates pathways of resistance grounded in the egalitarian principles of the Lingayat tradition, which championed spiritual equality irrespective of birth, the sanctity of labour through the concept of kayaka, the repudiation of ritual pollution and purity taboos, and a direct, personal devotion to Shiva manifested via the Ishtalinga (Karnad 12-15).