Presenting Woman and Nature- An Ecofeminist Reading of Select Plays of Karnad

Abstract

Anew literary theory-ecofeminism which relates the ecological degradation and oppression of women in the hands of men and men-constructed-society emerged in 1960. The ecofeminist critics like Rosemary Radford Ruether, Judith Plant, Vandana Shiva, Maria Mies et.al have equated the women to the nature since they both share the same fate which is of degradation and oppression. So, to posit a text from this literary theoretical perspective the natural interest and loss of female interest should be there. GirishKarnad’s plays- Hayavadana, Naga-Mandala and The Fire and the Rain can be read from this perspective. My thesis will be about the study and interpretation of these three plays of Karnad in the light of ecofeminist theoretical approach. Ecofeminism castigates the value-hierarchal dualistic thinking, evident in Western philosophy such as nature-nurture, desire-reason, body-head, self-other. This Western philosophy asserts the supremacy of intellectual human over the ‘natural nature’. The men have used nature to dominate women and the women have been seen by the man’s eye as a production of the society.