Girish Karnad: A wordsmith that championed the idea of India

His plays were a mix of myth and history but they always spoke of the contemporary reality and there lay the importance of Girish Karnad, a multi-hyphenate cultural icon who championed the freedom of expression and inclusive idea of India through his life and work.

Karnad, who died on Monday at his Bengaluru residence at the age of 81, lived several lives not only on the stage but also as a scholar, theatre personality, an actor and director in a career spanning over five decades.

But it was the identity as a playwright that he most associated with, often drawing from the rich mythological and historical legacy of the country to weave stories about current sociopolitical issues.

A brilliant student, who graduated in mathematics but chose arts as his playing field, Karnad wrote his first play "Yayati" at the age of 23 in 1961.

He and theatre great Ebrahim Alkazi influenced each other to a great extent. It was at Alkazi's home that Karnad was first introduced to mythology through a Hindi adaptation of Greek tragedy "Antigone"
Calling Naipaul an unreliable writer of non-fiction as far as India was concerned, Karnad had said, "He really doesn't pay much attention to the details of the texts he studies."