Girish Karnad was one of India’s most prominent intellectuals. He is difficult to categorize because he was active in numerous cultural arenas—he was a writer, a playwright, an actor, a screenwriter, and a director.
Karnad was born on May 19, 1938 in Matheran, Bombay Presidency (now Maharashtra), India to middle-class parents. When he was fourteen, the family moved to Dharwad in Karnataka, south India. There, he attended Karnataka University and began studying Yakshagana theater.
Karnad then attended Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar studying politics, economics, and philosophy. While at Oxford, he wrote his first play, Yayati (1961). His second play was Tughlaq (1964),...
