Indian Writing In English: The Purpose by T. P. Kailasam

Hello Readers !

The study of Indian writing in English has become an integral part of the English literature. T. P. Kailasam was a prominent Kannada playwright and writer. This blog is related to the task assigned by Prof. Vaidehi Hariyani. Click here to view blog. In her blog, there are pre-task in which students have to read the original play The Purpose by T. P. Kailasam. In post-task students answer the questions accordingly.

Guru Dakshina (Source: Wikipedia)

Click Here to read full play.

1.) Compare and Contrast Arjun and Eklavya's Character.

Ans. In this play the character of Arjuna in different. He is some kind of arrogant and blunt with his Gurujee, Dronacharya. Eklavya is noble and humble student who wishes to save the creatures of jungle.

2.) What is Subaltern? Who do you think is the Subaltern in this play? Explain with examples.

Ans. Subaltern means the person whose voice is unheard and oppressed, and neglected. In this play, Eklavya is subaltern because his voice is suppressed and Dronacharya refused to teach him archery because he is Nishadha.

3.) Write your views about Education system in India with reference to Past and Present time.

Ans. Education system was very different in ancient India. There was Gurukuls and Ashrams, in which parents leave their children for their education and the teachers in Gurukul take care of the child until he becomes mature and learned. At the age of around 15 or 16, that child learns many different things from different experiences and through the guidance of the Sages and Acharyas. In this span of time a child used to learn many lessons not only from studies but from lives also. Guruji or Acharya used to send their Shishyas in jungle to cur some tree branches, they used to fill water from deep wells, pulling the rope from well and filling a potful of water was not easy task then. Students were learning archery, dual fights, animal hunting, etc. In this Gurukul education system, multi-dimensional development of students was happening.

Whereas now in Today's India, education has become a big business. Every owner of school thinks about a student as a tool to earn money. Nowadays all institutes are giving their advertisements in very big posters and hoardings just in order to attract students and make them take admission in the institute. School and university owner hire very low qualified teachers and even if they get a good teacher luck by chance, they don't give them sufficient salary. We all know that money plays a vital role in every persons life. By getting this much low salary, a teacher gets frustrated and always remain in stress, so even though having a good qualification he can't teach their students with full attention and devotion. Earlier it was seen that if student comes from very poor background, teacher used to teach him free without any fees. Whereas there are numberless private schools, colleges and universities which takes a massive amount of fees in the form of donation or charity funding. In a nut shell we can say that The place of Saraswati (Goddess of Learning) has taken by Lakshmi (Goddess of Money).

4.) Is Dronacharya an ideal teacher? If yes, then how? and If No, then Why? Explain with examples.

Ans. Dronacharya is partial in educating Eklavya because he only teaches Kshatriya students whereas Eklavya is Nishadha. After the refusal of Dronacharya Eklavya makes an image of Gurujee and practices archery. Being a teacher one cannot be partial with students. So Dronacharya is not an ideal teacher.

5.) Write something about your experience like Eklavya or Arjuna with any teacher during your study phase till now.

Ans. There were no such experience like this during my studies.

Thank You!