Thematic Exploration of TPK’s Antagonistic Perception in his Play Fulfilment

Abstract

T.P. Kailasam’s play, Fulfilment, is a fascinating account of the confrontation from the Mahabharata’s Drona Parva between a vindicated and virtuous mortal, Eklavya, and a scheming divine, Krishna. T.P. Kailasam fictionalizes the Mahabharata myth of Ekalavya’s death in the hands of Krishna and weaves it into a powerful play of deceit and treachery in which the protagonist Eklavya tragically falls victim to the antagonist Krishna’s cunning act of treachery. The god, rather than protecting a virtuous human, has been shown as the one destroying him. This is entirely a new image of Krishna that T.P. Kailasam brings forward through this play, Fulfilment. The present paper aims to explore this tale of the divine antagonism from a fresh perspective.