Unit 5::Identity, Gender And Ethnicity
Malini
In the play the major character Malini is the princess of Kashi, who is practicing Buddhism as taught by Buddhist monks but as the Kingdom is dominated by Hindu majority, the Brahmins demands the banishment of princess ,whom they think as a threaten to their ancient religion.
The Brahmins are lead by Kamankar who is radical Hindu. Kemankar has a friend name Supriya. Supriya is also a Brahmin but he is a liberal man and oppose the banishment of an innocent girl like Malini. When other Brahmin are drawn towards Malini fate, Kemankar tries to seek the help of the foreign soldiers to protect Hinduism. In the mean time when Kemankar is away from the state ,Supriya too is attracted by Malini's fate. Supriya helps the king to capture Kemankar ,But when Kemankar is bought to the palace he kills supriya also accepts his own death .The play ends with Malini pleading to King to forgive Kemankar.
Throughout the play Malini is the symbol of the love who wants to protect Kemankar life even though Kemankar desperately wants her banishment where as Kemankar has radical Hindu belief who even goes to the extent of Killing his own friend and accepting his own death in the name of religion. Supriya though he is a Hindu by birth but he can accept change in his religious beliefs.