The Creed of Violence and Non-Violence in Bali: The Sacrifice

In this research paper through the play Bali: The Sacrifice, the creed of violence and non-violence will be explored. Written in 1980 and translated in English in 2002, by Girish Karnad, this play belongs to the genre of mythological plays from his oeuvre. Based on the thirteenth century Kannada epic, Yashodhrara Charite, the denotative quality of this play results in re-vision of the culture it is rooted in, to the culture it is transplanted in. The theme, as the title suggests, is sacrifice of the living to propitiate gods as part of religious worship. The whole question of violence and its ramifications becomes a serious preoccupation of the dramatist. In a way, it is an exploration of soul-making through the prism of violence and non-violence.