CHAPTER IV DISCOURSE DEIXIS IN SELECTED PLAYS 4.1 INTRODUCTION Discourse deixis elements used in the three selected plays by Girish Kamad are analysed. This analysis offers an insight regarding the use of language in the plays. This study concentrates on the use of discourse deixis elements which are used to refer to 'preceding and following part of discourse', 'ongoing discourse', 'refers to utterance itself, 'past reference', 'future reference' and so on in the process of the ongoing communication. The analysis of discourse deixis, in the selected plays, mainly focuses on certain facts regarding the use of language. An in-depth examination is carried out in respect of the use of discourse deixis in the three selected plays by Girish Kamad, namely- Yayati, Tughlaq and Naga-mandala. Each of the thirty utterances, ten from each play, are analysed in terms of the contexts and comments are offered on their significance. 4.2 ANALYSIS OF DISCOURSE DEIXIS IN YAYATI 4.2.1 Girish Karnad: Yayati: Discourse Deixis: One YAYATI: I have said all that I wished to say. I must now go. SHARMISHTHA: Please, wait. It is true I am your wife's slave. You may dismiss me as you wish. But you asked to see me. And as you said yourself. I am a princess by birth. I have a right to be heard. YAYATI: Then answer my question first. Is pushing a friend into well an act worthy of a princess? That is where it all began, didn't it? SHARMISHTHA: Yes, it did. But she has never explained to you why? 176 YAYATI: Oh, yes. Something about your blouses getting mixed up and you flying into a wild temper... SHARMISHTHA (smiles): Yes, of course. (Girish Kamad, 1960: p. 18) ANALYSIS: DISCOURSE DEIXIS This passage presents a conversation between King Yayati and Sharmishtha. King Yayati asks Sharmishtha to behave herself and to be nice to Devayani. The King tells Sharmishtha that he can make her free from slavery. But Sharmishtha seems to prefer to stay with Devayani as her slave, (as she becomes Devayani's slave as a punishment for her misdeed). The King asks whether she is happy with the hell she herself has created. Sharmishtha says she could have spewed out nectar but her community leaves things like these to Brahmin girls and she is a rakshasa woman and she has her own code to follow. The argument between Yayati and Sharmishtha continues. Yayati asserts that he has said what he wished to say. Since Sharmishtha is his wife's slave, she agrees that he (the King) can dismiss her as per his wish. But having accepted Sharmishtha as a princess, Yayati has to give her an opportunity to express her views. King Yayati disapproves Sharmishtha's attempt to murder Devayani and states that it is a denouncing act on her part. Sharmishtha tells King that she (Devayani) has never revealed the truth regarding Sharmishtha's action though she knew it very well. Yayati is under impression that the reason was a very trivial one. The occurrences of discourse deixis in the above passage are: 'that', and 'but'. 4.2.1.i YAYATI: I have said all that I wished to say. I must now go. (Girish Kamad, 1960: p. 18) King Yayati talks to Sharmishtha about her behaviour with Devayani. Sharmishtha instigates Devayani by telling that it was not because of Devayani's beauty but her father's power that the King Yayati had to marry her. Devayani quarrels with Sharmishtha and abuses her. At the same time Yayati enters the chamber and asks why it is not ready. As soon as Sharmishtha exits the chamber; Devayani reports everything to Yayati. Sharmishtha is called for. But when Sharmishtha enters the 177 chamber, Devayani exits. Yayati asks Sharmishtha whether she is not happy with arrangement made on the occasion of his son's arrival at home and also whether she is not comfortable among the strangers against her will. She tells him that she agrees to the arrangement as she considers herself as an insider and not an outsider and states that she has accepted her new life in his company. Yayati says he will free her from her slavery. She says she has declared herself a slave. She does not want to be free from her slavery. Sharmishtha argues about Aryas and says Aryas are confused. Because Sharmishtha belongs to rakshasa's family. She is proud of the chaos which she calls creation and which is the order of the rakshasa. The Arya order according to her is also confusion. Therefore, she wants to follow the code of conduct of the rakshasa. The King Yayati tries to convince her and to make her free from her slavery but she does not accept it. She says she is happy being a slave. The King states that he has shared his view very frankly. The demonstrative 'that' is used to refer to the thinking of King Yayati about Sharmishtha and his proposed solutions to make her free from the slavery. It also refers to the talk in the earlier discourse. Therefore, the demonstrative 'that' is used as a discourse deixis. 4.2.1.ii YAYATI: Then answer my question first. Is pushing a friend into well an act worthy of a princess? That is where it all began, didn't it? (Girish Kamad, I960: p.18) King Yayati talks with Sharmishtha about her behaviour with Devayani. He says he will free her from her slavery. She argues with the King and says she is rakshasa woman. They have chosen their lives in chaos. They are proud of the fact that it is a chaos of their own creation. She does not wish to be free from slavery and tells the King that, it is true that she is the Queen's slave. He, therefore, can dismiss her if he so desires. She asks the king as he himself said that she (Sharmishtha) is a princess by birth. She expects the King to listen to what she says. She utters this in order to except the King to listen to her. The King insists upon her giving a reply to his question 'Is pushing a friend into a well an act worthy a princess?' He states that, that was the situation where it all began. The demonstrative 'that' is used by Yayati to refer to backward pointing in the ongoing discourse. It is also used to bring in the past 178 reference as Sharmishtha's suffering is due to being a slave because of her past act. Therefore, the demonstrative 'that' is used as a discourse deixis. The recurrent use of 'that' throughout these utterances also brings out the seriousness of Sharmishtha's misdeed. 4.2.1.iii SHARMISHTHA: Yes, it did. But she has never explained to you why? (Girish Kamad, 1960: p. 18) King Yayati and Sharmishtha argue with each other about several things. Sharmishtha reminds the King that as he himself states that, she (Sharmishtha refers to herself) is a princess by birth. Being a princess she has a right to be heard. She intends now to say whatever she is saying which should be heard by the King. King Yayati tells her to answer his question first. He continues asking a question: 'Is pushing a friend into a well an act worthy for a princess?' Sharmishtha replies to this in the affirmative. She says that Devayani has never explained to him (to King Yayati) the reason for the act. Here, Sharmishtha tries to say whatever she did that was neither wrong nor immoral. King Yayati opines that since she is a princess this sort of demeaning act cannot be accepted and so she deserves due punishment. But Sharmishtha does not agree with Yayati's views and tries to bring out the hidden part of the story since Devayani had falsely reported the incident to Yayati. Sharmishtha while bringing in her point uses the conjunction 'but' to refer to the reason of her action of which, she thinks, the King is not aware. The conjunction 'but' shows Sharmishtha's contradictory views for Devayani since Devayani has told only half-truth to Yayati. Therefore, the conjunction 'but' is used to bring out the contradiction of thinking, action and reality. It is a discourse deixis. 4.2.2 Girish Karnad: Yayati: Discourse Deixis: Two YAYATI: Let me say I feel benefitted by our little chat in at least one small way. I know there is nothing I can do. I stand disabused of my belief that 1 have the ability to solve the problem. 179 SHARMISHTHA (calmly): No, sir, but you have helped. Perhaps during these two years all I needed was someone to listen to me. You have done that and that is enough for me. I am grateful. I shall not torment you any further. YAYATI: What do you mean? You agree to go home? SHARMISHTHA: (takes out a vial from her inside her blouse): Home is just a blank spot, sir, erased from my life. This is the dowry my father gave me when 1 left home. A vial of lethal poison.The purest extract of wild mushrooms. (Smiles.) 'Instantly effective', my father has assured me. I meant to use it. first on Devayani and then myself. But now I have no desire to kill her. YAYATI: Killing her would have solved nothing. (Girish Kamad, 1960: pp.20-21) ANALYSIS: DISCOURSE DEIXIS The King says he is benefitted by their little chat as he thought he has the ability to solve the problems, he stands disabused of his belief, as there is nothing he can do (as he is unable to solve the problem).