Rabindranath Tagore’s The Post Office from the view point of Karuna Rasa

Abstract

An ancient Sanskrit text of dramatic theory and other performance arts, Natyashastra, shows rasa as the goal of any creative performance art, oratory, painting or literature Rasa which forms the dominant note of a dramatic piece shows elemental human emotions like love, pity, fear, heroism or mystery. Rasa connotes a concept in Indian arts about the aesthetic flavour of any visual, literary or musical work that evokes an emotion or feeling in the reader or audience but cannot be described. It refers to the emotional flavours or essence crafted into the work by the writer and relished by a 'sensitive spectator', literally one who "has heart", and can connect to the work with emotion, without dryness.

This paper seeks to analyse and show the elements of Karuna Rasa depicted in Rabindranath Tagore’s play The Post Office. The play is a mixture of emotions. It shows a sick child Amal who is confinedin a small room because of some fatal disease. Tagore has beautifully brought out the pathetic condition of the child who pines for freedom and the world is anxious to keep him in bondage.

Moreover, The Post Office is a pathetic tale of human suffering. The world represented by the village physician shows the eagerness to keep Amal in a cage. At last Amal’s illness leads to his death and the tragic end of the play shows Karuna rasa.