Kanyasulkam

Q. Write the summary of Act I & II of the one-act play “Knaysulkam”

The one-act play “Kanyasulkam” is written by Gurajada Appa Rao. It is the first
Telugu play to deal with social issues. It is translated into English by C. Vijayasree and T.
Vijayakumar. The play portrays the practice of kanyasulkam which was common among the
Brahmins in the Telugu speaking area of southern India. The play also depicts the objections
to widow re-marriages and hatred towards English education
The play takes place in a village called ‘Bonkuladibba’ near Vijayanagaram. The lead
character in the play is Girisam. He is an English educated man. His life is full of debts. He
used to live in the house of putakoolamma. She is a widow. He goes to Venkatesam’s native
place as his teacher to teach him English. In the mean time he enjoys with Mahuravani.
Maduravani is a prostitute. She is the muse of Girisam in the beginning of the play and that of
Ramappa panthulu in the rest of the play
Agnihotravadhanulu is a key role player in the play. He is an egoistic Brahmin. He
rudely slams his food plate on the face of his young widowed daughter when she objects the
early marriage of her sister to an old man. Parents in those days sell their pre-pubescent
daughters to old men for money which refers to be Kanyasulkam. The writer strongly blames
this evil practice in the Indian society
2. Q. Sketch the character of Girisam in the play “Kanyasulkam”
Girisam is a lead character in the play “Kanyasulkam”. He is a very clever young
man. He desires for easy money. He tells lies very easily. He stays with a boarding house
widow. He borrows money from others and spends on dancing girls. No one is left in the
town to cheat and borrow money. He claims to be an educationist. He wins the favour of
Madhuravani with his skilful conversation. Madhuravani is a young prostitute. She is
beautiful. She likes Girisam more than the boarding widow.
Girisam enters as tuition teacher to Venkatesam, the son of Agnihotravdhanulu. What
he teaches Venkatesam is nothing but smoking cigars. He goes to Venkatesam’s village to
escape from his creditors. It helps him to pass time with free boarding and lodging. When
Venkamma requests Girisam to speak to her son Venkatesam in English, he said ‘Twinkle,
Twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are!’ . Venkatesam replies ‘There is a white man
in the tent’
Girisam shows another angle in his character. When he sees the young widow
Butchamma, he makes his plan to make her his own, at least for some time. He gives a long
lecture to Venkatesam on the necessity of child marriages. He says that it is a new discovery
to get young girls married to old men. He makes a satire on politics. Unless one changes
one’s opinions from time to time, one cannot become a politician.

Madhuravani, the muse of Girisam during the beginning of the play, and that of Ramappa Panthulu in the
rest of the play, is portrayed as a very righteous, wise, magnanimous and able woman who is willing to
even bend over backwards to help someone in need. This way the play sought to take on the prejudices
and practices of contemporary Indian society head-on. The play includes a few gut-wrenching scenes such
as one where Agnihothravadhanulu, an egoistic, male-chauvinistic Brahmin and a key player in the play,
barbarically slams his food plate onto the face of his young, widowed daughter, when she requests that he
reconsider his decision to marry his pre-pubescent daughter to an old man. The practice of parents
arranging the marriages of their pre-pubescent daughters to old men for cash was very prevalent during
those days, and was referred to popularly as Kanyasulkam, literally meaning "money in lieu for a girl",
which also forms the title of the play.[7][8]
The play also depicts, amusingly, the practices of orthodox Brahmins, such as Madi, with a particular
character in the play even shrivelling away from everyone and everything like a touch-me-not, lest he might
lose his sanctity. (He even has to perform some "religious cleansing" for the things someone touched
before he can touch them.)
The play also has numerous lighter moments, notably regarding the marriage of the stingy old man,
Lubdhavadhanulu. Much of that comedy occurs as dialogue between Girisam and his various love
interests, and also during the marriage of Lubdhavadhanulu to a boy disguised as a girl. Contemporary
Indian society is depicted in a very real fashion, without glorifying it so that it has the effect of being 'in-your-
face'. Numerous interesting characters spring up during various points of the play, such as the widowed
owner of a local food court, referred to as Pootakoolla 'Munda' (the word in quotes being an offensive word
for a widow, originating from 'Mundan', meaning shaving, in Sanskrit and Telugu, because during that
period, a woman had to shave her hair off after her husband's death), the debauched and widowed
daughter of Lubdhavadhanulu, Meenakshi, and the son of Lubdhavadhanulu. They are very much similar in
their notions and prejudices to the people one may see in any Indian village even today. [7][8]
In Girisam, we can see that kind of a young man who is opportunistic, yearns for momentary pleasures,
desires easy money and is unwilling to work, for the simple reason that he is too fickle-minded to hold any
particular job for a considerable amount of time. He is so unwilling, in fact, that he wouldn't think twice
about taking the easiest path to fulfilling his desires, even if he is trampling upon someone else's life while
he is on his way. He claims to be a progressionist, but claiming is all he does. In Meenakshi, we may see a
woman who might have been widowed even before she hit puberty. She was therefore paying for a mistake
that was anyone's but hers and was being accused of being unfaithful to a husband she did not have.
Ramappa Panthulu is a middle man and very incompetent one at that. He tries to twist and turn every
situation in his favor, but ends up being entangled in the very mess he himself created in the first place. He
is a victim of his own making. Probably, Madhuravani and PootaKoolla 'Munda' are the only characters who
have strong moral footing and maintain their stand throughout the play. There are no surprises, shocks, or
suspense regarding the characters of the persons and flaws in their characters, if any, are laid out clearly
by the playwright.[7][8]

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Interpreter of Maladies