Abstract

Feminists have developed a wide variety of gender-centered approaches to ethics, each of which addresses one or more of the five ways traditional ethics has failed or neglected women. Some feminist ethicists emphasize issues related to women’s traits and behaviors, particularly their care-giving ones. In contrast, other feminist ethicists emphasize the political, legal, economic, and/or ideological causes and effects of women’s second-sex status. But be these emphases as they may, all feminist ethicists share the same goal: the creation of a gendered ethics that aims to eliminate or at least ameliorate the oppression of any group of people, but most particularly women. Indian drama in English translation has been increasingly turning to history, legend, myth and folklore tapping the rhythms of Indian collective psyche. It has forged a link between East and West and various Indian languages and contributed towards the contemporary literary horizon with marvellous results. This paper aims at analyzing critically the use of myths in Indian drama & the theory of feminist ethics with special reference to the play Mandodari by Gujarati writer Varsha Adalja. Despite the strength of her [Mandodari] character critics do not pay enough attention to her. She gets lost in the grandiose of Valmiki‟s Ramayana. She is the one who persuades her husband to keep Sita in Ashok Vatika. Varsha Adalja‟s portrayal of the inner dilemma of Mandodari as a wife, a woman and the queen of Lanka is creditable. Mandodari maintains a judicious balance between ethical duty and practical humanity. Adalja employs myth as a mechanism to question the false morality prevalent in her age and prevalent even today. Mandodari becomes an epitome to criticize the irrational patriarchal values in Indian society.  Myth, tradition and modernity are major dimensions of Indian drama. Myths are born, reinvented, and preserved in a culture that values continuity. Again, myths create an alternate reality. The story of Ramayana has been handed down to us in various forms from prehistoric times but enough attention has not been paid on the character of Mandodari.  Her psychological dilemmas remain untouched.  Varsha Adalja revisits the myth of the Ramayana from fresh perspectives. By indulging in a dialogue between Sita and Mandodari, she rewrites the stereotyped notions about duty and morality. Mandodari‟s character integrates public and private space with her agency and subjectivity intact. Adalja successfully employs the poetics of myth to scrutinize the contemporary notions about morality and womanhood. In this way, women can re-locate their centre in a fast changing world and can assert their own space.