Malini - Summary and Major Questions and Ans

MALINI

Rabibdranath Tagore

1 Retell/Summarize/Write the story of “Malini”.

Tagore’s play “Malini” is the story of a Hindu princess who becomes the cause of a religious conflict. The play begins with a protest. Malini is the princess of the kingdom of Kashi. Taught by Buddhist monks, she is influenced by Buddhist ideas. The Hindu Brahmins fear that she might use her power and influence to introduce Buddhism in their land. They demand for her banishment. Malini does not like earthly riches herself. She is ready to live a simple life without royal comforts and luxuries. The King and the Queen are surprised at this change in Malini. Kemankar is the leader of the protestors. He tells them to be firm in their decision. His friend Supriya does not like the idea of banishing a girl just in the name of saving religion. The Brahmins become angry with him. Kemnkar asks Supriya to keep silent. Meanwhile, the army also decides to support them. But the Brahmins do not want to go to such an extreme as rebellion. They want to win with their faith alone, not with arms. They pray to the goddess to descend from heaven to guide them. At this time Malini comes down the palace. She declares her self-exile and is ready to go to live with common people. They are impressed with her speech, character and concern about the people. They take her back to the palace. Kemankar decides to bring armed forces from other kingdoms to make the revolt successful. He tells Supriya to stay there and keep him informed. But Supriya becomes impressed by Malini. He senses a divine spirit in her and loses his heart. To save Malini and bloodshed, he tells the King about Kemankar’s plans. Kemankar is arrested. He feels betrayed. As his last wish, he wants to see Supriya, his best friend. After some discussion, he kills Supriya. The King wants to execute him there. The play ends with Malini’s request to the King to forgive Kemankar.

2 Give/Draw a character sketch of Malini.

OR, Show how Malini is different from other characters.

Malini is the central character in the play. She is quite different from other characters because of her virtues. She is a princess and she is young and beautiful. But she is not proud of herself. She is polite instead. She represents the true spirit of religion as she shows qualities like love, mercy, sympathy and forgiveness. She is ideal and virtuous. Malini is not just influenced by Buddhist philosophy of non-violence, peace and compassion. She puts her theory into practice. Her heart is big enough to greet even the opponent. She is not afraid that Kemankar is coming with armies. She says there is room for them all in her heart as well as in her house. Even after Kemankar kills Supriya, she asks the King to forgive him.

Malini talks in such a way that she can impress and convince anyone. She persuades the King to let her go to live among the people. The Brahmins are also impressed by her sweet voice, speech, simplicity and her sympathy for the common people. Malini becomes like Buddha in her decision of self-exile. She is ready to leave the royal life of comfort and luxury to experience the life of hardships and poverty. She wants to live among the people to bridge the gap between the palace and the people. Seeing the change in her, the Queen says she is no more a common girl. She seems to have a divine force. Supriya and the King sense the same.

3 In the beginning of the play the King talks about “storm clouds gathering over the King’s house.” What does he refer to?

When the King talks about “storms gathering over the King’s house,” he is referring to the revolt of people against the palace. Actually, the Brahmins have gathered before the palace and are demanding for the banishment of Malini, the princess. They fear that she will introduce Buddhism. They are Hindus and feel Buddhism will displace their religion. The army is also on their side. Thus, a kind of rebellion is about to begin. The King is referring to this difficult situation as he talks about “storm clouds” over his house.

4 What were the Brahmins demanding for?

OR, Why were the Brahmins demanding for Malini’s banishment?

Seeing Malini as a threat to their religion, the Brahmins were demanding her banishment. They feared that she was going to introduce Buddhism in their land where they had followed Hinduism for centuries. Kashi was the religious center of Hinduism at the time of the play. The majority of the population was of Brahmins. They had privileged position in Hindu society. The challenge to Hinduism would mean disadvantage for them. Therefore, when Malini came out with a new concept influenced by Buddhism, they got united against her and shouted for her banishment.

5 If the demand persisted, would the King banish his daughter? Give reasons.

If the Brahmins’ demand for Malini’s banishment persisted, the King would have to grant their request. The King must make the decision against his will. His son also suggests that delay would be dangerous. Because the majority of population of the kingdom is of Brahmins, their protest might turn into rebellion. Moreover, Malini herself has asked for her own banishment from the palace. She is herself ready to leave the palace and go to the people. She has convinced the King to grant her this wish. Therefore, the King would be ready to banish his own daughter.

6 What was the revolt against? Against Malini? Against the King? Against Buddhism?

It seemed as if the revolt was against Malini and the King, but it was mainly against Buddhism. Kashi was the religious center of Hinduism and the majority of the population was of Brahmins. When Malini came out with a new concept influenced by Buddhism, the Brahmins got united against her. Because she was the princess, the King would try to protect her. Therefore, the revolt was also against the King. The Brahmins were Hindus. They feared that their religion would be displaced by Buddhism. Banishing Malini meant banishing Buddhism. Therefore, the revolt was actually against Buddhism.

7 Why does Malini ask for her own banishment from the palace?

Malini wants to lead a life like a commoner and asks her own banishment from the palace. Influenced by Buddhist philosophy of life, she doesn’t care about royal comforts and luxuries. Both the royal family and the Brahmins want comfortable life with privileged position in the society. But Malini wants to end inequality caused by class division. When the Brahmins ask for her banishment, she is ready to leave the palace and live among them. She intends to teach the Brahmins the real essence of life as taught by Buddha. She can do this by going out of the palace. Therefore, she asks for her own banishment.

8 The King repeatedly asks Supriya to ask for anything he wished. Why do you think he is so insistent?

The King is very grateful towards Supriya for saving Malini and the kingdom from Kemankar’s plot. Therefore, he repeatedly asks Supriya to ask for anything he wished. He feels Supriya is too humble and shy to ask for anything. But he wants to reward Supriya with whatever he would ask for. He even intends to give the hand of his daughter, Malini. He tells Malini that she owes her life to this noble youth. He sees Supriya as a perfect match for Malini. Therefore, he is insistent and tells Supriya again and again to be brave and ask for even the impossible.

9 Would you call Supriya a betrayer? Give reasons.

Supriya is not a betrayer because he prevents violence by telling the king about Kemankar’s plot. If he had not revealed Kemankar’s plans, it would have caused bloodshed and destruction. He has saved Malini, the King and the country from Kemankar’s wrong decision. But he is not a blind follower of dogmatic ideas. He saw that Malini was not a threat to Hindu religion but a well-wisher of humanity. Therefore, he had to betray Kemenkar to save Malini, who was trying to teach the true spirit of religion. It is not really betrayal.
Supriya seems to be a betrayer if we see from the side of Kemankar and their friendship. He had participated in the protest and rally against the palace. He has never left Kemankar. When Kemankar decides to leave Kashi and bring armies from other kingdoms, he wants to go with him. But on Kemankar’s request he had agreed to stay there and keep him informed about the situation. However, he breaks his promises and betrays his best friend.
Supriya’s decision to reveal Kemnkar’s dangerous plans saves a lot of trouble and violence. What he has done is for the good of people, country and humanity. But his intention is not to have Kemankar killed. He only wants to stop Kemankar from going in the wrong way. Therefore, his betrayal is not actually betrayal.

10 Draw a character sketch of Supriya.

Supriya is a Hindu Brahmin, but he is not dogmatic like other Brahmins. He is not a blind follower of what is written in books. He wants to see the true spirit of religion in a living form. He finds it in Malini. He does not see the need of arms to defend faith. For him religion means love, kindness, peace and tolerance, not violence. Therefore, he reveals Kemankar’s plot to the King to prevent bloodshed. He laughs at the idea of banishing a girl just in the name of saving religion. He gives more value to the essence of religion rather than its form. He is more flexible in his belief. He is not full of hatred against a different religion.

11 Draw a character sketch of Kemankar.

Kemankar is a Hindu fundamentalist who cannot stand a threat to his religion. He is a blind follower of religion and a narrow-minded person. He does not have enough tolerance. He would rather die to defend his faith and religion than accept another religion in the centuries-old land of Hindus. He gives more value to the form of religion than its essence. He has read holy books and is good at arguing. He unifies the Hindu Brahmins to lead a protest against Malini and Buddhism. He remains firm in his decision from the beginning to the end. Others are impressed by Malini and quit their protest. But Kemankar goes for violence. He brings armies from outside to save his so-called religious belief with arms.

12 Compare/contrast between Supriya and Kemankar.

OR, Show how Supriya is different from Kemankar.

Although Supriya and Kemankar are close friends and have always been together, they hold different views about religion, faith and Malini. [+ Supriya’s character + Kemankar’s character]
13 Why does Kemankar leave the kingdom?
Kemankar leaves the kingdom to bring armies from other kingdoms to make the revolt successful. He leads the protest against Malini and Buddhism. But when the Brahmins realize their mistake about Malini, they end the protest and become ready to learn from her. Kemankar cannot accept this failure. He makes a plot to defend his religion. All the Brahmins are impressed by Malini. He knows no one will go against her. Therefore, he feels the need to bring armies from the outside and leaves the kingdom on this mission.

14 The play ends with a suspense of whether or not the king forgives Kemamkar. Do you think he fulfills Malini’s request to forgive Kemankar?

The play ends with a suspense of whether or not the King fulfills Malini’s request to forgive Kemankar. But we can say that Malini will be able to convince him to spare Kemankar’s life, if not his crime.
The King will grant Malini’s every request, even to forgive Kemankar. The King is influenced by her views. He has sensed a divine force in her. He knows her decision will be correct. He was ready to let her go to live among the people as she wished. He is more impressed when he sees the change of attitude in the Brahmins toward Malini. If Malini is asking him to forgive Kemankar, she is asking him to give her a chance to try to change Kemankar’s attitude. She hopes to make Kemankar feel sorry about killing Supriya and repent for it. Eventually, she might even convert Kemankar with her compassion and humanism.
The King may be firm in his decision to execute Kemankar. He may fulfill his kingly duty by punishing a dangerous criminal. On Malini’s request, he had considered forgiving Kemankar. But Kemankar was ready to die to defend his faith and the King asked for his last wish. This means he will not forgive Kemnkar. Kemankar kills Supriya who had saved him and Malini. This makes him angry and he looks for his sword to execute the criminal. Forgiving Kemankar would mean putting Malini, himself and his kingdom at risk.
Although the King asks for his sword to execute Kemankar, I think Malini will be able to stop him. She will persuade him to forgive Kemankar and give her a chance to deal with him.

15 Discuss “Malini” as the story of love and hatred.

At one extreme of “Malini” is the central figure of the play, Malini, who represents the feeling of love towards the whole of humanity. At the other extreme is a Hindu fundamentalist like Kemankar, who hates a different religion because of his own religious dogma. This makes “Malini” the story of love and hatred.
“Malini” is the story of love and compassion because of the character of Malini. She shows qualities like love, mercy, sympathy and forgiveness. She represents the true spirit of religion. She applies Buddhist philosophy of non-violence, peace and compassion in her real life. Her heart is big enough to greet even the opponent. She says there is room for Kemankar and his army in her heart as well as in her house. Even after Kemankar kills Supriya, she asks the King to forgive him. Thus, Malini perfectly shows the virtue of love.
Kemankar is full of hatred towards Malini throughout the play. He cannot stand her because he fears she might introduce Buddhism and displace Hinduism. He is a narrow-minded Hindu fundamentalist who takes even wrong means to defend his so-called religious faith. Actually, he is dogmatic. This attitude can only produce hatred towards others. He is so full of hatred that he does not hesitate to kill his best friend Supriya, who had only stopped him from doing a great wrong.
Thus, the different attitudes and beliefs held by Malini and Kemankar makes they play a story of love and hatred. Malini is all-loving but he is full of hatred and does not even have religious tolerance.

16 “Malini” is a play full of compassion as well as scorn. Justify this statement.

“Malini” is full of feelings like love, compassion and forgiveness. But the writer also questions the religious dogma of contemporary Indian society, which gives a touch of scorn.
Malini is full of infinite compassion throughout the play. She shows qualities like like love, mercy, sympathy and forgiveness. She represents the true spirit of religion. She applies Buddhist philosophy of non-violence, peace and compassion in her real life. Her heart is big enough to greet even the opponent. She says there is room for Kemankar and his army in her heart as well as in her house. Even after Kemankar kills Supriya, she asks the King to forgive him. Thus, Malini perfectly shows the virtue of love. Thus, Malini is the perfect example of compassion.
The writer expresses scorn at religious dogmatism of blind followers of religions like Kemankar and the Brahmins. Supriya laughs at the idea of banishing a girl just in the name of saving religion. He questions the status of such a religion which needs arms to protect itself. The queen and Supriya both believe that truth cannot be learned just from books. It needs people like Malini. But Kemankar is full of hatred and makes plots. How can we call him religious? He tries to hurt her but she forgives him.
The different attitudes of Malini and Kemankar clearly show the writer’s scorn at narrow-mindedness of so-called religious people. Tagore criticizes the tendency to commit crimes in the name of religion.