This paper investigates how Indian English drama—comprising both original English-language plays and widely circulated translations—engages with India’s rich traditions of ritual and folk performance to interrogate themes of history, identity, and power. Focusing on key dramatists such as Girish Karnad, Vijay Tendulkar, Badal Sircar, Mahesh Dattani, and selected contemporary practitioners, the study explores how traditional forms like Yakshagana, Tamasha, Koodiyattam, Saang/Swang, and regional village liturgies are adapted into hybrid dramaturgical frameworks. These frameworks transcend mere aesthetic fusion, creating a space where indigenous narrative structures interact with global theatrical idioms. Anchored in Na?ya Sastra aesthetics and postcolonial performance theory, the analysis argues that ritual and folk elements function not as ornamental “local colour,” but as critical, subversive instruments. They enable dramatists to challenge colonial legacies, dismantle caste and gender hierarchies, and resist the centralising force of state authority. In doing so, Indian English drama positions itself as a site of cultural negotiation and political resistance within both national and transnational contexts.
Indian English drama, ritual performance, folk theatre, Girish Karnad, Na?ya Sastra, hybrid dramaturgy, postcolonial resistance
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