Malini : Summary and Questions-Answers

Malini 

-------------------------------

(Image source : Google Images)

-------------------------------

(Rabindra Nath Tagore/ The Writer, Poet)

1. Main Characters:

• Malini (Princess of a Hindu Kingdom/ The lead character of the play)
• The king (Malini's father)
• The Queen (Malini's mother)
• The Prince (Malini's brother)
• Kemankar (The antagonist or opponent of the play/leader of the revolt going against Malini)
• Supriya (Kemankar's friend)
• Many brahmins

---------------------------------------------------------------

2. Some points to remember: 

•  Malini is a Poetic play written by Rabindra Nath Tagore.
• It is in two acts.

• It is a story of love and hatred, religion and dogma (any belief or set of beliefs which people are expected to accept as true without questioning).
• It is the story of the conflict between Hinduism and Buddhism.
• It is also a story of religious harmony: Here  particularly Hinduism and Buddhism.
• Love, truth, peace, brotherhood and harmony are the major aspects of this play.

--------------------------------------------------------------

3. A Very Short Introduction:

It is a nice story of love and hatred. It shows love in its highest form. Love in its highest and absolute form is all radiance, all pervading and all compassionate. Love knows no distinction between riches and poor, or the lower and higher. Love is infinite.

 

Malini is the symbol of love. Her heart is full of love even for her enemies. She is the princess . She is impressed by Buddhism. She studies Buddhist literature and discusses things with Buddhist monks. She believes in love, which is all pervasive and compassionate. This is religion.

The conservative Brahmins of that time had limited their religion by narrowness of their heart and selfishness. In this way, they had made the religion barren. They only interpreted the literal meaning of the holy books for their own benefits. The spirit of the books were beyond their understanding. 

Such brahmins were shocked by the liberal attitude and heresy of Malini. So they demanded for banishment. But when Malini came before them, they were very impressed by her and by her ideas. They realized their mistake. And, finally they followed her.

But Kemankar was not convinced.  He was determined to throw her out of the country. He went to foreign lands to get help to uproot Malini's view of the religion. 

After Kemanker had gone, Supriya came into touch of Malini. Now he understood the depth and reality of Malini's infinite love. So when he came to know about Kemanker's plan of attacking the land, Supriya did not like it. He thought that thousands of innocent people would die only in the name of religion. He thought it to be wrong. 

So he told all about Kemanker's rebellion to the king. Kemanker was arrested. At last the two old friends met in the court. There Kemanker blamed Supriya to have betrayed him by disclosing his plans to the king. Then he  struck Supriya dead wishing to see him in another world.

The play ends with the repetitive request of Malini to forgive Kemanker.  But it is not given in the play whether the king forgave Kemanker or not.

Thus the writer has left the audiences (readers) guessing if the king really forgave Kemanker or finally punished him for his treason (crime against one's own country).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Question-Answers:

Question 1. In the beginning of the play the King talks about "storm clouds gathering over the King's house." What does he refer to ?

Answer: By the words 'storm clouds gathering over the king's house', the king refers to an imminent (about to happen) danger likely  to take place soon. He actually refers to either Malini's banishment or his own abdication(raj gaddi tyag garnu).

As she has taken up her new creed, his people are agitated. They have united and are demanding for her banishment. Their growing demand is like storm clouds. He is afraid if he will have to banish his own child if the demand persisted.

Question 2. What were the brahmins demanding for ?

Answer : Malini was a Hindu princess. But she was taking a lot of interest in the Buddhist religion. She used to study Buddhist literature. The Brahmins did not like it. So they were revolting against it. Their main demands were either Malini should give up taking interest in Buddhist religion, or the king should banish her. If the king could not banish her, he should abdicate.

Question 3 . If the demand persisted, would the king banish his daughter ? Give reasons.

Answer: The answer of this is very difficult.  Of-course the decision of banishing Malini would be very difficult for him. So perhaps he would try hard to convince his daughter to give up taking interest in Buddhist religion. 

But if the demand persisted, he will certainly banish her. In one of the dialogues with the prince he says he 'must' decide to banish her.

Question 4 . Draw a character sketch of Supriya and show how he is different from Kemankar.

Answer:  Supriya is an important character of this play. He is a brahmin and a very close friend of Kemankar. 

He has many good qualities. He is wise and learned. He has a deep knowledge of the Hindu religion. But he not an orthodox, as his friend Kemankar is. He is a rational and sensible person. He thinks that truth can not be determined by the force of numbers. 

He is not blind to his religion. He accepts that the orthodox Hindu brahmins have been using the religion only for their benefits, mostly by mis-explaining it. He is not in the favour of Malini's banishment. He asks for the reason of it. 

As a sensible person, he did not like Kemankar's idea to wash away the new creed (here, Buddhism) with blood. So he told the king everything about Kemankar's plan. He did not do it for any greed, or reward from the king. Being glad, when the king wanted him to marry Malini, he denied saying that he had never looked at Malini  that way.

Although Supriya has several good qualities, he has some weaknesses in his character. He is in the habit of doubting everything. When Kemankar and other brahmins discuss about Malini's fate, we find  him dwindling. 

He easily comes in influence of the man before him. Until Kemankar was there, he was in his side. But once Kemankar is gone, he came under the influence of Malini. 

He has got a changing mind and is always doubtful. He is not strong enough to take a decision. 

In conclusion we can say that with all the weaknesses  and faults of his characters, Supriya is a nice man with a broad mind and a true belief in love.

(How he is different from Kemankar ?)

Although both of them are friends from their childhood, they have certain differences. Kemankar is bold and self confident. He is stubborn. Kemankar is an orthodox Hindu. He is very blind to the religion. He is not ready to believe that some brahmins have been misusing the religion.

 On the other hand, Supriya is not a firm determined person. He is soft hearted person. He is not orthodox. He accepts the weaknesses of his religion. He is tolerant, reasonable and sensible. But as he is not strong minded person, he is always flickering with doubts . He is always influenced by the one who is before him.

 

Question 5. What was the revolt against ? Against Malini ? Against the King ? Against Buddhism ?

Answer : The revolt was neither against Malini, nor it was against the king. It was against Buddhism. 

On the surface, the revolt seems to be against Malini, but in fact it was against the new creed. The Brahmins were afraid of the growing influence of Buddhism. They thought that the Hindu religion would be weaker due to growing influence of Buddhist religion. 

They were angry with Malini only because she taking interest in Buddhism. 

Question 6. Why does Malini ask for her own banishment ?

Answer : Malini knew very well that it would be very difficult for the king to banish her. So she asked for her own banishment. 

She asks for her own banishment from the palace so that she could go among the people. She thought that due to the lack of proper knowledge, people are in the darkness of ignorance. It was her moral duty to lead people towards the right path. She tells her mother that she knows the path and the boat is ready . 

So we can say that she she asked her own banishment to show the right path to the people.

Question 7 .Would you call Supriya a betrayer ? Give reasons for your answer.

Answer : After Kemankar went to a foreign land, Supriya came nearer and nearer to Malini. They used to meet, and discuss about Hindu and Buddhist religions. Gradually he understood the importance and value of love and compassion in life. 

Then one day Kemankar wrote him about his future plans to attack Kashi . Supriya didn't like it. He didn't like that thousands of innocent people would lose their lives only in the name of religion.  So he showed the letter to the king, and his friend was arrested.

On the surface, Supriya appears to be a betrayer, because he had disclosed his friend's secret plan to the king. But I don't think that he is a betrayer because he didn't do it for the greed of anything. He did this only to save the lives of thousands of people. In this way his aim or intention behind showing the letter was good.

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

Answer : It is on Supriya's information that Kemankar's plot was checked at right time. It not only saved the lives of many people, but also saved the life of Malini -- his most beloved daughter.

The king was thankful and indebted to Supriya. So to show his gratitude to Supriya the king asks him to ask for any thing he wished.

Question 9 . The play ends with Malini's words "Father, forgive Kemankar." Do you think the King will forgive Kemankar ?

Answer : It is a difficult question to answer. He might forgive him because his daughter has been requesting him repeatedly to forgive him. Supriya had also requested him for that. He had asked for nothing else form him.

But I don't think that the king would forgive him, because when in the court he asked Kemankar what if he was forgiven,  his answer was that he would again revolt. No king can forgive such a traitor. States are not run by emotions or sentiments.

Question  10. Draw the character sketch of Malini.

Answer : Malini is the central character of this play. So the title of this is after her. She is the daughter of a Hindu king. She has deep study of Hindu religion. She has been taking interest in the Buddhist religion. So she has been studying Buddhist literature also.

She is not blind to her religion. She understands that the Hindu religion has some weaknesses only because the brahmins have been misinterpreting it only in their personal benefits. 

She is full of love and compassion. She is a kind lady. She is even not against those brahmins who are revolting against her. She loves them also. Her compassion, love and broad heartedness goes to the peak when she requests her father to forgive Kemankar. 

She is an intelligent girl. She understands that it will be difficult for her father to banish her. So she takes self banishment. She liked serving people, rather than living in palace. She also tells her mother that most people are in the darkness of ignorance. She wants to go among such people to show them the right path of life. 

At the same time she is also a bold lady. Although she knows that Brahmins are revolting against her, she says that she would not give up taking interest in Buddhist religion. It was her right to follow a religion of her choice. 

Including all these things, we can say that she is a nice lady with a lot of knowledge, love and understanding of the world. Forgiving is the divine character of her.

Question  11 . Draw the character sketch of Kemankar.

Answer : After Malini, Kemankar is another important character of this play. If Malini is the protagonist (the leading or main character of of play or a story), Kemankar is the antagonist (opponent). 

He is an orthodox Hindu. He loves his religion, and is ready to take any step to to save it from the increasing influence of Buddhism. It is for this reason that he has organized the revolt uniting all the brahmins of the state. He himself is the leader of the on-going revolt. He has a good leadership and commanding power. With this quality,he is leading the revolt. He is determined, bold and self confident. These are his good qualities.

But the most negative part of his character is that he very very stubborn. He is not ready to listen to any weakness of Hindu religion. He thinks that there is nothing to improve in the religion. Perhaps he could not see that the brahmins were taking Hinduism in a wrong way. 

But he is so stubborn that when the king asks him what will he do if he is forgiven, he says in that case he will again continue the revolt and complete his mission. So much so he alleged (blamed) Supriya as a traitor and did not hesitate to kill him .

In conclusion we can say that Kemankar is a bundle of many positive and negative qualities.

------------------------------------------------------------------

(Your comments and feedback are highly desirable)