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Abstract
As a reader of Karnad’s plays, one has to pay attention to their sources. Almost every text has a source in that the plot is derived from somewhere. The common sources of his plays include myths, folk tales, Puranas, historical chronicles, epics etc. He seems to have inspired from Shakespeare who follows the same tendency of adapting recognized plots. The modern dramatists tend to use original plots, or any well known historical or political event, or adapt a popular Greek myth. There is nothing wrong with the practice of adapting any known or unknown text since it may provide you with the new insights into the source text. Some critics even say that every literature is based on another literature as it carries the echoes of its procreator. For Peter Allen, literary texts ‘are built from systems, codes, and traditions established by previous works of literature’ (Allen 1). The exercise of finding how the original texts are adapted and the new meaning generated in the process is worth attempting; it offers us with a new perspective on the subject, event, plot etc.