Girish Karnad was born in Matheran, near Bombay, in 1938. A Rhodes Scholar at Oxford (1960–63) and a Bhabha Fellow (1970–72), he is one of the foremost contemporary playwrights in India. He writes in Kannada. His first play, Yayati (1961), a retelling of the Hindu myth on the theme of responsibility, was a major success. Later, Hayavadana (1970) won the Natya Sangh award for Best Play of 1971. Karnad’s second play, Tughlaq (1964), about the idealistic Sultan Muhammad Tughlaq whose reign is considered one of the more spectacular failures in India’s history, has also won popular acclaim. This edition of the play is introduced by U.R. Ananthamurthy.