Godugunuri Prasad THE FIRE AND THE RAIN Human relationship finds more variegated depiction in Girish Karnad’s The Fire and the Rain (1994). Whereas in Hayavadana, Padmini has a charity of choice, in The Fire and the Rain, Karnad’s horizon is more rich and full of variety. Apparently the play seems to deal with theatre-life, strong Vedic rituals – passionate-tribal life, complexity-simplicity and above all man-woman. It certainly is more labored than earlier works and seems to be a sophisticated speculation on the essence of life and human relationship. The Fire and the Rain, again presents juxtaposition of various ideas and emotions in the background of myths. Folklore and myth move side by side. Karnad writes, The energy of folk theatre comes from the fact that although it seems to uphold traditional values, it also has the means of questioning these values, of making them literally stand on their head. The various conventions – the chorus, the mask, the seemingly unrelated comic episodes, the mixing of human and nonhuman worlds – permit the simultaneous presentation of alternative points of view, of alternative attitudes to the central problem.1 Karnad uses the mythological story of Yavakri in the play. Yavakri is the son of Bharadwaja, who is considered to be a wise man. Raibhya, the brother of Bharadwaja and himself a saint, overshadows the personality of Bharadwaja and enjoys all the privileges of being a learned man in the King’s court. This