Love as Patriotism: Inner Conflict in Jaishankar Prasad’s Puraskar

Abstract

Love can be termed as the state of affairs when mind and heart are engrossed with the thought of a person; the feelings reach the pinnacles of imagination. Patriotism is a feeling that centers the consciousness of a person to the well being of nation at whatsoever
cost. Jaishankar Prasad, a towering personality of Hindi literature, mingles both the emotions in his sagaPuraskar in such a manner that the readership stand awestruck. Madhulika, the female protagonist, who cheated upon her beloved Arun by disclosing his secret plans to the king of Koshal, ultimately demands death punishment for herself along with Arun; therefore fulfilling the duties of a patriotic daughter of soil as well as that of a girl who loved someone to the very core of her heart.