Vision of Social Change in Girish Karnad's The Fire and the Rain

India is a static or conventional society where caste-consciousness and religious orthodoxy are averse to any social change. The present paper seeks to examine the vision of social change in Girish Karnad’s The Fire and the Rain. The play shows how caste-consciousness and religious orthodoxy endorsed by politics prove detrimental to the vision of an egalitarian society and hamper the possibility of social change not only in ancient times but also in the contemporary period. It reveals the fact that goodness never dwells in a particular caste or creed but in the person who is conscious of the difference between good and bad. The play illustrates how yajna (fire sacrifice) conducted under the royal patronage to please Indra to bring rain to the parched land fails because of the selfish motives of the leading priest, Parvassu while the supreme sacrifice made by the hunter girl, Nittilai pleases Indra to cause rain. It brings forth the view that mere knowledge or rituals without virtues of love, service and sacrifice cannot bring any social change. It is possible only through human love and the gesture of goodness as shown by innocent and kind characters like Nittilai and Arvasu.