…by Theatre Nisha - a commendable effort I should say! The play is about 2 hours long and delicately weaves the story of about 10 prostitutes (or 9??) from different time frames. The play starts with Rishyasringa, an excluded hermit, who lives among the trees and has never seen women. A courtesan named Tarangini is then sent to him to woo him and break his vows, but is later beheaded. This part was a bit surprising, because according the Ramayana I have read, Shanta, the daughter of King Romapada is sent by him to break his vows and they get married too. Tarangini’s seduction and Rishyasringa’s emotions when his vows of abstinence are washed over by the waves of his new-found desire were sensuous and beautifully crafted.The next episode is about an old couple who try to save a prostitute from her pimp. The old man gets killed in the process. The last scene where his wife cries over the dead body was extremely realistic and poignant. Then, there is an episode of an ordinary man who works at the barracks, and another one about a prostitute who kills her owner and convinces a bartender to lie for her in front of the policemen. These were pretty short and interesting nevertheless.
Another episode on Urvashi’s curse on Arjuna was misplaced. Urvashi desires Arjuna and when he refuses, saying that she is mother of his race, she curses him to live among the women in his 13th year of exile. Urvashi’s vilification to a mere prostitute was way off mark and uninspiring. This episode was very ‘sleep-inducing’ according to kiki, and only me, vamp and kiki clapped for this because it ended with GP’s aalaap (for the uninitiated, an aalaap is the ‘aaaaa’ part of classical music, in the simplest terms possible).
The last episode had Bala, the director himself, playing the part of a torturer (cleverly named Fuehrer) during the Nazi regime. He torments a woman until she accepts that she is a homosexual whore and then kills her. This episode was exceptionally intense with an unforgettable climax.
The play was haunting and enjoyable, but the episodes were unconnected and very long. The literal translation of Sanskrit texts into English became lackluster after a while. With uncomplicated costumes, very few lights, a flautist and guitarist for background music, the stage looked minimalist and sleek. A few episodes only had an inconspicuous bench serving as a prop and still looked stimulating.
All the same, it is refreshing to see that theatre (and conservative Chennai) has come of age. Hats off to Bala for this attempt at portraying prostitution so daringly and not succumbing to clichés.
5 comments:
how true !
urvashi is the epitome of feminine grace and is also the dance personified
kalidasa was inspired to write vikramorvashiyam
urvashi enjoyed her art form since arjuna himself adjudged her free flowing inspiration as superior to the tense efforts of rambha who was technically her equal
she should be one of the wisest persons also, being the daughter of the greatest of sages “narayana” (krishna in an earlier robe) and the mother of one too (our virtue personified rishyashringa). this way she is the daughter of arjuna (“nara”, narayana’s younger brother and co-hermit is the yet to arrive arjuna). if she is from the soul-pool of arjuna, arjuna is from the gene pool of urvashi (as we are all (figuratively)) by virtue of being a lineal descendant of bharatha, her son (oops, arjuna really was not pandu’s son and pandu really was not from that clan either).
thus she shares, like eve, the unique distinction of simultaneously being our mother and the personification of the allure of womankind. like eve, she also came from the bone of a man (this time it is from the longest bone in the body which may account for her svelte form and the straight forward approach to arjuna). it is axiomatic that anyone who came from femur should be dancer par excellence.
the fact that she exuded exquisite beauty and goodwill is borne out by the fact that she was created to humble the apsara sisters of goddess lakshmi (kindred spirits of the ksheera sagara origin) and she was also presented back (without any ill will or malice) to the same person who sent in these temptresses. thus she strangely and uniquely shares the twin qualities of being a pure girl created in demonstration of the defiance to temptation and, (by intention and demonstration), the ultimate seductress if she was so inclined. but, to my knowledge, she was never deputed to this second vocation of apsaras which again signifies her nobility.
now to her overtures in question – she was deputed by indra to train arjuna in the facts of life (a father’s choice - proving her as the ideal combination of sensitiveness and aesthetics). arjuna, who is the male counterpart of urvashi in matters of charm, also gave her a special look at the dance hall. arjuna’s explanation was that he was looking at the mother of his race. but urvashi, who was not that current with history, took it in the most obvious terms. may be, history has a significance only for people who have a significance for time (our beauty never steps out of the fount of youth). she almost told him so. may be she knew arjuna really was not related to bharatha. or probably, she didn’t want to return as a failure in her assignment.
the last possibility is not trivial as another instance of her wisdom will prove. the ancient hindus have this most alluring way of prefacing most of their texts with a story, setting a beguiling stage for the narrative or treatise. one ancient text as to who should marry whom has this contextual story – nala, ravana and urvashi were contemporary students in the dance school of shiva. ravana (no mean artist himself) was so taken by the grace and beauty of urvashi that he, quite uncharacteristically, requested her to respond to his affections. urvashi, perhaps after she expostulated with ravana, postulated the science (shaastra) of who should woo (and propose to and marry) whom.
so, urvashi, who came from the thigh, putting the wrong foot forward is unlikely.
perhaps the following explains her actions -
all events in arjuna’s life were so orchestrated as to protect him and get him ready for his karma. may be this was a divine plan and prelude for his successful incognito living to come, without which a person of his charm and prowess would easily be discovered.
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1. Urvasi was sent to Arjuna by his own father Indra (if this was in our world, what would we call Indra?)
Indra summoned Chitrasena (a Gandharva) and said:-
"O king of Gandharvas, I am pleased; go thou as my messenger to that foremost of Apsaras, Urvasi, and let her wait upon that tiger among men, Arjuna. Tell her, saying these words of mine, as through my instrumentality Arjuna has learnt all the weapons and other arts, worshipped by all, so should thou make him conversant with the art of acquitting one’s self in female company."
Indra(he is God, the team-lead of the devas) calls it the "art of acquitting oneself in female company"
2. Urvasi's heart was pierced through and through by the shafts shot by Manmatha keeping in view the beauty of Arjuna (we know how the holy sages like Vishwamithra have acted in such situations. Lord Ayyappa is a solid evidence of how even the top-ranked Gods behave under Manmatha's influence).
How can we blame Urvasi who was just a beautiful apsara?
3. As Urvasi sang and danced in Indra's court, Arjuna had gazed at her (Arjuna later explains that this was with motherly reverence). But how could anyone expect an apsara to understand it this way, when a young handsome gentleman stares at her?
To sum up, Urvasi cursing Arjuna - this act was fully justified -
a. She came to Arjuna at the command of his father
b. Arjuna had triggered desires in her with his gazing.
c. She was a woman on whom cupid had shot his arrows.
d. What more insult could anyone do to a lady burning with lust, than telling her that I had considered you like my mother?
sorry, there is an fictional error in my earlier post. it was vikramaditya and not arjuna who judged the dance competition.
arjuna had the altogether pleasanter task of just enjoying the dance of the doe-eyed damsels and showering well intentioned glances in return.
but what matters is the outcome which is untroubled by my mistake - like the duke sang in a less virtuous context “questa o quella per me pari sono” (this one, that one, it’s all the same)
my apologies, varsha
it should have been "earlier comment" and not "earlier post"
i am really sorry for the mistake
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