Chitra

CHITRA By Rabindranath Tagore, 1914 PREFACE THIS lyrical drama was written about twentyfive years ago. It is based on the following story from the Mahab harata. In the course of his wanderings, in fulfilment of a vow of penance, Arjuna came to Manipur. There he saw Chitrangada, the beautiful daughter of Chitravahana, the king of the country. Smitten with her charms, he asked the king for the hand of his daughter in marriage. Chitravahana asked him who he was, and learning that he was Arjuna the Pandafcsl, told him that Prabhanjana, one of his ancestors in the kingly line of Manipur, had long been childless. In order to obtain an heir, he performed severe penances. Pleased with these austerities, the god Shiva gave him this boon, that he and his successors should each have one child. It so happened that the prom ised child had invariably been a son. He, Chitravahana, was the first to have only a daughter Chitrangada to perpetuate the race. He had, there fore, always treated her as ason and had made her his heir. Continuing, the king said : The one son that will be born to her must be the perpetuator of my race. That son will be the price that I shall demand for this marriage. You can take her, if you like, on this con dition. Arjuna promised and took Chitran gada to wife, and lived in her fathers capital for three years When a son was born to them, he embraced her with affection, and taking leave of her and her father, set out again on his travels. THE CHARACTERS GODS : MADANA Eros. VASANTA Lycoris. MORTALS : CHITRA, daughter of the King of Manipur. ARJUNA, a prince of the house of the Kurus. He is of the Kshatriya or warrior caste and during the action is living as a Hermit retired in the forest. VILLAGERS from an outlying district of Manipur. NOTE. The dramatic poem Chitra has been performed in India without scenery the actors being surrounded by the audience. Proposals for its production here having been made to him, he went through this translation and provided stage directions, but wished these omitted if it were printed as a book. "SCENE I Chitra ART thou the god with the five darts, the Lord of Love ? Madana I am he who was the first born in the heart of the Creator. I bind in bonds of pain and bliss the lives of men and women Chitra I know, I know what that pain is and those bondsAnd who art thou, my lord ? "