PARVA, THE PLAY

     My wife went with her friends to watch "Parva" ("Chapter", loosely), a Kannada play directed by Prakash Belawadi based on the book of the same name by the author S. L. Bhyrappa. It is based on the Mahabharata, the Indian epic of a conflict between cousins. The book contains the "Bhagavad Geeta", the "Divine Song" in which the God Shri Krishna educates, admonishes, guides and exhorts his friend and cousin Arjuna to fight in a war, uttering philosophical words that ring true today, just as they did in that time. The Geeta has inspired many people, including Mahatma Gandhi. Even without the Geeta, the Mahabharata is a superb story. The book "Parva" explores characters and relationships and morality itself, stripping the divinity away from the Mahabharata and considering the characters as purely human, with all our jealousies, anger and egos included!

    "Parva" the play is based on the book. My wife admired the play and said I should see it. My friend who went to the play also spoke glowingly about it. He told me about the research Bhyrappa did for the book. The author Bhyrappa charted the age of the protagonists during the war as described in his video interview available at https://youtu.be/kpWnc46v_f0?si=lWh6TJ1ibz2u3HQr. Bhyrappa went to the sites associated with the Mahabharata, discussed about Kurukshetra with Dr. Phadke, whose doctorate is on Kurukshetra and collated a lot of information.

    The Mahabharata as a story has been a favourite of mine, since I read C. Rajagopalachari's version in my childhood. In the late '80s there was the TV serial directed by B. R. Chopra that brought the epic alive on the small screen. If the book was the spark that lit the fire, the serial stoked the flames! The serial made me appreciate the epic even more. At around the same time, there were Amar Chitra Katha comics series, with a blue Lord Krishna and a purple Arjuna that captivated me further. When I started working and commuting in a bus with a smartphone, I read (and heard!) the ebooks on the Mahabharata available at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=mahabharat. The reading (actually, I listened more than I read, I think!) took months for me to complete. Again, I was struck by the heroic qualities of all characters combined with the circumstances and situations around them. The Mahabharata is a story that is moral and yet full of characters who are all full of shades of heroism and villainy. I remember that when we were discussing books, my late father had remarked: "It is a pity you don't know to read Kannada. 'Ramayana Darshanam' by Kuvempu and 'Parva' are two books that you would like." Considering all these factors,  I decided that I would go to watch "Parva" the play to see what promised to be an interesting interpretation.

    I went to the play on Sunday, 31-May with my parents-in-law. The auditorium was almost completely full. The huge turnout for a play that lasts 10 hours approximately, including the breaks, is testimony to the popularity of the book - and the play!

    Normally, the birth of Bheeshma, the patriarch of the Kuru dynasty is considered as a starting point for the Mahabharata epic. In the play, it is the end of the Kurukshetra war between the Pandava and Kaurava cousins that starts the play. The victorious Pandava brothers greet their blind uncle the king Dhritarashtra and his queen Gandhari and talk about the situation.

    The play features discussions between two protagonists or a monologue by one. The character speaks of her/ his background and the conditions at the time. I got insights into the emotions that served as motivations of many protagonists.

    Sometimes, the backgrounds on the stage provided the context to the characters. A red sun painted in the top left reminded me of Karna's affinity towards the Sun God. Waves of light symbolised the banks of a river where Kunti met Karna, who is actually her son.

    The insignia represented the kingdom. I saw the king Shalya in the foreground, while a guard held the insignia of his kingdom Madra. The costumes by Prasad Bidapa were apt for the play.

    The main highlight was the direction of Prakash Belawadi, though. In today's world, our attention span is decreasing. In this context, to keep the attention of the audience engaged and involved for 8 hours is a tremendous achievement. The characters made their presence felt. Dhritarashtra's anger at losing his 100 sons, the rage of Draupadi at her disrobing in Hastinavathi, Duryodhana's sense of entitlement were all conveyed superbly. The dialogues pack a lot of punch also!

   In the popular Mahabharata, Gandhari is an ideal wife for a patriarchal society: since she knows her husband is blind, she blindfolds herself. This is the popular view. In the play, this is changed: Gandhari says she blindfolded herself out of rage over the decision to marry her to a blind prince. It was misinterpreted by Bheeshma as a sign of consent. Then, the message spread in all Hastinavathi about this deed. The people were impressed and she became an ideal with her blindfold being a symbol of devotion and love. Now, she was caught in the web of public expectations! So she remained blindfolded all her life! In this way, Parva re-imagines characters from the Mahabharata.

    If that is unusual, wait for the way in which Pandu is regarded! In the popular Mahabharata, Pandu is a world conquering hero who is cursed by a sage that he would die when he gazes on his wife with love - a curse since he had killed a bird which was mating. In Parva, an angry Kunti berates an impotent Pandu, telling us that he may have conquered the world, but it meant nothing as far as the continuation of the lineage was concerned.

    This is when the play discusses the idea of "niyoga", the siring of children on behalf of a ruler. In the popular Mahabharata, it is mentioned that Kunti and Madri use a "mantra" or hymn (loosely) to invoke gods like Dharma and Indra. In the play, instead of gods, it is shown that healers from the hills are invited by Pandu for "niyoga". Their sons are the Pandavas. In a way, this was surrogacy as we know it, I suppose!

    The eldest of these sons is Yudhishthira. In the play, he is called Dharmaja, an indication that his father was Dharma (Righteousness, loosely). In the normal narrative, Dharmaja is considered a paragon of virtue, of whom it is said that he spoke the truth even in jest. He is the mature leader of the five Pandava brothers, who cools down passions.

    In the play, the depiction is almost completely opposite! Dharmaja appears to be a coward, who is addicted to gambling and cannot refuse invitations to gamble. His next brother Bheema is openly contemptuous of him.

    Bheema is shown in the play as a man bigger than average proportions, taller, wider and stronger. In the play, it is only him, the minister Vidura born to a woman of lower caste and Krishna who are three men who earn the credit of the author. The failings of all other protagonists like Karna, Dharmaja, Shalya, Drona and Bheeshma outweigh their virtues. This is candidly shown in the play.

    Kunti informs Karna that he is her son, not Radha and Adiratha's son, the childless couple of lower caste who have brought him up. Since Karna was born out of wedlock, he was abandoned by Kunti. Even when he learns the truth, Karna continues to support Duryodhana and the Kauravas, since he is indebted to Duryodhana. It is Duryodhana who recognises Karna's archery skills and makes him a king during a competition. All his life, Karna is bound by this deed, sealing his friendship with Duryodhana. In the war, it is Karna who is part of the mob of warriors that surrounds and kills the valiant and young Abhimanyu. It is Karna who gives the idea of disrobing Draupadi, when the Pandavas and Draupadi are forfeited as wagers in a game of gambling. His loyalty to his friend Duryodhana is brought out well. The injustice to Karna due to his birth out of wedlock and his evil side are both depicted well in the play.

    The king of Madra is Shalya. His son is Rukmaratha and daughter is Hiranyavathi. The kingdom of Madra is less prosperous. Father and son discuss how holding a "swayamvara" (groom seeking ceremony for a princess) is a difficult prospect with the coffers being less than full. I was struck by how similar the situation is today for middle class Indian parents! The marriage of daughters can be expensive today. It is very likely that it was expensive thousands of years ago also! The less wealthy ruler consents to his daughter Madri being the second wife of Pandu, due to the bride price he gets for her!

    In the popular Mahabharata, the Pandavas make every attempt at peace. In gambling, they have lost their kingdom Indraprastha. They claim it, but Duryodhana refuses their claim, saying that they have lost it during the gambling. Krishna urges the Pandavas to send him as an emissary and suggests that even five villages would be acceptable. The Pandavas agree, with Bheema also saying that maintaining peace was paramount. Krishna goes to Hastinavathi but the arrogant Duryodhana asks his soldiers to imprison him. Krishna reveals his Vishwaroopa (the universal form) and strikes fear among the Kaurava soldiers who cannot imprison him. In one version, it is said that Krishna grants Dhritarashtra the sense of vision so that the blind king can also see his Vishwaroopa. The story continues that having seen this divine form, Dhritarashtra requests Krishna to restore his blindness: he seeks to see and remember nothing else!

     In the play, it was a surprise to me and the rest of the audience when Krishna came from the back of the audience with his devotees surrounding him, singing about his greatness. It caused quite a sensation as Krishna and his devotees entered the stage singing and dancing. Krishna explained to Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana that he came only as a last resort for peace. Like in the popular narrative, Duryodhana treats him with scorn and disrespect and asks his soldiers to put Krishna in jail. Unlike the popular narrative, here, it is revealed that his devotees who entered strewing petals of flowers are actually disguised bodyguards! They defend Krishna and he returns, unharmed.

    What an interesting twist this is! Instead of a magical revelation of his Vishwaroopa, here it is Krishna's canny knowledge of the situation that leads to his escape! It is logical to assume that a strategist like Krishna would have anticipated Duryodhana's idea of jailing him. The play is replete with such interpretations.

    Dhritarashtra is portrayed as a lecherous old man. It is suggested that of his hundred sons, fourteen are from Gandhari. On the first day of the war between the Pandavas and Kauravas, the charioteer Sanjaya, who reports about the war to Dhritarashtra and Gandhari, informs Dhritarashtra that five of his sons have been slain by Bheema. Dhritarashtra laments his loss. Sanjaya tells Gandhari that there is a silver lining: her sons are alive! In this manner, the play brings out the differences even among the royal family members! Dhritarashtra's loss is not Gandhari's!

    One of the incidents that moved me was the death of Draupadi's sons. She had the five Pandavas as her husbands and five sons from those five husbands. Dronacharya's son Ashwatthama burns the Pandava camp at night when most of the army is sleeping. The five sons of the Pandavas are killed.

   Draupadi laments: "When Ghatothkacha, the son of Bheema died, Bheema wept like a child. When Abhimanyu, the heroic son of Arjuna was killed, Arjuna cried and vowed vengeance against Jayadratha, the warrior behind Abhimanyu's death. When my sons have been killed, it is only I who show the most signs of sadness and anger. My five husbands show signs of diffidence. None of them are as sad or enraged. It appears that there is a question on the fatherhood of my five sons ! My husbands seem to be asking 'Is my son really my son?'!" Draupadi's sorrow about the loss of her children is increased due to the seeming indifference of her husbands. It is at this point that Bheema comforts her. Draupadi's monologue was delivered powerfully. The audience burst into a spontaneous round of applause!

    There were several other acts, scenes and dialogues that brought out the reality of the time. The other powerful monologue by Draupadi was during the gambling incident. This is the situation: Dharmaja has lost his wealth and his kingdom against Shakuni and Duryodhana and has offered his brothers and himself as wager - and loses! So the Pandavas are slaves of Duryodhana. Finally, Dharmaja offers his wife Draupadi and loses again. Karna instigates Duryodhana and his brother Dushasana to bring Draupadi, now a slave. The queen of five Pandava kings is dragged to the royal assembly and humiliated in the court. Draupadi pleads to the elders like Vidura, Bheeshma and Dronacharya to intervene and stop the proceedings, but the plea falls on deaf ears. Draupadi makes a telling observation: Dharmaja was already a slave when he 'offered' Draupadi. A slave has no right to possess anything. How then did he have the right to pledge her?! Then Draupadi moves on to the injustice of a queen being humiliated and vows not to braid her hair until she sees her oppressors killed! The dialogue was fiery and various emotions were on view: there was the rage of Draupadi, the arrogance of Duryodhana and Karna and the anger and contempt of Bheema towards his elder brother Dharmaja. The applause of the audience when Draupadi ended her speech rings in my ears even now!

    The lighter emotions were seen post lunch when Sanjaya describes the 18 day Kurukshetra war to Dhritarashtra and Gandhari. Initially he portrays a rosy picture, but Vidura the wise minister and Dhritarashtra's half-brother, admonishes him and asks him to report the news objectively! If only TV news channels and the Internet video news channels learned from this advice today! Sanjaya delivers the news with humour, weaning gifts and food from the king in the process!

    The eight hour play had two coffee breaks in the morning, a tasty lunch in the hall downstairs below where the play was performed and two more coffee breaks after lunch. It was required, but it was a surprise to me when the breaks came. I did not feel the long duration at all. The play kept me engaged and engrossed throughout its performance.

    A couple of minor observations: Yudhishthira is referred as Dharmaja. The symbolism may be that Dharma too can be powerless, blinded by a gambler's instinct! Hastinapura is called as Hastinavathi in the play. I am unsure why these less popular names have been used.

   The women are portrayed in the play with a core of steel. The director Prakash Belawadi has stated that he has stayed as close as possible to the book. He discusses how Bhyrappa appreciated the script and watched its performances as narrated in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Fq_71sELg. The strong women must be something seen in the book too.

    The play brings out the ugly side of war, literally. The toilet facilities would have been rudimentary in those times. In some acts, the stench of horse dung, the human waste and the smell of rotting corpses are discussed. In the usual narrative, this is not mentioned at all in the books, but the everyday ugliness  of war would have been a reality. The logistics of transportation of weapons and cavalry must also have been a task that required planning.

  The strategy to form alliances for the war is nicely shown. Kings and rulers are pursued and agreements reached, which is again very current! The same kind of grouping is seen in today's world in conflict - and in trade!

   The role of propaganda is brought out also. On one hand, it can be said that the Kurukshetra war was fought over property. In gambling, Dharmaja loses his share of the kingdom which he claims after completing his years in exile, as agreed. On the other hand, Duryodhana justifies his claim saying that the Pandavas are born from "niyoga" and do not represent the lineage! Duryodhana sends out town criers who circulate this message to the common people, The people are given an option to join the Kaurava army or go back to their native place, thus staying neutral. The neutral people would not be coerced. Duryodhana wanted to ensure that the ranks of the Pandava army do not grow! In one scene where soldiers converse among themselves, it is shown that the cause of the war is a matter of debate. Some of the Kaurava citizens answer Duryodhana's call to arms. Others say that he is an unjust, greedy ruler and it is better to be neutral.

    Ekalavya was a warrior whose skill in archery when he was young was as good as Arjuna's. He is a member of the indigenous people around Hastinavathi who live in the forests and hunt prey and are probably nomadic. In the popular narrative, it is said that Ekalavya shows his prowess when he was a child, matching Arjuna's skills at that time.  Arjuna asks his guru (teacher, loosely) Dronacharya: "You told me that I would be the best archer. This boy makes me wonder about those words!" Dronacharya asks Ekalavya to cut off his thumb as a gift for his guru - and Ekalavya offers it! Naturally, his archery skill is now not as good as it was earlier. Arjuna's fame as the best archer seems secure - until Karna makes his presence felt some time later ! Meanwhile, before the Kurukshetra war begins, Ekalavya greets his guru Dronacharya and offers his support. Ekalavya's desire is to fight Arjuna, who he regards as his enemy. Dronacharya gives him a surprise, saying: "Did you think that the words of a mere child forced me to ask for your thumb? I was told to punish you for the transgressions that your people did, violating the laws of Hastinavathi. I was asked to mete out a punishment that would scare your people, which is what I did. You did not lose your thumb due to Arjuna, it was Bheeshma who asked me to punish you and your people!" On hearing this, Ekalavya is shocked. His resentment against Arjuna changes to hate against Bheeshma. He joins the Pandavas.

    In the usual narrative, this twist is missing. Instead, it is told that Ekalavya fights against the Pandavas, bearing the grudge against Arjuna. However, I could not find online references about Bheeshma being responsible for Ekalavya losing his thumb. It is likely that I have not looked enough!

   The ruler of Madra, Shalya is somebody who values hierarchy and routine. Duryodhana exploits this, promising him the leadership of the Kaurava army. Later, he nominates Bheeshma, the most senior and  the most skilled! Duryodhana invites Shalya, treats him with respect on his journey from Madra to Hastinavathi and once he earns the alliance, announces about the leadership! It is a master class on skillful manipulation!

    Bheeshma fights valiantly in the war. In both the popular narrative and in the play it is Krishna who realises that to defeat him would require out-of-the-box thinking. He urges Arjuna to use Shikhandhi as his charioteer against Bheeshma. Shikhandhi was born as a woman. Bheeshma is somebody who follows the code of conduct strictly, of which one rule is that women would not be harmed during the battles. When Shikhandhi appears, Bheeshma considers him a woman and does not fight him. Arjuna uses this loophole to shoot arrows into Bheeshma's body.

    In the usual narrative, it is said that Bheeshma used his powers of yoga to stay alive until the Sun entered the constellation of Capricorn, an auspicious time, a few weeks later. After the war, Yudhishthira seeks Bheeshma's guidance in matters of statesmanship and governance. This is a very long chapter in the Mahabharata, full of stories and good advice related to ruling and statesmanship.

    There is no such graceful exit for Bheeshma in the play Parva. He is wounded by Arjuna's arrows. At the end of the day's battle, he lays on the battlefield, unable to move even a bit. Duryodhana meets him and appoints a guard to watch over him. As twilight falls, the soldiers disperse, weary. The sole guard sees dogs appear, hungering for the meat of slain horses. From above, carrion eaters like crows and vultures screech. "What can I do? If I fight and shoo away the dogs, the birds descend. If I pay attention to the birds, the dogs attack Bheeshma!", cries out the guard. In the play, actors donned in black appeared, symbolising birds, forming a large circle around Bheeshma. As the guard screams and explains his predicament, the circle becomes smaller, ominously.  The guard abandons his post. Finally, the light dimmed, symbolising the terrible death of Bheeshma, ripped apart by wild animals and birds of prey. It is a scene that has stayed with me for its contrast with the popular narrative.

    There is a sense of familiarity between Kunti and Vidura. When the Pandavas are obliged to spend thirteen years of exile, Kunti opts to stay with Vidura and his wife rather than at the palace with Dhritarashtra and Gandhari. The two of them get to know each other better. While narrating about the death of Karna by Arjuna in the battlefield, Sanjaya says that his death was a lost opportunity for the lower caste of charoiteers. Sanjaya himself is from the same caste! Karna could have been one of the foremost leaders from one of the lower castes, had he chosen to side with the Pandavas. In the same manner, Vidura's wisdom and knowledge about statesmanship and politics would have made him one of the best ministers in a united Hastinavathi kingdom. Vidura criticises Karna's stubbornness and fidelity towards Duryodhana. Kunti, the mother of Karna, comments that Vidura is jealous of the fame and renown earned by Karna! She says that since Vidura is not as popular as Karna,he is jealous! This quarrel shows how Kunti and Vidura can freely talk with each other, but what an interesting idea is conveyed here! If both Karna and Vidura who are from lower castes, had been given the right circumstances, they would have been inspirational leaders and benchmarks! The play discusses this theme of what could have been had Karna and Vidura lived as part of the victorious army through the conversation between Sanjaya, Vidura and Kunti.

    In the popular narrative, Aswaththama kills Abhimanyu's unborn child in his widow Uttara's womb, but the child is revived by Shri Krishna. Born through a test of life and death, the infant prince is called "Parikshit" or "the Tested"! It is he who continues the lineage of the Pandavas, eventually.

    In the play, it is shown that Uttara loses her child in childbirth. The Pandava and Kuru dynasty is in a situation where it is heir less. Is it time for "niyoga" again? There was a similar situation years earlier when Bheeshma's half brothers pass on, leaving the kingdom heir less. At that point, the sage Veda Vyasa, Bheeshma's other half-brother and the author of the Mahabharata is invited by Bheeshma and his stepmother Satyavathi for "niyoga". The children born by Vyasa and the queens are Dhritarashtra and Pandu. Vidura is born to a maid sent by one of the queen unwilling to go through the "niyoga". Uttara is now in the same position as those queens since her husband Abhimanyu has been slain. Draupadi asks Uttara to fulfill her duties as a queen. The play concludes with Uttara countering Draupadi asking her if she had fulfilled her duties!

    At the end of this marathon performance, I was left captivated even more by Mahabharata as a story! Ordinarily, it is a tale of heroes who have shades of grey. In Parva, it becomes a story of human frailties combined with aspects of heroism! The strong sense of feminism, the wrongness of caste discrimination, the greed for power and property, the conflicts between kindred and the ugliness of wars are all brought out in the play. I have watched movies and then read the books that they were based on, as written in https://fewidlethoughts.blogspot.com/2017/03/my-review-of-name-of-rose-by-umberto-eco.html for example. The Parva experience in the theatre makes me want to read the book, the first time a play has done that for me! My speed in reading Kannada is very, very slow.  Despite that, I want to read Parva in the original Kannada eventually ! Meanwhile, for readers familiar with the Mahabharata, I encourage you to watch a performance of the play Parva: it is an interpretation that will stay with you.