Rabindranath Tagore's "Chritrangada" in Dance
- Arun Kumar
- May 9, 2020
- 2 min read
It was Rabindranath Thakur’s birthday the day before yesterday, May 7. He was born 159 years ago in 1861.
In his 'Chitrangada', Tagore took a story from the Mahabharata and wove it into an allegory all his own. Chitravahana, Chitrangada’s father, was the ruler of Manipur. The King and the Queen had prayed to Shiva and asked for a boy to continue family succession, but Shiva had clearly not been paying full attention. Chitrangada was born a princess.
Even though a princess, Chitrangada was brought up as if a prince. In particular she was trained in, and grew most adept at, armed combat. She also commanded her father’s armies as a general, and led her forces to many brilliant victories. Chitrangada chanced upon Arjuna at the close of twelve years of his celibate wanderings. She met him in the woods, and immediately fell in love with him, but her love went unrequited. Chitrangada was a warrior. She looked masculine, androgynous at best, and for that reason perhaps, or at least so she thought, her love for Arjuna did not register with him. He spurned her, she thought, because she were not womanly enough for him.
Chitrangada prayed to Kamadeva. Pleased with her penance, Kamadeva bestowed a comely feminine form on Chitrangada, which enabled her to win Arjuna’s love. They married. In Mahabharata’s account Chitrangada and Arjuna had a son, Babhruvahana, who later succeeded his grandfather as the King of Manipur.
In Gurudev’s play however, Chitrangada grew restive after her marriage, and resentful of her accommodation. She wanted Arjuna to love not her external form but the woman inside of her. Not her looks but her being. Not her sum but her substance.
Rabindranath Tagore wove Chitrangada's story into an allegorical tale of femininity, identity, role expectations, and gender equality. Just like ‘Chandalika’, another of his popular plays, Rabindranath’s ‘Chitrangada’ has lessons for correct thought and proper conduct. Both ‘Chitrangada’ and ‘Chandalika’ teach us what it means to be human, what it means to be accepting of our differences. They instruct us how to see people for what they are inside, and not go by superficial appearance.
I share a promo clip of a production called Soc Txitrangada (I, Chitrangada) that played Barcelona in January 2016. Shreyashee Nag, founder and principal of 'Espai Nupura', dances Chitrangada. Pranav Yagnik is Arjuna. Fasih ur Rahman, the choreographer, also dances the unreconstituted Chitrangada. How I’d love love love to see this production!
Another promo clip:
Some excerpts from the Barcelona production:
More? Can one ever have enough of this!
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