Loka Shakuntala
B.V. Karanth had suggested that I direct a play, using the elements of Yakshagana, for the students of National School of Drama. 'Loka Shakuntala', produced in March 1982 was its outcome.
Let me tell you, or rather think aloud, what went into the making of "Loka Shakuntala". However, I cannot list the constituent elements one by one. To be frank, I am trying to clarify things to myself.
The elements of "Loka Shakuntala" were drawn mainly from two important sources Abhijnana Shakuntala, Kalidasa's Sanskrit play, and Yakshagana, a form of dance-drama prevalent in coastal Karnataka. However I did not use either Kalidasa's play as it is or the Yakshagana form as it exists traditionally, because I wanted my production to be entirely responsible to my own experiences. Certainly, it was not my intention either to highlight Kalidasa or to publicize Yakshagana. But, please, don't take it to be a stupid ego-trip if I speak of my commitment to myself and my personal experiences.
Well, then, why do I need Kalidasa or Yakshagana, the elements of the past, to state my commitment to my experiences of today? Yes, it needs to be clarified.
I think of Kalidasa as the greatest Sanskrit writer after the mythologists - Vyasa and Valmiki. No other (Sanskrit) writer can reach anywhere near him. No one has ever tried to capture the body and spirit of the Indian subcontinent the way Kalidasa has.
He alone has given us in one compact whole the texture and the layers of the living realities of India. In that sense, "Raghu Vamsha", is truly the only "National Epic" (Rashtra Kavya) of India. One could trace his ambitious attempts in his earlier works like "Rithu Samhara" and "Megha Doota". He had tried to realize the Indian reality in those unconventional forms, experimenting and attempting to catch the rhythm of the contemporary life processes. In "Megha Doota" he wove the love-separation story of the Yaksha-yakshi of Alakawathi into the fabric of the contemporary Indian life, thereby attempting to explore the unknown deeps of his own complex experiences. "Meghadootha" thus became a festive lyric celebrating the Energy of Life instead of an elegy bemoaning loss and separation. With this in mind I had directed a stage/show using the elements of Yakshagana, as if it were a preface to 'Meghadoota'.
And now on to Kalidasa's "Abhijnana Shakuntala". He has taken its story from the Mahabaratha. One can realize how original, how significant "Abhijnana Shakuntala" is only when one understand its unique, independent form. Many critics in India and abroad have tried to trace the differences between Vyasa and Kalidasa in terms of the story, the sequences and characterization. Many have tried to evaluate Kalidasa only on the basis of such comparisons. I wonder whether only the differences that Kalidasa's critics generally keep listing, particularly the scene where Doorwasa curses Shakuntala which they cite with open-mounted wonder, decide his (Kalidasa's) uniqueness. Even a mediocre poet can display such craftsmanship. I am amazed that this itself is taken to be the genius of Kalidasa by his critics. Let us consider the curse sequences. If that is to be considered the nucleus of the play, then the curse alone is responsible for Dushyanth's forgetfulness. That is what many critics feel. But the play makes it very clear that he is equally oblivious of the other women he had loved in the past; and this point has been made not incidentally but very deliberately. How could one know the uniqueness of the total work if one dwells only on differences in delineating certain parts? I feel Kalidasa's critics have so far not attempted studying the difference between Vyasa's 'Shakuntalopakhyana' and Kalidasa's play taking into account the beauty of either text in its entirety.
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