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Bharat Ek Khoj—The Discovery of India A Production of Doordarshan, the Government of India’s Public Service Broadcaster Episode 6: Mahabharata, Part II With Salim Ghouse as Krishna, Lalit Tiwari as Arjun, Vijay Kashuap as Shakuni, Om Puri as Duryodhana, Sujata Mehta as Draupadi, K.K. Raina as Vidur, Devendra Malhotra as Bhishma, Anjan Srivastava as Dhmarashtra, Pandavani as Teejanbai & Party, Upasana Dance Academy as Kathakali, Yuvak Biradari as Odissi, Gopal Dubey & Trinetra as Chlau An enchanting Kathakali dance unfolds stylistically Bhima’s drinking blood from the killed Dusshasana‘s entrails and tying Draupadi’s hair. As the Pandava- Kaurava battle revealed, the post-Vedic fights were not over animals, but over land-holdings. The end of the Mahabharata war sees a battle royal between Bhima and Duryodhana as depicted graphically in the rare tragedy Urubhangam (The Shattered Thigh) by the classic Sanskrit poet playwright Bhasa. The King Duryodhana is fallen in the blood-soaked battlefield and his guru Balarama (Krishna’s brother) is visibly incensed at the palpable unfairness of ‘striking below the belt’ by Bhima at Krishna’s instance. Duryodhana bemoans his lot and regrets his past misdeeds. Visited by the parents and son Durjaya, Duryodhana consoles them and urges them to view Kunti and Draupadi as their kith and kin. The battle- scarred Ashwatthama, the son of guru Drona, turns up looking for a ‘vanishing glory in war, without the accolade of victory.’ Taunting Duryodhana that Bhima has crushed his pride and spirit, along with his thighs, when he struck him with the mace and seized him by the hair, Ashwatthama vanishes into the night, weapon in hand, to slay the Pandava sons who are sleeping. Drawing from another modern classic play, Andhayug, by Dharamvir Bharati, we see the Kaurava King Dhritarashtra, wife Gandhari and their messenger Sanjay-with divine eyesight—confabulating and Ashwatthama defying the sage Vyasa, who warns him against unleashing Brahmastra (the warhead of ultimate destruction) and curses him with eternal perdition of leprosy. The war is virtually over and Gandhari delivers her crushing curse on Krishna - ‘just as he did not prevent the war nor save her progeny of one hundred sons from getting slain, Krishna would bear entirely the terrible consequences of war by letting his own clan perish in internecine war and himself dying an ignominious death by an ordinary hunter’s involuntary arrow.’ The doomed destiny is accepted magnanimously by Krishna. The curtain also rises on Bhishma, the Kaurava great-grandfather, waiting on his battle-induced arrow-bed to breathe his last and Yudhishtira seeking his valuable counsel for conducting governance in time to come. The veteran warrior delivers many gems and Nehru thought his special emphasis on social welfare was noteworthy, since it was against the prevailing tenets of individual perfection. Nehru quoted approvingly aphorisms like: ‘Truth, self-control, asceticism, generosity, non-violence, constancy in virtue, these are the means of success, not caste or family’; ‘Virtue is better than immortality and life’; ‘True joy entails suffering’; a dig against avarice, ‘The silkworm dies of its wealth’ and an injunction to the advancing people, ‘Discontent is the spur of progress.’ What a treasure-trove of thoughts! |
