PLAYS
Tagore’s plays have a vast and sublime range of poignant emotion, and in some of them how wonderfully he reveals the teeming storms of life with a new orientation.Prakritir Pratishodh (Nature’s Revenge): in this play we find an ascetic of the first water coming back to ordinary human life through his commiseration with poor humanity. The play teaches us that Nature is bound to take revenge on us if we despise her.
Chitrangada (Chitra) was the daughter of the king of Manipur. Her physical beauty compelled Arjuna, the third Pandava, to accept her as the partner of his life. But as satisfaction was not to be found in physical beauty, he sought for the Beauty that lies beyond the body.
Raja (The King of the Dark Chamber) is, according to some critics, nothing more than an allegory. But Tagore writes:
An interesting event. One day while Tagore was residing at Maitreyi Devi’s place at Mangpu, which is near Kalimpong, a French lady, Mademoiselle Boshenec, came before the Poet and said, “Gurudeva, to-day Post Office will be staged in France.” After observing silence for a few minutes, Tagore said that in Russia The King of the Dark Chamber was staged repeatedly. Again after a long silence: “This is called reward,” said he.
Dakghar (The Post Office) is another play that brought him much fame. A young life full of expectation was Amal’s. All that he wanted was to go ‘somewhere’ and see ‘something’. Poor Amal’s expectation of a letter from the king clearly indicates that human life is nothing but an expectation right from the womb to the tomb.
