[Reader-list] AndhaYug:A Play in Hindi by Dharamvir Bharti, Kotla Ferozeshah, New Delhi, Oct 15-19, 2011, 7pm on wards

[rohitrellan at aol.in]

AndhaYug:A Play in Hindi by Dharamvir Bharti 

  Kotla Ferozeshah
  Near ITO,New Delhi 

October 15-19,2011
7pm on wards

Kindly collect the invite/seat card from the venue Kotla Ferozeshah in advance from 11 October,2011 onward (11am -5pm).  



Andha Yug (Hindi: अंधा युग, The Age of Blindness/ The Blind Age) is 1954 verse play written in Hindi, by renowned novelist, poet, and playwright Dharamvir Bharati (1926 - 1997). It was the first important play of 20th century India. Set in the last day of the Great Mahabharatwar, the five-act tragedy was written in the years following the 1947 partition of India atrocities, as allegory to its destruction not just of human lives, but also ethical values, and is metaphoric meditation on the politics of violence and aggressive selfhood, and that war dehumanized both individual and society, thus both the victor and the vanquished loose eventually.

The anti-war play first created sensation as a radio play at Allahabad All India Radio, which led to its production by Mumba-based theatre director, Satyadev Dubey (1962), and subsequent famous production by theatre doyen Ebrahim Alkazi against the backdrop of historical monuments in Delhi, like Feroz Shah Kotla and Purana Qila, became "a national theatrical event", his 1963 production was seen by then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.In was subsequently staged by numerous directors and numerous Indian languages.Part of the "theatre of the roots" movement which started in Indian theatre in 1950s, which tried to look into Indian epics and myths for form, inspiration and content, Andha Yug is today recognised as the "play that heralded a new era in Indian theatre" and standard repertoire of Hindi theatre.Dharamvir Bharati wrote just one play during his career, and was later awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in Playwriting (Hindi) in 1988, given by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama.



Andha Yug is based on the ancient Sanskrit epic, Mahabharata written by Ved Vyasa. The play begins on the eighteenth and last day of the Great Mahabharata War, which devastated the kingdom of Kauravas, the feuding cousins of Pandavas, their capital the once magnificent city ofHastinapur lay burning, in ruins, the battlefield of Kurukshetra was strewn with corpses, and skies filled with vultures and death laments. Fatalities were on both the side as cousins killed each other. The survivors were left grieving and enraged as they continued to blamed other for the destruction even divine will, yet no one was willing to view it as a consequence of their own moral choices.
Just the Ashwatthama, son of guru Dronacharya, in one last ditch act of revenge against the Pandavas, releases the ultimate weapon of destruction, the Brahmastra, which promises to annihilate the world, yet no one comes forward to condemn it, ethics and humanity have been the first casualties of the war. Krishna who acted mediate between the cousins prior to war, remains the moral centre of the play. Even in his failure he presents options that are both ethical and just and reminds that higher or sacred way is always accessible to human beings even in the worst of times. The play ends with the death of Krishna.
Bharati constructed the play utilizing not just western drama tradition but also early Indian drama, found in Sanskrit drama.

Prologue

Act One: The Kaurava Kingdom

Act Two: The Making of a Beast

Act Three: The Half-truth of Ashwatthama

Interlude: Feathers, Wheels and Bandages

Act Four: Gandhari's Curse

Act Five: Victory and a Series of Suicides

Epilogue: Death of the Lord



Andha Yug highlights the perils of self-enchantment in his anti-war allegory. It explores human capacity for moral action, reconciliation, and goodness in times of atrocity and reveals what happens when individuals succumb to the cruelty and cynicism of a blind, dispirited age. When a ruler, epitomized by a blind Dhritarashtra, both physically and also by his ambition for his son Duryodhana along with an equally blinded society fail to its own shadow side and that of their loved ones. It also elaborates on the consequences, when a society fails to step out of the cycle of revenge and instead choose a redemptive path, which is always available even in worst of scenarios, shown by Krishna presence admit the mindlessness of fellow human being, it was only when they collectively reject the voice of wisdom that denigration of war step upon them, leading to wide-scale bloodshed. Hinting at the perils that await a society that urns away from its wisdom culture and instead succumb to the logic of the moment that can be easily swayed by emotions. Bharati uses the war of Mahabharat to make an anti-war statement but also raises questions regarding moral uprightness in the wake of Partition-related atrocities, loss of faith and national identity.Some directors have even used it to bring out contemporary issues like the role of diplomacy of the present world.



Andha Yug (English), by Dharamvir Bharati, Tr. Alok Bhalla. Oxford University Press, USA, 2010. ISBN 0198065221.
Andha Yug (Oriya), by Dharamvir Bharati, Tr. Saudamini Nanda . Sahitya Akademi, 2001. ISBN 8126012331.
Andha Yug (English), by Dharamvir Bharati, Tr. Tripurari Sharma. National School of Drama. 2001