TRIUMPH OF LOVE IN SRI AUROBINDO’S PLAYS
Sri
Aurobindo is one of the foremost writers in the field of Indo-anglian literature in general and Indo-anglian
drama in particular. An institution by himself, he was a great patriot, the
fiery evangelist of nationalism, a great scholar, the interpreter of the Veda,
the critic of life and literature. Here we consider him as a ‘man of letters in
excelsis, a master of prose art, and a dramatist and
poet of great power and versatllity.’1 With his wonderful mastery
over languages like English, Sanskrit and Bengali, “Sri Aurobindo produces in
one the impression that he is a born lord of language. 2 All his
writings bear testimony to his genius and knowledge of the Eastern and the
Western thought.
Sri
Aurobindo is the author of many plays of which only five are complete: Petseus the Deliverer, Vasavadutta,
Rodogune, The Viziers of Bassora and Eric. The Hero and the Nymph in
blank verse is a rendering or Kalidasa’s Vikramorvasiyam. All the plays underline the
need for love, which is the great solvent of all varieties of evil and can defy
death and turn dross into gold. Aslaug sings in Eric,
Love
is divine
Love
is the hoop of the gods
Hearts to combine.
All
the plays of Sri Aurobindo are steeped in poetry, romance and prophecy, and are
recognizably Elizabethan in cast. But they recall the spirit and flavour of the distinctive dramatic type exemplified in
different ways by the Sanskrit dramatists Bhasa,
Kalidasa and Bhavabhuti–though, of course, all have Aurobindonian
over-tones. Though these plays form only a fragment of Sri Aurobindo’s
phenomenal writing, his contribution to the Indo-anglian
Drama deserves
a significant mention.
Perseus
the Deliverer
This
is a play in five Acts, which belongs to the early period of Sri Aurobindo’s literary activity. The legend of Perseus is
made just the nucleus, around which have grown the scenes of a romantic story
of human temperament, and life-impulses on the Elizabethan model. The legend
passing through the pen of the playwright finally emerges the message that love
and compassion ultimately defeat hatred and terror and in the words of Perseus,
“......let
the shrine
Be
cleansed of its red memory of blood,
And
the dread Form that lived within its precincts
Transfigure
into a bright compassionate God”
and further,
“Man
most must change who is a soul of Time;
His
gods too change and live in larger light”
also,
“......little
by little earth must open to heaven”
that is, man must become
superman.
According
to the legend, Acrisius, the Argive
King, warned by an oracle that his daughter’s son would be the agent of his
death, hoped to escape his doom by shutting
her up in a brazen tower. But Zeus, the King of the Gods, descended into her
prison in a shower of gold and Danae bore to him a
son named Perseus. Danae and her child were exposed
in a boat without sail or oar on the sea, but here too fate and the gods
intervened and, guided by a divine protection, the boat bore her safely to the
Here
the play begins. First there is the Prologue in which a heated argument is held
between the cruel god Poseidon and Athene, the
Goddess of wisdom. In the end of the Prologue, Athene
bids farewell to Poseidon, “...until I press My feet
upon thy blue enormous mane. And add thy ocean to my growing empire.”
The
whole of
Tyrnaus and Smerdas, the
merchants of Babylonia, are saved from a ship-wreck on the coast of
Enraged
at this, Polydaon goes to the king’s court and
demands “Justice.” Further, he creates confusion and terror throughout
Perseus
suddenly goes to the shore and, with the aid of the favours
granted by Athene. Kills the
sea-monsters. Andromeda is thus saved. Meanwhile, the Priest unable to
bear the shock and frustration falls dead. Then the powerful Perseus saves the
king, the queen, the prince and the merchants. The people are moved by the
benevolent acts of Perseus and again they become obedient to the Syrian throne.
In
the end, Perseus rejects all the offers made by the king as a token of
gratitude, except the hand of the fair Andromeda. But, when Perseus and
Andromeda were about to marry, Perseus, the king of
The
legend of Perseus favourably compares with our Indian legends. For example, the birth of Perseus and the birth of
The
story of the play is straightforward. There are no puzzling intricacies in the
plot, no psychological conundrums to tax the mind. The story finds a parallel
in the play Thesmophoriazusae by Aristophanes, in
which Mnesilochus, bound to a plank is at last
rescued by Euripides. Also it reminds us of a Celtic myth, according to which, Devorgilla the daughter of the king of the Isles is
redeemed by Cuchulainn; and also of our Indian myth
of
In
the play, Perseus is, of course, the hero. Though he does not appear as often
as he ought to have appeared as a hero, he makes his presence and also
conspicuous absence felt by all. The audience cannot fail to notice his acts of
bravery and compassionate dealings. Similarly, Andromeda, the heroine of the
play risks her life for a noble cause and becomes the cynosure of all eyes, not
by her beauty alone. Polydaon the wicked Priest of a
wicked God, is the symbol of corruption ever practised in the name of religion.
Then
there are many minor characters well-portrayed, viz., the sincere prince Iolaus; the honest merchant Tyrnaus
(as opposed to the selfish greedy, miser Smerdas); Phineus with evil designs; the Queen Cassiopea
who, unable to control her emotions, speaks recklessly at times; Cydone the faithful mistress of Iolaus;
and a host of other characters.
There
is good suspense in the play as the special powers of Perseus are not known in
the beginning. Next, the Priest Poseidon successfully overpowers the king and
snatches away Andromeda to punish her cruelly. Can there be a better climax to
the story? Then the audience will be stunned to observe the unexpected
denouement. The tempo of the play is maintained throughout and the title is
very significant.
Indeed
the play bears testimony to the intellectual calibre
of Sri Aurobindo. In the words of Mr. Gibert Norwood,
It is a “charming love-story full of romance and poetical loveliness.”
The
Viziers of Bassora
This
play (“A Dramatic Romance”) of 5 Acts by Sri Aurobindo is also Elizabethan in
cast. The theme is again the triumph of love.
Haroun al Rasheed
is the caliph of
Those were the days when slave girls were bought and sold according to whims and fancies of rich men. Anice-aljalice, a beautiful Persian slave girl, is bought by the Chief Vizier with a view to present her to the king. In spite of the strict guard kept over her at home, Nureddene meets her and both fall in love. Reconciling himself to the situation, the Chief Vizier grants their wish. The wicked Almuene and his son Fareed, an unruly idiot, give all sorts of trouble to Nureddene’s family.
Meanwhile, the Chief
Vizier has to be away from Bassora on an official
work for sometime. During the period his son Nureddene
incurs heavy debt and loses everything except his slave girl Anice. At last, he is advised to sell her too on a
temporary basis. Almuene tries to catch hold of this
opportunity at the slave market; But he falls down at an encounter that follows
there. Nureddene returns home with Anice.
To take full revenge on Nureddene, Almuene poisons the
ears of the king, who issues orders to bind both Nureddene
and Anice with ropes and present them to his court
and also to raze the Chief Vizier’s mansion to the ground. Ajebe,
the good nephew of Almuene, secretly arranges for
their escape to Baghdad.
In Baghdad, Nureddene and Anice happen to
become guests of the hypocrite Ibrahim, the gardener
of the Caliph Haroun al Rasheed,
the Commander of the Faithful. Smelling the unusual activities in Ibrahlm’s house, the caliph goes there disguised as a
fisherman selling fried fish. Surprisingly enough, he asks for Anice, and sends Nureddene back
to Bassora with a letter to the Sultan directing the
latter to vacate the throne in favour of Nureddene.
But Nureddene
is charged with forgery by the scheming Almuene and
the ill-advised Sultan orders the execution of Nureddene.
The good Ajebe argues in vain in his favour and is imprisoned.
The Chief Vizier returns
to Bassora in time, but his appeal to stop the cruel
punishment to his son falls on deaf ears, Finally Jaafar
the Caliph’s Vizier himself arrives at the spot with his troops saves Nureddene from danger, makes him Sultan and returns Anice safely according to the caliph’s instructions.
The play as the
playwright himself calls it, is a pure “dramatic romance.” The love-theme is
excellently handled. There are characters of shining contrast: the good Alfazzal Ibn Sawy,
the Chief Vizier of Bassora and the wicked Almuene the second Vizier; Nureddene
who though full of youth is good like his father and is a thorough contrast to Fareed, who is a lusty tyrant; the Sultan who is wicked
enough to be guided by Almuene; Ajebe
who is noble unlike his uncle. Above all, there is the kind Caliph, ‘the
Commander of the Faithful’, ‘Allah’s Vice Regent’ who “puts down all evil and
pluck the virtuous out of danger’s hand.” One noteworthy thing is that almost
all the women characters–Ameena and Khatoon (both are sisters), Alrazzal’s
niece Doonya, Anice the
heroine of the play and other slave girls–are exceptionally good.
Though Elizabethan in
cast, the play at times shows the influence of Sanskrit poetry on Sri Aurobindo–particularly in the description of Baghdad in Act
IV, Scene 1. Also we get an echo of the Indian Philosophy in the words of the
hypocrite Ibrahim (Act IV, Scene 1) “hanker not
unlawfully after perishable earthly goods; for verily they are a snare and
verily they entrap the feet of the soul as it toileth
over the straight rough road to heaven.”
Both prose and blank
verse are effectively employed. The very good suspense maintained is one of the
chief attractions of the play; thus the fourth and the firth acts demand
greater attention and interest from the audience. Unlike in other plays of Sri Aurobindo, lengthy speeches are interspersed with brief
conversations here and there in the play. Staging the play will be rather difficult
in view of its length and the number of characters.
Though this is a blank verse rendering of Kalidasa’s Sanskrit play, Vikramorvasiyam,
it is more than a translation in Sri Auroblndo’s
hands. As the author himself explains in his introduction on translating Kalidasa, he has shown the talent of his original writing
in English: “toning down of strangeness; reproduction of the exact image and
not of the exact words, of associations and poetical beauty and flavour of the original; employing verbal expressions
instead of sound to render certain impressions created by the dreamy
movement and whispering assonances of
the lines, sometimes discarding the original image altogether and replacing it
by a more intelligent English image, giving importance to a closeness of
word-value, not to oneness of word-meaning.
King Pururavas
helps the gods and shows his valour. Urvasie, “the ornament of Eden and its joy”,
half-nymph and half-woman is rescued by him from the hands of a Gandharva. Both fall in love with each other. Meanwhile,
while staging a play in heaven under the direction of the preceptor Bharata, Urvasie unconsciously
utters the name of her lover Puruvavas. Enraged by
this, Bharata curses her that she should go down to
the earth. Thereupon Indra, the Lord of gods takes pity and limits the curse.
According to it, Urvasie goes to the earth, lists a
married life with Pururavas and disappears after
begetting a son. Stricken with unconsolable grief,
the king wanders in the forest nearby like a madman. At last, the compassionate
gods grant him a passage to Indra’s kingdom by making
him immortal to be ever united with Urvasie.
As Dr K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar remarks, “In Urvasie as well as Love and Death, indomitable
love is presented as beating against the gates of mortality and gaining a
victory over Death in one or another way.’ Pururavas
is romantic unlike the tragic hero Lear of, the storm scene. Pururavas is a true lover like Ruru
who willingly barters away half his own life to live the other half with his
restored wife; and Urvasie is truly worthy of his
love. The playwright seems to imply that unlike his Savitri,
Urvasie fails to transform our earth nature and
therefore seeks only personal happiness. Anyway, the story is quarried from the
ranges of deathless Romance; embedded in the Rigveda,
first embellished by the great poet Kalidasa, it is further refined by Sri Auroblndo in his own way.
According to the editor
of The Collected Plays of Sri Aurobindo, Vasavadutta exists in several versions, not all of them
complete. What seems to be the last complete version has this note at the end:
“Revised and recopied between April 8th and April 17th, 1916.” An earlier
version has a similar entry at the end: “Copied November 2, 1915–written
between 18th and 30th October, 1915. Completed 30th October. Reviled in April
1916, Pondicherry.” The first edition was published
in 1957 and reprinted in 1965.
The story of Vasavadutta traceable to Somadeva’s
Kathasaritsagara, dramatised
by Bhasa in his Sanskrit play Swapna
Vasavadutta, has been given more psychological
treatment by Sri Aurobindo and the romance is
heightened in the play. Vuthsa Udayan,
the hero of the play, is the young king of Cowsambie;
and Yougundharayan, his wise old minister and until
recently his regent. Mahasegn, the king of Avunthic is his principal political rival and Vasavadutta is his beautiful daughter. With the help of his
son Gopalaca, he has Udayan
kidnapped and keeps him in jail under the vigilance of Vasavadutta,
in order to make him a slave and in future a vassal of his empire acknowledging
his superiority. But love works making the jailor herself a prisoner. Then, to
be free from the bondage of Mahasegn, both Udayan and Vasavadutta escape
into Cowsambie with the hearty assistance of her
other brother Vicurna, her captive princess Munjoolica, and others. This prestige-hurting event
increases the wrath of Mahasegn, who suddenly sends
his forces to capture Udayan again, but in vain.
Meanwhile Gopalaca consoles him with wise words–
“No dishonour
tarnishes the deed
But as a hero with a
hero’s child
Has Vuthsa
seized the girl. We planned a snare,
He by a noble violence
answers us.
We sought to bribe him
to a vassal’s state
Dangling the jewel of
our house in front;
He keeps his freedom and
enjoys the gem.
…………………
Let there be love ‘twixt
Vuthsa’s house and us.”
Then reconciling himself
to the situation, King Mahasegn sends Gopalaca to endorse Udayan’s
freedom and make Vasavadutta his queen.
As usual in Sri Aurobindo’s other plays, there is redemption by love here
also. As both Udayan and Vasavadutta
have already heard of each other and are thus mutually infatuated, the romantic
audience may rather be disappointed for want of surprise or dramatic
development of love between the two, except in the fact that forgetting her
promise given to her father, Vasavadutta becomes
full, enamoured of Udayan.
There is not much suspense apart from their successful attempt to escape.
Excepting the character
of Udayan, other characters are welldrawn.
Even with all his heroism and prowess, he seems to be inactive in the play. To
the modern mind far removed from the chivalrous days of yore it may seem unwise
to accept the friendship offered by his enemy’s son, much against the will of
the ever-caution minister Yougundharayana. He is so
innocent and good as to find that ‘earth is honey.’ But he knows his position
and thus surrenders everything to Vasavadutta, except
his free kingdom; he says–“No, queen. What’s wholly mine, that wholly take. But
this belongs to many other souls.” On the other hand, Vasavadutta
shines as a lively character. First being obedient to her father, she promises
to keep Udayan as her slave and gradually subdue him
to the status of vassal. But Nature conquers her and she becomes passionate.
She is now prepared even to allow the wheels of Udayan’s
“fame go trampling over my house’s head” and thus she becomes one with him in
freeing themselves.
King Mahasegn
is characterised as one determined to keep Udayan under subjugation by hook or crook, thus tries to
make Vasavyadutta his tool and is satisfied with her
reply–“My duty to my country and my sire shall rule me.” His queen Ungarica is presented as one helpless before his wrath,
though she can understand the heart of her daughter. His sons Gopalaca and Vicurna shine by
contrast in loyalty to the prestige-stricken father. Opposing the unjust
conditions laid down by Mahasegn, Vicurna
boldly flings remarks at him–
“Thus are vassals made?
Thus empires built? This
is a shameful thing.
Release him first, then
with proud war subdue.”
Gopalaca, in spite of his
support to his adamant father, shows wisdom in giving him a right advice in the
end.
In Yougundharayana,
we see a wise and cautious person with all the qualifications of a minister. A
‘wise deep-seeing statesman’ he rightly expects some harm from Gopalaca (in Act I, Scene 2). Similarly, he demands bonafides of Munjoolica in Act V,
Scene 5 in spite of his anxiety to get some information about Udayan; he questions her–
“But who art thou and
where shall be my surety
That thou art no Avunthian sent to lure
Our force into an
ambush?”
Then, we get a host of
minor characters duly portrayed: Roomanwath, the
loyal captain of Udayan’s army; Rebha,
the sincere Governor of Ujjayinie; Munjoolica, the tactful captive princess serving Vasavadutta; Umba, her faithful
handmaiden and others.
Again Sri Aurobindo shows himself as the master of blank verse in
this play also. Further, as in other plays of the playwright, the directions of
movements and actions are left to the imagination of the reader here also.
Dated February 1906, Rodogune belongs to the end of the period of
Sri Aurobindo’s stay at Baroda. It was posthumously
published first in Sri Aurobindo Mandir
Annual, 1958, and also issued in book form in the same year.
This play in 5 Acts is
located in Syria of the playwright’s imagination, not the Syria of history and
geography. Rodogune, the Parthian Princess, is
captured by Syria and made attendant of her queen Cleopatra. Antiochus and Timocles, the sons of Cleopatra by her first husband, have
been brought up in Egypt by their uncle Ptolemy. At the death of Cleopatra’s
second husband, they return to Syria. The selfish queen mistakes fulsome
flattery for real love and rejects Antiochus. He revolts to claim the throne of
Syria; and both Rodogune and Antiochus who are
mutually attracted by love, join together in this venture. Timocles
too falls in love with Rodogune; but temporarily he
submits to the Chancellor Phayllus’ cunningness and
his sister Cleone’s seductions. A civil war takes
place between the brothers in respect of Rodogune and
the throne of Syria. At last, Antiochus returns to Syria with Rodogune and gives up his claims to the throne, but not to Rodogune’s love. Knowing that Timocles
too is enamoured of Rodogune,
Phayllus exploits the situation to meet his selfish
ends and gets Antiochus secretly killed. Unable to bear the unexpected shock, Rodogune also dies. Realising the
utter futility of his attempts, Timocles now turns
upon Phayllus and Cleone
and kills them. Thus the tragic end of the play has only Cleopatra and Timocles left to suffer for their misdeeds.
The plot is powerful and
the characters of the play are welldrawn. Antiochus
is a hero subjected to fate. But, he is frank and straightforward enough to
climb the throne ‘not by vulgar riot, not by fratricidal murder, but up the
heroic steps of ordered battle’. Even caught in danger, he turns not his back
‘lest the proud Fate avert her eyes from me’; and he likes to face a ‘hero’s
death’ if he cannot win the battle. Though brought up along with him by
Ptolemy, his brother Timocles is different from him
and thus becomes a victim to the net spread by the wicked Phayllus
and Cleona.
Cleopatra’s mother-love is selfish and
possessive and she resembles King Lear of Shakespeare in her behaviour towards her sons. The main attraction or the play
is Rodogune herself who is ‘the haunting creature of
beauty and romance and tragedy’. She fully responds to Antiochus’ love and in
her words:
I have no country, I
have only thee.
I shall be where thou
art; it is all I know
And all I wish for.
Then there are other
interesting women characters, viz., Cleone, the
scheming woman and Eunice, the undemanding princess. Other minor characters
help the movement of the story.
The play shines with
some tense, dramatic situations; for example, the situation existing just after
the murder of Antiochus (Act V, Scene 4). Further there are many eloquent
passages which will be ever-green in our memory. For example, Cleopatra to Rodogune in Act I, Scene 3.
“My life begins again,
My life begins again in
my dear sons
And my dead husband
lives. All’s sweetly mended.
I do not wish for hatred
any more.
The horrible and
perilous hands of war
Appal me. O let our people
sit at ease
…………….
Peace, peace, let us
have peace for ever more.”
Antiochus to Rodogune in Act II, Scene 3.
“O, play not with the
hours, my Rodogune,
Why should brief man
defer his joys and wait
As if life were eternal?
Time does not pause,
Death does not tarry.”
As Dr K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar remarks, “His
long soliloquy (Act IV, Scene 4) on the eve of his decision to return to Syria
and throw himself on his brother’s mercy is well-sustained.”
The play abounds in
crisp talk which accelerates the action.
Eric
This play in 5 Acts was
written by Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry
in 1912 or 1913. Several drafts were made of some of its acts and each carries
its own later corrections. The play was first published in Sri Aurobindo Mandir Annual, 1960, and also issued in book form in the
same year.
Eric is a very powerful
dramatic romance which transports us to Norway of ancient times. Eric is the
elected king of Norway, a veritable ‘Man of Destiny’; and Swegn
is his enemy. Aslaug, the sister of Swegn and Hertha his wife, come
to Eric’s court, dressed as dancing
girls, in order to put an end to the life of Eric. But Eric, falls in love with
Aslaug and she cannot resist her response in spite of
her determination to kill him. Even the tactful Hertha
becomes helpless. In a highly exciting scene, Aslaug
lifts the dagger and lowers it twice, then flings it on the ground falling on
her knees at Eric’s feet. Eric is bold enough to offer a chance to Aslaug to ‘dance with the dagger’ and fulfil
her design, but love triumphs. In the ensuing battle Swegn
is defeated by Eric but left alive according to his promise. Further, Eric honours him with his lost titles and wife and marries Aslaug.
Thus as Sri Aurobindo desires, all are redeemed by love. As Eric says,
“….some day surely
The world too shall be
saved from death by Love.”
As Dr K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar writes, “Love
triumphs over Hate, Freya over Thor, even as Pallas Athene triumphs over Poseidon in Perseus the Deliverer.”
The whole play almost
revolves round Eric and Aslaug; Swegn
and Hertha just assist to further the action. Unlike Swegn, Eric is a powerful king, at the same time bold and
straightforward. Even after knowing Aslaug’s intended
aim, he offers her a chance to ‘dance with the dagger.’ Aslaug’s
character is also well-drawn. The other characters, viz., Hardicnut,
Ragnar, Gunthar and Harald pale into insignificance.
The conflict in the mind
of Aslaug is well presented by her throwing of the
necklace and taking it back (Act I, Scene 3). The situation takes a dramatic
turn in Act II, Scene 1. Eric is presented as the Man of Destiny and fate is
the dominant element in the play. As Aslaug says in
Act III, Scene 2 “Fate orders all.” Further the necklace presented to Aslaug by Eric appears to be symbolic. Aslaug
rightly remarks in Act III, Scene 1:
“The necklace? I will
bring it.
Rubies of passion!
Blood-drops still of death.”
Though there is
sufficient action in the play, the long Elizabethan speeches and soliloquies
reduce scope for much action. The blank verse artistically employed shines
throughout the play. Regarding descriptions like ‘antelope eyes’ in Act I,
Scene 1, and granting three demands, the playwright seems to have been
influenced by Sanskrit poets and the Ramayana respectively. Whatever be
other factors, there is the triumph of love in Sri Aurobindo’s
plays.
1 Dr K. R. S. Iyengar: Indian
Writing in English. Asia Publishing House, 1962. Page 117.
2 Dr K. R. S. Iyengar:
“Sri Aurobindo as a Literary Artist” in Sri Aurobindo Mandir
(second) Annual, Calcutta, 1943. Page 89.