Page 259 - DENG201_ENGLISH_II

Unit 18: One Act Play: Chitra by Rabindranath Tagore: Background of the Text

18.2 Summary Notes

• Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry, his plays, his fiction, and his prose are all infused with the writer’s
belief that the goal of human life is union with the divine, a being who is always accessible in
prayer and in nature. An obsession with material goods, social status, or power shrinks the soul
and harms both other individuals and society as a whole. So do rampant nationalism and narrow
adherence to religious creeds. Even though Tagore recognizes the fact that in this world the
righteous often suffer, he believes that only a soul that is unpolluted can know the joy of that
mystic union. His Bengali writings brought Tagore recognition as the father of modern Bengali
literature. His English works and his translations made him famous throughout the world.
However, it is not just his originality and his lyricism that account for the high regard in which
he is still held. Above all, he is valued as a profound thinker and a deeply spiritual man.
• This play is an enactment of the ancient legend of Arjuna and Chitrangada, daughter of the
king of Maripur, as originally told in the Mahabarata. She was raised as a boy, since her father
had no male heir. She was a great warrior, the protector and defender of her kingdom and it s
people. She fell in love with Arjuna, himself a great warrior and a hero, who had gone into the
forest to meditate and to fulfill his vows — one of which was for twelve years of celibacy. She
goes to the gods Madana (Eros), the god of love and Vasanta (Lycoris) the god of springtime
and eternal youth. She begs for perfect beauty for one night of love with Arjuna. The gods grant
her one full year. She becomes a vision of divine loveliness and perfect grace. Arjuna falls
helplessly in love with her, and they spend a year in dalliance and joy. Eventually he meets
some of her people, however, who are terrified of the bandits who are pouring over the borders
to attack since she is gone to fulfill her vows. He is curious about Chitra, and comes to long for
a woman who can be a boon companion as well as a lover. Chitra’’s year of beauty and femininity
it over, and she reveals her true self; they are united (a beautiful gift from the god of love, don’’t
you think?) In time, according to the prologue, he gives her and her father the son they need for
the succession, and the consequent well-being of their people, to be king after them. He then
embraces her and departs, going on his way to continue his travels.
• Some of the insights in the play are amazing considering that the author is a man dealing with
a woman’’s psychology. She berates her beautiful body as being her own rival—she does not
feel at home in it, and does not feel comfortable or loved by Arjuna for herself. It is a veil to her
true self, and one she can scarcely bear to wear for the year of their love and her inner loneliness,
knowing it is transient, and believing he will not care for her at all once her true self and form
is revealed. The fact that the exact opposite is true must have come as a joyous and beautiful
surprise to her, and perhaps (though the story does not say so) to him as well. Their are speeches
of unsurpassed beauty, in praise of each other, and of the transience and beauty of love that are
well worth reading the play for themselves, aside from all other considerations.
18.3 Key-Words

1. Penance : An act of self-mortification
2. Vasanta : Spring
3. Her innocence : White Lilies
4. Vanvas : Forest life exile

18.4 Review Questions

1. Discuss Rabindranath Tagore as a poet.
2. Explain the Background of the text ‘Chitra’.
3. Write a critical appreciation of ‘Chitra’.

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