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Unit 19: Chitra by Rabindranath Tagore: Detailed Study

upon her ears like red-hot needles. It was like a bolt from the blue and she broke her vow into two Notes
pieces and she also threw away her arrows in the fire. She begged Madana (the God of Love) to
impart to her the lesson apt to the occasion and provide her the weapon of the unarmed hand so as to
enable her to make Arjuna a captive in love.
She knows that there is a long hard way of winning him. It is the labour of a life-time to make one’s
true self known and honoured. So she tries the short and easy way. She prays to Madana and his
companion Vasanta (the lord of the Seasons) to grant her the gift of physical beauty just for one brief
day. Her prayer is granted not for just twenty four hours, but for the span of a whole year. But she
does not have the patience to wait for so long a time.
Critical Remarks
The main characters in the play-Chitra and Arjuna-are first introduced. The first scene is the key-note
of the play. The main essence of the story namely the love of Chitra for Arjuna. his rejection and the
consequences that follow are highlighted here. Chitra’s love-suit is rejected by Arjuna not for once,
but two times-when she is dressed like a warrior and when she is casually dressed as a woman. So
she seeks the help of Madana (the god of love) and his companion (Vasanta, the God of Seasons).
It is a play of passion and romance. The gods form an integral part of the play. They grant her
physical beauty and charm, not for a day as solicited by her, but for a whole year.
The play makes the fact clear that Tagore has written it in his youth and hence he introduces Madana
and Vasanta, as everything in his neighbour-hood then is fresh, youthful and charming. A sense of
sensuousness pervades the whole play.
The play also exposes the features of the characters of both Arjuna and Chitra. She forgets everything
on seeing him and desires to win the heart of Arjuna, who is tall, handsome and masculine. He has
taken a vow of celibacy for twelve years and nothing can shake him.
Scene II
Rejection of Arjuna by Chitra
There is a complete transformation of Arjuna in this scene. He is introduced as loudly thinking in a
soliloquy about an “apparition of beauty in the perfect form of a woman”. She is found standing on
a white slab of stone at the edge of water. The Earth must be feeling quite joyful under her bare white
feet. As the sky gets cleared off in the early dawn, the “Vague veilings” of her body would melt into
air. She looked into the mirror of the lake and found the reflection of her face. She stood still smiling,
loosening her hair and allowing it to lie on the earth at her feel.
She kept her bosom bare and had a look at her arms faultlessly framed. A feeling of delight dawned
on her as she looked at her blooming youth and lender skin. She had a sweet smile coupled with a
shade of sadness. She bound her coils of hair, covered her arms with the veil and slowly drifted away
like the splendid evening slipping into the night.
Arjuna was struck with the bliss of desire which touched him like a flash and then disappeared. He
strongly wished to possess this apparition of beauty. It was that of Chitra, the incarnation of all
charms provided by Madana and Vasanta. He stood there defeated, arrested by her beauty. He forgot
all the vows of his celibacy and begged her to accept him as her own. There was a sudden change in
the situation. Gods came to her rescue and made Arjuna her captive. Arjuna’s soul was defeated and
his body won the victory.
Chitra dressed herself as a woman and tapped the door of Arjuna, who introduced himself as a
Kshatriya. Chitra greeted him and said that he was her honoured guest. She informed him that she
lived in that temple. She expressed her inability by stating that she did not know in what way she
could show him hospitality. But Arjuna replied that her very sight (presence) was indeed the highest
hospitality. He implored her permission and asked why she chose to live in that solitary temple
depriving all mortals of a vision of such extraordinary beauty and loveliness.
Chitra replied that she harboured a secret desire in her heart and that she had been offering daily
prayers to Lord Shiva for the fulfilment of her desire. Arjuna could not understand what she could
desire, when she herself was the centre of attraction and the desire of the entire world. He went on

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