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Unit 20: ‘Chitra’ by Rabindranath Tagore: Characterisation

unhappy. It is natural enough that beauty or glamour should attract in the first instance man to Notes
woman or woman to man; but this attraction has still to pass other tests before it can acquire the
name and true nature of love. With man and woman the attraction, the coming together, is not the
end, but only the beginning. It has to survive shared trials, shared sorrows, shared gradual failure of
the bodily functions. Chitra belongs to the earth and undergoes tremendous change in her encounter
with harsh reality of life. She is full of self-respect and self-confidence.
As in the handling of plot, so also in characterization the first condition of dramatic art is brevity. The
dramatist has to deal with motive and character within the narrowly circumscribed area of a
comparatively few scenes, in which at the same time he has to be more or less concerned with the
progress of his story. Tagore, within the short span of nine scenes has successfully dealt with his
motive and has remarkably portrayed his characters. He clearly draws the error of Chitra and finally
her realization of the truth of life.

20.1 Character of Arjuna
Arjuna’s role in Tagore’s play CHITRA is of paramount importance. He does have significant part in
the development of the incidents in the play. He is one of the five Pandavas of the “Mahabharata”
and he is a reputed warrior. He is known to all as a person well-versed in his skill of archery and has
displayed his prowess during and before the war of Mahabharata. His name is closely linked up with
Lord Krishna who conveys to him the golden message of the Gita”, the lesson of action”, at a time
when he was lost in despair and disillusionment. In this play ‘Chitra’, Arjuna is presented in the
following situation.
In the course of his wanderings, in fulfilment of a vow of penance, Arjuna comes to Manipur. There
he sees Chitrangada, the beautiful daughter of Chitravahana, the king of the country. Smitten with
her charms, he asks the king for the hand of his daughter in marriage. Chitravahana asks him who he
is and learning that he is Arjuna, the Pandava tells him that Prabhanjana, one of his ancestors in the
kingly line of Manipur, had, long been childless. In order to obtain an heir, he performed severe
penances. Pleased with these austerities, the God Shiva gave him the boon that he and his successors
shall each have one child. It so happens that the promised child has invariably been a son. He,
Chitravahana, is the first to have only a daughter Chitrangada to perpetuate the race. He has, therefore,
always treated her as a son and has made her his heir. Continuing, the king says: “The one son that
will be the price that I shall demand for this marriage. You can take her if you like, on this condition.”
Arjuna promises and takes Chitrangada to wife and lives in her father’s capital for three years. When
a son is born to them, he embraces her with affection and taking leave of her and her father sets out
again on his travels.
A close study of the nine scenes of the play reveals the nature of Arjuna’s character. The theme
unfolds itself in this play, in nine scenes. This first scene deals with the rejection of Arjuna by Chitra.
The third describes the delicious union of the hero and the heroine. In the fourth scene, Tagore refers
to the decline of Arjuna ‘s infatuation. It is followed by an interlude in the fifth scene. While the sixth
scene describes the further decline of Arjuna’s infatuation, there is an interlude again in the seventh
scene. In the eighth scene Arjuna comes across the (Other’ Chitra) and the last scene represents the
course of events from the “Lie” to the “Truth”.
Arjuna is of the Kshatriya or “Warrior Caste”, and during the action is living as a hermit retired in the
forest. Chitra is the daughter of the king of Manipur. Their speeches burn with passion and light up the
way from truth to illusion and again from illusion to truth. The truth is that Chitra is no Goddess to be
worshipped, nor yet the object of common pity to be brushed aside like a moth with indifference. She is
a woman and a mother and Arjuna is content and says simply”, Beloved, my life is full.”
Arjuna is found fickle. He sees an apparition of beauty in the perfect form of a woman. He thinks that
the vague veilings of her body should melt in ecstasy into air as the golden mist of dawn melts from
the snowy peak of the eastern hill. The intensity of pathos overwhelms the readers when each of
them passes through an inner struggle in trying to understand the other.

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