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Unit 20: ‘Chitra’ by Rabindranath Tagore: Characterisation

begs Madana to impart to her the lesson apt to the occasion to make Arjuna a captive in love. Her Notes
prayer to Madana and Vasanta become fruitful and Chitra is granted the span of a whole year.
Madana addresses Chitra as the daughter of mortals and impresses upon her that Arjuna has stolen
the fragrant wine of heaven from the divine store-house and places it in her hand to drink. She
becomes conscious that her borrowed beauty would soon vanish, like the petals from an over-blown
flower. Madana showers sympathy on her by remarking that her single night has gone in vain. She
appeals to the Gods to take back their boon.
Madana then asks Chitra how she can stand before her lover if the boon is withdrawn from her.
Moreover it will be cruel to take away by force the cup from his lips when he has not even enjoyed the
first draught of pleasure. Then Chitra will be treated with any amount of resentful anger. Then she
remarks that such a state would be better than the present predicament in which she is placed.
Vasanta then advises her to cooldown and listen to his advice. With the on set of autumn, the flowering
season would be followed by the wealth of fruits. An appropriate time would definitely come when
the heat-cloyed bloom of the body would bend down and Arjuna would gladly accept the abriding
fruitful truth in her. So Vasanta advises her to go back and indulge in her mad festival.
The enthusiasm of Vasanta (Youth and Beauty) cannot keep pace with the demands of Madana (Love);
As spring season comes to a close, it becomes obviously weak. Vasanta feels terrify tired. It is indeed
a tough task for him to keep alive the fire (the passion of bodily love) for long. He is overtaken by
sleep and the fan drops from his hand. The brightness of the fire (bodily Love) is covered with ashes.
But he wakes up from his deep sleep and rescues the weary flame by making use of his full strength.
But the fact is that it cannot continue forever.
Madana makes it clear that he is aware that Vasanta is as fickle as a child. He also remarks to Vasanta
that his part is always restless both in heaven and on earth. Ail those things that he has built with
scrupulous care and endless details are destroyed by him in a short time without any feeling of regret
or remorse. But their work (namely the granting of the boon of beauty to Chitra) is coming to an end
soon. The days which are filled with winged pleasure are flying speedily. Moreover the year which
is almost at its close, falls into a swoon in a bliss of joy and rapture.
Madana and Vasanta thus make their appearance for the third time. They make an integral part of
the play. They carry the action forward with a suggestion that the earthly happiness of Chitra and
Arjuna, having reached its climax, is almost coming to a close.

20.3 Chitra’s Character

Tagore is an inheritor of the great literary tradition of Bengal, which regarded a woman as the
primordial energy of the universe. Tagore’s heroines belong to two broad categories, the type of
feminine charm and the type of feminine grace, serene in her self-assurance and radiating a tranquil
charm and silent power over the human heart. One is Urvashi and the other Lakshmi. Tagore’s
women characters display remarkable vivacity and dazzling variety. He considers the aura of dream
surrounding many of the women characters as not merely the creation of God but also of man. They
are not abstract entities, but creations of flesh and blood, pulsating with convincing liveliness. In his
works women appear as mother, sister, daughter, wife, beloved, Prakriti in search of Purusa, and
woman symbolizing the Jivaatma, who seeks union with the Parmaatma. There are also mythical,
historical, religious, social, realistic and romantic characters, placed in several of his dramas, short
stories and novels. He represents them as facing typical Indian problems and he explores deep into
their hearts, with his keen psychological insight. His women characters are dynamic and are not the
products of mere artistic control or manipulation.
Tagore’s heroines are both feminine and unfeminine. They belong to the earth but they undergo
tremendous changes in their encounter with harsh reality. Sometimes the two types— the emotional
and the tranquilizing get fused as in Chitra. The diverse types of his women are basically human.
They are enthroned as queens of the house, full of self-respect and self-confidence, exhibiting various
moods.

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