Sri Krishnabhimanyu - A Telugu Stage Drama: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR SRI KRISHNABHIMANYU - A...

The Mahabharata will not make much sense if you assume that Krishna was God and knew everything. Here is one such tale, on stage tonite.

On the occasion of its 29th anniversary, Kinnera Art Theatres is organising 29 days of Telugu stage dramas from different parts of the state, at Sri Thyagaraya Gana Sabha, from 9th November to 7th December. As part of the 12th day of celebrations, Sri Krishnabhimanyu is being staged today.

The story is about Lord Krishna and Abhimanyu, the courageous son of Arjuna. Arjuna was married to Krishna's sister, Subhadra, and this mythological drama begins from just before Abhimanyu was born.

When Abhimanyu was in his mother's womb, Krishna used to take Subhadra on excursions. To humor her, he used to relate many of his adventures to the pregnant Subhadra. On one such excursion, Krishna was narrating his experience with the technique of Chakravyuha and how the various circles could be penetrated.

Chakravyuha was a military formation which was an effective form of defence. The army would be arranged in the form of a circular grid and the enemy would be challenged to break that grid. Nonetheless, Subhadra did not find this topic interesting and she soon fell asleep. However, someone else was interested in Krishna's narration - the yet-to-be born Abhimanyu.

While Subhadra dozed off, Abhimanyu continued to carefully follow Krishna's narrative of the Chakravyuha. But after narrating for some time and not receiving any response from Subhadra, Krishna realised that she was savouring a sweet nap. Krishna, who had by that time reached the seventh step of the Chakravyuha, gave up his narration and returned with Subhadra to the palace.

The unfortunate Abhimanyu could never obtain the technique of breaking all the circles in the Chakravyuha, but whatever he had heard Krishna say, he carefully preserved in his memory. He grew up to be a brave, handsome young man. Many years later, during the Mahabharata war at Kurukshetra, the Kauravas set up a Chakravyuha and challenged the Pandavas to come forward and break it. However, only Arjuna (who was fighting elsewhere) knew the technique.

At that stage, to save the honor of the Pandavas, Abhimanyu came forward. Despite his incomplete knowledge of the technique, he entered the grid and overcame one circle after another, till he reached the seventh one, the breaking of which he had no knowledge of. Brave and ambitious as he was, he fought valiantly in the unequal struggle, but in vain. His strength and bravery proved no match for the skillfully laid-out maze of warriors, fighting whom he met his end.

The play is being directed by Patthi Obulayya and is being presented in the form of a mythological play by Lalitha Kala Samithi, Kurnool.

Kinnera Art Theatres was started in 1977, and has since organised various programs, including musical nites, classical dances, vocals, felicitations and releases of books. It has served as a platform for many upcoming artistes, and at the same time provided the necessary recognition and appreciation for the established ones. Dr R Prabhakar Rao, IPS, is the chairman of the association, while M Raghuram is its dedicated secretary.

Please contact M Raghuram of Kinnera Art Theatres at 98660-57777 for further details.