The warrior princess of the Kingdom of Manipur sets out for a hunt on horseback and she rides into the forest in pursuit of a deer. ‘Chitrangadacharitham’ (also referred to as ‘Chitrangada’ or ‘Chitra’), the Nangiarkoothu adaptation of Tagore’s one-act play ‘Chitra’, as presented by Kapila Venu in a recent performance here, opened with this introductory scene of the title character. Sanskrit verses penned by E.N. Narayanan were used for the Nangiarkoothu presentation.
Kapila made it worthy of an opening with her balanced presentation and manoeuvres well in sync with the rhythm. She depicted the character’s versatility in weaponry and portrayed her skills in riding and hunting. The presentation was lively and Kapila was able to add a touch of her own to make it a captivating show.
In the forest, Chitrangada meets Arjuna by chance and falls for him. Later in the palace she leaves her weapons and warrior’s attire behind and adorns herself to emphasise her femininity. Kapila ably portrayed the character at this point, a stage when the warrior princess is not certain about her new-found sentiments. Although she approaches Arjuna, he turns her proposal down saying he is bound by a vow of celibacy. Totally dismayed, Chitraganda returns and in a fit of anger breaks her beloved bow. The actor came good in portraying the emotional outburst of the character.
However, Chitrangada does not quit and with some help from the gods, she turns herself into a beautiful woman and wins over Arjuna. However the spell would last only for a year.
Kapila had a lot to cover within the stipulated time and it looked like she was rushing through some segments, like that of ‘Panchanga’, the head-to-toe description; in the initial portion Chitrangada describes the manly charm of Arjuna and later Arjuna describes the womanly beauty of a transformed Chitrangada, which could’ve been presented more impressively.
A year goes by. Meanwhile, Chitrangada finds out that Arjuna, having heard much about the warrior princess of Manipur, nurses a fascination for the princess. Then she reveals her identity and everything ends well with Chitrangada promising Arjuna that she would bring up their son as a great warrior like him.
Modulated drumming by Kalamandalam Rajeev and Kalamandalam Narayanan Nambiar helped in making the recital profound. Kalanilayam Unnikrishnan did his part well on the edakka.
The use of the conch, in places where Chitrangada receives her boon and leaves it to take her true form, worked well. Talam was by Margi Usha.
The play was staged in the ‘Arangu’ segment of the ongoing 40th edition of Soorya Festival presented by Soorya India.
