Did we invest our Gods with qualities mirroring our own? Did we then invent stories about them, so that they seem more like us — enjoying conjugal bliss, fighting, separating and reuniting? Or did they indeed indulge in play acting, to keep us interested in them?
A non-believer would obviously not ask such questions. But even a believer might find mythological stories a bit of a stretch. Shraddha’s latest play ‘Deva Leela’ (written by Yo. Ra.; direction G. Krishnamurthy) tries to answer the questions a person not credulous enough to buy Puranic stories might have.
A temple is the scene of action, where stories are told every day. Enter a man, who mocks the conventional storytellers. Why did Muruga go around the earth, when fuel is so dear, he asks. If indeed the fruit over which Ganesha and Muruga fought conferred knowledge, why is Muruga, who did not get the fruit, called Jnana Pandita?
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The story of a gambler
The maverick storyteller then tells the story of a man who gambles with the image of the Goddess in a temple, and she loses to him. “Pay up, or lose your hands,” the man threatens the image! Parvati tells Siva that she did not play the game at all and will not pay. But Siva says that while she did not play, she was silent throughout, and silence is acquiescence! The gambler turns out to be a clever conman, and finally, when the curtain falls, a Siva temple is repaired, and the deity is named Thigideswaran, after the conman- Thigiduthathan!
The play began with a bang, but momentum was not sustained, and except for occasional humorous flashes, dragged. Even the good performances of the actors could not hold up the play, which sadly sagged.
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