There is a cacophony of voices, each claiming the superiority of his god. People hesitate to go to court, legal fees being totally off putting. And yet, the itch to waste the time of the court for a frivolous complaint just won’t go away. It might seem that these are modern woes, but these are scenes from Chennai Kalai Kuzhu’s play, ‘Kanchithalaivi,’ aka ‘Naveena Mattavilasa Prahasana,’ which is set in the 7th century C.E. ‘Kanchithalaivi’ is based on the English translation of King Mahendravarma Pallava’s Sanskrit play, ‘Mattavilasa Prahasana’ by Michael Lockwood and A. Vishnu Bhat, and the Tamil translation by Mylai Seeni Venkadasaamy.
Kanchithalaivi gives us a glimpse into life during the Pallava reign, which strangely enough, or perhaps not so strangely, seems to be very much like life in our times. As one of the characters in the play says, time passes on, and the actors change, but the scenes remain the same.
Path of mukti
Sathya Soman (Vidhur Rajarajan) is a Kapalika, whose begging bowl is a kapala (skull). He and his wife Deva Soma (Tamilarasi Anandavalli) believe that the path to mukti is through imbibing arrack! And even while Deva Soma appreciates the beauty of Kanchi’s towering temples, what she finds more attractive is an arrack shop that dispenses choice meats together with arrack. The duo gets drunk, and discovers that the kapalika’s begging bowl is lost. Suspicion falls on a Buddha bikshu, who stoutly denies having stolen it. Then follows a hilarious, thought provoking court scene.
How little differences in worship can lead to huge schisms was brought out humorously, when one of the characters explained the characteristics of “different Sivas.” The worshipper who wears a linga round his neck is a Pasupatha. Drinking is not taboo to the Kapalika, and he too worships Siva. There are those who worship the five headed Siva. Others worship the Siva who smears his body with ash and lives in the forest.
Then there are the Saivites in Mahendra Varma’s court, who worship a different Siva! And those who have been listening to this exposition, come up with funny names for their religions. There is also a goofy character who cannot distinguish the two connotations of ‘Saiva’ — vegetarian and Siva worshipper.
Ashok Singh as the bikshu and narrator played his role with charming insouciance. Vidhur Rajarajan was a livewire on stage. The song he sings when the skull is lost is appropriately in the tune of N.S. Krishnan’s ‘Enge theduven,’ from the film ‘Panam.’
Deva Soma consoles her husband with the words, “When others are troubled, they come to you. But if you yourself are so disturbed, what is to be done?” the scene reminded one of Pramila’s words to Sivaji, in the film ‘Thanga Padakkam.’ Clever touches like the mock seriousness of this scene, enhanced the appeal of the play, ably dramatised and directed by Pralayan.
The work will be presented at the festival to be held at the Tiruppattur Sacred Heart College. (See Drama festival at Tiruppathur)
