Chakravyuh

I recently had an opportunity to watch Atul Satya Koushik’s popular play, Chakravyuh. The production was staging their 40^th show – their first in Pune. The biggest crowd puller was Nitish Bharadwaj reviving his cult role of Lord Krishna from the Mahabharat. Having watched B.R Chopra’s tele-series as a child in the 1990s, I had a fair idea of the epic drama and the oft discussed ‘Chakravyuh’ episode.

When I came across an advert for the play to be staged in Pune, I was very keen on seeing how something that was written thousands of years ago could be relevant today. As is my habit, I did a bit of research around this famed episode to brush up my knowledge so as to not ask silly questions in the middle of the play. This was the first time I was watching a full-fledged Hindi play, or as the director called it, Hindustani.

The play opens with Lord Krishna’s soliloquy where he expresses his grief over the war wrecked earth. One gets to hear some hard hitting dialogue here, where a disheartened Lord Krishna is questioning the mother earth over her thirst to drink her people’s blood. Lord Krishna’s melancholic monologue here sets the tone for the rest of the play, describing the 18 days of the Battle of Kurukshtra, where he goes on to lament the bloodbath and numerous losses.  

The premise of the play revolves around the deadly war scene where Abhimanyu, Arjun’s son, agreed to enter the complex multi-tier defensive formation devised by Dronacharya. The play reveals the outcome of the confrontation between Abhimanyu, alone, against the Kauravas.

Back story – Dronacharya devised several military formations and these were studied by the Pandavas and the Kauravas. During the Battle of Kurukshetra, Duryodhan accused Dronacharya of harbouring sympathy for the Pandavas. In response, Dronacharya assured him that he would devise a strategy to keep Arjun busy on another warfront and form a ‘Chakravyuh’ – complex web – for the rest of the Pandavas. With Arjun far away, the Kauravas challenged the Pandavas to combat Dronacharya’s Chakravyuh. Only Lord Krishna, Arjun, Abhimanyu and Pradnyuma possessed the ability to penetrate the Chakravyuh. At this point, Abhimanyu, a mere 16 year old son of Arjun, offered to enter the Chakravyuh to defeat the Kauravas. He claimed to have learnt the war strategy while in his mother’s womb when Arjun had narrated it to her. However, Abhimanyu’s mother, Subhadra fell asleep when Arjun narrated to her the escape method, thus leading to Abhimanyu having never learnt how to escape the formation. With Yudhishter at the helm, Abhimanyu convinced him to allow him to enter the Chakravyuh. Yudhishter formulated a plan that the Pandavas would enter the Chakravyuh after Abhimanyu and shatter it from within. However, as soon as Abhimanyu entered, Jayadrath stopped the four Pandavas from entering the Chakravyuh. 

Director Atul Satya Koushik used an interesting drama technique here where the entire episode and the outcome of the confrontation are narrated through a flashback in the course of an interaction between Yudhishter and Bhishma Pitama, with Bhisma Pitama mournful of the happenings in his kingdom. Yudhishter, on the other hand, finds himself in a very difficult situation where he has to deliver the message of Abhimanyu’s death to Arjun. During this 

The battle scene is noteworthy for the display of martial skills by the performers. They brought the battle alive in front of the audience’s eyes. The use of offstage vocal and instrumental music reinforced the mood of the scenes. It is evident lot of thought went into making the production visually appealing for today’s technologically savvy audience, while at the same time sticking to era the story is set in. To highlight vital scenes and keep the audience engaged, the director made use of smoke with lighting effects. Yudhishter’s dilemma over allowing Abhimanyu to enter the Chakravyuh, in Arjun and Lord Krishna’s absence, is portrayed very well in this scene.     

The next scene – the play’s climax – marked the re-entry of Lord Krishna. In this scene, the mood of the play changes from fast-paced action to one of reflection. It depicts the sorrow of a wife who has lost her husband and is now uncertain of her unborn child’s future; a mother who is unsure whether to cry for her son or be proud of his heroism and a dejected father who wants to mourn, while at the same time avenge his son’s death. The background music in this scene will remind one of music from some Hindi classics, where a distinctive tune was used to depict grief. At this point, Lord Krishna appears on the scene with his characteristic iconic smile – kudos to Nitish Bharadwaj here for transporting us back to the B R Chopra magnum opus. He encourages Abhimanyu’s widow to have courage and discover the Purush within her and gear up to look after her unborn offspring. Lord Krishna’s words here hold true even today. He makes the characters as well as the audience understand every human being, including God (referring to himself), is entrapped in a kind of Chakravyuh. We are ourselves responsible for forming or breaking this web.

In a fit of rage, Arjun vowed to be at peace only after killing Jayadrath the very next day by sunset, and failing to do so, would commit suicide by self-immolation immediately. At this point, deviating from what actually happened, Lord Krishna stops Krishna stops Arjun from declaring his pledge, explaining him and in turn the audience how the human race pledges something or the other all time, which eventually comes in the way of what they want to achieve. He refers to Bhima’s vow to kill Duryodhan, which stopped Abhimanyu from doing the deed inside the Chakravyuh, thus leading to his own death. I am sure Lord Krishna’s concluding remarks will be etched in the audience’s minds for a long time.