Kabir's couplets come alive at this Jaipur event

A two-day ‘

Kabir Rang Mahotsav

’ – an initiative by theatre group, People’s Media Theatre in association with

Rajasthan Forum

and Ministry of Culture, Government of India – concluded in Jaipur on Wednesday evening. On the first day, a play titled Veer Abhimanyu was staged at

Ravindra Manch

.

Actors in a scene from the play Veer Abhimanyu.

Directed by Supriya Sharma, the play’s narrative revolved around Abhimanyu (played by Nitin Saini), the youngest son of Arjuna and Subhadra and his death in the battle of Kurukshetra. On the thirteenth day of the battle, Dronacharya, commander-in-chief of Kauravas, diverted Arjuna and Krishna away and formed a formation (chakravyuha). The only two people in the Pandava army who completely knew how to enter and break this formation were Arjuna and Krishna, who were away. Abhimanyu, who learned the art of breaking into the chakravyuha when he was in Subhadra's womb, comes into the picture.While he was able to break into the chakravyuha and even killed many of Kaurava soldiers, he was unable to get out from the formation. This was because Subhadra fell asleep while listening to the story and (Abhimanyu in her womb) could learn only half of the technique.

(L-R) Seema Jain, Shikha Bhatt and Rajeev Bhatt performing at Ravindra Manch. (Shalini Maheshwari/BCCL)


On the second day of the Mahotsav, a musical evening was organised where musician Rajeev Bhatt sang some of the famous songs of Kabir accompanied by his troupe. They entertained the audience with songs like Jhini Jhini Bini Chadariya, Moko Kahan Dhunde Re Bande and many more.

Farooq Khan on tabla. (Shalini Maheshwari/BCCL)

Ashok Rahi, organiser and theatre artist said, “The idea behind this festival was to introduce Kabir's meaningful couplets to the people. The messages in his couplets are relevant even in today’s time and we wanted to spread his words to as many people as possible. The festival was a confluence of music and theatre.”