‘Drama is so integral to the tradition of Tamil people”-Dr.K.Govindaraju

Dr.K.Govindaraju

In his presidential speech of drama book release of “Gandhari” authored by noted drama director and play writer Muthvelalagar of Trichy, Dr.K.Govindaraju mentioned,’ Drama is so integral to the tradition that Tamil”. Dr.K.Govindaraju appreciated the excellent presentation of the character of “Gandhari” by Muthuvelalagar in his drama script and the speaker summed up as narrated by the dramatist Muthuvelalagar,the  key areas of this drama and said,”Gandhari was the daughter of Subala, the king of Gandhara. Her name has been derived from here and she is one of the important characters of the great Indian epic Mahabharata. Gandhari was married to Dhritarashtra, the eldest prince of the Kuru kingdom. As Dhritarashtra was blind, Gandhari blindfolded herself throughout her married life and did not wish to relish the pleasure of sight, which her husband could never realize. She was the mother of hundred sons known as the Kauravas and the mother of a daughter Dlushala, the wife of Jayadratha. The Kaurava, predominantly Duryodhana and Dushasana were the villains who were killed at the battle of Kurukshetra in the hands of their cousin brothers the Pandavas. In spite of Duryodhana and Dushasana`s immoral behavior with the Pandavas, Gandhari always told them to follow `dharma` and make peace with the Pandavas. She was very close to Kunti who treated her as an elder sister. Gandhari only opened her eyes to see Duryodhana exposing his entire body except his loins invincible to any enemy. Other than this, she was an ardent lover and worshipper of Lord Shiva. When she lost all her hundred sons, she cursed Krishna in effect ensuring the destruction of the Yadavas. Gandhari confronted Krishna and said, "You are the cause of death of my sons. You could have prevented the war but you did not. As a result the Kurus have been almost wiped out. I curse you that you shall die the death of an animal; your clan of Vrishni will perish in an internal strife. The cousins will fight and kill each other." The grief seeing all her son's dead had overwhelmed Gandhari. Draupadi's sons dead. She could not find the words to console the women lamenting at the loss of their sons and Krishna happened to come in the battlefield, where Gandhari was sitting with all other woman and trying to console her.Krishna gave his gentlest smile and said, "Mother you have relieved me of a burden. My clan cannot be destroyed by anyone in the world except by themselves. You have solved my problem. As to my death it is so ordained. I accept your curse by way of your blessings." Now Gandhari anger was abated fully. She became full of love for the Pandavas”.Indrajith released the drama book “Gandhari” and appreciated the efforts of Muthvelalagar.Noted writers Jawahar Arumugam,Sudir,Kappal Krishnamurthy,Kalaimamani Masthan felicitated. Noted Drama Artist Rani Jaya, Arsangaudi Jothi and several others started rehearsal of the Drama.Karmugil Kalai Mandaram proposes to stage this drama at the earliest said Muthvelalagar.-Govin