Mruchchakateekam of Shudraka:

Love story of a courtesan

The classical Sanskrit drama Mruchchakateekam of Shudraka, produced in the Tamil language, was staged in Colombo by Janakaraliya Theatre Arts Institute and the Swami Vipulanantha Institute of Aesthetic Studies of the Eastern University of Batticaloa, at Lionel Wendt Theatre Colombo recently.

Minister of High Education,S.B Dissanayake and High Commissioner of India,Ashok K Kantha were present on the occasion as chief guests. Dissanayake praised the effort of the director of the play in making theatre a platform for integrating various religious and linguistic communities of Sri Lanka. All the characters in the play were played by students of the Swami Vipulananda Institute of Aesthetic Studies of the Eastern University. It was produced with the financial support of India Sri Lanka Foundation.

Mrichchakateekam, the Sanskrit play of Sudraka written circa 3rd to 8th century AD portrays on a wide canvas the lives and customs or a highly organised society about two thousand years ago.

It is the poignant love story of the courtesan Vasantasena with an incredibly virtuous but bankrupt Brahmin merchant Charudatta is set against the intricate web of several socio-political subplots that, apart from reflecting the complex processes in Shudraka’s time, resonates with many ills of our own world: nepotism and corruption in institutions of power and justice, the upward struggle of the marginalised, the passionate intensity of the wicked, the ineffectual benevolence of the good, the conflict between tyranny and revolution and so on.

The characters in the play are considered by them as ‘Citizens of the World.’One will find such live men in any country, in any time and in any clime. The characters can be easily identified even with present day living men amongst us.

The play was translated into Tamil by Rasaiah Loganandan and directed by Parakrama Niriella who is the founder of Janakaraliya. Professor Sinnaiah Maunaguru was its excutive director.

Mruchchakateekam, a large production with several actors with efficient music composition of Sumudu Mallawarachchi and choreography by Ronika Chamalee, presents all the major theatrical features of classical Indian theatre.