Chitra
Chitra, a warrior princess raised as a boy, falls in love with the hero Arjuna, who scorns her. She begs the gods of love and spring for one year of perfect beauty. Tagore's one-act play from the Mahabharata. By Rabindranath Tagore (1913), translated by the author. A public-domain classic.
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How it begins Chitra: Art thou the god with the five darts, the Lord of Love?Madana: I am he who was the first born in the heart of the Creator. I bind in bonds of pain and bliss the lives of men and women! Keep reading →About this story
Chitra is a warrior princess who has been brought up as a boy. When she sees the hero Arjuna, she falls in love with him, but he scorns her because she is not beautiful. She begs the gods of love and spring for one year of perfect beauty, and her wish is granted.
Tagore wrote this short verse play in Bengali in 1892 and translated it himself in 1913. It is based on a story in the Mahabharata, and it is about the difference between being loved for how you look and being loved for who you are. It is divided into scenes, and is as much read as performed.
- Themes
- Beauty and identity, love, a woman’s choice
- Good for
- Readers who like plays and poetry; those who know the Mahabharata
- Worth noticing
- What Chitra says when she first asks the god for beauty, and what she says at the end.