Sir,
Little indulgence.
You had given an interesting interpretation on BIMA ALIGNANM in your book PADMAVYUHAM under the chapter PADHUMAI.
You have led the reader to a possibility that DURYODHAN’s punching bag could well have been Dhritarashtra for all the accolades and praises showered by the blind king towards his cousin BHIM. It also stoked rivalry and a hate towards his own father. It is more convenient that BHIM and Dhritarashtra were identical for the optics.
Let me try to create an alternate climax.
Krishna moves the statue in front of Dhritarashtra and he crushes it with all his power ignited by pent up anger, hate and sorrow.
Krishna chides the king for the brutality and says that he is not only blind by lack of vision but also by heart and soul.
Dhritarashtra replies “OH omniscient,all pervading, I am surprised that you didn’t recognise that I know there is a statue of BHIM in front me instead of my brother’s son. God offsets people with physically challenged with extra sensory powers. Though I could not see whether it was a statue or BHIM I felt the cold metal in front. I also knew that it is a replica of me as well as BHIM as we share identical features in all ways. Knowing well I crushed it. I chose this opportunity to symbolically crush my animus, hate and ill feelings that I carried towards Pandu’s sons.
Now with a clean heart and soul I am entitled to go on VANAPRASTA
For the mundane thing, if the play is staged the similarities of BHIM, DHRITARASHTRA and PADHUMAI could have become a spoiler.
With due apologies
Warm regards.
May god bless you with the best of health and happiness and bless you with the rare power of BHISHMA to live till you choose to.
BALASUBRAMANIAN
Dear Balasubramaniam,
Thank you for the letter. Like all material that has crystallized through ages of pressure and heat, stories are transforming into myths and archetypes. Mahabharata is not a story now; it is a grand collection of basic metaphors of humanity. We contemporary writers are actually discovering our present life and cultural issues through the images of it. The Mahabharata characters are poetic images to us that enable us to make a travel into our own subconsciouses.
Jeyamohan
