Chapter II

Plays of Sri.Aurobindo: An Analysis of the Dramatic Art

2.1 Introduction:
Sri.Aurobindo Ghosh (1872 - 1950) was a journalist, nationalist, prose-writer,
poet-seer, critic, dramatist, philosopher, yogi, the interpreter of Veda, the Vyasa of the
inner life, the Columbus of Supermind, the man of extra-ordinary, multi-lingual genius
and so on. About Sri.Aurobindo, Prof. Iyengar rightly points out, “The nationalist, the
Yogi, the philosopher, the poet and the rest “are indeed all of a piece: or rather, it is the
same diamond – the Immortal Diamond – With different facets turned to our gaze at
different times” (144). He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1943 and
for the Nobel Prize in Peace in 1950.
2.1.1 Sri. Aurobindo: A Life-Sketch
Sri.Aurobindo Ghosh, a unique product of modern Indian Renaissance, was born
in Calcutta on August 15, 1872. He was the third son of Dr. Krishna Dhan Ghosh and
Srimati Swarnalata Devi who belonged to a wealthy and accomplished family of
Calcutta. His father, after taking his degree of Doctor of Medicine at the University of
Aberdeen, returned to India and served as a Civil Surgeon in various parts of the country.
Sri.Aurobindo was sent to the Lorreto Convent School at Darjeeling at the age of
five, and at the age of seven, he along with his two brothers Benoy Bhushan and Man
Mohan was taken to England and put under the guardianship of Dr. Drewetts of
Manchester, England. The Drewetts took care to see that the children did not imbibe
Indian ways of life and manners. After taking private coaching at Drewett’s,
Sri.Aurobindo joined St. Paul’s School in London in 1885. Here he won the Buttleworth
Prize for literature and the Bedford prize for History. In 1890, Sri.Aurobindo won an
open scholarship of £ 80 for Classics in his final school examination which enabled him
to get admission in the very famous King’s College at Cambridge. There he won several
prizes for Greek and Latin poetry. Sri.Aurobindo also passed the test for selection to the
Indian Civil Service, standing 11th in rank. Sri.Aurobindo passed the I.C.S. but did not
pass the riding test so as to escape from the bondage of the Britishers. Though
Sri.Aurobindo was away from India for a long time, at Cambridge, he came in to contact
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with an organization known as the Indian Majlis founded in 1891 and later became a
member of a secret society called ‘The Lotus and Dagger’.
The student life of Sri.Aurobindo was brilliant in character. Possessing an intellect
of an extraordinary nature, quick grasping power, attracted Sayajirao Gaikawad of
Baroda, who then was in England.Gaikawad, took him in the service of his own state.
Sri.Aurobindo returned to his motherland in Feb 1893. He remained at Baroda from 1893
to 1906, serving the state chiefly as Professor of English and French at the Baroda
Government College. The decision of the British of partition Bengal in 1905 infuriated
Sri. Aurobindo and he decided to join the political movement for the liberation of India
from the British rule. In 1906, he joined as the Principal of Bengal National College,
Calcutta and also joined Indian National Congress.
During the period i.e. 1906 to 1907,Sri.Aurobindo became the acting editor of
Bandemataram, the Daily had become a symbol of national aspirations. After Sri.
Aurobindo’s acquittal in 1909 from Alipore Jail, he started The Karmayogin, an English
weekly, and The Dharma, a Bengali weekly to keep the flame of nationalism burning
among his countrymen.
At the same time, Aurobindo came under an intense pressure from his innerself to
retire from active politics in favour of the higher life of the spirit. Actually he had begun
receiving divine messages in this direction as early as 1905, the year of the famous
Alipore case, “On that occasion, however, he had proved weak and had refused to listen
to that voice, politics and poetry were too dear to him then he couldnot give them
up,” (Iyengar K.R.S,157).
After the trial and his acquittal, he went to the French colony of Pondicherry,
founded an Ashram where he remained till the end of his life preaching nationalism and
spiritual Philosophy and became a saint of humanity.
2.1.2 Sri. Aurobindo’s Literary Works:
Sri.Aurobindo is a versatile writer whose political, philosophical, spiritual, critical
and nationalistic output is outstanding. His patriotism served as a major influence on his
writings. His span of creative activity covers a period of over 60 years. He gave his
valuable contribution in all literary forms like poetry, prose, short-stories, drama. To his
credit, he has numerous lyrics, sonnets, narrative poems, epics and translations. On shis
literary contribution K.R.S. Iyengar praises, “But Sri. Aurobindo was not merely a writer

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who happened to write in English but really an English writer almost as much as, say, a
George Moore, a Laurence Binyon or a W.B. Yeats” (144).
Sri.Aurobindo is famous for his short lyrical poems and sonnets. The well-known
theme of all the short lyrics is mysticism. To name few are the poems like Songs to
Myrtilla 1895, Urvasie, Love and Death, translations like Kalidasa’s Vikramorvasie,
poem of Chandidasa and Songs to Vidyapati, renderings of the Upanishads, the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata, his monumental epic ‘Savitri’ is his magnum opus.
During the period of silent yoga; from 1910 to 1914, he achieved new vision and
new power of action. A Bengali magazine, Pravartha (1914) and The Standard Bearer
(1920) were launched, containing Aurobindo’s writings on political, literary and spiritual
issues. His another magazine, Arya started in 1914 continued till 1921, contained many
of his philosophical and spiritual writings and discourses. His major works The Life
Divine, The Secret of the Veda, The Ideal of Human Unity, The Human Cycle, The Future
Poetry and The Foundations of Indian Culture were serialised in Arya. The Karmayogin
and Indu Prakash were two other magazines that recorded his poems, plays and
discussions.
Sri.Aurobindo was also a great prose writer. The Future Poetry, The Synthesis of
Yoga, The Human Cycle and The Ideal of Human Unity are some of his important prose
works. The Future Poetry is a significant work of literary criticism. Through these works,
Sri.Aurobindo gives new directions and dimensions to the norms of literary criticism. His
prose style is always remarkable for the forcefulness of its expression and strength of
conviction. It has spontaneity and it changes with the change in themes. His speeches as
well as letters cover a numbers of topics such as nationalism, politics, philosophy,
sociology, world unity, valuable speeches on Vedas, Upanishadas and the Gita.
Apart from these works, his plays. Perseus the Deliverer (1907), Vasavadutta
(1957), Rodogune (1958), The Viziers of Bassora (1959), Eric (1960), illustrate his
versatile genius whereas his incomplete plays like The Birth of Sin (1942), The Maid in
the Mill (1962), The House of Brut (1982), Prince of Edur (1961), The Prince of
Mathura, English translation of Kalidasa’s Sanskrit play Vikramorvasie. All these are
poetic plays. The use of myth, legend, folklore and history is one of the characteristic
features of Sri.Aurobindo’s plays. Rodogune is a tragedy. The Viziers of Bassora is a
dramatic romance, Perseus the Deliverer is a serious drama and Vasavadutta and Eric are

34
romantic comedies. The renowned Aurobindo scholar Jesse Roarke, in his commentary
on Sri.Aurobindo,
Sri.Aurobindo had dramatic ability, but he did not work to develop it. His natural
genius was not dramatic, he did not see things in the dramatic way, and his poetic
nature flowed more naturally in the lyric and narrative, and most especially and
sovereignly in that enlarging, heightening and intensifying, greater grander and
nobler, that full culmination and superior dimension of the narrative, the epic
(121).
Besides these poetic plays, Sri.Aurobindo wrote five dialogues in prose which
appeared in book form as Conversations of the Dead. But they are conversations and not
plays.
2.1.3 Sri. Aurobindo, as a Nationalist:
Sri.Aurobindo was a great nationalist. Though he lived in England, the flame of
nationalism always burnt in his mind. After returning to India, he set himself to the task
of familiarizing himself with the political atmosphere of contemporary India. Very soon,
he found out the facts, reaching to the problems, troubles, faced by the Indian freedom
movement. So, he started publishing poetical writings in order to awaken the nation to
the realization of the utter necessity of freedom.
At that time, there was no stronger political party that could openly claim full
independence for India. He joined the nationalists group of the Indian Congress. As a
nationalist and a soldier of the Indian freedom struggle he proved to be utterly selfless
and an inspiring leader. In one of his speeches, he says:
If thou art, then thou knowest my heart … I donot ask anything that others ask
for. I ask only for strength to uplift this nation. I ask only to be allowed to live and
work for this people whom I love and to whom I pray that I may devote my life
(Speeches of Aurobindo Ghosh, 101).
Sri.Aurobindo’s life was full of obstacles and hindrances. Once he said to
Dilipkumar Roy, “My whole life has been a struggle with hard realities … It had been a
battle from early years and is still a battle.” After a gap of many years when for the first
time Sri. Aurobindo returned to his motherland he said, “Since I set foot on the Indian
soil on the Apollo Bunder in Bombay I began to have spiritual experiences.”( Das
Manoj,16).

35
 Repression, and passive resistence are various ways of revolt followed by
Sri.Aurobindo for his nation. He once said:
Passive resistance means two things. It means first that in certain matters we
shall not co-operate with the Government of this country, until it gives us what we
consider our rights. Secondly, if we are persecuted if the plough of repression is
passed over us, we shall meet it, not by violence, but by lawful means (Speeches
of Aurobindo Ghosh, 194).
For Sri.Aurobindo, nationalism was not mere patriotism; it was a way of living
and it had the strength of God. Similarly, nation for him was not merely a geographical
presence but a divine entity defining a nation, Sri. Aurobindo writes:
For what is a nation? What is our mother country? It is not a piece of earth, nor a
figure of speech, for a fiction of the mind. It is a mighty shakti, composed of all
the shakties of all the millions of units that make up the nation, just as Bhawani
Mahisa Mardini sprang in to being from the Shakti of all the millions of gods
assembled in one mass of force and welded into unity. The Shakti we call India,
‘Bhawani Bharti”, is the living unity of the shaktis of three hundred million
people… (Banerjee, S.K: 104).
2.1.4 Sri.Aurobindo: Philosopher and Transcendentalist:
Sri.Aurobindo was a great philosopher and transcendentalist. His philosophy deals
with ceaselss striving from the immemorial of mankind towards the achievement of
divinity.
The Life Divine, his greatest philosophical work is a monumental work in the field
of philosophical thought of the modern world. It is both vast in range and massive in
bulk. This metaphysical treatise is divided in to three sections: Vol I ‘Omnipresent
Reality and the Universe ; Vol II Part I, The Infinite Consciousness and the Ignorance,
and Vol II, Part II, ‘The Knowledge and the Spiritual Evolution.’ The book explains the
different process of Sri.Aurobindo’s conception of the spirtitual evolution.
According to Sri.Aurobindo, a change from mental to the supramental condition
was inevitable, ‘The supramental change is a thing decreed and inevitable in the
evolution of the earth consciousness’ (The Mother, 83-84).
Sri.Aurobindo presented a vision of the future course of humanity. It is a vision of
a gradual but definite and constant transformation of the life. Pattern on this earth into the

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Divine Life i.e.into the ‘Satchidananda’ stage. This process of gradual transformation
from the limited mental consciousness to the stage of complete oneness with
‘Satchidananda’ implies a positive effect on the part of man.
Sri.Aurobindo developed his own yogic methods of making this effort. He
believed that through the process of integral (Purna) Yogaman can actively and
effectively contribute to the evolutionary process. This Integral yoga achieves a perfect
synthesis of Karma, Jnana and Bhakti yogas and leads to ‘The Sun-lit path.’ After a
devoted practice (Sadhana) of this integral yoga, a yogi can rise to that supramental plane
where the supermind keeps shining bright with all glory, light and power. Having risen to
that plane the yogi will draw that light and power in his own consciousness. He will then
come back or descend to that material plane from where he had risen, and will make
himself the instrument through which the supramental or the light and the power that he
has drawn within himself will act towards the spiritual evolution of earth consciousness.
Two features of Sri. Aurobindo’s yoga is remarkable. One yoga is not
individualistic but humanistic and it strikes a final and satisfactory synthesis between
spirit and matter. Salvation for the whole race or for the entire humanity and not only for
an individual is the goal of Sri.Aurobindo’s yoga. D.L. Murray rightly comments, ‘ Sri.
Aurobindo is not an armchair philosopher but …. a new type of thinker, one who
combined in his vision the alacrity of the west with the illumination of the East ( Sri.
Aurobindo,14).
2.1.5 His Last Years and Death:
Sri.Aurobindo was a great patriot and humanitarian. During his last years, he
supported many nationalist activities. He was the first politician to stand openly for
complete and obsolute freedom for India. After India’s independence, he retired
completely and lived a life of simplicity. He passed away on 5th December 1950 and was
buried in the premises of the Ashram.
The present chapter shall attempt to take an indepth analysis of Aurobindo
following full length plays to study why his plays could not become as successful as his
poetry..
2.2 The Viziers of Bassora:
The Viziers of Bassora is the first full length play of five acts, a dramatic romance
by Sri.Aurobindo. It was supposed to have been written in his youthful days sometimes

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during 1893-1906 after he returned from England and settled down in Baroda. With his
other papers, the original manuscript of this play was confiscated by the British
government during his Alipore Bomb trial in 1909 when he was accused of the terrorist
act against Britishers. It was later retrieved by Jitendra Nath Ghosh Dostidar, the record
keeper of the Alipore Court, in 1951 (Jaiswal, 31). It was published first in Sri.Aurobindo
Mandir Annual in 1959 and then in the book form in the same year. The play was later
included in the second part of Sri. Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library Volume entitled,
Collected Plays and Short Stories in 1971.
2.2.1 The Source of the Play:
Aurobindo borrows the theme for his play The Viziers of Bassora from The
Arabian Nights. The various translations of The Arabian Nights in English and French,
Aurobindo borrows the theme from the English translation of The Book of the Thousand
Nights and A Night by Sir. Richard F. Burton. The play indicates that he must have read
all available versions of The Arabian Nights but finally decided to rely on Burton alone.
The source story (Richard F. Burton’s Version) from which the theme is taken
known as Nur-Al-Din (Richard Burton, 6) Ali and Damsel Anis Al- Jalis. The story states
that Mohammed bin Sulayman al-Zayni, the cousin of Haroun al Rasheed, was the King
of Bassorah. He had two wazirs, one called Al Mu’ in, son of Sawi and the other Al-Fazl,
son of Khakan. The first wazir was wicked and hated by people whereas the second was
virtuous and respected. One day, Sulayman al-Zayni orders Al-Fazl, to buy for him ‘a
slave girl of passing beauty, perfect in loveliness and endowed with all praiseworthy gifts
: Al-Fazl accordingly procures from a slave dealer Anis Al-Jalis, a Persian slave girl
perfect in every respect. At the instance of the dealer he decides to keep her in his own
house for ten days in order to enable her to recover from fatigue and regain her original
loveliness. But he warns her to be on her guard against his handsome son, Nur Al-Din
Ali. In spite of precautions taken by the wazir and his wife, Anis and Nur-Al-Din fall in
love. Al-Fazl learns this from his wife and is upset lest the wicked wazir, Al Mu’ in,
should report the matter to the Sultan. His wife prevails upon him to hush up the matter
and to allow her son to marry the damsel after threatening to punish him for the lapse. Al-
Fazl follows her advice and enjoins his son not to take another wife or concubine to share
with her, ‘not to sell her’.

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 Fortunately for them, the King forgets the matter of the maiden. Al Mu’ in has no
courage to divulge it. A year after that Al-Fazl dies his son indulges in excessive pleasure
and squanders away his wealth. After advising him to sell all his belongings Anis finally
asks him to sell her too. At the slave market, however, Al Mu’ in turns up and bids for
Anis. To avoid the sale to the wicked wazir, the slave dealer advises Nur-Al-Din to take
her back after pretending to have fetched her to the market to punish her for her rude
behaviour. Al Mu’ in sees through the ruse and protests. A scuffle follows in which Nur
Al-Din beats Al-Mu’ in badly. The wazir immediately complains to the Sultan
exaggerating the misbehavior of the youth. The King gives orders to destroy the house of
Nur Al-Din and to arrest him along with his slave girl. Sanjar, the King’s Chamberlain,
helps the lovers to flee the city and to sail to Baghdad. In Baghdad, they are entertained
by Shaikh Ibrahim, the keeper of Haroun Al Rasheed’s garden and pavilion of pleasure.
The Caliph meets them there in the guise of Karim the fisherman. Pleased with the
generosity of Nur Al-Din who, out of pity for the poor fisherman, gives him not only
money but also his slave girl, Haroun sends him to the King of Bassorah with written
orders to invest the youngman as the Sultan of the city. He takes Anis to his palace and
provides for her comfortable stay. When King Sulayman Al-Zayni offers to comply with
the Caliph’s letter delivered by Nur Al-Din, Al Mu’ in dissuades him by saying that the
youth has forged the letter. He imprisons Nur Al-Din for forty days. Meanwhile, Haroun
al Rasheed sends a new investiture to Bassora for Nur Al-Din. Even then Al Mu’ in
persuades the Sultan to order Nur-Al-Din to be executed.
Before his wicked intention is carried out, however, Haroun is moved by the
sorrow of Anis, remembers his promise to unite her with Nur Al-Din, and dispatches his
wazir Jaafer to Bassorah for the purpose Ja’afer arrives in time to prevent Al-Mu’in from
getting Nur Al-Din executed, arrests both Sulayman Al- Zayni and Al Mu’in and invests
Nur Al-Din as the Sultan of Bassorah. Nur Al-Din, however goes to Baghdad with
Ja’afer when he leads Sulayman Al-Zayni and Al Mu’ in as prisoners, and requests the
Caliph to permit him to live in his company at Baghdad. Haroun asks him to avenge
himself by killing Al Mu’in but the wicked wazir tricks the youth with clever words.
Therefore, Haroun orders his servant, Masrur to cut off the villain’s head. He appoints
Nur Al-Din as his companion after conferring on him and his slave girl great honour and
wealth.

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2.2.2 Changes in the Story of The Viziers of Bassora:
It appears that Sri. Aurobindo has picked up only hints and characters from the
various stories of The Book of the Thousand and one Night and created almost an original
story. As a matter of fact the source material of this play sufferes a sea change as Sri.
Aurobindo’s artistic creation. In his play Sri. Aurobindo brings out the difference
between Bassora and Baghdad as ninth century Moslem cities. There is contrast in Sultan
Mohammed bin Sulayman of Zayni and Caliph Haroun al Rasheed as rulers. The two
Viziers of Bassora not only contrast with each other but also with Ja-afer the Vizier of
Haroun (Prema Nandkumar, 47-52).
Sri.Aurobindo modifies the source story in other ways also. In the play the
virtuous wazir Al-Fazl, is the son of Sawy, and the sinister Al Mu’ in, the son of Khakan.
Their modified names, therefore, are Alfazzal Ibn Sawy and Almuene bin Khakan. In The
Arabian Nights, Al-Fazl alone has a son, Nur Al-Din Ali. In the play Almuene also has a
son, Fareed. Like the two viziers, their sons too contrast with each other. Sri. Aurobindo,
provides Almuene with a wife, Khatoon and makes her sister of Alfazzal’s wife. He gives
the name of Ameena to the good vizier’s wife who appears in The Arabian Nights
without any name. Alfazzal Ibn Sawy has an orphaned niece, Doonya, whom the vizier
and his wife indulge as much as they do their son Nureddene. Sri.Aurobindo also creates
in his play the characters of Murad, a Turk Captain of police in Bassora, Ajebe a nephew
of Almuene, Balkis and Mymoona, sisters, slave girls of Ajebe and Harkoos, an
Ethiopian eunuch in Ibn Sawy’s household. He introduces several sub plots of his own
invention. His most significant departure, however, seems to be in respect of the survival
of Alfazzal Ibn Sawy. In The Nights he dies in the middle of the story. In the play, he is
alive as much for the sake of poetic justice as for undergoing suffering for his foible of
indulging his son (and niece) too much. In order to give his character this added
dimension, Sri.Aurobindo has also departed from his sources in respect of the way the
story ends.
In The Nights, as noted above Nur Al-Din Ali declines Haroun al Rasheed’s offer
to make him the Sultan of Bassora and chooses to be a companion of the Caliph in
Baghdad. But in the play he realizes his romantic dream of becoming a Sultan, the Sultan
of his own city.

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2.2.3 An Outline of the Play The Viziers of Bassora:
The dramatic model adopted by Sri. Aurobindo for his plays was inspired by
Stephen Philips and Robert Bridges, the late 19th century Victorian poets who wrote
blank verse dramas in the manner of the Elizabethans. (Gowda Anniah H.H, 13).
The play The Viziers of Bassora has five Acts divided in to 26 scenes written in
blank verse.
Mohamad bin Suleyman of Zayni is the cousin of Haroun al Rasheed, the Capliph
of Bagdad. He has two viziers, Al-fazzal Ibn Sawy and Almuene bin Khakan. The people
of Bassora know Alfazzal as a noble and kind vizier and Almuene as wicked and cruel.
Alfazzal’s family consists of his wife Ameena, his niece Doonya and his son Nureddene.
He leads a happy family life. Almuene’s family consists of his wife Khatoon and his
hunchback son Fareed. Once Fareed visits the slave market. He sees there a slave girl
named, Anice al- Jalice and decides to buy her. He and his father try to lift her from the
market forcibly. Just at that moment Alfazzal enters the market. He offers a suitable price
for the slave girl and buys her for the King’s harlem. He brings the girl to his house and
asks his wife to keep her away from the prying eyes of Nureddene.
IBN SAWY
Come forward, child. Here is a slave girl, Ameena, I’ve bought
For our great Sultan. Keep her from your son,
Your scapegrace son. My life upon it, dame!
If he touches her, I’m gone (587).
Doonya, his niece, cleverly manages to let Nureddene see Anice. Nureddene falls
in love with her at first sight. Alfazzal comes to know of this love and permits them to be
united in holy wedlock. Doonya is married to Murad, a Turk Captain of police in
Bassora. Alfazzal then leaves for ‘Roum’ under the orders of Haroun al Rasheed, the
Caliph, to have talks on behalf of the Caliph with the emperor of ‘Roum’ (Rome). In his
absence Almuene reports that Alfazzal had got his son married to Anice al-Jalice, a slave
girl bought for the King’s Harlem. He attempts to ruin Al-fazzal and his family by
misrepresenting the facts to the King and succeeds to a great extent in his attempts;
orders are given to arrest Nureddene and Anice. But before the order could be executed,
with the help of Ajebe, Almuene’s nephew, they flee away to Bagdad. In their absence
Fareed tries to kidnap Doonya but in the ensuing brawl he is killed by Murad. In Baghdad

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Nureddene and Anice chance to enter the pleasure garden of Haroun al Rasheed. Shaikh
Ibrahim is the superintendent of this garden. He is ensnared by Anice’s beauty and lets
the pair celebrate their presence in the pleasure garden of the Caliph. Her song and face
draw the attention of the Caliph, who disguises himself as a fisherman and rushes to the
garden. He meets them and is very much impressed by them. He promises to help them.
Nureddene, with a letter from him to the King of Bassora, leaves for Bassora. Anice is
left in his care.
HAROUN AL RASHEED
Thou art-bewildered. Rise! I am the Caliph rise!
Men call the just. Thou art as safe with me
As my own daughter. I have sent thy lord
To be a King in Bassora, and thee
I will send after him with precious robes,
Fair slave-girls, noble gifts. Possess thy heart
Once more, be glad. (705)
In Bassora, Almuene’s wickedness acts quickly and Nureddene is arrested and put
on the scaffold. But at the same time, the army of the Caliph enters the city in the nick of
time to save Nureddene’s life. King al-Zayni and vizier are punished. Nureddene is made
the King of Bassora and is united with Anice, his father mother and Doonya.
HAROUN AL RASHEED
Fair children worthy of each other’s love
And beauty! till the sunderer comes who parts
All wedded hands, take your delights on earth,
And afterwards in heaven. Meanwhile remember
That life is grave and earnest under its smiles,
And we too with a wary gaiety
Should walk its roads, praying that it we stumble,
The All- merciful may bear our footing up
In his strong hand, showing the father’s face
And not the stern and dreadful Judge. Farewell.
I go to Roman wars. With you the peace! (735)

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2.2.4 Dramatic Techniques in the Play The Viziers of Bassora:
2.2.4.1 Setting in the Play The Viziers of Bassora:
As far as the setting of the play is concerned, the tale is set in Bassora and
Baghdad. Most of the setting of the play in the first three acts takes place in Bassora. And
in Act IV, the focus shifts to Baghdad.
2.2.4.2 Characters in the Play The Viziers of Bassora.
The characters in Sri.Aurobindo’s play are admirably brought to life. The
character sketches of heroes and heroines are endowed with the reality of life which
makes them interesting figures.
The various characters created by Sri. Aurobindo include to be recognized as
symbolic and natural characters, typed and representative characters and flat and round or
two dimensional and three dimensional characters. (J.L. Stylan, 54-70).
In the play The Viziers of Bassora , there are 25 characters. Among them 15
characters are important one. Out of the fifteen, eight characters are flat characters. They
are Almuene, Alzayni, Haroun al- Rasheed, Murad, Fareed, Ameena, Khatoon and Ibn
Sawy. Nureddene is round character. Besides these major characters are Sunjar, Salar,
Muazzim, Aziz, Abdullah, Jaafer, Mesrour and Ali possessing moral qualities.
2.2.4.3 Symbolism in The Viziers of Bassora:
Symbolism is a dominant trait in a seer writer of Sri.Aurobindo’s stature. Through
symbols, he conveys the sublime, ethereal thoughts in concrete images. He expresses the
infinite through finite symbols, being strongly influenced by the symbolism of the Vedas,
Sri. Aurobindo’s symbols can be categorized under different headings.
Fate is symbolic of divinity that acts through natural phenomena by causing
conflict with evil and overcoming it. In The Viziers of Bassora, nature’s mysterious
power is variously interpreted. Almuene believes that “nature is your grand imperialist”
(Sri. Aurobindo, Collected Plays, 573).
As he is in awe of its external aspects, while Mymoona seems aware of its internal
presence.
There’s a rhythm
Will shatter hardest stone; each thing in nature.
Has its own point where it has done with patience
And starts in pieces; below that point play on it;

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 Nor over pitch the music (Sri.Aurobindo, Collected Plays, 647).
In Act IV, colourful nature imagery symbolises a growing consciousness and
awareness of the spirit in nature: “A spring walks here in blossoms / And strews the
pictured ground” (672). A sense of beauty and delight in nature symbolizes spiritual
expansion.
How green these gardens
Look at these violets
Dark blue like burning sulpher!
And mid these fair pink budded orange blossoms
Rare glints of fruit. (672)
In the play the din of the slave market and commercial bickerings create an
atmosphere of a materialistic and barbaric society. Weary of earthly strife, Anice Aljalice
breaks in to a song whose words explicitly conveys her divine aspirations “… Till we
with mutual adoration / And holy earth defeating passion / Do really grow divine” (690).
Anice’s acceptance of pain and grief shows surrender to God’s will as she sings.
Heart of mine, o heart impatient
Thou must learn to wait and weep
Wherefore wouldst thou go o beating
When I bade thee hush and sleep?
Thou who were of life so fain,
Didst thou know not, life was pain? (698).
The play The Viziers of Bassora symbolizes a step in social evolution from a
gross, materialistic society towards chastened, enlightened individuals who overcome
evil in their march forward. The protagonist, Nureddene, wearies of his vital physical
existence and aspires for the fairyland beyond. His faith in God and the love and beauty
of Anice Aljalice together strengthen his evolutionary ascent. Music and song symbolise
divine promptings. Indeed Anice has a premonition. “some day and meet the Caliph in
the streets … Disguised …”
The most potent symbol used in Sri. Aurobindo’s plays is ‘light’. In The Viziers of
Bassora ,the lighting of lamps in the pavillion of pleasure indicates the strengthening of
the soul consciousness in Nureddene and Anice.

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 Anice –Aljalice, a slave girl, is repository of immense beauty and knowledge. she
is a ‘sea of laughter’ symbolising delight in existence, inspite of being in bondage. Her
beauty, joy and knowledge when energised by love, become a potent instrument of
transformation and enlightenment. Anice Aljalice as a slave bound by the chain of fate.
In The Viziers of Bassora , nature imagery symbolises delight in existence at a
physical vital level.

2.2.4.4 Imagery in The Viziers of Bassora:

In case of Sri.Aurobindo’s plays, it may here be pointed out that imagery used in
his plays can be put under different headings such as 1) Religious 2) Nature 3)
Mythological or Classical 4) Celestial 5) Domestic 6) Fine Arts and so on. Of these the
religious imagery dominates all his plays.
In the play, The Viziers of Bassora references to religious imagery are made
twenty one times. A few of them are quoted below,
God’s great stamp
And heavenly image on his mint’s defaced (8)
O Allah, if it be at all Thy will (69)
Bow to the will of God, my son; (191).
In his plays Sri. Aurobindo made abundant use of religious imagery in support to
the idea that there are superhuman powers that control and direct the destiny of man. This
idea is again reinforced by the following direct statements such as,
Life is my own again and all I love.
Great are by thy mercies, O omnipotent!
In the play, The Viziers of Bassora, season images comprise chiefly spring and
summer season.
All spring walks here in blossoms
And strews the pictured ground. (127).
A sudden and pleasing change of atmosphere marks the beginning of the fourth act
which has for its scene the pleasure garden of Caliph’s palace. This act is extraordinary
bright and colourful. Bright and charming nature images appear in clusters:
And flowers! the flowers! look at these violets
Dark blue like burning sulpher! oh, rose and myrtle

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 And gilliflower and lavender; anemones,
As red as blood! All spring walks here in blossoms
And strews the pictured ground.(127)
And
That was a blackbird whistled.
How the doves moan! It’s full of cooing turtles
Oh see, the tawny bulbuls calling sweetly
And winging! What a flutter of scarlet tails!
If it were dark, a thousand nightingales
Would surely sing together.How glad I am
That we were driven out of Bassora,(127).
It is observed, in the play the references to the forces of nature such as tempest,
lightning, thunder, etc, such as
Go friend, I follow
As swift as thunder presses on the lightning (185)
Mythological or classical references are also found in abundance in the plays of
Sri.Aurobindo. In the play, The Viziers of Bassora, they are Ogre, Ghaneem, Ayoob, Zeb.
In Sri.Aurobindo’s plays imagery serves three main purposes 1) Characterisation
2) Meaning of the play 3) Evocation of atmosphere. In case of the playwright,
Sri.Aurobindo, it is interesting to note that for each important character in
Sri.Aurobindo’s plays there is one prinicipal or central image, which may be called ‘the
key image’ for that particular character.
In the play, the noble vizier is a man made in ‘God’s image’ while the wicked
vizier is a ‘brutish amalgam of gorilla and Barbary ape! Whereas Nureddene is a
‘handsome roisterer’ which Fareed is a ‘half devil?’
The true nature of a character like Almuene is revealed through the images he uses
in his dialogues. In the dialogues of such characters it is seen a recurrent use of animal
imagery comprising generally snakes, dogs, bitch and tiger etc.
Almuene:
I know you, dog! when my back’s turned, you bark
But whine before me.

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 In the play, the theme of the clash between the forces of good and evil, represented
by the two viziers is illustrated through a set of contrasting images. Animal, infernal and
disease images (evil characters are called gorillas, apes, dogs, baboons, kites, vultures,
goblins, satan and evil is compared with leprosy) are used to represent the evil forces and
images from celestial phenomena, jewellery, music, sunbeams, smiles and laughter are
used to represent the noble characters and benevolent forces. The play has very rightly
the pre dominance of bright and colourful imagery. (A. K. Sinha, 29-49)
2.2.4.5 Other Aspects in the Play:
The other aspects of the drama present in Sri. Aurobindo’s plays are song and
music , humour , metre, diction and style ; and Imaginative background in the form of
setting and atmosphere. Sri.Aurobindo’s handling of these elements is modelled on
Shakespeare and other Elizabethans and the late Victorian playwrights.
2.2.4.5.1 Music and Songs -There are eight songs in the play, The Viziers of Bassora. -
Four of them are serious and the rest are humorous and satirical. All the eight songs are
sung to accompaniment. Five of them are sung by Anice, two by Shaikh Ibrahim and one
by Nureddene. The first song is sung by Anice in order to divert Nureddene after his folly
of extravagance. Like the other serious songs of Anice, this too serves as a warning to
Nureddene and is appropriate to the situation. Anice wants to suggest in it that love can
properly develop only in an atmosphere of joy and laughter; sorrow and tears are not
conductive to it. Therefore human beings, through their follies like anger shouldnot
create ‘tears and sorrow’ for love. If love is thwarted by folly it will be lost to man. Then
no amount of grief over it loss can regain it. If, on the other hand, there is ‘mutual
adoration’ between lovers, love can be happy and satisfying to them. And this is
suggested in another song by Anice in Act IV, Scene 3 as
ANICE - ALJALICE
King of my heart, wilt thou adore me,
Call me goddess, call me thine?
I too will bow myself before thee
As in a shrine,
Till we with mutual adoration
And holy earth defeating passion
Do really grow divine. (690)

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 The song of Anice in Act IV, Scene 4 has a different strain as life is full of pain ;
in it a lover’s longing is for love is hardly ever fulfilled ; it is better,therefore to suppress
love and learn to wait and weep. This may be said to express the inner feelings of Anice
caused by her experiences at the time, as
ANICE - ALJALICE
Heart of mine,o heart impatient,
Thou must learn to wait and weep.
Wherefore wouldst thou go on beating
When I bade thee hush and sleep?
Thou who wert of life so fain,
Didst thou know not, life was pain? (698)
The most meaningful and effective of the songs is the last one in Act V Scene5
ANICE - ALJALICE
The Emperor of Roum is great;
The Caliph has a mighty state;
But one is greater, to whom all prayers take wing;
And I,a poor and weeping slave,
When the world rises from its grave,
Shall stand up the accuser of my King.(721)
By this song Anice wants to remind the Caliph of his failure to keep his promise.
It explains the religious moral that man should be aware of the justice of God and mould
his behaviour accordingly.
The humorous songs in The Viziers of Bassora are also appropriate to the
occasion. The first of these, sung by Nureddene in Act IV, Scene 2, exposes the
hypocrisy of Shaikh Ibrahim. But Nureddene is not so good at music and poetry as Anice.
The next humorous song byAnice proves this. In it Anice, like Nureddene satirises
Shaikh Ibrahim.
ANICE - ALJALICE
White as winter is my beard,
All my face with wrinkles weird,
Yet I drink.
Hell-fire? judgement? who’s afraid?

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 As soon as think.(686)
2.2.4.5.2 Humour:
In the play The Viziers of Bassora the theme of comedy runs parallel to the theme
of love. Therefore wit, humour and satire as much the essence of the play as is romance.
The Moslem home and the Moslem society give ample scope for fun laughter and
merriment. Especially a Moslem family like that of Ibn Sawy makes humour possible and
enjoyable. All scenes in which Doonya features are an example of homely humour. Act
IV is exclusively devoted to hilarious laughter created by Ibrahim, Kareem, Nureddene,
Anice, the Caliph and Jaafar. The male characters in the play as Nureddene, Haroun and
Kareem are endowed with enough gift of humour and wit. But the women characters-
Doonya and Anice-excel the men in wit. Doonya in the first two Acts and Anice and
Haroun in Act IV play mischievous practical jokes, besides the hypocrite Ibrahim who
creates fantastic humour. The spirit of comedy is present in the scenes featuring Ibn Sawy
and Nureddene in Act II: they rehearse ‘the old comedy of the tyrant father and his
graceless son.
In the sub plot, it is found in the portrayal of Balkis and Ajebe. It is also found in
the scene between Haroun al Rasheed and his drunken gardener.
2.2.4.5.3 Diction:
In metre, diction, imagery, style and use of prose too Sri.Aurobindo follows
William Shakespeare and other Elizabethan playwrights through his British
contemporaries of the late Victorian era.
Sri.Aurobindo follows the later Victorian style also in the use of prose in the play,
The Viziers of Bassora. It begins with prose dialogues between Murad and Sunjar. Verse
enters with Ibn Sawy’s soliloquy. Prose is again used in Act I, Scene 3 Act II Scene 3,
Act III Scenes 1,2,3 and 5, Act IV Scenes 1,2,3 and 4 and Act V Scenes 4,5. In all these
cases its use is appropriate. As in Shakespeare, prose in Sri. Aurobindo’s plays is used
mostly in ordinary,business like conversation and in the dialogues for characters from
low life (such as Harkoos, Kareem, Shaikh Ibrahim.) This testifies to Sri.Aurobindo’s
knowledge of the dramatic value of Shakespeare’s use of prose and verse which Philips
also had. (H.H.Anniah Gowda,29).
Thus, Sri.Aurobindo is particular about the diction appropriate to the culture and
atmosphere of his story. In making use of 1) Words of abuse such as ‘gorilla’, ‘Barbary

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ape’, ‘baboon’ ‘dog,’ ‘black angel’ 2) Words of greeting such as ‘the peace’ or ‘peace’
3) Phrases and expressions evoking the spirit of Islam and in retaining in the title the
Arabic word Vizier for minister, he shows his awareness of the importance of the proper
atmosphere created through diction. Due to that the play, The Viziers of Bassora
becomes a play that is a delight to read (K.R.S. Iyengar, 192). ‘an enjoyable dramatic
romance’ (Nandkumar Prema, 163).
2.2.4.5.4 Setting and Atmosphere:
The play, The Viziers of Bassora is remarkable for the setting and atmosphere. It
possesses the rich, impressive and spectacular orient as its scene of action. The
playwright’s admiration for the medieval Moslem culture and civilization enables him to
create the legendary atmosphere of Haroun al Rasheed’s Baghdad and Bassora.
Especially, the fabled gardens and pavilions of pleasure situated in the Caliph’s capital
(Act IV, Scenes 1, 2) cast a spell on the audience. The atmosphere of the fairyland is also
created in evocative descriptions such as Nureddene’s account of his romatic dream
world (Act II, Scene 2) where, indeed, is ‘a phantasmagoria’ in which King and Prince
meet fisher and pauper and paupers inherit, for a brief space, the very palace and pavilion
of the King.
2.2.4.5.5 Dramatic Structure of the Play The Viziers of Bassora:
In case of the structure of the plays, Sri.Aurobindo follows Elizabethans and
Greek conventions of drama. The dramatic model Sri.Aurobindo chose to adopt in his
plays was inspired by Stephen Philips and Robert Bridges, the late 19th century Victorian
poets ‘who wrote blank verse dramas in the manner of the Elizabethans’. (H.H.Anniah
Gowda, 13).
In respect of the various elements of the plot, the plot has 1) the Exposition, i.e.
the establishment of the situation within which the conflict develops. 2) The Initial
Action, i.e. the event which brings the opposing forces in to conflict follows the
Exposition. It also acts as a challenge. 3) The Rising Action, i.e. the seperate event which
advance the conflict to its crucial point at which the protagonist in the conflict takes,
consciously or unconsciously, the action which determines the future course of the
conflict sometimes called Complication. This Rising Action in Sri.Aurobindo’s plays
consists of the action taken by the protagonist and by the forces against him. 4) The
Falling Action also described as the Climax or turning point, this element of the plot

50
comprises the event that determines how the conflict will end, favourably or
unfavourably for the protagonist. Out of all this emerges 5) The Denouement or
conclusion, i.e. the incidents or episodes in which the conflict called forth by the
initiating action is irremediably resolved. This last element of the five fold structure of
the plot is also called as Catastrophe. As a result of carefully selected incidents and
situations, the real plot in his plays begins with the opening of the conflict. With the
conclusion of the conflict the plot of each of Sri.Aurobindo’s plays ends.
Conflict is introduced in the play The Viziers of Bassora at the very outset first by
bringing out in the opening scene the moral contrast between Almuene and Ibn Sawy
through Murad and Sunjar and then by presenting Almuene’s antagonism to Murad, the
playwright makes the audience aware of the fact that the clash between Good and Evil is
soon to commence through their respective agents named and presented in the scene.
Scene 1 and Scene 3 of Act I may be said to constitute ‘the Initial Action.’ They bring the
opposite forces in to conflict. Act I, as a whole can be considered as the Exposition i.e.the
establishment of the situation within which the conflict develops. All the important
characters except Haroun Al Rasheed are introduced in it along with the atmosphere
necessary for the tone and philosophy of the play. Whereas the four scenes in Act II,
satisfy the requirements of ‘the Rising Action’ Incidents presented in it advance the
conflict between Almuene and Ibn Sawy through Nureddene and Fareed. The
complications which develop in the action here lead the conflict to its crucial point in Act
III. The overindulgent attitude of the two viziers is responsible as much for the Rising
Action in Act II as for the Crisis in Act III.
Six scenes of Act III, turn out to be the direct outcome of the action Nureddene
takes. The action determines the future course of the conflict. A notable feature of the
Crisis in The Viziers of Bassora is that it is inevitably brought about by characters that are
in apparent playfulness about what they are doing. All the four scenes of Act IV take
place at Baghdad in the midst of new characters with the Caliph at the centre. Thus Act
IV constitutes the Falling Action comprising incidents in which the forces of Good give
clear indications of emerging victorious. Act V of the play is a befitting instance of the
Denouement or conclusion. In the course of its seven scenes the conflict called forth by
the initiating action.

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 Sri.Aurobindo, introduces sub-plots in the main plot. In the very first Act (Scene
3) of the play, he introduces the sub-plot dealing with Balkis, Mymoona and Ajebe. He
develops it until Act III, Scene 3 in which it merges with the main plot. Barely two
scenes after that the playwright introduces in Scene 6 the second sub-plot, the one which
deals with Alzayni, the King of Bassora and his plot against Haroun al Rasheed. Another
sub-plot gets introduced in Act IV: The story of Shaikh Ibrahim the hypocrite, Kareem
the fisherman, Haroun al Rasheed, Jaafer and Mesrour.
2.3 Perseus the Deliverer:
Perseus the Deliverer is the only play of Sri.Aurobindo to appear in his life time.
It was originally serialized in the weekly Bandemataram, serially from June 30, 1907 to
October 13,1907, in the book form in 1942, with the exception of two scenes (Act II,
Scene 2 and 9). These scenes were later found and incorporated in the edition published
in 1955. It is a five act play based on Elizabethan model written in blank verse,
reminding the influences of Kalidasa’s romantic comedy.
2.3.1 The Source of the Play:
The play is actually based on a legend from Greek mythology associated with
Perseus and Andromeda which had already found dramatic expressions in Sophocles,
Euripides, Ovid, Corneille and Charles Kingsley’s poem, Andromeda. But the ancient
legend has been divested of its original character of a heroic myth, it is made the nucleus
round which there could grow the scenes of a romantic tale of human temperament and
life impulses on the Elizabethan model’ (Sri.Aurobindo, 1).
Concerning with the source story of the play, following is the legend of Perseus as
summarized by the dramatist himself in the preface of the play:
ACRISIUS, the Argive King, warned by an oracle that his daughter’s son would
be the agent of his death, hoped to escape his doom by shutting her up in a brazen
tower. But Zeus, the King of Gods, descended into her prison in a shower of gold
and Danae bore to him a son named Perseus. Danae and her child were exposed in
a boat without sail or oar on the sea, but here too fate and the gods intervened and,
guided by a divine protection, the boat bore her safely to the Island of Seriphos.
There Danae was received and honoured by the King. When Perseus had grown to
manhood the King, wishing to marry Danae, decided to send him to his death and
to that end ordered him to slay the Gorgon, Medusa in the wild, unknown and

52
 snowy North and bring to him her head the sight of which turned men to stone.
Perseus, aided by Athene, the goddess of wisdom, who gave him and divine
sword Herpe, winged shoes to bear him through the air, her shield or aegis and the
cap of invisibility, succeeded in his quest after many adventures. In his returning
he came to Syria and found Princess Andromeda, daughter of Cepheus and
Cassiopea, chained to the rocks by the people to be devoured by a sea-monster as
atonement for her mother’s impiety against the sea god, Poseidon. Perseus slew
the monster and rescued and wedded Andromeda. (Perseus the Deliverer, 1).
2.3.2 Changes in the Story of Perseus the Deliverer:
When Sri. Aurobindo chose the Perseus Andromeda myth for his play, he wanted
to weave it a new meaning, make it a vehicle for his philosophy and give it an immediacy
of purpose. Prof. Iyengar rightly says, ‘Kingsley wished to give Andromeda myth a
modern-atleast a Victorian – habitation and name’, but he failed, Sri. Aurobindo
succeeded where Kingsley had failed. As prof. Iyengar says:
It was left to Sri.Aurobindo to offer the modern world a vivid new
rendering of the old myth, retaining all its gold beauty and poetry and sense
of mystery, but all served up with a modern flavour and relevance and
urgeney.(170)
After Sophocles, Euripides, Ovid, Corneille and Kingsley, Sri. Aurobindo’s
treatment of this theme is not a mere re-writing of the old myth, but a fresh rendering
with new meanings and bearings.
The following minor changes have been made in the play from the original myth :
1. Location in the myth is Ethiopia; but in Perseus, the Deliverer it is changed to
Syria.
2. In the myth, Andromeda is chained to the rocks by the people to be devoured by a
sea-monster as atonement for her mother’s impiety against the sea god, Poseidon.
In the play she opposes the crude and evil religion which calls upon human
sacrifice to gods. So she is punished due to her opposition to ‘the dire cult’ and to
the god who eats the flesh of men.
3. Phineus is Andromeda’s uncle in the myth. He loves his niece and plots with
Cassiopea to kill Perseus after she has been rescued. In the play Phineus is the
King of Tyre, betrothed to Andromeda.

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 4. Cassiopea in the myth is against Perseus and works with Phineus to kill him. But
in the play she stands for Perseus as do Iolaus and Andromeda.
5. In the myth Perseus is attracted to Andromeda because of her rare physical charm.
In the play he falls in love with her because of her spiritual qualities.
6. In the myth ,where Perseus is the son of Zeus and Danae, Perseus in the play is
revealed as a protégé of Pallas Athene, who inspires him, strengthens him and lifts
him out of the common Greek strongman into a half divine entity. Aided by
Athene, Perseus oversteps his human limits to reach the heights of godliness –
godliness in stature and personality.
The Greek story has undergone some other changes, which are of greater
significance in the play.
7. In Greek legend, Andromeda is a passive figure, a patient sufferer whereas
Andromeda in Sri. Aurobindo’s play is full of individuality loving, compassionate,
bold, and self-sacrificing.
In short, in Perseus the Deliverer the myth is made a vehicle for Sri.Aurobindo’s
evolutionary philosophy.
2.3.3 An Outline of the Play Perseus the Deliverer:
Pallas Athene asks Poseidon, the evil sea god, to yield to her his powers, on his
refusal she challenges him to send his champion to fight with Perseus, her champion.
Perseus is Pallas Athene’s devotee and son of Danae and Zeus. He is gifted with the
divine sword, Herpe, Winged shoes and Gorgon’s head. While crossing the Syrian sea on
his winged shoes he sees a Babylonian merchantship being shipwrecked on its tumultuos
waves. He descends and saves two drawning merchants, Smerdas and Tyranus, and
brings them safe to the coast of Syria. On the coast he is challenged by Iolaus, the Syrian
prince, Phineus, the King of Tyre and Polydaon, the priest of the sea-god, Poseidon. They
seize the two merchants and try to capture Perseus as well. But they fail to resist the
powers of Perseus and flee away with the captive merchants. Iolaus doesnot run away
and he becomes Perseus’ friend. On the other hand, the two captive merchants are
brought to the temple of Poseidon by Polydaon and his band. They are tied and left to
await their death for they are soon to be sacrificed on the altar of Poseidon.
In the meantime Perseus accompanied with Iolaus, reaches the place where they
free Tyranus but leaves Smerdas bound as before because of his selfishness and greed.

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Just a little afterwards Andromeda, the sister of Iolaus, reaches the same place. She feels
compassion for him despite his selfishness and greed and frees him. Polydaon, inspired
by the excessively superstitious nature of the Syrians, conspires to seize the Syrian crown
for himself. Phineus, the Tyrian King joins hands with him in this conspiracy. The act of
setting free the prisoners of Poseidon by Andromeda and Perseus, comes to them as a
most opportune and handy tool to incite the people of Syria, who are very much afraid of
the sea-god against their King.
POLYDAON O terrible Poseidon,
Thyself avenge thyself hurl on this people
The sea and the Assyrian. Where is the power
Thou said st should tarry with me? I have failed.
Tomorrow, Syrian? tomorrow is Poseidons.(114).
In this conspiracy they are also helped by Therops, a popular Syrian leader and an
opportunist and Dercetes, a Syrian captain. Led by these conspirators the Syrian people
surround the King’s palace and humiliate the royal personages beyond limits. Iolaus and
Andromeda are arrested. Andromeda is bound and left on a rock projecting over the sea
as a sacrifice to Poseidon in order to propitiate his anger and Iolaus is to be executed at
his altar for his support to Perseus. Polydaon announces his intention to be the King
himself. Just at this juncture Perseus reappears on the sea, challenges the sea-god to a
fight, fights with him and kills him. He, then, unchains Andromeda and along with her
appears before Polydaon. His sudden appearance with a freed Andromeda, gives
Polydaon a sudden jolt of surprise and fear. Perseus speaks of himself and his great deeds
before the Syrian people. He tells them that he has killed the dreaded Poseidon and that
he intends to restore the crown of Syria to its rightful owner and he does so as nobody
comes forward to resist him. Therops and Dercetes once again become loyal to the King.
Polydaon loses his courage, faints and soon dies. Preparations are set a foot to celebrate
the victory of Perseus in the palace of Cepheus. All assemble there in great joy and mirth.
Suddenly Phineus, along with his soldiers forces his entry in the court. He asks Cepheus
to hand Andromeda over to him. Perseus then challenges him to fight and with the help
of Gorgon’s head turns him and his soldiers in to stone statues. With the petrification of
Phineus the process of annihilation of the forces of evil is complete and the play ends.

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2.3.4 Dramatic Techniques in the Play Perseus the Deliverer:
2.3.4.1 Setting in the Play Perseus the Deliverer:
The play is set in the city of Cepheus, who is the King of Syria, the seashore, the
temple of Poseidon on the headland and the surrounding country.
2.3.4.2 Characters in the Play Perseus the Deliverer:
In the play, Perseus the Deliverer, there are 28 characters. Out of 28 characters, 13
characters are major one. Among these major characters, 9 characters are flat one. They
are Athene, Poseidon, Perseus, Iolaus, Phineus, Cassiopea, Cydone, Diomede and
Polydaon. Athene is the most symbolic flat character whereas Poseidon is supernatural
character. Perseus belongs to semi supernatural character whereas Andromeda and
Cepheus are the round characters.
2.3.4.3 Symbolism in Perseus the Deliverer:
Symbolism in Perseus the Deliverer runs along two parallel themes: deliverance
from captivity and man’s evolutionary destiny. The former symbolises the deliverance of
India from foreign rule, it also symbolises man’s spiritual growth from his self to rise and
manifest in the higher divine. Sri.Aurobindo’s interest in India’s independence was all-
consuming. It was not merely academic but dynamic: ‘It was an intense flame that
touched many hearts and set them ablaze’. (A.B. Purani, 31).
In the play Perseus the Deliverer, Andromeda symbolises the enslaved but
spiritually potent mother India whom Perseus delivers from captivity. Andromeda also
symbolises earthly readiness, reaching out to meet divine descent in the form of Perseus:
“A man, a vision, a brightness who descended / That the blue heavens just created him /
out of the sunlight,” (Sri. Aurobindo, 16) Andromeda symbolises mother India in all her
pristine glory. While power of the Devas is represented by Athene, fire symbolises a
divine device: “Fire is my servant,” Athene proclaims her purpose to Poseidon, he
disdains it by saying, “Man’s feeble feet / Leave there no traces, nor his destiny / Has any
hold upon the shifting waves,” this symbolises powers symbolised by waves and thunder.
Poseidon symbolises external evil that exploits our weaknesses (like foreign
rules): “They trample onwards” (Sri.Aurobindo, 8). Poseidon threatens Athene, and
advises “Return into thy heavens / Pallas Athene, I in to my deep.” (9) Heavens
symbolise the higher consciousness just as the Deep symbolises baser instincts. The
Syrian King Cepheus symbolises moderate Congressman who pursued the policy of

56
appeasement, just as King Cepheus believes in pacifying Poseidon. The Syrians
symbolize the Indians enslaved by the foreign rule.
In the play Perseus the Deliverer the two survivors, Smerdas and Tyranus are
thrown on to the Syrian shores. Confused and groping, they are reminiscent of the
confused Indian masses. Of the two, Smerdas symbolises all that is materialistic and
opportunistic. He laments intensely for the loss of his “dear treasure” (17). Perseus saved
their life and cautions him that he lives in the bondage of materialism: “Thou livest, but
in chains, Smerdas,” (86), whereas the second survivor Tyranus symbolises the
slumbering spirit of the nation, waiting to be awakened. His utterances bring a message
of hope and revival. “… If riches are lost, the body, thy strong instrument / To gather
riches, is not lost, nor mind / The provident director of its labour.” (17) Courage,
optimism and faith symbolised by the Queen Cassiopea:
“A screened necessity drives even the Gods;
Over human lives it strides to unseen ends;
Our tragic failures are its slepping stones”. (133)
The Syrians symbolize the enslaved Indian. Cassiopea had warned that:
The People’s love
Is glimmer on quicksands in a gliding sea;
Today they are with thee, tomorrow turn elsewhere.
Wisdom, strength, policy alone are sure. (134)
In one of the scenes of the play Andromeda is chained.The helpless misery of
Andromeda in chains, waiting to be devoured by sea-monsters. It was akin to the pathetic
plight of India with demons sitting on her breast and sucking life blood. Symbolically,
Sri.Aurobindo shows how British rulers perpetuated cruelty and injustice on the suffering
millions of India. Freedom fighters were declared criminals, subjected to torture and
sentenced to death very much like Andromeda, Where as Cydone, Iolaus’ beloved who
has throughout been a symbol of hope, faith and optimism comes to assure Andromeda of
her release.
The symbolism of an oppressed nation and the duty of each citizen is conveyed
effectively by Therops when he sums up:
Death for one’s King
Only less noble is than for one’s country.

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 Their foreign soldier taught us that home lesson. (186)
Through Perseus Sri.Aurobindo conveys his message:
“Perseus: Adore and what you adore attempt to be.” (200)
Thus, Perseus the Deliverer is an allegorical play. The main characters in the play
- Athene, Poseidon, Andromeda, Phineus stand for certain ideas. Poseidon stands for ‘a
state of crude and evil religion based on fear and division’ – and Athene for a refined and
enlightened religion based on love and compassion. Andromeda represents Christian love
for the suffering humanity and is an embodiment of compassion. Phineus represents gross
materialism: he is a representative of all those who think that the world runs without the
intervention of the divine principle. But these characters symbolise other ideas also.
Athene can be said to symbolise the triumph of intellectualism, i.e. of the scientific spirit,
over the untamed forces of Nature represented by Poseidon. Athene can be said to
represent the angelic powers that raise man to divinity and Poseidon and his monsters
may signify man’s animal impulses and desires which spell disaster and ruin. These
monsters perhaps also represent the desires and passions which are buried in the
unconscious and against whose resurgence man is never safe. It is through these symbols
that the meaning of the play is conveyed.
2.3.4.4 Imagery in Perseus the Deliverer:
In the play, Perseus the Deliverer references to religious imagery made.There are
102 references to the Gods or fate almost on every page of the play there are religious
images. For instance,
Where is my sungod? (Perseus the Deliverer, 31)
I want my sungod (31)
Whose face is like the grand Olympian Zeus (31)
And him she calls her sungod. (31)
The great gods that visit earth … (31)
My sungod served them, (31)
They must be bound
On the god’s altar … (31)
Like Shakespeare’s plays Sri. Aurobindo’s plays also make abundant use of
religious imagery in support of the idea that there are superhuman powers that control

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and direct the destiny of man. This idea is again reinforced by the following direct
statement:
All this I have done, and yet not I, but one greater.
Such is Athene’s might and theirs who serve her.
Sri.Aurobindo’s bird imagery comprises eagles, hawks, crows, doves, swans and
peacocks. Good characters are almost compared to lions and eagles.
How like a sudden eagle he has swooped
Upon the terror (117)
His landscape chiefly depicts the simple and pure village life.
Homes of delightful laughter, if you have streams
Where chattering girls dip in their pitchers cool.
And dabble their white feet in the chill lapse
Of waters, trees and green mantled earth,
Cicales noisy in a million boughs
Or happy cheep of common birds … (14)
The flower imagery comprises rose, lily and jasmine mainly:
My little wind tossed rose Andromeda! (31)
Gorgon’s cavern, Gorgon’s head such mythological or classical references are
found in the play. Celestial imagery is constantly used in the plays of Sri. Aurobindo. Of
these references to the sun, the moon, stars and heaven are found in abundance. Almost
all the heroes are compared with the sun or possess sunlike qualities. Thus Perseus is a
sungod, whereas in the play, the central image delineating the character of Perseus is that
of a ‘bright god.’
My sun was a bright god and bore a flaming sword
To kill all monsters. (25)
Perseus indeed is‘a bright god’ who stands against the forces of ‘that elder world’
to which Poseidon and Polydaon belong and he kills all monsters symbolising
superstitions and dark religion and establishes the realm of humanism on earth.
Andromeda’s character is similarly depicted through the image of a divinity, human and
merciful:
O human merciful divinity,
Where thou wert born, pure eyed Andromeda,

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 There shall be some divine epiphany
Of calm sweet hearted pity for the world (68)
Elements of divine mercy and compassion are the central features of Andromeda’s
characters and these are best delineated through the image of ‘human merciful divinity’
used for her, whereas Polydaon is described as a priest of death.
This ‘priest of death’ image beautifully sums the different traits of his character and his
ambition, after becoming the King of Syria, to ‘paint Syria gloriously with blood’.
I will paint Syria gloriously with blood.
Hundred shall daily die to incarnadine
The streets of my city and my palace floors,
For I would walk in redness. I’ll plant my gardens
With heads instead of lilacs. Hecatombs
Of men shall groan their hearts out for my pleasure
In crimson rivers.(106)
The images used by the characters in the play reveal their mental make-up. The hero,
Perseus is endowed with unusual imaginative power and poeticality. This feature of his
personality is well-expressed through the language he use. The hero, Perseus, mostly use
metaphorical language full of literary imagery. For instance.
Perseus:
The day shall come when men feel close and one.
Meanwhile one forward step is something gained.
Since little by little earth must open to heaven
Till her dim soul awakes in to the Light.(201)
2.3.4.5 Other Aspects of the Play:
2.3.4.5.1 Songs and Music:
There are only two songs in the play in the same scene (ActII, Scene 3) and both
songs are sung by Cydone.
On his arrival in Syria Perseus points out in Act I, Scene 2 that he is eager to enjoy
the peace and splendour of the Mediterranean countryside. Hence he is presented as ‘the
bright sun’ among ‘willows and the reeds’. Cydone in her song at the opening of the
scene says that,
O what use have your foolish tears?

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 What will you do with your hopes and fears?
They but waste the sweet sunlight.
Look! Morn opens; look how bright
The world appears! (66)
The second song
“Marble body, heart of bliss
Or a stony heart and this,
Which of these two wilt thou crave?
Kissed so warmly and so oft?” (75)
The second song is longer than the first, is also organically connected with the
theme of the play. Cydone sings it at the end of the scene, after her conversation with
Perseus about the Gorgon’s head and the prospect of turning Polydaon ‘to heartless
marble’. It is in the form of a dialogue between a maiden and her lover. The song thus
connects what has been spoken by Perseus and Iolaus with its psychological effect on
Cydone. The song by Cydone deals with a kind of ‘seachange’ that can be wrought by
intense love.
2.3.4.5.2 Humour:
The boisterous humour is found in the play. As in Elizabethan plays, it generally
arises among characters from humble life; it commences with Cireas and Diomede in Act
I, Scene 1, besides being carried on by the two, it is further intensified by Cydone (Act II,
Scene 3, Act IV Scene 2, Act V Scene 1) and Perissus (Act IV Scenes 3 and 5, Act V
Scenes 2 and 3). Laughter created by Cireas and Perissus is particularly remarkable, it
comes in at some of the serious moments and relieves the tension.
2.3.4.5.3 Diction:
The play Perseus the Deliverer is influenced by Shakespeare in the use of prose.
Humbler characters on all occasions and others on less serious occasions employ prose
instead of blank verse. It is used almost throught out Act I Scene 1; in the speech of
Cireas in Act I Scene 2; in the first seventeen speeches in Act I Scene 3 ; in the Speeches
of Cireas in Act III Scene 2; in the speeches of Perissus in Act III Scene 3 and Act V
Scene 2 : and in the speeches of Cireas Iolaus, Cepheus, Perissus and Perseus during the
trial of Smerdas in Act V, Scene3. The play Perseus the Deliverer generally shows
maturity in its employment of blank-verse. On all serious occasions and for all poetic and

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dramatic situations blank verse is employed, irrespective of the status of the characters.
Lengthy-sentences, long declamations, the love for words more than for thought, and
involved constructions are admitted.
2.3.4.5.4 Setting and Atmosphere:
The play Perseus the Deliverer is remarkable for its impressive setting. Bringing
to life the mystic qualities of the person and action of each of the important gods and
heroes of Greek mythology is rivaled by the equally powerful description of the sea and
its fury. Especially, the location of the scenes is remarkable for its wide variety. It
includes the sky and the sea, the rocky margin of land, the audience chamber and the
women’s apartments in the palace, the pastoral setting of the orchard garden by a river
bank, the temple of Poseidon, the countryside near the city, outer court of the palace, the
road to the sea-shore, and the sea-shore itself.
2.3.4.5.5 Dramatic Structure of the Play, Perseus the Deliverer:
The prologue of the play contains only two supernatural characters Pallas Athene
and Poseidon. They speak in blank verse and not in other forms of verse. The conflict
starts from here. The protagonist and the antagonist on this level are Athene and
Poseidon. They decide to resolve their conflict through their respective champions.
Athene chooses Perseus as her champion and Poseidon the sea monster. Though human,
Perseus is the son of a god. He is semi supernatural. Poseidon and the sea monster have
Polydaon, the priest. Athene and Perseus have Andromeda, the princess of Syria. The
primary protagonist, Athene, and her antagonist, Poseidon, figure in the prologue
prominently. The primary protagonist and antagonist inspire and assist their respective
champions. In keeping with this arrangement of the principal characters Sri. Aurobindo
introduces the conflict in Perseus the Deliverer first on the supernatural level. In the
prologue Athene and Poseidon are presented with their antagonism on account of the
latter’s opposition to the destined progress and evolution of man in to a finer being. Their
encounter ends after each agrees to appoint a champion for the resolution of the conflict.
(Poseidon’s champion, the sea monster, is never actually presented on the stage for
obvious reasons).
Act I Scene 1 begins the Exposition. Cireas and Diomede give information about
1) the primitivity of ‘Moloch – Poseidon’ and the hideous practice of human sacrifice, 2)
Polydaon and King Phineus and 3) Princess Andromeda. The hero of the play, Perseus is

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introduced in Act I Scene 2. This scene also presents the Initial Action since in it Perseus
brings himself in conflict with Polydaon and Phineus by rescuing the ship wrecked
merchants. This is the incident in which the conflict between Athene and Poseidon is
transferred to their champions among the mortals. It leads to the Rising Action from the
next scene onwards until the Crisis, in which, unknown to each other, Perseus and
Andromeda decide to release the imprisoned merchants secretly (Act III Scene 2). It also
introduces the sub-plot in which King Phineus and Polydaon are shown as engaged in an
intrigue against the house of King Cepheus. The introduction of Andromeda with her
extraordinary sense of rebellion against the inhuman cult of Poseidon, the complications
created by Polydaon regarding Iolaus and Andromeda’s determination to defy Poseidon
and release his victims carry the Rising Action to the Climax. From Act II Scene 2
onwards the conflict between the higher powers of evolution enters in to the lives of
Andromeda, Iolaus and Perseus. Later it spreads to the whole of Syria. In the case of
Phineus and Polydaon, the conflict is both religious and political. In case of Andromeda
it is based on humanism, and in case of Perseus it is spiritual. In Act II the Exposition
aspect of the play is completed so that action starts rising with the affairs of Iolaus,
Andromeda and Perseus. They grow increasingly complicated now onwards and
necessitate the advance of the Crisis. The first decisive movement of the action towards
the Crisis is made in Act III, Scene 1. In Act III Scene 3 the playwright finds opportunity
to introduce the sub-plot dealing with Cydone and the theme of passionate love between
her and Iolaus. Climax starts in Act III Scene 3 and overflows in to Act IV Scene 1. In
Act IV Scene 3 Sri.Aurobindo introduces a sub plot with a new minor character, Perissus.
This sub-plot is rather violent since it has in it also the opportunist market demagogue,
Therops. The Falling Action starts in Act IV Scenes 3 and 4. The various sub-plots also
merge into the main plot in the course of Act IV. The three scenes in Act V bring about
the Denouement since the conflict called forth by initiating action in Act I Scene 2 is
resolved in them. Besides, the various sub-plots woven around the main plot are taken to
their logical end in Act V Scene 3.
2.4 Vasavadutta:
It is the last full length play by Sri.Aurobindo. It is a delightful dramatic romance
based on a popular Indian legend. The play is written in about 1915, revised in 1916,
published in the book form in 1957. First time in his dramatic career, Sri.Aurobindo took

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his audience with this play to the well familiar Indian settings and a host of Indian
characters in his theatrical world.
2.4.1 The Source of the Play Vasavadutta:
The play in five acts is inspired by the ancient Sanskrit dramatist Bhasa’s well
known play Svapna Vasavadutta. The legend of the play Udayan –Vasavadutta which is
mentioned in Gunadhya’s Brihatkatha,which is available only in the versions of
Somdeva’s Kathasaritsagara. Both Bhasa and Sri.Aurobindo brought significant changes
in the main story in the process of adapting it to their dramatic purposes. A comparative
study of the stories as given in Brihatkatha, Svapna Vasavadutta and Vasavadutta reveals
that Sri.Aurobindo,like Bhasa has given the legend new dimensions. Sri.Aurobindo’s
Vasavadutta, however, is not a translation or adaptation of either of Bhasa’s plays,
Svapna Vasavadattam or Pratijnayougandharayanam which are also based on the same
story in the Katha. Sri.Aurobindo in his treatment of the source story shows freedom and
originality.
Sri.Aurobindo explains the background of the play by stating that the action of the
romance takes place a century after the war of the Mahabharata; the capital has been
changed to Cowsambie; the empire has been temporarily broken and the kingdoms of
India are overshadowed by three powers, Magadha in the East ruled by Chunda
Mahasegn who has subdued also the southern Kings, and Cowsambie in the centre where
Yougundharayan strives by arms to maintain the house of Parikshit against the
dominating power of Avunthie. Recently the young Vuthsa has been invested with the
regal power and appeared in Cowsambie, Chunda Mahasegn, till then invincible has
suffered rude but not decisive reverses. For the moment there is an armed peace between
the two empires. The play shows that Vuthsa in a bold venture puts an end to the enmity
not by merely joining but by ‘Soldering’ the hearts of men, means of by love and not war.
Both Chunda Mahasegn and Yougundharayan have imperial ambitions. In an attempt to
realize his dream, Mahasegn resorts to fraud and gets Vuthsa kidnapped to his capital
Ujjayinie. His intention is to make Vuthsa his vessal after marrying him to his daughter
Vasavadutta. Udayan outwardly gives an impression that he has fallen a prey to
Mahasegn’s lure secretly, however, wins the love of Vasavadutta and escapes from
Ujjayinie with her in order to return to Cowsambie. Munjoolica, the princess of
Sourashtra in captivity at Ujjayinie, and Vicurna, the younger son of Mahasegn, help

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him. Mahasegn is persuaded by his queen Ungarica and prince Gopalaca to recognize the
fact that Vuthsa has paid him in his own coin. As a result, he sends Gopalaca to bring
about reconciliation. Meanwhile Yougundharayan, assisted by Roomunvath, the captain
of Vuthsa’s armies, has managed to get to know from Vuthsa his plans for returning
home and, in obedience to his King’s command moved to Cowsambie armies to the
border of to Avunthie Gopalaca’s timely arrival prevents a war. The story ends happily.
2.4.2 Changes in the Story of Vasavadutta:
Sri.Aurobindo, handles material he borrows in such a way that gives ample
evidence of his creativity. Bhasa improves the folklore on which he is said to have based
his play. Sri.Aurobindo makes many changes in the Kathasaritsagara Version of the
story and moves closer to Bhasa. In other words, if Bhasa’s play is an improvement on
the folklore, Sri.Aurobindo’s play is an improvement on the play of Bhasa.
There are numerous minor changes regarding names of characters, places etc.
Apart from the alteration or omission of some names and their replacement with others,
there are other deviations in the plays more important and meaningful, for instance the
ruse artificial elephant used by Mahasegn in the tale to abduct Udayan. The dramatist
himself mentions in his authorial comments to the play:
The fable is taken from Somadeva’s Kathasaritsagara (the Ocean of the Rivers
of Many Tales) and was a favourite subject of Indian romance and few of the names
have been altered or omitted and others introduced in their place. Vuthsa, the name of the
nation in the tale, is in the play used as personal name of the King Udayan.(Aurobindo,
1971).
2.4.3 An Outline of the Play Vasavadutta:
The play Vasavadutta has five acts divided in to 19 scenes. Vuthsa Udayan is the
young and handsome King of Cowsambie. Chunda Mahasegn is the King of Avunthie
and is the main political rival of Vuthsa Udayan. He has suffered several rude defeats at
the hands of Vuthsa Udayan and is in constant look out for a chance to avenge his defeat.
But as he finds it impossible to defeat Vuthsa Udayan in the battle of swords he takes
recourse to a political conspiracy to win him. In this conspiracy he is aided by Gopalaca,
his son. Gopalaca is banished from his kingdom. He enters Vuthsa Udayan’s court and
manges to develop deep friendship with him. Yougandharayan, Vuthsa Udayan’s wise

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minister advises Vuthsa Udayan to beware of Gopalaca and to be cautious of him in his
dealings with him. Vuthsa says to him.
VUTHSA
But tell Yougundharayan
And all who harbour blind uneasy thoughts
“Whatever seeks me from fate, man or god,
Leave all between me and the strength that seeks.
War shall not sound without thy prince’s leave.
Vuthsa will rescue Vuthsa.” (239).
Yet Vuthsa Udayan falls a prey to his iron will. Gopalaca manages to kidnap him
and bring him to Avunthie. In Avunthie, he is kept imprisoned in the palace of
Mahasegn. Vasavadutta, his daughter, is entrusted with the task of bewitching him to
enslave first to her beauty and next to her father. Vasavadutta gladly agrees to perform
the task entrusted to her by her father but in the process of performing the task falls in
love with Vuthusa Udayan. For some time she dwindles between the two ends of love
and duty but finally surrenders herself both soul and body to him. Both then, with the
help of Munjoolika, the captive princess of Sourashtra serving Vasavadutta, escape to
Cowsambie. Mahasegn comes to know of their escape soon afterwards. Vuthsa Udayan
and Vasavadutta are pursued by his army. But they manage to enter their territory where
Yougundharayan awaits him with his army fully alert and alive to the situation. A parley
is arranged. King Mahasegn adjust himself to the new situation. With the announcement
of Vuthsa Udayan’s and Vasavadutta’s wedding peace is established between the two
warring states of Cowsambie and Avunthie.
VUTHSA
… Love, the storm is past,
The peril o’er. Now we shall glide, my queen,
Through green gold woods and between golden fields
To float for ever in a golden dream,
O earth’s gold Luxmie, till the shining gates
Eternal open to us thy heavenly home. (329)

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2.4.4 Dramatic Techniques in the Play Vasavadutta:
2.4.4.1 Setting in the Play Vasavadutta:
As the setting of the play is concerned, action takes place at Cowsambie and at
Avunthieof the Post- Mahabharata period.
2.4.4.2 Characters in the Play Vasavadutta:
As far as the play Vasavadutta is concerned, there are 17 characters in the play.
Among which eight out of thirteen leading characters, Yougundharayan, Roomunwath,
Alurca, Vasuntha, Vicurna, Rebha, Ungarica and Umba are all flat characters whereas
Vasavadutta, Vuthsa and Munjoolica are round characters. Mahasegn and Gopalaca in
eschewing their original ambition and pride, these characters tend to change from flat to
round character.
2.4.4.3 Symbolism in the Play Vasavadutta:
The play Vasavadutta presents a clash between the heart and the mind, emotion
and intellect, blood and brain, and the former’s victory over the latter. Chunda Mahasegn,
Gopalaca and Yougundharayan stand for reason and mind while Vuthsa Udayan,
Ungarica and Vicurna stand for the heart, whereas Vasavadutta is the battleground in
which this war is fought. Chunda Mahasegn and Gopalaca teach her to follow the dictates
of the mind. Ungarica advises her to obey her heart. Vuthsa Udayan with all his charm,
loves her and allures her to the path of completc surrender to hearts desires. She, for
sometime dwindles between the two ends of the heart and the mind but finally surrenders
herself to Vuthsa Udayan.
The romance of Vuthsa Udayan and Vasavadutta symbolizes the harmonious
union of the intellect and the deeper impulses of the heart. Their love story progresses
exploring various planes of consciousness through persuasion, hesitation and surrender:
Vivid poetic expression lends a mystic charm to Vasavadutta. Lavish description of
nature’s bounty and beauty, music and rhythm reinforce the main and subsidiary
symbolism presenting parallelisms and contrasts. The play Vasavadutta is a song of
nature. The world of romance is conjured up by descriptions of natural beauty. The entire
play is an illustration of Vuthsa Udayan’s remarks ‘O, earth is honey; let me taste her
all.’ (35).
Vuthsa Udayan himself is a great lover of nature. He speaks of the glories of the
dawn and of the golden silences of the noon:

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 The dawn has spent her glories and I seek
Alurca and Vasuntha for the harp
With chanted verse and lyric ease until
The golden silences of noon arrive. (14)
Of the beauties of the night he says:
The moonlight and the glad night winds
Have rustled luminously among the leaves
And sung me worldless paeans … (141)
Vuthsa is in love with greenery and soft sounds. He says to Alurca:
Here I will rest, my friends,
Where all is green and silent; only the birds
And the wind’s whispering! (39)
Vuthsa is in love with this ‘emerald world’ of nature. It is significant that his love
for Vasavadutta and for nature get fused at the end of the play:
Now we shall glide, my queen,
Through green-gold woods and between golden fields
To float for ever in a golden dream, (152)
Throughout the play, vivid nature imagery is used to describe Vuthsa Udayan.
These nature symbols emphasise his psychic consciousness “Mahasegn: This is a tender
boy / As soft as summer, dew or as the lily That yields to every gentle pushing wave”.
Munjoolica, Vasavadutta’s captive attendant describes Udayan’s radiant beauty as
“soft as spring,” while Vasuntha describes it as “Fair like a hunted moon incloud swept
skies, luminous like a jasmine in the leaves.” (226)
Gopalaca refers to his youth, when he calls him a “brilliant winged bird”. (213).
Repeatedly he is described by various characters:
“Munjoolica: Wearing a golden human body” (261)
“Vasavadutta: … a golden marvellous boy,” (264)
“Alurca: … And with his sunny smile does it all”… (227)
Writing about visions and symbols Sri.Aurobindo says: “Golden light means the
light of the higher truth the moon is the symbol of spirituality.” (958), while “Flowers
indicate a blossoming in the consciousness, sometimes with special reference to the

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psychic or the psychicised vital mental and physical consciousness”. (970). The symbolic
significance of a bird is “a very frequent symbol of the soul” (958)
The cavern in Vasavadutta symbolizes the knot. Vuthsa Udayan’s journey from
Cowsambie to Avunthie symbolizes his evolution from individual earth consciousness to
universal divine consciousness.
The Elephant used to trap Vuthsa Udayan was called Mayavati (in the original
legend). Instead of being so explicit in Sri.Aurobindo’s Vasavadutta, a cavern in the
jungle is made to resemble an elephant. This illusion that shares Vuthsa represents Maya,
which must be removed and overcome to reach higher planes of consciousness.
The love story of Udayan and Vasavadutta symbolises the harmonious alliance of
mind and heart.
2.4.4.4 Imagery in the Play Vasavadutta:
As far as religious imagery is concerned references to God, and Fate are made
twenty one times in Vasavadutta for instance:
Fear not the obstacles the gods have strewn. (8)
But many gods stood smiling at his birth. (9)
Do the gods whisper it? (17)
It was to amuse himself God made the world. (28)
Have made God’s world an offence and a mart. (33)
It was a perilous race and in the end
Fate won by a head. (147)
Like Shakespeare’s plays, Sri.Aurobindo’s plays made abundant use of religious
imagery in direct statements,
For instance
This world’s puppet of a silent will
Which moves unguessed behind, our acts and thoughts; (116)
Sri.Aurobindo also has drawn his images abundantly from nature. Whereas Sri.
Aurobindo’s bird imagery comprises eagles, hawks, crows, doves, swans and peacocks.
Good characters are almost compared to lions and eagles.
I’ll bear thee far
As Heaven’s great eagle.(46)
Season images comprise chiefly spring and summer season:

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 Soft as spring
Fair like a hunted moon in cloud – swept skies, (26)
This is a tender boy
As soft as summer dews … (56)
The flower imagery comprises rose, lily and jasmine mainly:
That from the heavens of desire was born
And men call Vuthsa (34)
And the chill lake desires the lily’s pomp. (34)
Similarly doll and puppet images are Sri.Aurobindo’s favourite domestic images :
This boy between
Like a girl’s cherished puppet stroked and dandled. (10)
In the play Vasavadutta ‘the key image’ for Vuthsa Udayan is that of Cupid or
Kamdeo:
I have seen the god of love
Wearing a golden human body.(70)
And Vasavadutta herself in Prakriti, i.e. human soul, always yearning for the love
of Purusha:
I have loved thee always
Even when I know it not.(102)
The theme of the play, Vasavadutta is the victory of love, of the heart over man’s
cold reasoning faculty, i.e. intellect. Vasavadutta herself is the battleground and the
victory of the heart over the head is very effectively presented through Vasavadutta cries:
There is a fire within me and a cry.
My longings have all broken in a flood
And I am the tossed spray! (105)
Nor age nor custom pale my fire of love. (108).
Thus, a beautiful atmosphere of romance, love, beauty, affection, sympathy is
created with the help of highly suggestive and evocative images in the play Vasavadutta.
2.4.4.5 Other Aspects in the Play:
2.4.4.5.1 Music and Songs:
The play Vasavadutta is in a class by itself in respect of music whereas it contains
no songs, reference is made to Vasavadutta’s skill in singing. Ungarica says to her, ‘Thou

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singest well; a cry of Vuthsa’s art has stolen in to thy song’ (Act I, Scene 1). More
significant is the introduction of instrumental music in the play. Vuthsa is engaged in
teaching Vasavadutta how to play on the musical instrument, the Veena. Music, thus
plays a very significant role in the life of the heroine. Due to music both the lovers come
very close to each other. In this way, Sri.Aurobindo makes music the cause of the crisis
in the play.
2.4.4.5.2 Humour:
The romantic world of the play Vasavadutta provides ample scope for the spirit of
laughter. It revives 1) the boisterous humour which is also found in the play Perseus the
Deliverer 2) The domestic laughter – banter, chaffing, mild satire which is also found in
the play The Viziers of Bassora 3) the Indian mischievous humour.
2.4.4.5.3 Diction:
A peculiar feature of Vasavadutta is the absence of prose in the language used. In
accordance with the nature of its story, Vasavadutta is full of imagery drawn from
ancient Indian life. Act I Scene 1 serves as an example typical of the poet’s eagerness to
create Indian atmosphere. Mahasegn mentions ‘Oudh and Cowsambie, Ganges,
Godavarie and Narmada’ ‘the moon lit jasmines and this great sunlit continent; Gopalaca
mentions ‘Rudra’ with ‘His dreadful war-lance pointing to the east; Mahasegn describes
the ‘many gods’ who stood smiling at Vuthsa’s birth. Indian imagery is used by
Mahasegn in describing Vasavadutta as ‘a jailor’ for Vuthsa’s heart to take the miracle of
its keys and wear them swung on her raiment’s border,’ and by Gopalaca in a metaphor :
‘Garooda on a young and sleeping Python … I’ll lift him helpless up.’ Every other scene
in the play supplies instances of this kind. The subject matter, the situations and
atmosphere are too romantic and the characters in the play too dignified to allow the use
of prose.
2.4.4.5.4 Setting and Atmosphere:
Sensuous evocation of nature through poetic description is found in Vasavadutta
in ample measure several scenes are in the midst of nature –forests, hills and plains. Act
II Scenes 2 and 3, and Act V, Scenes 2, 4, 5 and 6 for instance. Besides, descriptions of
rivers and oceans, of morning noon and evening, night, moonlight and dawn are inserted
in the speeches of characters (Mahasegn in Act I Scene 1) Yougundharayan and Vuthsa
in Act I Scene 2, and Alurca and Vasuntha in Act II Scene 1). Though pastoral life as

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such is not depicted, descriptions of natural beauty are numerous. Description, narration
or reporting is employed as device to create the atmosphere of beauty and to break the
monotony of the battle scenes in Act V. The beauty of nature figures also in
philosophical discussions undertaken by characters such as Alurca and Vasuntha,
Yougundharayan and Roomunwath. By means of all this, Sri.Aurobindo makes
Vasavadutta more poetic than the rest of his plays.
2.4.4.5.5 Dramatic Structure of the Play Vasavadutta:
The Initial Action in the play Vasavadutta, like every other aspect of the structural
design of the play, employs the device of Parallelism. It is twofold and is combined with
the Exposition. For the Avunthie side, the Intital Action is Vuthsa’s offer of asylum to
Gopalaca. These twin aspects of the Initial Action are found respectively in Scene 1 and
Scene 2 of Act I. But in both scenes, the Exposition is simultaneously continued. Of
course, the whole of the Exposition is not completed in Act I. It is observed that the
introduction of all female characters (including heroine also) and a few other important
characters is delayed until Act III. The major Avunthie part of the theme are unfolded in
that Act. Meanwhile, towards the end of Act I Scene 2, the Rising Action is also initiated
in the preparation of Vuthsa’s abduction.
The play’s climax also has two complementary phases. The first pertains to the
Cowsambie side and comprises the abduction of the hero.Whereas the second constitutes
the coming together of Vuthsa and Vasavadutta in Act III Scene 3. This two fold climax
helps the action rise by developing emotional complications in Act III scenes 4 and 5.
This circumstance is responsible for the continuation of the Rising Action deep into Act
IV, the Act in which it is customary to present the Falling Action. The Crisis is also
present in the same Act. In Scene 1, he continues the Rising Action by developing further
the characters of Ungarica and Vicurna.The first stage of the crisis is achieved in Act IV
Scene 2. Here Vuthsa subdues Vasavadutta by employing physical force. Answering his
action in a matching manner, Vasavadutta too her responds favourably. This incident
leads to the consummation of Vasavadutta’s marriage with Vuthsa in the next scene. The
scene of consummation completes the second phase of crisis. The complications
introduced earlier in the play are, thus, complicated further when the crisis is reached at
the end of Act IV. The occurrence of the crisis in the life of the heroine is made clear in
Act V Scene 1. The scene also initiates the process of the Falling Action. Both Vuthsa

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and Vasavadutta are involved to devise ways and means of resolving the complications
created by the crisis. This entire means that the conflict between the protagonist and the
antagoinst forces is going to be resolved in the favour of the protagonist forces. The
removal of complications is employed in Act V Scene 2. As a result, the antagonist forces
are vanquished in Act V Scene 3.The remaining part of the Falling Action in Vasavadutta
is filled with battle scenes presented in Act V Scenes 4 and 5.
The denouement is brought about in the last scene of the play. Precision and
compactness with which the opening scene of the play commences characterise the
closing scene too.
2.5 Eric:
Sri.Aurobindo’s Eric, a dramatic romance is a five act blank verse play. He began
working on this play in 1910, at his arrival in Pondicherry after a bloody confrontation
against the British. The play celebrates the victory of love over hate, enmity and revenge.
The bibliographical note found at the end of the first part of Aurobindo’s Collected Plays
and Short-Stories points out “Eric was begun shortly after Sri.Aurobindo’s arrival in
Pondicherry in 1910. He worked on the play for a number of years, making several
different drafts each of which was seperately revised”.(Aurobindo, 1971 Rpt. 1995). No
complete fair copy of the play, survives. The play was first published in 1960 serially in
Aurobindo Mandir Annual and later in book form in the same year. The play was first
performed on the 28th of March 2006 at Bharat Nivas Auditorium, Pondicherry by the
Auroville Universal Township. From chronological points of view, it is considered to be
the fourth of Sri.Aurobindo’s complete plays.
2.5.1 The Source of the Play:
The sources from which Sri.Aurobindo has drawn his theme are based on the
cultural history of Norway. The play’s cultural and social atmosphere doesnot derive
itself from any one particular century of ancient Norwegian history but from the whole of
the pre-Christian Viking era of which nothing is definitely known. The deliberate
vagueness about the theme and characters of Eric gives the playwright the necessary
freedom to create out of them a dramatic romance.
According to Dr. A. K. Sinha, Eric’s story, “in its outline, has its origin in the
Scandinavian mythologies about the sons and daughters of Odin, Thor and Freya, in the

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story of Eric, the legendary King of Sweden and in Aslaug’s knight a romance by Dela
Motte Foque. It was translated by Carlyle in German Romance”. (91)
Sri.Aurobindo, with this play takes his readers to the cold European mountain
peaks of Norway using the Scandinavian history and mythology as tools. “Eric deals with
the Viking culture of the Nordic race in ancient Norway”. (Kumar,34). Sri.Aurobindo
found the seeds of this fascinating tale in the historical characters from Scandinavia of
medieval times. As an Aurobindo website points out:
No specific source of the plot of Eric is known. Sri.Aurobindo seems to have
made free use of names and events from the history of Norway in the late tenth
and early eleventh centuries, a period that was the subject of much mediaeval
Scandinavian literature. (Aurobindo Website).
The play contains the story of a brave, young, Viking warrior, Eric who has
conquered in three years the whole of Norway. His aim is to unify the whole of the
country and share its dispensation with the rest of the chieftains. Chief among such
chieftains is Swegn who has lost his kingdom to Eric. He has fled to a mountain fastness.
Eric wants to secure him as his fellow ‘master’ of Norway. He has realized that for this
he needs not only wisdom but also the strength behind them. One day, while he is
praying to the gods for proper guidance in this matter, Hertha and Aslaug, respectively
wife and sister of Swegn, arrive at his court in the guise of dancing girls. Aslaug’s motive
is to murder Eric and destroy the enemy of her brother. Hertha is keen on briging about
peace between Eric and her husband. In the course of the very first day of her stay in
Eric’s court, Aslaug is overpowered by her love for Eric, and Hertha secretly gives away
herself to Aslaug. The next day, Eric sets out to attack the fastness of Swegn. He captures
him and brings him to his capital. There, in the presence of Aslaug and Hertha, he
compels Swegn to accept his offer of peace, friendship and fellow-ruler-ship of Norway.
In the whole process, love acts as ‘the hoop of the gods hearts to combine’.
It changes the destiny of not only individuals like Eric, Swegn and Aslaug but also
that of the nation of Norway.
2.5.2 Changes in the Story of Eric:
The story of Eric, in its outline has its origin in the Scandinavian mythologies
about the sons and daughters of Odin, Thor and Freya, the story of Eric, the legendary
King of Sweden, and Aslaugh’s Knight a romanie by Dela Motte Foque.

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 Whatever Sri.Aurobindo’s sources, the frame work of this drama and the
interpretative vision that it projects are entirely his original creation, because, according
to him, historical accuracy was hardly important. Instead, the life vision that a drama
presented was its major contribution.
2.5.3 An Outline of the Play Eric:
The play Eric has 5 acts divided into 11 Scenes. Eric the King of Norway has
wisdom and power but has no peace of mind. He wants to know if there is needed
another force to make him a complete human being. Suddenly outside his palace
somebody starts singing ‘Love is the hoop of the gods /Hearts to combine! (477).
The song gives him the desired knowledge of a third force, besides wisdom and
power, which will complete the ‘trinity of glorious manhood.’ Aslaug, the singer, is
brought before him on his request. With her comes Hertha, the wife of Swegn- his enemy
and arch –rival. Swegn has frustrated his dream of bringing entire Norway under his
sway. Eric sees Aslaug and falls in love with her at first sight. She too loves him but
remembers the purpose of her coming to Norway. She and Hertha had gone there
disguised as dancing girls to entrap Eric in to the web of beauty and music and thereafter
to stab him to death, making the road of emperorship clear for Swegn. She even lifts the
dagger twice to kill Eric but invain. The fire of love completely engulfs her. She throws
away the dagger and surrenders herself. Eric wins the heart and hands of Aslaug and with
the help to Hertha and Aslaug secures absolute and unconditional obedience from Swegn.
Swegn is, in turn, made the captain of his army and Eric becomes the undisputed
monarch of all Norway.
ERIC
Four prisons I assign to Olaf’s son.
Thy palace first in Trondhjem, Olaf’s roof.
Thy house in Nara, Eric’s court – thy country,
To whom thou yieldest, Norway – and at last
My army’s head when I invade the world. (555)
Swegn is converted at last. He recognises that Eric has dealt with him as a King as a
brother. Eric asks him forgiveness and pardoning to Hardicnut and Sigurd. Eric recalls
Aslaug’s song and admits that,
Love is the hoop of the gods

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 Hearts to combine.
Iron is broken, the sword
Sleeps in the grave of its lord;
Love is divine. (477).
2.5.4 Dramatic Techniques in the Play Eric:
2.5.4.1 Setting in the Play Eric:
As the setting of the play is concerned, most of the action takes place in Erics
Palace in his town of yara’. The only other setting is that of ‘The Mountains’ and
‘Swegn’s Fastness’. The setting on the whole is involving no spectacle. No fantastic or
impossible incidents are included in the plot.
2.5.4.2 Characters in the Play Eric:
The play Eric has eight characters. Eric, however is the solitary instance of a play
having fewer characters of the symbolic-flat representative kind. Of its four leading
characters, Hertha alone is symbolic flat representative – All her qualities as a symbolic
flat representative character are brought out in her dialogue with Eric (Act II Scene 2)
Eric, Aslaug and Swegn belongs to round characters.
2.5.4.3 Symbolism in the Play Eric:
Eric, the protagoinst of the play, is the son of Yarislaf. He is an embodiment of
heroism, boldness and courage. He has self knowledge and self confidence. Eric
symbolizes man’s aspiration for a larger life, welded by love, though not controlled by
fate.
Symbols like ‘iron mind’ and ‘an iron strength’ are used to reinforce the image of
Eric as a heroic leader “A marble emperor with brilliant eyes” (484) His sword
symbolizes external authority, superior earthly power. Eric directly advises Aslaug: “Put
off thy pride and take up truth and love”. (510) Eric knows that
Strength in the nature
Wisdom in the mind
Love in the heart
Complete the trinity
Of glorious manhood, (522)
The binding power of love is symbolized by Eric’s offering Aslaug a necklace and
references to ‘chains of love’ and ‘hoop of love’. ‘By a golden bondage’ (525) love

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completes the trinity and it leads to perfection symbolized by circles, chains, hoop and
necklace.
Aslaug symbolizes action, for she plans to plunge a dagger in to Eric’s heart at the
earliest opportunity. Whereas shrewd Hertha, Swegn’s wife, symbolises contemplation
the ability to think and scheme. Aslaug, Swegn’s sister is determined to avenge her
family honour, though she feels a strong attraction for Eric. Eric refers to her as “the girl
with antelope eyes / And the high head so proudly lifted up / upon a neck as white as any
swan’s” (482).
Swegn symbolizes the heroic ideal that is ready to sacrifice all for his pride and
honour. His heroic ideals have been “the invisible wall seperating the love locked hearts
of Aslaug and Eric”. (Prema Nandkumar, 104) Eric considers him “champion of discord
ruthless, fell and fierce” (482) He represents that class of leaders whose hearts are
“rugged and hard / As Norway’s mountains, as her glaciers cold / To all but interest and
power and pride” (85)
Eric symbolies the leader with a mission and vision for the nation and humanity.
Odin, Thor, Freya symbolize divine extensions. The Gods speak through Aslaug: “When
love desires Love / Then Love is born.” (478)
Thematically, the main symbolism in Eric is of man’s transformation, as he
evolves in to a higher being. Conflict between love and hate reaches a crescendo till man
submits to love and emerges as a transformed superior being.
2.5.4.4 Imagery in the Play Eric:
In Sri.Aurobindo’s romantic comedy, it is observed that religious imagery used
rather abundantly. For instance in the play, Eric there are eighty one references to the
gods, twenty-eight to Fate and four to Heaven. Here are some examples.
By Fate.
For she alone is prompter on our stage, (4)
He has the face and figure of a god – (9)
They say the anarchy of love disturbs
God’s even, (29)
Beware, provoke not the fierce god too much; (33)
Then the gods too work. (63)

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 Sri.Aurobindo’s plays make abundant use of religious imagery in support of the
idea that there are superhuman powers that control and direct the destiny of man such
idea is again reinforced by the following direct statement.
Fate orders all and Fate I know
Have recognized all the world’s mystic will
That loves and labours.
Sri.Aurobindo also has drawn his images abundantly from nature. In Sri.
Aurobindo’s plays animal imagery consists of references to lions, tigers, horses, dogs,
cigals, jackals … of these lion and antelope images are used abundantly in all the plays.
Good characters are almost invariably compared to lions and eagles.
I still hold in my strength
Though it hungers like a lion for the leap, (33)
Season images comprise chiefly spring and summer season.
O brother cast the snows out of thy heart.
Let there be summer. (91)
References to the forces of nature such as tempest, lightning thunder etc. abound in these
plays:
Whose stroke is like lightning’s silent, straight,
Not to be parried. (78)
Mythological or Classical references are also found in Sri. Aurobindo’s plays. For
instance Thor, Odin, Freya may be listed as a few examples.
The images used by the characters in these plays reveal their mental make up Sri.
Aurobindo’s hero, Eric is endowed with unusual imaginative power and poeticality. This
feature is expressed through his personality, as well as the language used by him which is
metaphorical and full of literary imagery. For instance,
Eric:
They say the anarchy of love disturbs
Gods even, shaken are the marble natures,
The deathless hearts are melted to the pang
And rapture.
In the play Eric the theme of the play is conveyed through the image of the golden
hoop. It is, as has been noted earlier a variation on the circle image which poets and

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dramatists have often used to convey their idea of perfection. The divine golden hoop of
love enables man to jump over the abyss of hate and achieve perfection. It completes the
holy trinity of manhood which demands strength in nature, ‘wisdom in the mind’ and
‘love in the heart’ (58). Another significant image which Sri. Aurobindo use in the play
to convey his vision is the snow image:
… how to sway men’s hearts, rugged and hard
As Norway’s mountains, as her glacier’s cold … (85)
… the higher snows, where winter
Eternal… (85)
O brother, cast the snows out of thy heart. (91)
Rubies of passion on a bosom of snow, (66)
The snow image represents the cold reasoning in man which does not respond to
the warm and animating touch of love. The theme of the play is the conquest of hatred
and indifference by love and friendship.
2.5.4.5 Other Aspects in the Play:
2.5.4.5.1 Music and Songs:
The Play Eric is distinctive among Sri.Aurobindo’s complete plays, having the
element of music and song in the opening scene itself. The most important thing about
the song is that it introduces the element of love. There is only one song in the play and it
is about the power of love. The song accidentally place love before the hero as an
alternative power.
Love is the hoop of the gods
Hearts to combine.
Iron is broken, the sword
Sleeps in the grave of its lord;
Love is divine.
Love is the hoop of the gods
Hearts to combine. (477-478)
When love desires Love,
Then Love is born;
Nor golden gifts compel,
Nor even beauty’s spell

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 Escapes his scorn.
When Love desires Love
Then Love is born. (478)
The opening stanza of the song begins by elevating Love, praising it as ‘the hoop
of the gods.’ Next it shows its utility as a hoop can be used hearts to combine’ Further the
song contrasts love with valour and strength and interprets it as ‘divine: It is therefore
immortal and invincible. In the context of Eric’s prayer to the gods for guidance, the first
part of the song assumes dramatic significance. The second part seeks to explain the way
Love comes in to existence and functions in the world. In order to fulfil itself, Love needs
to be desired by Love: the lover and the beloved both must desire it. At the same time, it
cannot be ‘compelled’ by ‘golden gifts’ and ‘beautys spell.’ It must be spontaneous and
mutual. The imagery employed in it is of ‘iron’ ‘gold’, ‘sword’ and ‘heart’ and ‘self-
surrender’ ‘scorn’ and desire.’
2.5.4.5.2 Humour:
Sri.Aurobindo doesnot introduce any humour in Eric. The atmosphere of the
Viking culture and the theme of nationalism make the play serious.
2.5.4.5.3 Diction:
Sri.Aurobindo’s style in the play Eric is terse, austere, and direct. Imagery in the
play is in keeping with the theme. Summer and winter, warmth and cold, sunshine and
snow are appropriately described in various figures of speech. (dialogues of Eric, Aslaug,
Swegn and Hertha) Sensuous description finds scope at appropriate places. The language
used in the play is expressive more of violence than of delicacy since violence is the
essence of the Viking culture depicted.
The blank verse of the play contains occasional instances of the Alexandrine:
‘Made Swegn her tool. To me his lover, counsellor’ (Act I, Scene2) ; ‘Swegn even might
rule, not govern himself, yet govern (Act II, Scene 1); ‘And Fate, not Eric slew. But he
who, trusted, lured (Act IV, Scene 1); ‘And so I Love thee best. What canst thou do but
well? (Act V, Scene 1); ‘the world begins again, who since the stars were formed’ (Act
V, Scene 1), for instance, the intrusion of verses containing more than ten syllables is the
common feature of Sri. Aurobindo’s plays in general.
A peculiar feature of Eric is the absence of prose in the language used. In the play
Eric the word of humour, the absence of characters from low life and the absence of

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prosaic situations are responsible for the absence of prose. The importance given to the
swift development of exciting action also seems to account for it. The play’s theme is
surcharged. With emotion and high seriousness which require poetic utterance, not prose.
2.5.4.5.4 Setting and Atmosphere:
In the play Eric most of the action takes place in Eric’s palace in his town of Yara.
The only other setting is that of ‘The Mountains’ and ‘Swegn’s Fastness.’ The setting of
the whole is unadorned, involving no spectacle. No fantastic or impossible incidents are
included in the plot.
2.5.4.5.5 Dramatic Structure of the Play Eric:
In the play Eric, the playwright Sri.Aurobindo eliminates sub-plots from it.
Conflict is introduced in the opening scene of the play. Swiftness characterizes both- the
development of the conflict and the nature of the hero’s character. ‘the Swiftness of his
sword emphasised in the very first speech of Eric, dominates the play and its action. The
conflict in Eric is dominated by supernatural powers: Thor, Odin and Freya. They operate
through their instruments or representatives.
The Exposition and Initial Action in Eric follow each other and start together in
Act I Scene 1. Economy, precision and compactness of action are ensured by means of
simultaneous development of the elements of the Exposition and the Rising Action. Both
are observed in Act I Scene 2. The conversation between Aslaug and Hertha here
supplies the necessary material to understand the story of Eric and his rise to kingship. At
the same time, it develops the action further by revealing that, unknown to Aslaug;
Hertha is planning to work against her (and Swegn) without deviating from the objective
of putting an end to the strife between her husband and Eric. The playwright is adept at
developing the Rising Action by means of complications introduced at appropriate points
and without waste of time. To the direct conflict between Eric on the one hand and
Swegn and Aslaug on the other is added the conflict between Hertha on the one hand and
Swegn and Aslaug on the other. The more interesting thing about the conflict is that
Hertha is an ally of both the protagonist and antagonist forces.
Aslaug’s political conflict with Eric gets slowly transformed in to emotional
(psychological) conflict in Act I Scene 3. Act II Scene 2 brings together Eric and Hertha
as allies. This incident acts as a complication and enhances the spectator’s curiosity as to
the outcome of Aslaug’s determination to murder Eric. At the start of Act III Scene 1,

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political crisis in the life of Swegn and Aslaug is anticipated in the speech of Eric.
Throughout the rest of the scene, however, the emotional conflict of Aslaug with Eric on
the one hand and with her own self on the other develops in to a crisis. This scene also
takes the story to its climax in respect of love. But the establishment of love between Eric
and Aslaug is not the end of the conflict in the story. In a sense, it complicates the
conflict between Eric and Swegn on the national level. On the individual plane, the
conquest of Aslaug by itself doesnot entail the conquest of Swegn. Aslaug’s emergence
as an agent of Freya threatens to aggravate the conflict between her brother and her
husband. The playwright adds this aspect to the conflict in order to make the Falling
Action of the play as interesting as the crisis climax. Act III Scene 2 gives hints about it
and Act IV bears witness. The two scenes in Act IV are saturated with the excitement of
physical action. Introduction of important characters quite late in the play, Act IV Scene
1 of Eric presents Swegn for the first time.
The series of events that begins in Act III, Scene 1 to create a turning point in the
action culminates into the denouement in Act V. The Act comprises only one scene and
brings about the conclusion of the political conflict between Eric and Swegn by means of
an emotional conflict between Aslaug and Hertha on the one hand and Swegn on the
other. The resolution of both conflicts is psychologically, as subtle as that of the conflict
between Aslaug and Eric in Act III. In all kinds of conflict in the play Love, ‘Mightier
and Swifter than the warrior’s sword’, acts as’ the hoop of the gods Hearts to combine’.
2.6 Rodogune:
Rodogune is the only tragic play Sri.Aurobindo wrote. It is a tragic play of
excessive passions and brotherly feud for a kingdom and for the queen as is found in the
Indian epic, the Mahabharata. The play is supposed to have been written in 1906 when
Aurobindo was still in Baroda. The bibliographical note at the end of his Collective Plays
and Short- Stories Vol. 1, gives us an interesting account of his plays as:
A version of Rodogune was written in January and Feb. 1906 – just weeks before
Sri.Aurobindo left Baroda for Bengal. His fair copy of this version was seized by the
British police at the time of his arrest in 1908. He never saw this copy again, but from his
drafts, which remained in his possession, he was able to reconstruct the play in
Pondicherry between 1912 and 1915 … It was first published in Sri. Aurobindo Mandir
Annual in 1958, and issued in book form the same year. (Aurobindo, 1971, 560.)

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 But Dr. Prema Nandkumar says, “Rodogune, along with Vasavadutta and Eric,
belongs to Sri. Aurobindo’s Pondicherry Period”. (38). But she does not give any reason
for her opinion about the date and place of the composition of the play.
2.6.1 The Source of the Play Rodogune:
The tragedy of Rodogune seems to have been adapted for dramatic purpose by
Sri.Aurobindo from some events and characters of Syrian history of the early parts of this
millennium. Saryug Yadav, points out, “Sri.Aurobindo goes to Syria of Hellenistic times
to give us a work of dignified beauty” (71), whereas most critics agree that it is the
history of the Cleopatra Thea and her two sons who ruled Syria in the second century
A.D. and not the legendary Cleopatra of Mark Antony and Julius Caesar. Sri.Aurobindo
has drawn upon the historical account of Cleopatra recorded by the well known European
historians- Appian, Justin and Josephus. This history is also the source of the French
dramatist Corneille’s Rodogune, written in 1645. Sri.Aurobindo’s Rodogune follows
Corneille more closely than the actual history of Appian for its theme, but with lesser
stress on violence and blood shed. According to Sheo Shankar Jaiswal, “The story of
Cleopatra which has been given in sections 66, 67and 68 of The Syrian Wars must have
been read in the original by Sri.Aurobindo. He borrowed the story of Cleopatra from the
book of Appian, a Roman lawyer, made many changes in it to make the story suit his
imagination and purpose”. (95).
According to Prema Nandkumar, Sri.Aurobindo has borrowed and retained some
events from other sources as well. Cleopatra’s predicament in naming her first born
successor finds mention in Justin’s Latin account of Trojas Pompeius and Flavius
Josephus, Early History of Jews and History of Jewish Wars as well as Seleueids
Maccabees. Sri.Aurobindo has changed relationshsips and characters to embody his
vision (Bana Meenakshi, 54). According to one of the reference of The Bible, the story of
Cain and Abel has been accommodated in the play Rodogune with the only change that in
the Bible, Cain, the elder brother kills his younger brother Abel, while in this play,
Timocles, the younger brother puts his elder brother Antiochus to death.
The play Rodogune opens on a note of fear and excitement. Cleopatra, Queen of
Syria, eagerly awaits the death of her second husband and the consequent re-uniting with
her twins (sons) Antiochus and Timocles. The two sons, by her first husband, have been
under the care of their uncle Ptolemy in Egypt. Their return to Syria results in rivalry for

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the throne as well as the beautiful captive attendant of Cleopatra, Rodogune. Both the
brothers Antiochus and Timocles equally desire to have her as their beloved. Whereas
Rodogune,daughter of King Phraates of Parthia, is captive attendant who serves
Cleopatra dutifully and humbly. Queen Cleopatra desiring for power and flattery,
declares Timocles as her successor. And this becomes an error judgement and falsehood.
Antiochus, rejected by Cleopatra, raises his voice of revolt to claim the throne of Syria
and is joined by Rodogune who dearly loves him and is loved by him also. To avoid any
mishappening in the country Antiochus and Rodogune flee from Syria. The civil war
between the brothers seesaws for a while, till at last Antiochus returns to Syria with
Rodogune and renounces his claim to the throne, though not to Rodogune’s love.
Phayllus, the cunning chancellor of Timocles, works upon Timocles’s infatuation for
Rodogune and persuades him to kill Antiochus secretly. His plan succeeds and Antiochus
is killed, but Rodogune also dies after Antiochus’s death. His mother Cleopatra also
commits suicide in her psychic state of mind. At the end, Timocles realises that he has
killed his brother in vain. Then out of rage he puts Phayllus and his sister to death.
2.6.2 Changes in the Story of Rodogune:
In case of Sri.Aurobindo’s poetic drama-tragic play Rodogune, he borrows and
retains quite a few things from the history of Appian, Justin and Josephus. But things on
the whole have undergone great change in the play.
 Cleopatra, Nicanor and Rodogune have been shown in Sri. Aurobindo in the frame
of different relationships than in Appian.
 In Appian Demetrius Nicanor, Cleopatra’s first husband, and the King of Syria is
made captive in Parthia and is married to Rodogune, the Parthian princess. So,
Cleopatra grows jealous of Rhodogune and hates Nicanor whom she kills after his
return to Syria. Cleopatra’s marriage with Antiochus, the younger brother of
Nicanor, is a reaction to the latter’s marriage with Rhodogune.
 In Sri. Aurobindo things are much different. Nicanor is not married to Rodogune,
who is not King Phraates’ sister, but his daughter. So the question of Cleopatras
jealousy doesnot arise. Nicanor is not killed after his return to Syria but dies
miserably, in Parthia. Cleopatra, deeply in love with him cherishes his memory
even after his death. She hates Rodogune but hatred has a different source. Even
the hatred changes with the passage of time into motherly love and compassion.
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  The two sons of Cleopatra born from Nicanor are Seleucus and Antiochus
Gurupus in Appian. In Sri. Aurobindo these become Antiochus and Timocles
 Sri. Aurobindo shows neither the cruelty of Cleopatra the mother killing Seleucus,
her own son, nor the cruelty of her own son, Antiochus, poisoning his mother to
death.
 In Sri. Aurobindo, Cleopatra and her sons are projected as better human beings. In
order to do this, Sri. Aurobindo creates new characters, Phayllus and Cleone , the
Chancellor and her sister respectively.
 Sri. Aurobindo thus took from Appian, Justin and Josephus only the germinal idea
for his play. He made in the history sweeping changes so that his play could
embody his vision and philosophy.
2.6.3 An Outline of the Play Rodogune:
The play Rodogune has 5 acts divided in to 20 scenes. The play Rodogune is a
gentle tragedy in five acts arising out of love, hate, fate fraternal disputes and personal
ambitions.
Cleopatra’s second husband, the King of Syria dies. This gives the widowed queen
a chance to call back, to Syria, her two sons, from her first husband living in Egypt under
the guardianship of Ptolemy.
CLEOPATRA
Antiochus is dead, is dead, and I
Shall see at last the faces of my sons.
I have lived for eighteen years
With silence and my anguished soul within
While all the while a mother’s heart in me
Cried for her children’s eyelids wept to touch
The little bodies that with pain I bore (338).
When the question of choosing the successor to Syria’s throne arises Cleopatra
declares her younger son, Timocles, to be the successor and ignores the claim of her elder
son, Antiochus. Disgusted with his mother’s behaviour, Antiochus raises the banner of
revolt. Many generals and captains lend him their active support. Rodogune, the captive
Parthian princess serving Cleopatra, also sides with him for the two are in love with each
other. Timocles too is enamoured of her and wants to get her for himself at any cost. He
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becomes a tool in the hands of Phayllus, the clever chancellor of Syria and his sister
Cleone. These two conspire to usurp the throne of Syria for themselves. The civil war
between the two brothers continues for sometime with Antiochus’ forces gaining ground
every moment. Suddenly Antiochus gets the information that the Parthian King is
advancing menacingly towards Syria. He stops the war and returns to Syria with
Rodogune to put-up with Timocles a joint front against the advancing enemy. In Antioch,
he is warmly received by Cleopatra, Timocles and the people. Timocles gladly grants him
his demand, i.e. to live peacefully in Antioch with Rodogune. In his return Cleopatra sees
the fulfilment of her dream to live in peace and power with her twins. But in this Phayllus
sees the defeat of his purpose, i.e. to usurp the throne of Syria. He therefore, works upon
Timocles’ impulsiveness and infatuation for Rodogune to such an extent that he gives his
assent to the arrest and trial of Antiochus. He remains under the impression that the arrest
and trial of Antiochus would mean his (Antiochus) removal from the scene and would
leave Rodogune wholly under his care. He would then be able to woo her and gradually
win her to be his queen. But Phayllus plans otherwise. He manipulates to get Timocles’
approval to Antiochus’ arrest, trial and execution. Antiochus offers no resistance and
gladly accepts the executioner’s blow. Rodogune sees his dead body and dies of the great
shock that she receives. This sudden and most unexpected loss of Rodogune and that too
at the moment when she seemed to be very much within the worst fit of frustration and
anger. It also gives him some moments of self realization. He comes to realise Phayllus’
treachery and Cleone’s crookedness. He orders one to be slain and the other to be
banished. Cleopatra commits suicide in distress. Lastly, Timocles is shown as grieving in
agony over the loss of his brother, mother, his beloved Rodogune.
ANTIOCHUS
Tell Parthian Rodogune I wait for her
Behind death’s barrier.(456)
2.6.4 Dramatic Techniques in the Play Rodogune:
2.6.4.1 Setting in the Play Rodogune:
As the setting of the play Rodogune is concerned, the play is staged mostly in the
city of Antioch, the capital of Syria.

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2.6.4.2 Characters in the Play Rodogune:
As far as the play Rodogune is concerned, there are 18 Characters in the play.The
play Rodogune has five round characters such as Rodogune, Antoichus, Timocles,
Cleopatra and Eunice. Cleone is at first flat character but tend to become round character
later.
2.6.4.3 Symbolism in the Play Rodogune:
There is a dual symbolism in Rodogune. The play Rodogune symbolically conveys
the message of peace, love and hope amidst the dismal happenings. Rodogune, the
Parthian princess symbolises love and purity the purifying instrument that brings about
purification a process of rejection and surrender, she represents the overmind, whose
emergence brings about a mastery over desires and passions.
Fate plays an important role in this play. Each character in the play acknowledges
its power and divine plan. According to Jesse Roarke: “The play can be considered a kind
of parable of the working of fate (or Karma, cause and effect) and the overcoming of it.”
(122) Rodogune, the captive, Parthian represents the spiritual temperament while
Timocles symbolises tamas incapacity and lethargy, Antiochus symbolises rajas-action
and ambition. Rodogune rejects Timocles but surrenders to Antiochus. Purification is a
process of rejection and surrender.
Cleopatra, the queen mother symbolises the mind, while Antiochus and Timocles
are the dualities that manoeuvre the mind. These divided egos of the limited mind bring
about desire and passions that lead to suffering. Cleopatra’s life remains unfulfilled and
lonely, for such are the limitations, of the mind. “Mind, Life and Body are an inferior
consciousness”. (Life Divine,117). Cleopatra symbolises the mind, which is consider to
be a great leader and agent of wisdom. Life symbolised by Antiochus, represents vitality
and action. Body is symbolised by Timocles representing Inertia and sensuality. In the
evolutionary process the journey from mind to supermind is obstructed by Ignorance and
Evil, symbolised by Phayllus and Cleone. Cleopatra’s two companions Cleone and
Eunice symbolise two poles of the conscious. Cleone symbolises evil and falsehood,
while Eunice represents divinity, the Inner Purusha, Eunice’s wisdom creates insecurity
in Cleopatra’s mind, as it pricks her conscience.
Eunice:
Imperil not with memories of hate

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 The hour of thy new found felicity;
For souls disloged are dangerous and the gods
Have their caprices
Cleopatra:
Will the Furies stir
Because I hated grim Antiochus? (340)
Eunice represents positive qualities of goodness and loyalty.Whereas the twin
brother Antiochus and Timocles symbolise egoistic and animal consciousness
respectively. Rodogune symbolized as a purifying instrument. Her divinity is stressed
again and again. Timocles rightly asserts, “…she is heaven pure / And must like heaven
by worship won.” (369)
Rodogune believes that “Heaven had a purpose in my servitude.” (371) Timocles
finds her an enigma, “Even the roseate nail of thee / O thou pale goddess, is a mystery
and a strange holiness” (376). Eunice always addresses to Rodogune as:‘Your beauty is a
torch you needs must carry about the world with you. You cannot help it if it burns
kingdoms’. (377). Rodogune’s delicate ethereal nature and purity are expressed in
“floating lily in moonlight”. (338) “twilight ivory”. (372).These references make her
stand apart from other mortals. Rodogune represents the idea of Swaraj.
About Antiochus the characters like Cleone sees that “War and ambition from his
eyes look forth” (363). The Syrians are struck by his royal bearing “Melitus: This is a
royal style and kingly brow. Thaos: The man is royal” (350). Eunice comments that “His
look is royal but his speech is cold.” (360). Rodogune becomes aware of his superior
presence: “He is all high and beautiful like heaven. From which he come, I have not seen
before / A thing so mighty.” Symbols like sword, tempest, war, riding horses and lion are
used to convey Antiochus’ rajasic personality. There are several references to Antiochus
as “god of war” lion, trumpets, a god of death, great god of tempest, “O ravening strong
and hungry lion.” (428).Again “Eunice: And like the lion, thou art my warrior”. (421)
these are the symbols of his rajasic mentality. He believes in bold and decisive action
when he say “Either to conquer with one lion leap or end in glorious battle” (426).
Courage makes him proclaim, “March to thy doom” (415) and that “Our bodies are dice /
we throw again on god’s table”. (427).

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 Thus, Antiochus represents life, action, rajas that must through suffering and
hardship. Timocles is a contrast. He symbolises inaction, gripped by passions and
lethargy waiting to be awakened and purified. Sri.Aurobindo used nature symbols to
convey the symbolism of desires and passion that constitute prakriti. Timocles is indeed
“a shapeless soul clay for each passing circumstance to alter”. (439) He suffers from
feelings of inadequacy, loneliness and frustration. He tries to drown his desires in wine,
music and women, Sri. Aurboindo uses nature symbols for Timocles’ sensual personality
such as fire, raging wind, flowers, driven leaf, fresh clouds. According to A.K. Sinha,
“Timocles suffers death in life while Antiochus lives even in death.” (130). Timocles
refers to women, using flower as a symbol “Syria’s roses” (367) “thou rose” (for Cleone)
and rosy clasp (for Rodogune) and common flowers. Eunice warns him, “My cousin
Timocles / All flowers are not for your plucking” (389) Timocles’ sufferings are
conveyed through the symbols of one who is being hunted. “My soul once more / Is
hunted, by the tempest.” (390). A.K.Sinha comments about it as the symbolism of the
hunt conveys the suffering of the main characters.(130)
Phayllus symbolises Asuric or satanic power. He uses extensive animal imagery in
his speech. While speaking to Cleone, he says: “Like the good bitch thou art” (365) about
women views as “Women feign and be by nature / As the snake coils.” (343). His
fondness of animal imagery is indicative of his ruthless nature. The cruelties in his
personality surface in his language when he says “They’ll rise to rescue him and slay us
all / As dogs are killed in summer.” (447).
Cleone, Phayllus’ sister, surpasses him in cruelty, lust and ambition. She is
referred to as ‘thorny rose,’ ‘warm fire’ and ‘wasp’ the symbols of her passionate,
poisonous nature. Her nature alarms even her evil brother who says : “she’s too violent
for my calmer ends.” (366).
2.6.4.4 Imagery in the Play Rodogune:
In the play Rodogune Sri.Aurobindo made abundant use of religious imagery. In
Rodugune alone references to God or the gods are made seventy times, fate and heaven
are referred to sixteen and seven times respectively, there are six references to the devil,
to libation, sacrifice and one to the sanctuary. For instance
He rushes onward like a god of war. (100)
He is all high and beautiful like heaven. (29)

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 A red libation, o thou royal sacrifice! (145)
What villain’s secret hand
Profaned with death this royal sanctuary? (148)
Silence, thou tempter! he is sacred to me. (107)
Care not if thou resist or if thou yield;
They do their work with mortals.
In Sri.Aurobindo’s plays animal imagery consist of references to lions, tigers
antelopes … In his plays good characters invariably compared to lions and eagles.
And like the lion
Thou art my warrior, (112).
Wicked characters compared to owls, crows, dogs and bitch etc.
Worry the conscience of the Queen to death
Like the good bitch thou art. (37).
And
What a blind owl thou art that see’st the sun
And think’st it darkness! (143).
In Sri.Aurobindo’s plays, the flower imagery comprises rose, lily and jasmine mainly.
For instance, in Rodogune
I mean our thorny rose Cleone too … (46).
O, see her walk!
A floating lily in moonlight was her sister. (04)
References to the forces of nature such as tempest, lightning thunder etc. abound in the
plays of Sri.Aurobindo. For instance
Messengers
Abridge the road with tempest in their hooves
To bring them to me. (7)
No has this love like lightning leaped at me! (44).
Mythological or classical references such as Niobe is found in the play. Doll and puppet
images are Sri.Aurobindo’s favourite domestic images.
The doll
The Parthian puppet whom she fondles so,(10).
In Rodogune ‘the key image’ for Antiochus is of the sun :

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 Look! there he comes
Carrying himself as if he were the sun
Brilliant alone in heaven.(62)
O sun, thou goest rushing to the night
Which shall engulf thee.(122).
The image is highly suggestive as it sums-up the glorious rise and the tragic fall of
Antiochus. ‘The key image’ for describing the plight of Cleopatra is that of Niobe :
Even my own mother is a Niobe (91).
The play is a study in Cleopatra’s loneliness. She feels happy at the death of her husband
because she thinks that she will be able to get the company of her beloved children. But
fate wills her to shed tears over her son’s murder and cry in anguish ‘ I am alone, so
terribly alone .’ She is indeed a Niobe whose children were slain and who wept even
when she was transformed in to a statue. Again Timocles’ character is admirably
presented through the image of a pale leaf:
There is Timocles
Whose light unstable mind like a pale leaf
Trembles, desires, resolves, renounces (123).
Phayllus’ character similarly is delineated through the image of an owl:
What a blind owl thou art that see’st the sun
And think’st it darkness (143).
This owl image is highly suggestive as it nicely sums up all the features of his character
such as his owlish treachery, his blindness to the reality and his love for dark deeds.
It may also be observed that the images used by the characters in these plays
reveal their mental make-up and also this feature is well-expressed through the language
they use.
Antiochus:
What were death then but wider life than earth
Can give us in her clayey limits bound?
Darkness perhaps! there must be light behind.
In Sri.Aurobindo’s plays imagery is also used for unfolding the theme of the play.
Very often a single image is employed to convey the poet’s vision as projected in a
particular play. For instance, in Rodogune, the image of the hunter and the hunted

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conveys the main idea of the play, the play Rodogune is mainly concerned with the
problem of human suffering and the objective correlative which Sri.Aurobindo uses as a
formula for the idea of suffering is that of ‘hunting. All primary characters are hunted.
Antiochus is hunted by fate and this unequal hunt is depicted through these words of
Eremite:
… thou shalt not be King.
But at thy end shall yield to destiny
For all thy greatness, genius, pride and force
Even as the tree that falls.
Timocles and Cleopatra are hunted by loneliness and the furies.
Timocles:
My soul once more
Is hunted by the tempest.
Cleopatra:
I am alone, so terribly alone!
Timocles:
What furies out of hell have I aroused
Within, without me?
Cleopatra :
Will the Furies stir
Because I hated grim Antiochus?
Cleone is hunted by lust –
Lust drives her, not ambition. (38)
and Phayllus by the desire to rise:
I have a need for growth;
I feel a ray come nearer to my brow,
The world expands before me. (12-13).
2.6.4.5 Other Aspects of the Play:
2.6.4.5.1 Music and Songs:
Music and song are not intrinsic to the theme of Rodogune. The songs are
introduced in the play for the sake of character development. There are two songs in the
play; both are present in Act IV, Scene2. They are intended to entertain Timocles and

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help him forget his unrequited love. Both are love songs sung by one of the dancing girls.
The first song,
Will you bring cold gems to crown me,
Child of light?
Rather quick from breathing closes
Bring me sunlight, myrtle, roses,
Robe me in delight.
Give me rapture to my dress,
For its girdle happiness. (422)
The song is intended to point out the importance of delight and happiness in the life of
love. It succeeds in pleasing Timocles.
The second song,
Wilt thou snare Love with rosy brightness
To make him stay with thee?
The petulant child of a fair, cruel mother,
He flees from me to crown another.
O misery!
Love cannot be snared, love cannot be shared
Light love ends wretchedly. (422)
The song reminds Timocles of his passion for Rodogune and of his light love for Cleone.
Therefore he grows wild and insults Cleone with vile words. The dramatic significance of
the two songs, especially of the second, is evident since they bring out the nature of the
complex character of Timocles at the proper time.
2.6.4.5.2 Humour:
The playwright Sri.Aurobindo having been kept away humour from the play
Rodogune as it is a tragedy.
2.6.4.5.3 Diction:
The seriousness of its action indicates and accounts for the absence of prose in the
play Rodogune. The playwright Sri.Aurobindo employed verse as uniform mediuim in
the play Rodogune.

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2.6.4.5.4 Setting and Atmosphere:
Setting and atmosphere in Rodogune are in consonance with the theme of the play.
The glory and grandeur of Egypt and Greece of old, the charm and lure which the distant
east hold for the ancient Greek conquerors, are imaginatively brought out. As a whole,
however, the world presented in the play is overshadowed by the sense of doom
characteristic of tragedy. The environment created enhances the tragic predicament of the
leading characters.
2.6.4.5.5 Dramatic Structure of the Play:
In the play, Rodogune, the element of conflict operates on three levels: the
emotional, the familial and the political.The familial level as conflict between mother and
sons, the emotions of the twins in their preference for Rodogune. Through these two
levels, the conflict then spreads to the nation of Syria as a whole.
The exposition of the conflict is achieved in the opening scene of Act I. The
background of the story is revealed in the opening scene itself. All the important
characters, except the twin princes are presented Act I Scene 2 present the two princes
and thereby complete the process of introducing the important characters. The swiftness
which characterises the exposition is also applied to the Initial Action which follows in
Act I Scene 3. A third function of Act I is the introduction, in Scene 1 itself, of the sub-
plot dealing with Cleone, Phayllus and their ambitions.
Act II is devoted to the Rising Action and presents further happenings on the first
day of the story. The complication in the theme of the twins’ love is also introduced in
Scenes 2 and 3. The story of Phayllus’s intrigue and that of the infatuation of the twin
brothers with the same woman begin to merge into each other in Act II Scene 4. The
Rising Action finally culminates in to the germination of the conflict on the familial level
in the fifth scene of the Act III brings both the crisis and the climax. The crisis in
Rodogune develops in Act III in as swift a manner and with as much inevitability as the
exposition, the Initial Action and the Rising Action in the first two Acts. The crisis comes
in to being in the political life of Syria as also in the individual lives of Cleopatra,
Antiochus, Rodogune and Timocles. The conflict rises to a similar crisis on the emotional
level too in Scene 2 when Antiochus takes away Rodogune. This seizure of the heroine
by the hero, in fact, constitutes the real crisis in the play. The separate events in Scene 1
and Scene 2 of Act III, carry the tragic conflict to its crucial point. Out of them evolve the

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conscious and unconscious defiance and renunciation of his mother by Antiochus and his
seizure of Rodogune. This decisive action of the protagonist determines the future course
of the conflict.
Swiftness of the sequence of events leads to further compression of action in Act
III itself, with the Falling Action in Scene 3, immediately after the crisis and climax.
Eremite, the ‘flamen’, prophesies towards the end of the scene that Rodogune’s beauty
shall destroy kingdoms and that Antiochus shall not be King. His prophecy prepares the
ground not only for peripetia but also for Anagnorisis in Act IV (Scenes 3 and 4).
The Falling Action is rendered as interesting as the Rising Action and the crisis.
The beginning of Antiochus’s fall from prosperity to adversity is indicated in Act IV
Scene 3. Fortune’s total desertion of the hero is shown in the reverses he suffers in his
attack on the enemy in Act IV, Scene 4. The reappearance of the Eremite, after the
reversal of fortune, to bring about in the protagonist the recognition and heroic
acceptance of his doom with which Act IV Scene 4 ends. The last scene in the Act shows
that the various characters surrounding the protagonist are as much as the hero himself.
The process of the Falling Action is completed with Antiochus’s decision to surrender to
his brother.
Act V brings the denouement or conclusion. In this Act, all the four scenes present
the various incidents in which the conflict called forth by the intiating action. Phayllus,
the villain succeeds in destroying the protagonist. Rodogune shares the hero’s doom by
dying broken hearted. Cleopatra realizes at last that she is punished by the gods.
Timocles is frustrated and left behind to live forever unfriended, solitary in the shades.
2.7 An Assessment of Sri. Aurobindo’s Dramatic Art:
Sri.Aurobindo’s adaption of the myths, legends, folklore and history of the world
for his dramas is quite extraordinary. He uses them as tools to bring to light the
contemporary political, nationalistic, social and religious turmoil and also for preaching
his own theory of spirituality to signify the global peace. His concepts of love,
nationalism and spiritual evolution dramatized through the legends of the world form the
bulk of his dramatic writings. Indirectly he attracts the Indian minds and attempts to
arouse the feelings of nationalism among the masses and to unite them to achieve
independence. Thus he could also be termed as a true, literary nationalist of India.

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 Sri.Aurobindo has become a global preacher through his literary creativity. In his
spiritual state, he preached divine consciousness of the human beings. All the five full
length plays that he wrote are steeped in romance by giving the message of love and
brotherhood. Sri.Aurobindo presents love in his plays for the peaceful existence and
univervsal brotherhood of the human beings in this troubled world. According to him, it
is the basis of human existence. Without love the life of the common man in this world
would be full of cruelty and violence.
Sri.Aurobindo tried several forms of drama dramatic romance, tragedy and the
allegorical play. The Viziers of Bassora, Eric and Vasasvadutta are dramatic romances.
Rodogune is a tragedy and Perseus the Deliverer is an allegorical play. The vision and
theme observed in, The Viziers of Bassora, is one of a bright future for mankind and of
the ultimate victory of the forces of good over the forces of evil, besides it also visualizes
the evolution of man. Whereas, the evolution of man from the stage of ignorance to the
stage of enlightened humanism is the theme of Perseus the Deliverer. Theme of Eric is
that the trinity of glorious manhood, can be completed only when strength in nature and
wisdom in the mind are combined with, love in the heart. Love is the evolving force in
Eric and the evolution in this play takes place according to the Aurobindonian process of
evolution, i.e. from the evolution in the ignorance to a greater evolution in the
knowledge. The theme of Vasavadutta is that if we allow ourselves to be guided by the
impulses of our deeper heart, we will surely be led to the world of progress, peace and
perfection. The purification of human soul through suffering is the theme of Rodogune.
Such purification is necessary for the attainment of truth consciousness which is linked
with the spiritual evolution of the suffering soul.
Through all these plays, Sri.Aurobindo brought blank verse as the medium of
drama to utmost perfection. His blank verse paragraphs, like those of Marlowe,
Shakespeare and Milton are examples of Sri.Aurobindo’s complete mastery ever this
mode of versification. Blank verse is the chief medium of expression in Sri.Aurobindo’s
plays. Prose too has been used in these plays. The primary character generally speaks in
blank verse while the characters in humble position such as servants, maids, jesters
mainly use prose. Prose is also used in comic scenes. Apart from these features,
Sri.Aurobindo, the playwright, in his plays, uses wide range of imagery, a high flight of
poetic imagination.

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 Each play of Sri.Aurobindo is a distinctive one the handling of the theme, the art
of characterization, the employment of the various principles of structural design, the
scheme of countrywise situation adopted in each of them, proves the greatness of the
play. These plays are effective both as dramas and as poetry. The plays of Sri.Aurobindo
occupy a distinctive place among his poetical works. The main characteristic of
Sri.Aurobindo’s plays is that they depict different cultures and place in different time
with a diversity of characters, moods and feelings.
When the actability or stage performance of Sri. Aurobidno’s plays concerned,
only his one play, Eric was performed on the 28th, 29th, 30th and 31th of March 2006 at
Bharat Nivas Auditiorium, Pondicherry by the Auroville Universal Township. Aryamani,
who directed and staged the play Eric first. The actors performed in the play are Aurevan,
Chris, Ruslan, Martin, Surya, Gandhi, Srimoyi, Rajaram, Samuel, Anandamayi,
Jivatman.
The producer and director of the play Eric, Aryamani in his webarticle, Putting
Sri.Aurobindo’s Plays on Stage a Research mentions that:
Compared to “Perseus,” “Eric” has much less characters and almost no
action.It has long monologues, mostly between the two main actors. So the
two worked intensively almost everyday for 4 months.
We concentrated on the relationship between gesture, word and space, how
to make it true and one, the voice the movement and the space.
The deep meaning of the words was a challenge for the actors, that were
trying to incorporate it in themselves. The language’s high level and
message is inspring but not easy to express. At the same time it is exactly
because we are working with a text by Sri. Aurobindo that everything at the
end falls into place and we are carried… We choose to have an intimate
performance with the actors sharing the stage with the public.
(http,//archive.auroville.org/art&culture/theatre/Auro’s-Plays/Eric.htm)
Except the play Eric, none of the plays of Sri.Aurobindo was ever staged or is
being staged, though Sri. Aurobidno was best creative author, theatrical companies never
staged his plays except Eric which was directed and staged by Aryamani. One of the
reasons behind not staging the plays is Sri. Aurobindo has failed to develop a medium of
language quite appropriate to drama. Though this sharp literary reviewer is known for his

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superb use of blank verse his lengthy monologues kills the action of his plays. Aurobindo
put weight on the common idealogy of dramatic plan is absolutely a dominat attainment
in the area of Indian English drama but it is unfortunate that he could not provide to the
stress of the stage unlike the accepted script playwright Karnad who writes completely
for stage invention. (www.researchscholar.co.in-e Journal, 426).
Inspite of his vast profound knowledge and learning, Sri.Aurobindo appears to
have ignored the rich tradition of Indian drama, so far as the dramatic technique is
concerned. In expressing the romatic impulse Aurobindo seems to have relied
excessively on the model of Elizabethan drama. Drama (play) consisting five acts some
lengthy verse dialogues, lengthy prologues unduly long rhetorical speeches, the
introduction of a large number of characters increases confusion. The lengthy speeches of
Elizabethan style and the dramatic verse fail to suit the modern stage.
Apart from these reasons, though Sri.Auroboindo’s plays are good as stage pieces
the fact behind not staging the plays except Eric as follow;
The first fact is that, except in the big cities, it is not customary to perform English
plays on the popular stage in India, whether they possess stageworthy qualities or not.
This is as truer of the plays of dramatists like Shakespease, which are adored by Indians.
If at all, Sri.Aurobindo’s plays deserved to be staged in any country, it should have been
England. They are so English and so suited to the English stage. But Sri.Aurobindo, the
poet did not have even as much footing in England as his brother had.
The second fact is that no dramatic troup has so far taken interest in
Sri.Aurobindo’s plays for the purpose of producing them on the stage. As a result, their
stageworthiness has not been properly realized. The plays, on their part, give enough
evidence to conclude that they are as stageworthy as any dramas of the Elizabethan
period.
So, the fact except the play Eric, Sri.Aurobindo’s plays have never been
performed exposes them to the charge of being ‘closet dramas’: According to experts in
the field closet drama is designed for reading in the study (closet) or to small groups
rather than for performance on the public stage.’ (Encyclopedia of Poetry and
Poetics,142). The fact also declares the 19th century as ‘the period most productive of
closet drama, lends support to the supposition that Sri. Aurobindo’s plays are closet
dramas since they belong to the same tradition as 19th century dramas. But some critics

98
opines that, in the 20th century much poetic drama would appear to fit the definition of
closet drama, in its ultimate fate if not because of the author’s intentions, and cite the
works of Fry, Eliot-Yeats. From this statement of experts the second meaning of closet
drama emerges as-a play which becomes restricted in its appeal on account of the
circumstances and atmosphere of the times rather than the failure of the dramatist to
make them stage-worthy. Sri.Aurobindo’s plays can indeed be described as closet dramas
in this sense of the term.
The author’s indifference to having them staged or published, his adherence to self
satisfaction as the due reward of a creative writer, and the consequent absence of interest
of actors and producers have forced Sri. Aurobindo’ plays to be closet dramas inspite of
the fact that they possess stageworthiness.

99
Works Cited
Aryamani – Putting Sri. Aurobindo’s Plays on Stage: a Research- Eric http://
archive. auroville. org/ artculture / theatre / Auro’s –plays/ Eric.com

Bana, Meenakshi. Symbolism, in Sri. Aurobindo’s Plays. New Delhi : Sarup &
Sons.1996.

Banerjee S.K. (Quote) The Nation-Idea in our Early History Sri. Aurobindo
Mandir Annual, No.20 (Calcutta, 1961)pp. 104.

Das, Manoj. Sri. Aurobindo : The Hour of God. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi.
1995.

Gowda Anniah H.H, The Revival of English Poetic Drama Mysore, 1963.pp. 13.

Ibid, P. 29.

Iyengar K.R.S. and Prema Nandkumar, Indian Writing in English, 5th ed.Sterling
Publishers, Delhi, 144.

---. Sri. Aurobindo (Calcutta, 1950) pp.157.

---. Indian Writing in English, New Delhi, Sterling Publishers. Rpt. 1995.

---. Andromeda pp. 170.

---. Sri. Aurobindo (Calcutta, 1950)pp. 72.

Jaiswal, Sheo Shankar. Sri. Aurobindo’s Plays. New Delhi. Classical Publishing
Company. 1993.

Kumar, Satish. A Survey of India English Drama. Bareilly: Prakash Book Depo.
1993. pp.34.

Murray, D.L.: Sri. Aurobindo, The Times Literary Supplement, 8 July 1944.
100
Nandkumar, Prema. ‘The Viziers of Bassora : A Study,’ Sri.Aurobindo Circle
Twenty Third Number. Pondicherry, 1967.pp. 47- 52.

---. Sri.Aurobindo’s Interpretation of Indian Culture, Sri.Aurobindo Circle,

No. 1979.pp. 35,59.

---. “Rodogune: A Study,” Sri. Aurobindo Circle, 1966. No. 22, 38.

---.‘ The Captivity Theme in Sri. Aurobindo’s Plays’. The Banasthali Patrika,
No.12 (Banasthali Vidyapith, January, 1969.pp. 163.)

Prajapati P. Jimmykumar, A Critical Study of Sri. Aurobindo’s Plays,

www. research scholar. co. in (e- journal) 426.

Preminger, ed Encyclopaedia of Poetry and Poetics, pp.142.

Purani, A. B. The Life of Sri. Aurobindo (Pondicherry Sri. Aurobindo Ashram)

1978.pp.31.

Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and A night II,pp.1-44.

Roarke, Jesse. Sri. Aurobindo (Pondicherry: Sri. Aurobindo Ashram Press )

1973. pp. 121-122.

Sinha, A.K. The Dramatic Art of Sri. Aurobindo. (New Delhi : S. Chand & Co.
Ltd.) 1979. pp.91.

Ibid.pp. 29-49

Sri.Aurobindo: Speeches of Aurobindo Ghosh (Pondicherry, 1969)pp. 101.

---. Speeches of Aurobindo Ghosh (Pondicherry, 1969)pp. 194.

101
---.The Mother (Pondicherry, 1957) pp. 83-84.

---. Collected Plays, B.C.L., Vll, pp.570.

---. Collceted Plays, B.C. L.,VI, pp.1.

---. Letters on Yoga, B.C.L. XXIII,pp. 958.

---. Collected Plays And Short-stories. Part 1 and 2 Pondicherry: Sri.Aurobindo

Ashram Trust. 1971. Rpt. 1995.

---.The Viziers of Bassora (Pondicherry, 1959).

---. Collected Plays, B.C.L. VI, pp.239.

---. Collected Plays and Short Stories Part-one, pp.1 ‘The Legend of Perseus.’

---. The Story of His Life, Rpt. (Pondicherry, Sri.Aurobindo Ashram, 1972)
pp. 72.

Sri.Aurobindo, Perseus the Deliverer. (Pondicherry,1955).

Sri.Aurobindo: Vasavadutta (Pondicherry, 1957).

Sri.Aurobindo Website. 2008. Com <http://www. Search for light. org/ nh

26022005/ Eric Index 1. Htm >

Sri.Aurobindo: Eric (Pondicherry, 1960).

Sri.Aurobindo, Collected Plays B.C.L. VI, pp. 496.

---. Rodogune (Pondicherry, 1958).

102
 ---. Rodogune, Collected Plays. B.C.L. VI, pp. 338.

Stylan, J.L. The Dramatic Experience: A Guide to the Reading of Plays,

1975.pp. 54-70.

The Bible, Genesis – 4, “Cain and Abel”, illustrated by Horace Knowles (Great
Britain: The British and Foreign Bible Society, 1974)pp. 4.

Yadav, Saryug “Sri.Aurobindo: The Playwright.” Studies in Indian Drama in

English,ed. A.N.Prasad, Saryug Yadav. Bareilly: Prakash Book Depo.
2003. pp.71.

103