Draupadi: Through Time - The journey of a virtuous queen

Author Rupa Chakravarti recently brought the audience together to witness the beauty of 'Draupadi: Through Time'. Held at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Kolkata, the theatrical presentation was scripted, conceptualised and directed by Rupa Chakravarti, while Rubena Chatterjee was the dance director and played the role of senior Draupadi along with Drabin Chatterjee as Lord Krishna.

Many years ago, the concept sprung from a mirror image somewhere in Europe. While adorning herself, Rupa chanced upon the exquisite youth of a young Draupadi and put pen to paper. She witnessed that youth through Draupadi, a doppelganger that evolved as empathetic and resonant with a personal philosophy that professes, "I'm every woman; it's all in me."

An intellectual trajectory into the evolution of the presentation, 'Draupadi' assumed the duality of two persons: the young Draupadi, who reveled in the gift of polyandry and senior Draupadi, who reflected on herself as the polygamist. Her reflection percolated into diverse dimensions of comprehension, poignance, loss and ultimately surrender. However, she remained Draupadi, who never, for once, forsook her identity. But the Pandavas, drawn by lucre and lust in this charade called life, were reduced to using camouflage, subterfuge and masks to sustain their introduction through mythology, storytelling, myth and lore. Such is the power of Draupadi, who was 'not a deity, nor a mere maid'.

As the epic saga slowly reached its end, the reverberation in the final crescendo, 'laagi lagana, sakhi pati sang' won everyone's hearts.