Decoding Mohana: A Play: An In-Depth Review By Praveen Kumar

Book Title: Mohana: A Play

Author : Abhyudita Gautam

Review Written By : Praveen Kumar

Abhyudita Gautam is an emerging creative voice. She has published two books since 2020, and
the latest addition to her oeuvre is a one-act play entitled Mohana. Her creative work spans
poetry, short stories, and a historical account of a town that went under water – fairly credible
indicators of her versatility as a writer. This time she has ventured into a new genre called poetic
drama, generally believed to be a challenging literary form.  It has few practitioners in the present
times, and her attempt to venture into a less crowded but demanding zone brings with it rewards
and dangers. Her faith in her capabilities reaps her appreciable rewards, with hardly any traces of
tentativeness overshadowing the text. She handles the medium with aplomb, stitching together
various strands to present a highly readable play.

Decoding Mohana

is a poignant play that is based on a real-life story, which turned into a folklore
following a controversial judgement and subsequent death of Mohana – a lovable young man
whose blood is believed to have brought disaster for the town now known as Bilaspur. Mohana
is the story of an innocent and self-sacrificing young man who decides to volunteer his life for
his brothers’ crime. His brothers Laxman and Tulsi had a running feud with Massadi Havildar
that accidentally took an ugly turn. A scuffle breaks out and in a fit of rage Tulsi stabs Havildar,
resulting in his death. Tulsi got into a panic and regretted his action as soon as the act was done:
“Oh, what a blunder we have committed! / Never did we intend to kill Massadi Havildar”. But
the slide couldn’t be arrested now; the only way forward was to face the consequences of their
actions. The repercussions of the criminal act unfold inexorably, trapping in the whirlpool their
unmarried younger brother Mohana, who had nothing to do with the murder. Mohana is
emotionally blackmailed into owning up the crime committed by his crafty brothers, and after
initial dithering he readies himself to face the consequences, primarily because he sees it as a
safer option for his extended family. Despite public appeal and persuasion from the King of
Kehloor kingdom to reveal the names of the murderers, he refuses to budge from his stand. The
King is left with no option but to sentence him to death. Mohana’s death is deeply felt by the
people, who write and sing songs commemorating his life, which gradually condenses into
folklore as the time passes. Years later the capital of Kehloor kingdom, now known as Bilaspur,
is completely submerged in the waters of Gobind Sagar Lake. People still believe that the town
had to bear the brunt because an innocent man was hanged for a crime he never committed.

Mohana, who is initially hesitant to admit to the murder charges, changes rapidly when
he begins to look at the whole thing from a different perspective. He begins to feel that his life
has acquired a higher purpose now. For him his “family’s security” and “the security of our
land” is all that matters; his own earthly existence hardly holds value for him now. He invokes
Sita to bring home his point: “Sita too had buried herself in the earth/knowing that her family
would dwell after she was gone/We are all here with a purpose and mine has been
accomplished”. He doesn’t flinch and refuses to divulge the truth even when the king threatens
him with dire consequences for lying. He says he is not looking for glory and is doing things of
his own volition; he tries to transcend his limited self and do things which may have far-reaching
consequences. Using mythological references, he makes it clear that his personal well-being is
not a concern for him now. He looks self-assured when he says, “Did Jattayu think twice/before
trying to free mother Sita/from the clutches of Ravana?” The play highlights the sad reality of
human relations. Love for one’s life overrides all human relations. While an innocent and naïve
brother, who is manipulated by his own brothers, is ready to lay his life for them, his brothers
completely disregard basic human values and fraternal love.

While

the imbroglio complicates everyone’s life, it is Mohana’s mother who is the worst
sufferer; her heart breaks when she learns about her son’s predicament. She implores him to
come clean and name the real culprits, but he refuses to change his statement. She pleads with
him but he looks determined to protect his brothers and their families. Her anguished cries fail to
soften his resolve because he feels he’s doing things for the larger good. Like Christ, he espouses
his fate without anger, frustration, or sadness; he looks indifferent to his own fate. Shades of
Christian mythology, more specifically, the Last Supper, are unmistakably present in the play as
Mohana’s mother feeds him with utmost affection, immediately prior to his execution.
The play is well-knit and reaches its denouement rapidly. Readers normally develop a
fondness for the virtuous protagonists of a play and do not like to see them suffer; here too,
people fervently pray and plead for Mohana’s safety. Confident of Mohana’s innocence, they
implore the king to show magnanimity and forgive him. But their entreaties fail to cut ice with
the king, who is bound to judge on the basis of evidence or confession, having little freedom to
deviate from the norms and procedures. While pronouncing the judgement, the king is deeply
pained because he knows that he is sending an innocent man to the gallows. He holds Mohana in
high esteem and predicts that his “tale will be remembered for eternity” and his sacrifice “will be
written down in verses/And sung by the people year after year….”

Since the play is about a local tale of sacrifice and its subsequent impact on the fate of a
local town, the writer chose to have its Hindi translation as well, thereby making it accessible to
a larger audience, some of whom may be incapable of accessing and enjoying the English work.
In order to ensure a more creative and spontaneous translation of the work, the playwright
approached Kulbhushan Sharma, a translator and creative writer of repute. True to his
capabilities, he succeeds in capturing the essence of the play in free-flowing and effective
language. Concluding the Hindi version with a few lines of a folk song that spontaneously burst
forth in response to Mohana’s tragic death lends an unspeakable charm and appeal to the play.
The translator also lists a number of artistic forms in which the people’s anguish found
expression, though most of these have become obsolete, and the younger generation is hardly
aware of what these represent.

Abhyudita

has produced an excellent play that touches us deeply; it finds resonance with
the people of a region which still reverberates with the pain that marked an unjust execution. An
event of huge proportions, its ripples were felt beyond the immediate present. Mohana, built
around a character that has fascinated people for generations, strikes a chord with the readers as
they get a chance to relive that momentous event though this well-structured poetic play.