The Story of Gunadhaya Part 4.

Here you go, the fourth and final installment. With notes as to how we're treating it on stage.

Once again I reiterate - this story is an adaptation - based on the Katha Pitha Lamba in Somadeva's Katha Sarit Sagar - I use the english versions from C W Tawney's Ocean of Stories and Arshia Sattar's Kathasaritsagara. I was inspired to explore this story based on a humanistic (non-divine) retelling of the same by Mrinal Pande over coffee at the India International Center two years ago.

Looking like a tribal himself, with long matted locks, and an overgrown beard, Gunadhaya trudges back to the city of Pratishthana, the court of the great Satavahana. In this production, his hair just turns white... instantly... on stage as he runs his hands through his hair (with white paste in it) in a sort of exhaution yet satisfaction that the job has been done... after the writing of the stories.

He arrives, and after dealing with getting the guards to realise who he is, enters the court. The King welcomes him.

"Oh Gunadhaya, it is so good to see you."
Gunadhaya responds (in our play, he vows not to speak court languages for six years - not his entire life).

The kings sankrit is polished and fluent. Gunadhaya's is a bit rusty.

"And you as well Maharaja"
"Its been seven years... I suppose now that your vow of not speaking the court languages is over, you're happy to be back? We could use your wisdom amongst us here"

"Maharaja, where is the Queen?"

"She died 3 years ago."

Satavahana briefly thinks about the fact that she figured out that this was all a sham, and rarely if ever spoke to him again after Gunadhaya went into exile. Both for decieving her, and makign her loose a dear friend.

"Even though I learned Sanskrit, she just... stopped talking to me after a while. I never completely understood her. "

"But Gunadhaya, " he switches...
"Its truly good to see you. Its been a while since we've had pundits of yours and Sarvarman's calibre in our midsts."
Sarvavarman, of course, died happy and of old age, and the only pundits in the court, are his students, all of whom wield thier knowledge of sanskrit as a tool of superiority and power.

"Whats this you've brought with you. Asks Satavahana.

Pulled out of his distraught shock, of hearing about the Maharani's death. The inability to share with her these amazing stories, his work of the last seven years.. Gunadhaya answers almost mechanically...

"Oh, these, these are stories of your subjects from the hills and forests. I spent the last 7 years documenting them, and collecting them. They are said to be the stories of all these people, and of generations before them, all of whom have collected stories from across the known world. "

He has no use for them now...

"If you would like to take them and share them with the world, please do so."

"Thats impressive!" he indicates to one of his Bhramin pundits to take the seven bundles, each containing a lakh of shlokas in them. The pundit, reluctantly accepts this bundle of smelly blood soaked skin, with strange broad strokes on them...

He enquires with his colleague..

"The script seems somewhat familiar.."
"But the language....?"

Satavahana looks over thier shoulder.

"Paisachi!!"

"Sir? You know this language?!?"

"What? Huh? No. No. " And indicates to have it handed back to Gunadhaya.

Gunadhya, not surprised at the Raja's little revalation, looks at him enquiringly,

"Raja, I know you know the language... I have just spent the past seven years amongst the same tribes you grew up in. These are thier stories."

The Bhramins intercede. "Raja! The court awaits you. The pundits from the neighbouring kingdom have gathered to do discourse In Sanskrit (they emphasise to Gunadhaya) with you. We must not keep visiting dignitaries waiting. "

The Raja hesitates.

"Raja". Presses the Bhramin.

"Gunadhaya, this seems very laudible work, but we only speak Sanskrit in this court, even the other court langugages that were in use during your time are frowned upon. There's no place for something like this in our world. "

Gunadhaya takes the bundles and starts to prepare to leave. While being looked upon with utter malice and spite by the two Bhramins (who by the way were Sarvavarman's consipirators in the plan to oust Gunadhaya in this play).

"Gunadhaya" says the Raja, "Stay, we can have long conversations together, my sanskrit is very good now, you and I can debate in Sanskrit! "

The only person Gunadhaya ever enjoyed debating with in Sanskrit... is dead.

"Raja, there is no place for something like this (pointing at himself) in your world."

They part ways ... though not for the last time.

Gunadhaya returns to the forest. Realising the foolishness of his early years, and the stupid pride he had in court as a Bhramin pundit who only respected sanskrit, distraught about the fact that the person he wanted to share the stories with his long dead, and the only other person who could have read them, so easily chooses to reject such a collossal heritage. (*)

He sees the inevitability of change, and his mind, the fact that it is futile to try to share the stories of kanabhuti's people with a world that woudl not have them.

He sits at a clearing in the middle of the forest, and begins to make a fire.

Kanabhuti seeing his unhappiness... enquires...

"What happenned? how did you end up coming back so soon?"
no reply. as he silently gathers the shlokas near the fire.

"Did you get to share these stories with your friend?"
"She's not here any more."

"Oh.."

"But what are you doing?"
"I'm burning these."
"Why? This is all your work. All the stories that you said you wanted to collect. Why would you burn them?"

"Apart from me, there's no one on this planet who is able or willing to read them. None of your people can read, the concept of reading is alien to them. These shloks I have written have no place in this world."

Kanabhuti's old belief in the power of stories is reaffirmed (*)

"But you can teach my people Paisachi!"
"I am too old now... I don't think I am going to live for much longer. "

Kanabhuti concurrs...

"Stories are best told to each other, not read from a book."
"Gunadhaya! Before you burn them, at least, read them out loud to me one last time."

Gunadhaya thinks...

Then he starts to read...

As he reads each page to Kanabhuti, he then consigns it to the flames...

Slowly, as he continues to do this, story by story, the actors playing tribals (all 16 of them) who have gathered in a Kollatta dance in a circle around him, only humming the tunes of the stories... , start to dissapear in the smoke of his fire, pair by pair. Until it is only him, and Kanabhuti left... and the flames, and the smoke, and an empty stage...


(*) Both of them. This is the central reason for Gunadhaya burning the stories. Its still... - not brilliant, in my mind. He's ot a likeable protagonist given that he ended up bieng so
-------------

"What?? Cries the queen! SOMDEVA, tell me he burt all the stories!"
"Wait my Queen, I haven't finished."
-------------------
Somdeva continues to read..
(He reads the following passage from From Tawney's translation... with the bit about Shiva and Ganas as its his story to tell now...)

And while he was reading out and
burning that heavenly tale, all the deer, boars, buffaloes
and other wild animals came there, leaving their pasturage,
and formed a circle round him, listening with tears in their
eyes, unable to quit the spot.

In the meanwhile King Satavahana fell sick. And the
physicians said that his illness was due to eating meat wanting
in nutritive qualities. And when the cooks were scolded
for it they said :

" The hunters bring in to us flesh of this
kind." And when the hunters were taken to task they said :
"Ona hill not very far from here there is a Brahman reading,
who throws into a fire every leaf as soon as he has read it ; so
all the animals go there and listen, without ever grazing ; they
never wander anywhere else ; consequently this flesh of theirs
is wanting in nutritive properties on account of their going
without food." When he heard this speech of the hunters
he made them show him the way, and out of curiosity went
in person to see Gunadhya, and he beheld him, owing to his
forest life, overspread with matted locks that looked like the
smoke of the fire of his curse, that was almost extinguished
Then the king recognised him as he stood in the midst
of the weeping animals, and after he had respectfully saluted
him, he asked him for an explanation of all the circumstances.
That wise Brahman then related to the king in the
language of the demons his own history as Pushpadanta,
giving an account of the curse and all the circumstances
which originated the descent of the tale to earth. Then the
king, discovering that he was an incarnation of a Gana,
bowed at his feet, and asked him for that celestial tale that
had issued from the mouth of Siva. Then Gunadhya said
to that King Satavahana :
tc O king ! I have burnt six tales
containing six hundred thousand couplets ; but there is one
tale consisting of a hundred thousand couplets, take that,1
and these two pupils of mine shall explain it to you." So
spake Gunadhya and took leave of the king, and then by
strength of devotion laid aside his earthly body and, released
from the curse, ascended to his own heavenly home. Then the
king took that tale which Gunadhya had given, called Brihat
Kathd, containing the adventures of Naravahanadatta, and
went to his own city. And there he bestowed on Gunadeva
and Nandideva, the pupils of the poet who composed that tale,
lands, gold, garments, beasts of burden, palaces and treasures.
And having recovered the sense of that tale with their help,
Satavahana composed the book named Kathapitha, in order
to show how the tale came to be first made known in the
Paisacha language. Now that tale was so full of various
interest that men were so taken with it as to forget the tales
of the gods, and after producing that effect in the city it
attained uninterrupted renown in the three worlds."

Somdeva continues...
"Queen, (I think her name was Suryamati- no time to go back and check now.. ) I have found these documents from the court of Satavahana, from over 200 years ago, and have adapted and compiled them for your entertainment - in Sanskrit. I call this, the Kathasaritsagar"