Event: Shadhona’s ‘Nohi Debi Nohi Shamanya Nari’
Place: Bangla Academy
Date : 7 p.m 12th October, 2018

Shadhona performs 'Nohi Debi Nohi Shamannya Nari', based on Tagore's 'Chitrangada' for Naripokkh's 35 year celebration. Dance Direction by Sweety Das Chowdhury and Music Direction: Nirjher Chowdhury.

‘Chitrangada’, a dance drama, originally composed by Nobel laureate Gurudeb Rabindranath Tagore in 1892, is based on the love life of Manipur’s princess Chitrangada and Arjun, the third Pandava of the epic Mahabharata, and it documents the emotional journey of Chitrangada as she is awakened by her irresistible passion for the love of her life, Arjun. According to Mahabharata, Arjuna, the brave warrior travelled the length and breadth of India during his term of exile, and it was during his wanderings that he had a brief sojourn in ancient Manipur, a mystic kingdom renowned for its natural beauty. There, he met Chitrangada, the daughter of the king of Manipur and eventually married him on the preconditioned premise that he would never take away either Chitrangada or their children from her maiden kingdom of Manipur. The couple later had a son named Babruvahana.

Rabindranath Tagore took the basic story of Chitrangada from the epic and adapted it in his drama, expanding the narrative with his deep sensitivity in the characterization of princess Chitrangada, where the feminine subjectivity comes out through his characteristic lyrical style. . Chitrangada, as a Tagorean heroine is a strong woman who chooses to establish her identity risking losing the man she desires. She had been raised as a prince, but in course of time she breaks free of this bondage and asserts her femininity. She spends her life estranged from her beloved, raising her child on her own. Through her transformation from the masculine warrior princess to the diva with charming, feminine attributes, Tagore carves her as the timeless, complete woman who personifies love, courage and substance.