Play:- Yam Gatha

About the play:- Yam Gatha

This play focuses on the brutality, cruelty and manipulations of the ‘ones in power’ which they exert in order to maintain their authority and domination. The main aim of the ‘system’ is to come in terms with the opposition, no matter if the opponents are sacrificed in the name of religion and under the shelter of law (!). The system leaves nothing unturned. False propaganda is frivolously used to demean the opposition.Yama Gatha throws light on this naked truth. Though mythology forms the basis of the presentation but the content undoubtedly shows its parallel existence in contemporary world situation. The playwright Prof. Doodh Nath Singh has remarkably brought out the prevelant social and political power game situations through the medium of ‘Indra’ and ‘Pururva’. The play is a strong statement on the continuous ‘unannounced’ exploitation which third world countries suffer at hands of developed nations. Deep rooted racial discrimination and caste hierarchies forming the basis of marginalisation, subjugation, subordination and inequality still relevant in Indian as well as global context also find wide representation in the play. Indra is the epitome of ‘World power’ and Brahmins, Rishikul and Raja are his tools in the game of power. Through these tools Indra exploits the people and gets his opponents killed by manipulative declaring them ‘agaisnt religion’ and ‘against mankind’. He calls them ‘Anarya’ and ‘Dasyu’, so as to isolate them from mainstream. ‘Yajna’ for him is an important medium of carrying forward this exploitation. Schools of serviles, parasites, music, alcohol and sex make an integral part of his ‘kootneeti’. The play exposes the farcical, cruel and distorted face of reality of politics through Indra. On the other side Vasishtha and Pururva are striving to restore power to the people. They work together to bring light to the people; they fight for their rights and their welfare. Neither do people have enough fire to live nor do they have access to resources to survive. People are exploited by Brahmins and Purohits in the name of sacrifices and yajnas. Pururva wages war against this exploitation. Indra fears Pururva and tries to tempt him and appropriate him and his guru Vasishtha into the system. Not succeeding in his plans he gets Pururva killed in Purushmedh Yajna under the cover of ‘Dharm Sammat Nyaya’.Yama Gatha attacks the cruel and two faced system and politics in the name of religion. Through Urvashi and Ila, the two women characters, the question of feminine identity and Asmita comes up strikingly in this play.The conflict between two ‘streams of thought’ or ‘cultures’; conflict between those striving for identity, recognition and survival and those engaged in politics of domination, provides strength and sets a large canvas for this play.

Writer :- Dhoodh Nath Singh