Chitra, a Play in One Act | Page 3

give exact copies of it. Among other things, this requires that
you do not remove, alter or modify the etext or this "small print!"
statement. You may however, if you wish, distribute this etext in
machine readable binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
including any form resulting from conversion by word pro- cessing or
hypertext software, but only so long as *EITHER*:
[*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and does *not*
contain characters other than those intended by the author of the work,
although tilde (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may be used
to convey punctuation intended by the author, and additional characters
may be used to indicate hypertext links; OR
[*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at no expense into
plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent form by the program that displays
the etext (as is the case, for instance, with most word processors); OR
[*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at no additional
cost, fee or expense, a copy of the etext in its original plain ASCII form
(or in EBCDIC or other equivalent proprietary form).
[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this "Small
Print!" statement.
[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the net profits
you derive calculated using the method you already use to calculate
your applicable taxes. If you don't derive profits, no royalty is due.
Royalties are payable to "Project Gutenberg
Association/Carnegie-Mellon University" within the 60 days following
each date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) your annual
(or equivalent periodic) tax return.
WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU
DON'T HAVE TO?
The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, scanning
machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty free copyright
licenses, and every other sort of contribution you can think of. Money

should be paid to "Project Gutenberg Association / Carnegie-Mellon
University".
We are planning on making some changes in our donation structure in
2000, so you might want to email me, [email protected] beforehand.

*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN
ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*

CHITRA
BY
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
A PLAY IN ONE ACT

New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1926
All rights reserved

Copyright 1914
by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Set up and electrotyped Published February, 1914 Reprinted March,
twice,June, 1914; October, 1914; February, June, 1915; March,
October, 1916; March, 1917; December, 1926.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY
THE BERWICK & SMITH CO.

TO
MRS. WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODY

PREFACE
THIS lyrical drama was written about twenty-five years ago. It is based
on the following story from the Mahabharata.
In the course of his wanderings, in fulfilment of a vow of penance,
Arjuna came to Manipur. There he saw Chitrangada, the beautiful
daughter of Chitravahana, the king of the country. Smitten with her

charms, he asked the king for the hand of his daughter in marriage.
Chitravahana asked him who he was, and learning that he was Arjuna
the Pandara, told him that Prabhanjana, one of his ancestors in the
kingly line of Manipur, had long been childless. In order to obtain an
heir, he performed severe penances. Pleased with these austerities, the
god Shiva gave him this boon, that he and his successors should each
have one child. It so happened that the promised child had invariably
been a son. He, Chitravahana, was the first to have only a daughter
Chitrangada to perpetuate the race. He had, therefore, always treated
her as a son and had made her his heir.
Continuing, the king said:
"The one son that will be born to her must be the perpetuator of my
race. That son will be the price that I shall demand for this marriage.
You can take her, if you like, on this condition."
Arjuna promised and took Chitrangada to wife, and lived in her father's
capital for three years. When a son was born to them, he embraced her
with affection, and taking leave of her and her father, set out again on
his travels.
THE CHARACTERS
GODS: MADANA (Eros). VASANTA (Lycoris).
MORTALS: CHITRA, daughter of the King of Manipur. ARJUNA, a
prince of the house of the Kurus. He is of the Kshatriya or "warrior
caste," and during the action is living as a Hermit retired in the forest.
VILLAGERS from an outlying district of Manipur.
NOTE.--The dramatic poem "Chitra" has been performed in India
without scenery--the actors being surrounded by the audience.
Proposals for its production here having been made to him, he went
through this translation and provided stage directions, but wished these
omitted if it were printed as a book.
SCENE I
Chitra
ART thou the god with the five darts, the Lord of Love?
Madana
I am he who was the