4. Theme and Summary of the Annadatri-Carita

Already it is declared that this drama deals with the participation of Utiyan Ceralatan in the Kurukshetra war. The author attempted to tie his contemporary period with the ancient history. He connects the last Travancore ruler Chittirathirunal Balaramavarma and Queen Sethuparvathibai with one of his ancient ancestorsUdayavarma Kulashekhara and his mother. Annadatricarita was a drama composed to perform in the birthday celebration of the ruler Chittirathirunal Balaramavarma of Travancore. In the beginning of the drama, it is clear about the occasion from the words of Sutradhara. He became confused about his theme to be performed and asked his consort’s opinion. Finally, he decided to perform this drama which was suggested by his wife (actress).

[...]^[1]

The plot of the drama is briefly given below:

1. Act I

In the beginning of the drama, the Sutradhara entered after Nandishloka which was an admiration to the deity Dharma. Subsequently, the Sutradhara had a discussion with his consort who was also a performer. He desired to perform an unpublished drama with a fresh storyline. The actress suggested him a new unpublished drama Annadatricarita in the occasion of the birthday celebrations of the king. Finally,in the end of ‘Prastavana’ they decided to perform thatwhich deals about one of the ancestors of the king.

[...]^[2]

At that point Shurasena, the envoy of Yudhishthira, arrived into the Vanci domain accompanied by a soldier named Candrahasa. Both of them became amazed by the celestial beauty of the Vanci kingdom and they shared their happiness with each other. Then they approached the palace gate and hand over the request to the janitor by asking the permission to meet the king. The gatekeeper asked them to have a rest and sent them to the guesthouse until the permission granted. Shurasena departed to there with self satisfaction in the completion of the mission, because his virtuous master directed him to do such a difficult task. He was very much confident about that, the virtue will always accompany by the victory.

2. Act II

The second act begins with the scene of the Vanci king Udayavarmakulashekhara’s discussion with his minister. From their conversation, it is clear that the Vanci kingdom is a prosperous domain exceptionally with an enormous collection of cereals. Into that meeting the messenger of Yudhishthira arrived with a request of his master, asking help in the forthcoming Kurukshetra war. At the same time, Virabhadra the messenger of King Duryodhana also reached there with the same demand. The Vancishvara fell in a dilemma because he had kept a healthy friendship with both kings without any partiality. After a discussion with his minister, the king decided to feed the whole army in the battle of Kurukshetra without any special consideration to anyone. The two messengers became delighted after hearing this decision and they took off to their own countries with this happy news.

3. Act III

The third act begins with a conversation between two maidservants named Malati and Lalita in the palace. They talked about the Queen mother who came there to wish the king a happy journey. The Queen mother was an educated, diplomatic and pragmatically wise personality with deep knowledge in administration and political affairs. Through the conversation between Malati and Lalita, the dramatist reveals the details about the mission of Vancishvara.

In the next scene, the king Vancishvara examined the arrangements for his voyage to Kurukshetra with his sailor, Dhanapala. Vancishvara expressed his pleasure about those arrangements and congratulated the sailor. He asked blessings and permission from the Queen Mother and invested the burden of administration to her hand till he come back. She bestowed her blessings to the king who selected himself, for a challenging mission of great feeding in a war.

4. Act IV

In the opening of the fourth act, three soldiers praises about the delicious feast organized by the king Udayavarmakulashekhara. They compared the taste of that food with the heavenly nectar because many spices from the Vanci kingdom enriched the flavour of the food. They wished that, if the war had not a sudden end they could enjoy the delicious food for a long time. When the soldiers saw two army commander’s arrival to there, they get back from the scene. Both of the army commanders also talked about the effort took by Vancishvara and praised the king for the same.

At that time, the Kaurava ruler Duryodhana entered there with his uncle Shakuni and companion Karna. Duryodhana felt very happy about the help arranged by the Vancishvara and Karna also had the same opinion. Nevertheless, the cunning and sceptical uncle Shakuni conveyed some suspicions about the genuineness of Vancishvara. According to Shakuni, that south Indian king was not a straightforward person as Duryodhana thinks, because he feeds the opposite army also. Karna refuted this opinion and mentioned the wicked nature of Shakuni. But Shakuni tried his level best to prove that his doubt is not a negligible one. Karna warned Duryodhana that, it was not good to suspect the genuine Vanci King and Duryodhana agreed with his friend’s opinion.

When Vancishvara and his assistant Indrasena were analysing about the supply of food in the war field, Shakuni entered there as a messenger sent by Duryodhana. He asked Vancishvara to stop providing food for Pandavas. Moreover, Shakuni tempted the king that, if he withdraw all helps to Pandavas, Duryodhana will honour Vancishvara with an ample kingdom in the Uttarabharata region. While hearing this, Vancishvara shouted towards Shakuni and without a doubt said that he would not do any actions against the Pandavas. After the departure of Shakuni, Vancishvara ordered to strengthen the security of the Kitchen. The Act ends with a pray of the Vancishvara towards lord Dharma requesting the blessings to fulfil his mission, and he considered all these obstacles were to examine his virtuous stand in the world.

5. Act V

The fifth act starts with entry of Yudhishthira to devote Krishna and praised with chanting. Pleased Krishna told him to ask any wish in the mindand he let it to be completed. Yudhishthira replied that there was nothing remained to wish after this victory. Krishna said that now Yudhishthira should honour that ‘Rajarshi’ who helped him to acquire the victory in the war. Yudhishthira asked his brother Bhimasena to arrive in the assembly. When Bhimasena came, Yudhishthira asked that each and every Kings who helped them in the war were doing well? We should treat them well; otherwise it was equal to ingratitude. Bhimasena replied that every Kings were felt happy with our dealing. Yudhishthira asked Krishna that among these kings who was eligible to be honoured. Both Krishna and Bhimasena replied that, without any doubt it must be Vancishvara. Yudhishthira asked Bhimasena to bring Vancishvara to the assembly with all due respect.

Vancishvara entered the court accompanied by Bhimasena and other servants. At first, he praised Krishna and then saluted emperor Yudhishthira. Yudhishthira privileged Vancishvara by mounted the throne and honoured him with sandal, flowers and perfumes etc. Krishna pleased by seeing both virtuous kings enthroned in the north and south zone of Bharata. He announced that the king Vancishvara did a great work by conducting the grand feeding in the war. As an honour to him, Vancishvara became famous with the embellishment of an honorary name ‘Mahannadatri’ (the great food donor). When heard this, Vancishvara became pleased and praised Krishna. Then, Krishna asked him to make any wish in his mind. Vancishvara requested him to take birth in his clan and pour his blessings on the Vanci domain. Krishna replied that in the Kaliyuga, he will take birth in the Vanci clan in the day of ‘Citranakshatra’ as a son of goddess Parvati who also take birth in that clan. Yudhishthira also asked the blessings and Krishna said Yudhishthira to accompany him in the role of a wise minister when he takes birth in Vancirajya. Everyone became rejoiced and the play ends with the Bharatavakya wishing calm and peace to the whole world.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Ibid.,1.

[2]:

Ibid., 4.