________________
178
A LOVER OF LIGHT AMONG LUMINARIES : Dilip Kumar Roy A few points of similarity can be observed in these two plays. Both of them are three-act poetic plays in blank verse. In both of them the biographical sketches of two towering spiritual personalities of the medieval India are drawn. Both of them emphasize the importance of Love of Krishna over the Knowledge about Him. These dramatic biographies are written with the special purpose of helping the spiritual aspirants like Roy himself on their difficult path of Truth.
But they are different from each other in certain aspects. While Sri Chaitanya shows need of renunciation of the world for Krishna, Mira illustrates grace and lila or Divine sport of Krishna. Sri Chaitanya appears to be more compact than Mira because Act I of Mira, added later on and the earlier Act I of Mira in Brinadavan have the same repetitive theme. Arguments presented by Sri Chaitanya in favour of the 'Love Divine' seem to be more coherent than those put forward by Mira.
Both the plays are perfect pieces of literary art and an expression of what may be called bhav or pure love of God in Vaishnav terminology.
Notes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
M. Subba Rao, Readings in Indo-Anglian Literature: Perspective and Retrospective (New Delhi: Kanishka Publishers, 1995). II. 12.
9.
K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar, 'Foreword', in Dilip Kumar Roy, Hark! His Flute! (Poona: Hari Krishna Mandir, 1972), p.vii.
Dilip Kumar Roy and Indira Devi, Pilgrims of the Stars (1973; rpt Porthill: Timeless Books, 1985), p.15.
Aristotle, On the Art of Poetry, trans. Ingram Bywater (1920; rpt Oxford: The Clarendon press, 1978), p. 42.
Dilip Kumar Roy, Sri Chaitanya and Mira (1950; rpt. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1979), Act I, p. 10.
6.
7.
8. ibid., Act I, pp. 15-16.
ibid., Act II.p.21.
10. ibid., Act II, pp.23-24.
11.
ibid., Act II, p.24.
12.
ibid., Act II, pp. 24-25.
13.
ibid., Act II, pp.29-30.
14.
ibid., Act II. p.33.
15.
ibid., Act II. p.38.
ibid., Act I, p. 12.
ibid., Act I, p.15.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
