From myth to modernity Ganesh Mandarthis Shivoham

The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. Karnataka Today Your daily dose of news highlights from Karnataka First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Updated - March 11, 2025 10:43 am IST - Bengaluru A scene from the play Shivoham. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT Chronicles of India (COI), a young theatre troupe started by amateur and professional theatre artists in 2024, is set to stage another show of its first Kannada production Shivoham. Premiered last year, this will be COI’s first show at Ranga Shankara, J.P. Nagar, on March 11. Written, designed and directed by renowned theatre maker Ganesh Mandarthi, according to the synopsis, the play is both a mythological and social drama, intertwining two tales. One is the mythological saga of Shiva. The second tale is of a character resonating with Shiva’s intensity, who emerges as a revolutionary experiencing the anguish of lost love. The synopsis by the troupe says that the play also talks about female characters challenging societal norms and male ego, striving to transcend boundaries, whether in triumph or defeat. On the inspiration behind Shivoham, Ganesh Mandarthi said that Shiva has been a primary deity in the land, and he wanted to create a work inspired by him. “When Shiva loses his wife Dakshayani, he turns miserable. I wanted to show the side of Shiva where a leader of the backward community, a Yogi, and a deity of the land turns inconsolable. This is the story of how God can also become weak like us humans. The other side, or the dual life of Shiva is the inspiration behind the play,” he said. A scene from Shivoham. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT Elaborating on how the mythological and social narratives are intertwined in the play, Mandarthi said, “Bhasmasura-Mohini, Rasaleele’s Shiva and the encounter of Chandala and Shankaracharya are the three stories we have taken up in this play. In Bhasmasura Mohini, we talk about Pravati and how Vishnu took the form of Mohini to distract the demon Bhasmasura. In the second, Shiva becomes a woman to dance at the Yamuna river. In the third, Chandala’s wife Chandale holds a conversation with Shankaracharya in Sanskrit. In all three stories, femininity has the upper hand.” Meanwhile, the social narrative strand of the play talks about backward classes and the issues around them. Tickets for the show at 7.30 p.m. are available at the Ranga Shankara box-office and on BookMyShow. theatre / religion and belief / arts, culture and entertainment Terms & conditions  |  Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.