Shadow Correspondent
Jammu,June 21:
Natrang’s mega musical theatre presentation ‘Mata Ki Kahani’ written and directed by Balwant Thakur presented here today at Abhinav Theatre, Jammu on the 3rd day of ongoing ‘Natrang Theatre Festival’ which is being organised by the group to celebrate 35 glorious years of Natrang. Mr. Hemant Sharma, IAS, Divisional Commissioner Jammu was the Chief Guest on the occasion. Lauding the efforts of Natrang the chief guest of the occasion Sh. Hemant Sharma assured all possible help to the organization in promoting such endeavours which the Natrang has initiated in preserving the rich cultural heritage of Jammu and Kashmir.
At the very outset welcoming the august gathering, Natrang Director Balwant Thakur apprised about the making of ‘Mata Ki Kahani’ and the contribution of various creative people in mounting this first ever mega theatrical presentation based on the popular legend Shri Mata Vaishno Devi. He appealed to all the stakeholders to strengthen Natrang’s initiatives aimed at developing Jammu as one of the most sought after cultural destination of the country. The story of today’s play Mata Ki Kahani is based on a classic narrative that echoes every Hindu household and is a part of every grandma’s midnight tale. As per the legend, during the period when the Goddess was busy in annihilating the Asuras, Her three main manifestations viz. Mata Maha Kali, Mata Maha Lakshmi and Mata Maha Saraswati got together one day and pooled their collective Tejas or spiritual strength. A stunningly bright light emanated from the place where the Tejas of the three manifestations coalesced and a beautiful young girl emerged out of this Tejas. The young girl asked them, “Why have I been created?” The Devis explained to her that they had created her so that she would live on earth and spend her time in upholding righteousness.
They asked her to take human birth in the home of Ratnakar, who was a devotee of three Goddesses, and then go on to lead a life of piousness and penance, so as to raise her own consciousness to the level of Godhead. They also told her that once she had attained that level of consciousness, she would then become one with Lord Vishnu. Soon a young and beautiful girl was born to Ratnakar and his wife. They named her Vaishnavi. Right from her childhood, the girl was spiritually inclined and had a quest for the knowledge of the inner self. She would go into deep meditation and stay in that state for hours together. She then decided to renounce all worldly comforts and travel deep into the forest to perform severe austerities and penance. This is when she met Lord Rama, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and attained his blessings. She wanted to become one with Rama, as was her mission. However, Rama, knowing that it was not the right time, promised her that he would visit her again, after the end of his exile. He told her that if she recognized him at that time, he would then fulfill her wish.
Rama kept his promise, and came to meet her after winning the battle from Ravana in an old man’s disguise. But unfortunately, Vaishnavi could not recognise him. She became upset when Rama showed his true self to her. Rama told her that the time had yet not come for them to be with one another and assured her that they would unite during Kaliyug, when he would be in his incarnation of Kalki. Rama also asked her to set up her ashram in the foot of the Trikuta Hills and serve to uplift the poor and the destitute. And the story continues……..
The prominent participants of this mega production included Neeraj Kant, Manoj Kumar,Ajay Kumar, Sheetal Jadhan, Diya Sharma, Mohit Kaul, Ashish Parihar, Mohd. Mohsin Raza, Ashley Mehta, Zeeshan Haider, Mohd. Umar, Deepika Bala, Vrinda Sharma, Deepali Sharma, Goutam Sharma, Gautam Kumar, Rahul Gupta, Bhisham Gupta, Raheel Sharma, Meenakshi Bhagat, Brijesh Avtar Sharma, Kuldeep Angral, Meenu Kumari, Eva Mahajan, Ashish Thakur, Shivam Sharma, Mannat Gupta, Vanshika Gupta, Mahikshit Singh, Shivam Sharma, Sushant Singh, Natasha Jamwal, Aarti Devi, Aradhana Verma, Priya Thakur, Rakshit Arora, Sachin Saini, Gopi Sharma and Kananpreet Kaur.
