Synopsis
Ram Ki Shakti Puja
A theatrical presentation based on Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nirala’s’ celebrated poetic work, presented as part of
Kashika in Varanasi.
dispirited. The thought of Sita, far off and captive, thickens the grief instead of lightening it. He reaches for the memory of his old courage and finds nothing there to hold on to.
Shakti has gone over to Ravan. The Goddess herself is fighting on the enemy's side, and Ram has seen her do it. He tells his companions what he now believes — that victory is not possible — and then falls silent, and into sorrow.
It is old Jambavant who will not let him stay there. He reminds Ram of the one power still unspent in him, the power to worship, and tells him to return to the field only when he has made himself whole through devotion.
Ram begins. While Lakshman and Hanuman hold the line through a terrible night of fighting, he keeps his vigil: one hundred and eight blue lotuses, vowed to the Goddess. She comes unseen and takes the last flower away.
He is stunned. Then he remembers that his mother used to call his eyes blue lotuses — and reaches for an arrow.
The Goddess appears. She stays his hand, blesses him, speaks his praise, and vanishes into him.
he war between Ram and Ravan is at its height, and Ram is losing. Not the battle alone — something in him has given way. His army is