ABSTRACT
It is said that on the night of the first performance of Sakuntala in the house of Asutot;l Deb at Simla,,! Maharaja Yatindra Mohan Tagore came to Raja Isvar Chandra Sirilha at the end of the play and said to him, " I think it would be much better to build a permanent theatre instead of spending so much money over a night or two's entertainment; what do you say? "2 Raja !svar Chandra, who had shown a keen interest in all the Bengali plays hitherto performed, was greatly impressed by this suggestion. He consulted his elder brother, Pratap Chandra, who welcomed the idea. A site was chosen without delay in the beautiful garden residence at Belgachhia, which the Rajas had only lately purchased from Prince Dvaraka Nath Tagore. Raja Isvar Chandra volunteered to bear the cost of the construction of the stage and the expense of its maintenance. The Rajas asked Pal).Q.it Ram Narayal). Tarkaratna to write a new play for the opening performance. This time the Pal).Q.it decided to adapt rather than to make a literal translation of a suitable Sanskrit play. He chose Sri Hart;la's Ratnavali, because he considered it to be admirably suited to the modern stage. The incidents in the play are essentially of a domestic nature and the characters are thoroughly human and not divine or semi-divine as in some of the older Sanskrit plays. Whatever the date of Sri Hart;la may be (and on this point we have no certain knowledge), Ratnavali appears to be distinctly more modern in tone and spirit and in the social conditions depicted therein, than the plays of either Kalidasa or Bhavabhiiti. Guru Dayal Chaudhuri, a friend and disciple of the poet Isvar Chandra
Gupta and also a well-known musical composer, wrote some lyrics for the play and set them to appropriate music. Kesab Chandra Gailguli undertook to coach the actors and to superintend the rehearsals. The performance took place on the 31st July, 1858. The success of this first play to be presented in a permanent Bengali theatre was unprecedented. On the first two nights the audience was exclusively Bengali, but on the third and fourth, the Rajas invited their numerous European friends and several prominent men from the Jewish and Parsi communities of Calcutta. An English translation was made by Michael Madhu Sudan Datta and distributed to the nonBengali visitors. The Lieutenant-Governor Sir Frederick Halliday was among the audience, which also included several judges of the Calcutta High Court, Commissioners, Magistrates and a number of other Government officials. Pal).qit isvar Chandra Vidyasagar and Justice Haris Chandra Mukherji were among the numerous prominent Bengalis who were present. Bengal owes a deep debt of gratitude to the two Rajas for their notable share in the establishment and development of the theatre in Bengal. There was no one else among the aristocrats of Bengal in those days, who showed such liberality and such devotion to the cause of learning and the arts. Not only the drama but every institution for the promotion of social reform and public welfare owed much to the munificence and practical interest of these two noblemen. Madhu Sudan Datta said of the Rajas: "Should the drama ever again flourish in India, posterity will not forget these two noble gentlemen-the earliest friends of our rising national theatre." 1 How great was Raja iSvar Chandra's zeal for the cause of the Bengali drama is revealed in one of his letters (dated the 11th July, 1857) to his friend, Gour Das Basak who had failed to appear at one of the rehearsals. The Raja wrote: " I am really ashamed at your conduct. You are the friend who is determined to put me to shame, not only before the amateur company, with which we have identified ourselves, but the audience that we expect on the night of the performance. Barring yourself, there is not a single individual who trifles
69 or absents himself from the stage on the rehearsal night ... you must know that after so much trouble, anxiety, expense, and what not, I am not the man to abandon the idea or throw the theatre and all to the dogs. No; call me a fool or vagabond or any name you wish, I am not so silly as to relinquish one of my favourite hobbies, the drama. I am in right earnest and must perform my part and have the play acted out, notwithstanding the difficulties friends like you put in the way. Now be plain once for all, and tell me that you will not absent yourself again." 1 In another letter dated the 27th August, 1857, written to Kesab Chandra Gailguli, he tells the story of how Ratnaval'i came to be written. He also speaks of the many difficulties in the way of its production, but without the least suggestion of despair. In one place he writes: "But alas! a strange fatality hangs about Rutnabullee. Although not a firm believer in astrology, I am half-inclined to believe that we commenced at a time when some strange stars were in the ascendant ... You might say it is impossible (i.e. to produce the play in face of these difficulties), but I will prove it, and before positive proof every objection must give way." 2 Indeed the Raja was true to his words, and the unexpected success of Ratnaval'i was his fitting reward. Except for the unshaken faith in the future of the Bengali drama which inspired the Rajiis and those who collaborated with them, the infant Bengali theatre could never have come to its own.
