Jagdamba, ‘Mother of Universe’ in the US with a mission: A review by Tom Abraham

Orlando Hindu Temple auditorium was filled with a hundred GANDHI admirers, on Sunday April 19 th evening , with great expectations to view the two-act English drama Jagadamma. This English version is a translation from the original Marathi and performed by Yeshodara Deshpande Maitra, under the direction of Sanjay Maggirwar. A play on Kasturba GANDHI, written by Ramdas Bhatkal.
The whole story is about Kasturba a simple woman, with no formal education, raised with traditional Hindu values, married to an extraordinary man, who is thrown into circumstances far beyond her expectations. She became a source of inspiration and comfort to him.
Although the play looks at Mahatma GANDHI and history through Kasturba s eyes, it is essentially her story- the story of a woman, a wife, a mother of four boys, and ultimately that of a human being. Einstein said that future generations would scarce believe that such a man lived on this planet. Present day would hardly believe that such a man had such a woman in his life, whom he called Jagadamma.
The play recollected GANDHI s life in South Africa mostly after leaving Kasturba to her frustrations. Her son Harilal became a rebel in the family just doing the opposite of what GANDHI would expect him to do. Manilal the second boy was more obedient but often wondered why his father would deny the education he wanted. The third and fourth sons Ramdas and Devdas, were also involved by GANDHI for his personal and public agendas, with Kasturba herself practising non- violence and fasting the hard way. Harilal s challenge for his father reached a climax with him becoming a Muslim. Jagadamma also remembers how her husband became a midwife for her fourth son s delivery.
On the whole, the Hindu audience showed its appreciation of this 2-hour soliloquy called a drama. Pre-recorded sound track helped the actress relax and move lips on a couch occasionally and standing up with a walking stick for a change. Other than that the drama had occasional double act, dialogue between GANDHI and Kasturba,
Emotionally enacted by the same actress. As the show ended with Regupathi Ragava Rajaram, the audience gave a standing ovation to the mono actress Yeshodara.
Plays and performances such as this one kill the aggressive message of GANDHI partially because " lead kindly Light " introduced into the play without any contextual relevance , and Kasturba s rustic character mysteriously missing in the anglicized version by a taller, hefty actress, with a prolonged, disorganized narration, without mentioning of the French, Bristish, American or other world events that GANDHI exploited to win freedom for Bharat, his eclectic philosophy unrevealed to the new American generations, and so on, would only thrill the conservative Hindu fundamentalists embedded in America. Is  it carrying the message of Satyagraha in these turbulent times, or a ' dollargraha ' by another opportunist-turned Artist is an unanswered question. Does the drama have any element in it  to unite India s diverse population, Harijana elevation, or to shake American conscience ?