In early March, on a chilly evening in the Kothagiri hills of the Nilgiris, we watched a Koothu performance, a traditional Tamil form of theatre. It was an episode from the epic Mahabharata called Bakasura Vadha (killing of the demon Bakasura), in which the mighty Pandava warrior Bhima fights and kills the human-eating demon Bakasura.

"Watch the drama as if each character is within you," we were told.

This was part of a week-long program, Mahabharata Immersion, by Ritambhara. Held within the group, we explored the Mahabharata within - the drama that plays out between different archetypal energies inside us. The body was our medium, the great epic our frame. Yoga-asana, pranayama, Tai-chi, and theatre exploration set the base. Then, using psychodrama, we explored the Karna within us, followed by Draupadi and Yudhishthira, along with other archetypes from the epic.

A deep churning was initiated within, which continues a few weeks later..

Grateful to Raghu Ananthanarayanan, Radhakrishnan MS, Ajay Viswanath, Ankush Vij, Ravi Varma and all the group members.

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In early March, on a chilly evening in the Kothagiri hills of the Nilgiris, we watched a Koothu performance, a traditional Tamil form of theatre. It was an episode from the… | Cheyush Vaswani