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Profile of Group & Production
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The Slaying of Duryodhana and the Coronation of Dharmaraja
1 hour
The final battle between Duryodhana and Bhima, and the conclusion of the play The Eighteenth Day, takes in the early morning. During the night an enormous edifice of Duryodhana has been made from sand, mud and water at a place near the stage. Two actors in the roles of Duryodhana and Bhima (they may be different performers from those who did the 'on-stage' play) engage in a fight, which may take on such violent overtones that they have to be kept separate by a rope hold up on both sides by a number of villagers. Bhima chases Duryodhana and they hit each other repeatedly. The fatal blow on Duryodhana's thigh, the place where he invited Draupadi to sit and his vulnerable spot, hits the sand-figure, not the real actor. It smashes a pot of red water that has been hidden into the thigh of the sand-figure, spilling symbolically the blood of Duryodhana. Once Duryodhana has been killed, Draupadi mounts the sand-figure and one of the actors ties up her hair in fulfilment of the vow she has made at the assembly of the Kauravas.
To end on an auspicious note, as is required by custom, and to mark the beginning of a new age, Dharmaraja, seated next to Draupadi, is crowned king.
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