SEA Arts
Kalmrigaya - The Fatal Hunt
The Puppet Version
This version was performed at Cecil Sharp House London
with the English Folk Dance and Song Society choir
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Members of the choir the English Folk Dance and Song Society |
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Leela and Rishi, the son of the blind hermit, playing |
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Leela and Rishi so absorbed in play that Rishi forgets to look after his father |
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The blind hermit, Rishi Muni, telling Rishi off for forgetting him, as he was thirsty and needed a drink |
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The Sage Rishi Muni |
All dancing in the rain in happiness |
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Rishi fetching water for his father gets lost in the forest |
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Leela begins to fear for Rishi alone in the forest |
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Meanwhile the King, Dasharath, has ordered his soldiers to prepare to go to the forest on a hunting expedition |
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| The King Dasharath orders his soldiers to set off on the hunt |
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Dasharath gives his instructions for the final preparation for the great hunt |
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In the darkness, Dasharath imagines that he sees a baby elephant and without further ado draws his bow to shoot it |
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| But by mistake he shoots Rishi, whose soul looks down first in horror, then in sadness, at his own dying body |
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Dasharath, realizing his mistake, tries to resuscitate the dying boy, who begs to be brought home to his father |
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Dasharath carries Rishi's body to the hermit's cave |
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Rishi Muni mourns the death of his son |
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On learning of Dasharath's heinous act, Rishi Muni curses Dasharath and so sets in train the events of the Ramayana |
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Leela as a divine being escorts Rishi's soul to heaven |
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Dasharath repents his terrible deed and fears the curse laid upon him |
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| Whatever human foibles and misdeeds, Leela, the forest, the environment, always remains |
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