Sacrifice

Back of the Book Greed is pitiless, ignorance blind, and pride takes no heed when it crushes the small under its foot. Mother, do not raise your sword and lick your lips for blood; do not set brother against brother, and woman against man. If it is your desire to strike me by the hand of one I love, then let it be fulfilled. For the sin has to ripen to its ugliest limits, before it can burst and die a hideous death.

Introduction Tisarjan was first published as a play in Bengali in May, 1890. After at least three revisions, Tagore gave the final shape to the play in 1903. Although another revised version was prepared by Tagore in 1926, it is the 1903 version which was included in the Rabindra Rachanabali in 1931 and this remains the standard text till date. The play is the dramatized version of the first few chapters of Tagore's novel Rajarshi, but the plot of the drama is a great improvement upon that of the novel.

Visarjan has been staged a number of times during Tagore's life. But the maximum interest was generated when it was staged for two nights at the then Empire Theatre (presently Roxy Cinema) of Calcutta in August 1923, for in this enactment Tagore himself played the role of Jaising with a lot of gutso, despite the fact that he was 62 at that time. The Englishman (27 August, 1923) reported his acting thus: "His vacillation when picturing the struggle between obedience to his preceptor (the priest) and adherence to his ideal of love was a masterpiece of histrionic skill and his deep, sonorous voice calling out to the unseen god to get him out of this struggle sent a thrill through the hearers." Visarjan was also made into a movie by Orient Pictures Corporation of Bombay in 1928 and was shown at the Crown Theatre (presently Shree cinema) of Calcutta as well as in London and other cities of Europe.

Rabindranath himself translated Visarjan under the title Sacrifice in 1917. It was first published by Macmillan, New York, with the dedication page reading: 'dedicated to those heroes who bravely stood for peace when human sacrifice was acclaimed for the war. It may be mentioned here that although the original Bengali play had five Acts, the English translation was given the shape of a one Act play. According to Edward Thompson, "Sacrifice is the greatest drama in Bengali literature." He elaborates, "All these dramas are vehicles of thought rather than expressions of action; and they show the poet's mind powerfully working on the subject of such things in popular Hinduism as its bloody ritual of sacrifice.

**Contents and Sample Pages**