THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1910. A SEDITIOUS DRAMA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 988, 7 March 1910, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1910. A SEDITIOUS DRAMA.

It was reporte in the cable news recently that the disloyal section of the natives of India, now that the publication of seditous matter in the vernacular Press was stringently restricted, were falling back on the drama as a means of spreading disaffection and hatred of British rule. Apparently, in that portion of the Bombay Presidency and the Central Provinces known as the Deccan, the hostility to the governing race is very widespread and bitter. According to an Indian correspondent of the London "Times," a play entitled "Kichaka-vadd," or "The Killing of Kichaka," has been and is spreading the contagion of disloyalty far and wide throughout the Deccan. In several other plays the author has, it is stated, done his best to depreciate the ruling race, but "Kichaka-vadd" is his masterpiece in that direction. It was first produced in 1907, and has been played to crowded houses , ever since all ovtr ihe Deccan. It is : constructed on the lines of the pure- | ly classical drama, but is in reality an allegory, and when the real significance of the characters is recognised, the inner meaning ot the play stands revealed. There i's Kichaka,

the all powerful commander-in-chief ; Draupadi, who though really a queen, is through the folly of the Emperor forced to assume the guise of a sairandhri, or tire-woman, and enter the service of Queen Sudeshna. sister of Kichaka; Yudhistira, the Emperor, who gambled away his wealth, his kingdom, and the freedom of his four brothers, himself and Queen Draupaai; Bhima, brother of Yudhistira; and King Virata, in whose service Kichaka Is. Kichaka is j smitten with a passion for the beautiful Draupadi, with whom he is acquainted only in her role of tirewoman, and he insists on her becoming a member of his harem. King j Virata endeavours to afford Draupadi the protection she begs for, but in the end weakly compromises by sending her to the temple of Bairoba, outside the town and washing his hands of the matter. Discussing the rescue of the persecuted Draupadi, Yudehistira favours mild methods, but Bhima, his brother, advises the strangling of Kichaka, and at last the advocate of violence gets his way. He goes secretly to the Bairoma temple, takes the place of an idol, and then, when Draupadi, abandoned bj the King's guards, is seized by Kichaka and vainly pleads for mercy, Bhima rises from his pedestal, grips the terror-stricken Kichaka, hurls him to the floor, and strangles him at Draupadi's feet. In this allegory, Kichaka, the villain of the plot, is intended for Lord Curzon; Draupadi, the persecuted heroine, is India herself; Yudhistira, the supporter of peaceful methods of righting wrong, stands i'or the Moderate Party, ■ Bhima, who kills the villain to save the heroine, represents the Extremist ■ Pirty; and King Virata, who allows 1 the villain to have his wicked way, is intended for the weak-kneed Government at Home, who have given , the Viceroy a free hand. The play, it is declared, is uo fooling, the progress of the plot to its terrible denouement is everywhere watched by , native audiences with intense emotion.