Achalayatan: The Petrified Place

Rabindranath Tagore’s Achalayatan (1912) presents an arena of conflicting faiths. Built on a stony resistance to the naturalness of life, Mahapanchak’s ‘Achalayatan’ representing a quest of dry wisdom, turns into a petrified land of illusion and immobility. On the other hand, the Sonpangshus are work addicts to the extent that they mistake work for the end and not the means, while the Darvaks remain happy with their simple, unquestioning, selfless devotion. All three fail to realise that life is to be tasted in its totality. Knowledge, power to work, and devotion are to be assimilated to achieve the true vision of life. And for that, the Guru’s help becomes imperative. In essence the play is a strong indictment of our ethico-religious and educational systems drained of all meaning and rendered bloodless, dry and sterile through over-emphasising rules for rules’ sake. Elaborate symbolism coupled with a subtle allegorical structure makes Achalayatan as relevant today as when it was written nearly a century ago.