The Mahabharata has been the eternal mirror of the society. The characters are real, flesh and blood with human foilbles and strengths. This mirror reflects the same questions in every age. In the tumultuous times in our lives, the questions arise to suffocate us, and even the memories of happier times become question marks!
In PRASHN PANCHALI, Draupadi takes up the cudgels on our behalf. Even as she talks about her relationships and situations, they find an easy echo in the life situations of today's women. But this is just not about women alone. She reasons about the other characters and their questions are just as overwhelming. Does Draupadi have the answers to the questions that Karna, Bhim and Duryodhan and even Gandhari put to her? And who has the answers to her questions?
Is this life just an endless search for deeper meanings, a search for inner values, a search for answers to cosmic questions? And where are the answers? Are there any? Or is this life just a submission of all questions onto the lotus feet of the Lord? Is it about a surrender so absolute that the questions disappear?
PRASHN PANCHALI is an original work authored by Sunita Budhiraja, a modern poet of our times, and is presented as a solo performance set to music.