Agniko Katha

Agniko Katha (Nepali: ne:अग्निको कथा; is a play in Nepali by Abhi Subedi. It is a constant tension between a fixed space and spaces not seen takes place in the play. Human beings are caught between rigidity and movement. Characters disturbed by their information about the fire that consumes an old library somewhere in the precincts of the monastery, try to read more meaning in this simple event than it is necessary. The fire only works as a catalyst that brings different modes of imagination together. The over interpretation or the misreading of the letters consumed by fire, the letters the monks and nuns have not seen or read, comes like a stone in the calm lake casting ripples.^{[1] [2] [3]}

'Agniko Katha is the answer to the question it attempts in the dialogical setting of its characters presented by the nuns and monks of a monastery. Highly influenced by the doctrines of Buddhism, the play seeks to find answers to the questions that arise from the need of its female characters to understand themselves. A take on the life of its central protagonist, Agniko Katha is intrinsically an interactive play that churns the varying moods and levels of the character and her needs. In all its dramaturgy, the play is seemingly a casual narrative that nonetheless brings out the issues of the present times through the lens of a woman, one that elevates women to greater potentialities'. ^[4]

'Agniko Katha separates from the traditional role of women. When Purnima decides to leave the monastery in search of Gyan (her friend), she says, “I’m leaving to prove what a female nun can do in her life.” (Subedi 2004, 79) It should be noted that Gyan, who is represented as a person, is metaphorically presented as wisdom. Documentary maker Shekhar Kharel writes in Nepal Magazine (2002) that the nuns and monks find themselves with the interpretation more than the meaning of the word gyan (wisdom) in the play. The nuns who set out on the journey in search of Gyan the person come back with “gyan” the wisdom. They return with the answers to the questions they sought to find, with the realizations of the translation of the words of Buddha that they saw burned in front of their eyes'.^[5]

Aarohan Theatre prepared Agniko Katha for stage show for the first time in 2003 and performed at its own theatre in Kathmandu. Later, the play was taken abroad for shows in other Asian countries and Europe. Aarohan staged this play more than a hundred times at different locations worldwide. ^[6] Sunil Pokharel was the director of this play. ^[7]

References

External links

• https://kanchang.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/angiko-katha-at-gurukul/
• http://ku.edu.np/news/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=898&blogId=1