Varanasi: For hundreds of people and dignitaries it was a unique moment on Saturday evening to witness how lord Ram had appeased the goddess of power to seek her blessings for elimination of the demon king Ravana through the play Ram ki Shakti Puja at the Mandir Chowk of Kashi Vishwanath Dham.Directed by Vyomesh Shukla, this play, staged by the city-based group, has touched a new milestone with its 93rd presentation on Saturday since 2013. The play is likely to complete its centenary in November. Shukla said that whether the play would present its 100th show in India or abroad would become clear in a week as itinerary of presentations is being finalised by the authorities concerned. The play will go for its 94th show at Rashtriya Natya Samaroh in Gorakhpur on November 4.Though KV Dhams Shankaracharya Chowk (mandir chowk) has hosted many musical and other cultural events following the formal opening of the rejuvenated shrine area in December 2021, it was for the first time that a play by theatre artistes was staged here. Apart from many other dignitaries and religious personalities, the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust chairmanman Prof Nagendra Pandey, divisional commissioner Kaushal Raj Sharma, trust members Venkatraman Ghanpathi and chief executive officer Sunil Verma were also present on the occasion.This play is based on legendary poet and author Suryakant Tripathi Niralas poetry Ram ki Shakti Puja explaining the mental state of Lord Ram during the war against demon king Ravana. With the progress in war with Ravana, Lord Ram noticed that the goddess of power is also with his enemy due to which Lord Rams army was struggling despite intense fight by Laxman and Lord Hanuman. Following these developments Jamvant inspires Lord Ram to appease the goddess. And, finally Lord Ram succeeds in pleasing the goddess by deciding to sacrifice his eyes to offer it to her. The play ends with the goddess stopping Lord Ram in doing so and blessing him with power, said Shukla.The artists lived their characters lively. The temple officials admitted that it was the first event at Mandir Chowk where spectators remained glued to their seats till the end of the show.Regarding the play Shukla said, the series of staging of this play had been started at historical Nagarai Natak Mandlis auditorium in February 2013. In a decade 93 performances took place in over 30 cities of India and Nepal. We had been noticing that in traditional Ramlilas of Varanasi, no female artist had been given an opportunity to play the roles even of Sita. While finalising the artistes we decided to give all lead roles Lord Ram, goddess of power and Laxman to female artistes. And they all are performing perfectly so far, he added.Shukla and Swati, who play the role of Lord Ram, have also received Ustad Bismillah Khan youth award of Sangeet Natya Academy in 2017 and 2021 respectively. Shukla said, We are excited to see that magic figure of the 100th show is close and this milestone can be touched in November as many shows of this play are being slated to stage Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and neighbouring countries apart from some cities of India.

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