Kanupriya

A non-linear narrative combining Odissi with theatrical storytelling and recited poetry — a fresh, experimental take on Radha's inner world while staying rooted in classical aesthetics.

Genesis

Kanupriya describes and defines the relationship of Radha and Krishna from Radha’s point of view. Radha sees Krishna in the nature around her; the work reads this as the yearning of the soul to become one with Brahman, projecting spiritual union as the extension of the physical consummation of their love.

The journey of longing

Baffled by the questions of everyone around her, Radha tries to give a name to what she has with Krishna. Sometimes Kanu is her eternal playmate; sometimes her protector; sometimes she feels maternal towards him, as though he were an infant needing protection. At other times she senses that she and Kanu are one entity — the omniscient, omnipotent, all-pervading reality. And there are moments when he taunts her and she feels wholly alienated from him. At certain points she understands that he is Purusha and she Prakriti, Shakti, Yogamaya — that she is his cosmic consort, travelling with him since the beginning of time.

The weight of history

Radha wonders whether she was only a bridge for Krishna to cross on his way to making history — a game to while away childhood, her dreams trampled underfoot. She mourns the aam tree that stood witness to their meetings, cut down because it lay in the path of charging armies.

Reunion

The war ends, but at what cost, and who has won? Radha tells Kanu of a dream in which she saw the ocean, and saw him exhausted, sad and desolate — history staggering onward on crutches. Kanu has finally remembered her. He abandons history like old clothing and turns to her for solace. And Kanupriya has been waiting to join her Kanu.