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Watch interviews with choreographer Anjani Ambegaokar:

Introduction to Anjani and Kathak dance (3:44)
Collaborating with the design team (4:37)

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Further resources to enhance your enjoyment of The Clay Cart.

Play Synopsis

The Clay Cart, ascribed to Śūdraka, is one of the most appealing of ancient India’s Sanskrit dramas (2nd to 5th centuries CE), given its humorous representation of Brahmins, its brisk-paced action, a political revolt that brings a commoner to the throne and an overall Shakespearean “all’s well that ends well” denouement.

Set in the ancient central Indian town of Ujjaini, The Clay Cart is a love story that features the noble though poor Brahmin hero Cārudatta and the beautiful courtesan Vasantasenā. She is a respected member of the community, at a time when courtesans were connoisseurs of the arts of music and dance, as well as lovemaking.

The play opens at nightfall. Cārudatta bemoans his poverty and resultant loss of friends. Maitreya, his old and loyal friend, listens. They hear sounds of men in pursuit of a woman, who turns out to be Vasantasenā, running away from the lusty villain, Samsthānaka, the King’s brother-in-law. She seeks refuge in the house of Cārudatta, whom she secretly loves. Since her tinkling jewels make it difficult for her to escape, she leaves them with the trustworthy Cārudatta.

That night, Śarvilaka, a Brahmin stepping out of the propriety of his caste, steals the jewels in order to buy the freedom of his beloved Madanikā from her mistress, Vasantasenā. In one of the play’s comic scenes, he recites the Manual of Burglary in the course of the theft.

The next morning, Vasantasenā confesses her love for Cārudatta to her maid. For Vasantasenā, who can have any rich lover including royalty, to declare her desire for the impoverished Cārudatta is a remarkable reversal of the usual gender roles in Indian society.

Śarvilaka presents the jewels to the courtesan, who is quietly amused to receive her own property as payment and generously releases Madanikā to be his wife.

Meanwhile, Cārudatta is devastated that Vasantasenā’s jewels are missing from his house. He sends Maitreya to tell Vasantasenā that he gambled them away and begs her to accept a pearl necklace, which Cārudatta’s wife Dhūtā has given him as recompense. Vasantasenā sees through the ruse and that night travels through a storm to her beloved’s house, where both delight in each other’s presence.

The next morning, Vasantasenā sees Cārudatta’s son Rohasena sadly playing with a clay cart; what he really desires is a golden one. Charmed by the child, Vasantasenā fills his clay cart with her jewels to fulfill his wish.

The lovers face many hurdles on their desired path to union. Cārudatta has sent a carriage to his house to bring Vasantasenā to a park. But there is a mix-up: Two carriages stop in front of the house. Āryaka, an escaped political prisoner, gets into the carriage meant for Vasantasenā. She mistakenly mounts the villain Samsthānaka’s carriage. When he discovers her, his efforts to woo her fail. In his rage at being rebuffed, he strangles her and leaves her for dead. He pins the blame on Cārudatta, who is judged “guilty” by the avaricious and decadent King Pālaka and taken for execution.

In the final act, two low-caste though dignified executioners delay their unpleasant task of killing the well-loved hero. Vasantasenā, saved by a gambler-turned-Buddhist monk, appears in a miraculous theatrical moment reminiscent of Hermione’s “statue” coming to life in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. Āryaka, the new king, exercises his royal status to proclaim several favorable decrees and the play closes with his subjects’ joy and satisfaction. –Ketu H. Katrak


The Clay Cart photo: Miriam A. Laube as Vasantasenā