Muktadhara is a play written by famous Indian poet and writer, Rabindranath Tagore. The play was originally written in Bengali language and published in 1922.
Muktadhara By Rabindranath Tagore
Summary of Muktadhara By Rabindranath Tagore
The story of the play begins with the construction of a dam on the Muktdhara River in Uttarakhand. Here comes Bibhuti, a royal engineer, who is building a dam in the kingdom of King Ranjit.
King Ranjit is kind, but extremely cruel to the people of his kingdom and desires complete control over them. Bibhuti has been trying to build the dam for the past 25 years but has not been able to. Now, he is finally about to successfully complete it.
King Ranjit is very pleased with Bibhuti’s work because he has finally built the dam and can now exercise complete control over the people of Shiv Tarai. The story now introduces a new character, Abhijeet, also known as Yuvraj. This is King Ranjit’s son, whom he found on the banks of the Muktdhara River.
King Ranjit’s great-grandfather, Guru, noticed a mark on Abhijeet’s body and advised King Ranjit to adopt him, believing he would be good for them. Raja Ranjit adopted Abhijeet at the behest of his great-grandfather, Guru.
Raja Ranjit also has a biological son, Sanjay, who has no problem with Abhijeet and is very attached to him. Sanjay loves him and considers him his own brother. On the other hand, Abhijeet is against the construction of the Muktdhara Dam because it is a free stream and wants it to flow freely.
Raja Ranjit is controlling the Muktdhara because he wants to control the people and provide them with water as per their needs. As we know, now that the Muktdhara Dam has been built, Raja Ranjit can provide water to the people at his will. He will provide water to the people if he wishes, otherwise not.
Since Abhijit does not like the idea of building a dam on the Muktdhara, he finds the weakest part of the dam and breaks it so that the water can flow freely as before. The story now includes a new character, Dhananjay, a moral and spiritual guru who teaches people about morality and spirituality. He guides them on right from wrong and gives them direction.
When King Ranjit learns that Abhijit has broken one of the weakest parts of the dam, he decides to send him to a prison guarded by military officers. A new character appears: King Vishwajit, the king of Mohangarh and Raja Ranjit’s uncle.
Vishvajit frees Abhijit from prison. Upon his release, Abhijit decides to sacrifice himself to free Muktdhara. At the end of the play, Abhijit successfully damages the Muktdhara dam and drowns in the river’s strong current.
When King Ranjit asks Sanjay about Abhijit, he tells him that while Abhijit was breaking the Muktdhara dam, someone stabbed him in the back, injuring him and causing him to fall into the swift current of the Muktdhara River. The prince considered Muktdhara his mother, as she was the place where his father, Ranjit, met her. He died in the same river where he was born.