Dance drama of Tagore's "Chandalika" staged at Bangladesh's cultural festival

Artists perform on the stage during the drama dance "Chandalika" in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Oct. 23, 2022. The auditorium of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka teemed with spectators on Sunday as dance drama based on the popular story "Chandalika" by 1913 Nobel laureate in literature Rabindranath Tagore was staged as part of an ongoing cultural festival. (Xinhua)

DHAKA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The auditorium of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka teemed with spectators on Sunday as dance drama based on the popular story "Chandalika" by 1913 Nobel laureate in literature Rabindranath Tagore was staged as part of an ongoing cultural festival.

During the show, while being touched by the story of the life and love of Prakriti, a low caste woman tauntingly called "Chandalika" by upper castes in the Hindu community, the audience were mesmerized by the extraordinary performance of artists from Bangladesh's national academy of fine and performing arts.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), a Bengali literary giant, reshaped Bengali literature and music as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The lovelorn "Chandalika" was written in 1938.

More than 170 organizations and theater troupes are participating in the the Ganga Jamuna Cultural Festival that kicked off in the Bangladeshi capital on Friday.

The 11-day festival features plays, elocution, and musical and dance performances by troupes from Bangladesh and India's West Bengal state.

Artists perform on the stage during the drama dance "Chandalika" in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Oct. 23, 2022. The auditorium of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka teemed with spectators on Sunday as dance drama based on the popular story "Chandalika" by 1913 Nobel laureate in literature Rabindranath Tagore was staged as part of an ongoing cultural festival. (Xinhua)

An artist performs on the stage during the drama dance "Chandalika" in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Oct. 23, 2022. The auditorium of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka teemed with spectators on Sunday as dance drama based on the popular story "Chandalika" by 1913 Nobel laureate in literature Rabindranath Tagore was staged as part of an ongoing cultural festival. (Xinhua)