Sri Aurobindo’s Rodogune as a Tragic Play

Sri Aurobindo wrote only one tragic play – Rodogune . It was written in Baroda. It is dated February 1906, just before he left Baroda for Bengal. It was first published in Sri Aurobindo Mandir Annual , 1958. It was also issued in book form in the same year.


Introduction
Sri Aurobindo wrote only one tragic play -Rodogune. It was written in Baroda. It is dated February 1906, just before he left Baroda for Bengal. It was first published in Sri Aurobindo Mandir Annual, 1958. It was also issued in book form in the same year.
In Rodogune, Sri Aurobindo, like this other plays, works on an existing theme to an invented one. The place is Syria. Sri Aurobindo goes to the historical Syria for this play. He has taken the theme from Appian's accounts of the wars of Syria. The main character is Cleopatra, the famous queen of Syria. It is most probable that Sri Aurobindo must have read about Cleopatra in Greek from Appian's The Syrian Wars. SMART MOVES JOURNAL IJELLH e-ISSN: 2582-3574 p-ISSN: 2582-4406 VOL. 8, ISSUE 12, DECEMBER 2020 The Cleopatra of Appian's history is different from the Cleopatra of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. She is also different from the Cleopatra of Drydens All are Love. Vedanta recognizes not only fate but also free-will. Sri Aurobindo states, " This entity the Hindu teaching finds in the spirit ever free and blissful which is Supreme Soul of the universe. The spirit does not react; it is nature that contains the action. If the spirit asked it would be bound by its action." (The Harmony of Virtue 380) The spirit is free. Sri

Discussion
Aurobindo states: The Thing that acts is Prakriti, Nature, which determines the svabhava of things and is the source and condition of Law or dharma. The soul or Purusha holds up the svabhava, watches and enjoys all the action and its fruit, sanctions the law or dharma.
It is the King, Lord or Ishvara without whole comment nothing can be done by prakriti. But the King is above the law and free, (The Harmony of Virtue, 381) The Indian view of fate gives recognitions to personal will as well. With endeavour, Sri Aurobindo believes that it is possible to modify fate. Spiritual, mental, Vital and physical forces fulfill Divine Will. In order to transcend Nature of Fate, man must surrender completely to the Divine. Sri Aurobindo states: But in order to feel its mastery of Nature the human soul must put itself in communion with the infinite the Universal spirit. It's will must be one with the Universal Will. The human soul is one, with the Universal spirit but in the body it stands out as something separate and unconnected, because a certain freedom is permitted for it in order that svabhava of things may be diversely developed in different bodies. In using this freedom the soul may do it ignorantly, or knowingly. Scattered throughout the play are his views on Fate. The contradiction between man's will and the will of the supreme soul causes suffering.

Conclusion
Sri Aurobindo's Play Rodogune is a parable on the working of Fate. It also glorifies love, the power and glory of love. Fate is the executive power of the Divine Will. It is an agent of spiritual evolution. Sheo Shankar Jaiswal states: If it presents Fate as the great Victor and the Doer of all, it also sings of love as the great Redeemer, the savior of mankind from all ills and evils. (130)