As Vishnu Dreams

These are program notes from " As Vishnu Dreams," a play presented by Cornerstone Theater Company and the East West Players in Los Angeles, Calif., November 10–December 5, 2004. Written by Shishir Kurup. Directed by Juliette Carrillo. This adaptation of The Ramayana, created in collaboration with the Hindu community, fused the ancient text and contemporary themes to explore the symbiosis of good and evil and the power of mythology. "As Vishnu Dreams" was part of Cornerstone’s "Faith-based Theater Cycle, 2001-2005."

Shishir Kurup

My connection with Hinduism begins with my mother. As a child in Bombay, in order to get me to eat my balls of rice mixed with dal on the balcony of our fifth story flat, she would have to bribe me with at least a story or two from the Ramayana or Mahabharata. She regaled in order to feed and so these stories have always been connected to sustenance for me.

In Kenya where I grew up, I went on an almost daily basis to the Shiva Temple with my mother and great aunt where, along with singing the hymns or bhajans, I played hide-and-seek with my friends within the pillars of the open-aired marble temple. We were the gods and demi-gods of those stories or Clint Eastwood or Bruce Lee, so rather than a place of austere worship, the temple was, for me, a place of creative play.

When, as a teenager, I came to the United States I might have lost all connection to the faith were it not for my mother’s prayer altar and stories as well as the Amar Chitra Katha comic books I found and brought back when on a visit to India. These illustrated stories about the Gods and heroes of these epic tales, not unlike the Marvel Comics I devoured, were replete with all the moral ambiguities of Stan Lee’s creations. Within the pages of the comics I “saw” the tales my mother had woven, which kept me in touch with that balcony where I was fed.

Later when I questioned some of the social injustices inherent in these stories, some of which we explore in "As Vishnu Dreams," I still felt the bedrock laid by my mother’s stories, deeply influencing the cosmology I was building for myself.

I was unsure why the notion of the Universe being Vishnu’s dream that could all evaporate when he awoke, and come back into being when he went back to sleep, was so comforting to me. And yet it was.

Why, as a skeptic who questions everything, have I never felt the need to question reincarnation?

Why is Tat Tvam Asi, which means, “I am that,” the concept that one sees oneself in the other and the other in one, such a familiar idea, even though I learned that later from the words of Alan Watts?

I suspect it’s because these concepts are intricately woven and deeply buried in these myths, which nevertheless subliminally worm their way into the consciousness, allowing the questioning of these ideas while negotiating their deep waters and instilling an appreciation for the tensile ephemerality so deeply intrinsic to the faith.

My mother still tells me these stories. Just the other day she told me a funny story of how Valmiki came to write the Ramayana. They still sustain me and have helped me become the person I am today, a skeptical believer who plays and makes plays.

It’s said that the creative activity or play of God is called Leela. This is also my mother’s name. And this is to whom I dedicate "As Vishnu Dreams."

Shishir Kurup is a film and stage actor, writer, director, composer and member of Cornerstone Theater Company since 1994. He was born in Bombay, India, raised in Mombasa, Kenya, and holds an MFA in acting from UC San Diego. He is a recipient of the Princess Grace Award and the TIME Grant from the ASK Foundation.

Visit the Web for more about Cornerstone Theater Company and its "Faith-based Theater Cycle, 2001-2005": http://www.cornerstonetheater.org

Original CAN/API publication: March 2005