Andha Yug: The Age of Darkness

By Dharamvir Bharati

One of the most significant plays of post-independence India, Andha Yug takes place on the last day of the apocalyptic Mahabharata War. The once-beautiful city of Hastinapur is burning, the battlefield beyond the walls is piled with corpses, and the few survivors huddle together in grief and rage, blaming the destruction on their adversaries, divine capriciousness—anyone or anything except their own moral choices. Andha Yug explores humanity’s capacity for moral action, reconciliation, and goodness in times of atrocity and reveals what happens when individuals succumb to the cruelty and cynicism of a blind, dispirited age. The play’s author, Hindi writer Dharamvir Bharati, was one of India’s most loved and honored writers of the twentieth century.

The play was directed by Tim Slaughter. A public discussion followed the performance, sponsored by the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities, with support from the “We the People” initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Manoa Foundation.

About the Translator

Alok Bhalla has been a visiting professor at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi; the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad; and Hebrew University, Jerusalem. An eminent scholar and member of the executive council of the Sahitya Akademi (Indian Institute of Advanced Study), he has authored, edited, or translated more than twenty books, including works by prominent Pakistani and Indian authors.