"This lyrical drama… is based on the following story from the Mahabharata. In the course of his wanderings, in fulfilment of a vow of penance, Arjuna came to Manipur. There he saw Chitra, the beautiful daughter of Chitravhana, the king of the country. Smitten with her charms, he asked the king for the hand of his daughter in marriage. Chitravhana asked him who he was, and learning that he was Arjuna the Pandara, told him that Prabhanjana, one of his ancestors in the kingly line of Manipur, had long been childless. In order to obtain an heir, he performed severe penances. Pleased with these austerities, the god Shiva gave him this boon, that he and his successors should each have one child. It so happened that the promised child had invariably been a son. He, Chitravhana, was the first to have only a daughter Chitra to perpetuate the race. He had, therefore, always treated her as a son and had made her his heir. Continuing, the king said: "The one son that will be born to her must be the perpetuator of my race. That son will be the price that I shall demand for this marriage. You can take her, if you like, on this condition.
