மஹ்திதாசன்

          “Back when I was a young girl, our family would wait avidly for the Therukoothu troupe to put on a show,” my grandmother said. “The Mahabharatam reenactments would go on for days, if not weeks. But my most favorite play was that of the Narasimha legend.”             “Once, we were all watching Hiranya smash the pillar open and Narasimha burst forth from it. The audience leaned closer in suspense. But that was when the unexpected happened—the actor playing Narasimha began to shriek and stamp his feet and gnash his teeth. It wasn’t acting anymore. He had become Narasimha himself, consumed by ‘ugraham’—so much that he didn’t realize he was mauling not Hiranyakashipu, but the poor Prahlada actor, who in terror had to scramble off the stage!”             I was always aware that Narasimha was a complex character; his angry grimace and ugraham (Divine Wrath) contrasts sharply...