More Things in Heaven and Earth

To God, Truth is absolute, so that on a whim they might reach out to it, as one rests their arm upon a wall in times of uncertainty. To us, all of potential existence can only be comprehended as an implicit Truth, intangible and never proven. Even so, might we be so bold as to divine the plans of those who determine all of existence? Might we, tossing a coin towards the heavens and catching it upon descent, allow the universe to guide our hands to right from wrong, good from evil, so that we might act upon that which we shall never truly know?

In a sense, Mithyasur does not concern itself with the ephemeral word of God as much as it interrogates its function. The play, directed by Ajeet Singh Pallawat, and featuring performances by Vijay Patidar, Sahil Ahuja, and Pratiksha Kote, imagines the notion of absolute Truth as a means to an end.  Not unlike the signature of some cloistered bureaucrat, the blessings of Kumb, the Rakshas Raj, the Devil King, exist to expedite the machinations of humankind, a theological tickmark of approval in the face of apocalyptic circumstances. The production itself, following the tribulations of a young Mahapurohit as he finds himself abandoned by celestial visitation, mirrors this idea, with the taught frames of actors set against silver smoke and abyssal shadows.

These are characters removed from their own volition, animated entirely by the whims and fancies of unseen forces, not the least of which is the East India Company, which threatens to exert its will upon the empire. The entire performance takes place under the literal foot of the Demon King, a colossal Sword of Damocles that looms from the dark above the effervescing, panting forms of holy men in crisis, men tasked with building bridges across gaps in that which is known, lies that bind together truths. As the mania rises, so does the imperative to act, to commit, to deny all questions, toss a coin, rally the troops for battle.

Mithyasur not only builds an argument for the undeniable interplay of theology and political reality, it imagines the effacing of spiritual practice by the imperative need for political action, where every ceremony, litany, and auger exists to either challenge structures of power or consolidate them.  In such a world, there is no room for Truth, only an interfacing with lies infinite and all effacing. Those who understand this, who disregard the cosmic heel, and carve against the dark their own empire, shall prosper as their own Demon Kings, while those animated by the teachings of myth and science are rendered puppets to the former, the strings all but visible in the halflight of the stage. Mithyasur is a trickster god battle cry, a call to arms against the weaponisation of faith and knowledge by pedagogies and regimes, haldi and gulal alike.

Behold, then, the folly of you ardent believers, cradled in the arms of red oblivion.

You can catch ‘Mithyasur’ live at the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards 2026, on the 24th March 2026, at 6 PM, at Shri Ram Centre Auditorium.