Summary

Act 1 begins with stage directions that instruct a single chair to be set up in the middle of the stage. Behind the chair, or to the right, there will be a table on which Bhagavata sits with the musicians. A mask of Ganesh (a Hindu God) is brought on stage and set on the chair. Pooja (a religious ritual) is performed, and then Bhagavata starts to sing with his musicians in praise of Ganesh. The mask is taken away as the singers pay homage to Ganesh before the start of the play.

Bhagavata asks Ganesh to bless the following performance. Then Bhagavata says that that we are in Dharmapura, which is ruled by King Dharmasheela. Our two heroes are the son of a Brahmin, Devadatta, who is the smartest man in the city, and the son of the king’s ironsmith, Kapila, the...