A Sanskrit play ‘Vidyotma’ was staged at Jawahar Bal Bhavan here on Monday.

The play was performed by the little kids of Jawahar Bal Bhavan and was much enjoyed by the audience. It was a story of how Kalidas married princess Vidyotma.

There was a king who had a very learned daughter Vidyotma, in her knowledge she surpassed all the scholars of the kingdom.

She declared she would only marry the person who would defeat her in a battle of wits.

The scholars of the kingdom decided to take their revenge from the princess by marrying her to a fool.

They went looking, and in the forest saw a man sitting on a tree who was cutting the branch he was sitting on.

On seeing this, they decided they had found their man, and they would marry him to the princess.

The fool was presented before the princess.

The princess Vidyotma and the man had a fight of wit. The princess conceded defeat and was married to him.

After the marriage when Vidyotma discovered her husband had no knowledge and was in fact a big fool, she insulted him and left him.

At this the fool was very upset and he decided he would attain wisdom.

The scholars who had got him there all left him alone. It is said that he went to the temple of Garhkalika in Ujjain and prayed to the goddess for the gift of knowledge.

He prayed and offered to the goddess his tongue as sacrifice and when was about to cut it off with a sword the goddess appeared before him and blessed him.

Because of being blessed by the goddess, words of wisdom started flowing through his mouth and he began to write poetry and prose in Sanskrit language.

He then created works like 'Shakuntala' and 'Meghdoot' and the beauty of his expression made him very renowned.

The play was beautifully performed by the students of Jawahar Bal Bhavan.