Why Phule’s ‘Trutiya Ratna’ strikes a chord with student protests, 150 years on

To read ‘Trutiya Ratna’ today, more than 150 years after it was penned, is to realise the play’s dialectics about education resonate with the student

MUMBAI: We recently gathered at Studio Tamasha for a reading of Jyotiba Phule’s ‘Trutiya Ratna’ (The Third Eye or The Third Jewel). This play penned 150 years ago has been translated into English by Rohini Mokashi-Punekar and published by Orient BlackSwan. The reading, directed by Sharmishta Saha, celebrated the work (and words) of Phule, the 19th-century social reformer from Pune.

Why Phule’s ‘Trutiya Ratna’ strikes a chord with student protests, 150 years on

To read ‘Trutiya Ratna’ today, more than 150 years after it was penned, is to realise the play’s dialectics about