Vishwamitra (Old Doordarshan TV Serial)
Vishwamitra, a well known mythological character, came and hot on our TV screen in early 90s. That was the time for Indian national TV, Doordarshan to project such mythological shows. It was Mahabharata and Ramayana which gained high popularity at that point of time. People, especially old people used to watch mythological shows.
At that point of time not only the old people but also the young generation used to enjoy mythological shows. Vishwamitra used to come on TV on weekends when kids and the entire family could enjoy the show together at home. It was not a prime time show. The title role was portrayed by Mukesh Khanna who was popularly known as shaktiman, the first Indian superhero. The show was conceptualised and written by one of the leading production house from South Indian Film Industry.
Plot
Vishwamitra is a mythological show that depicted the life of the Sage Vishwamitra and his Tapasya. Vishwamitra was a son of Satyavati. She was married to a Brahmin and they desired to have a son who will have Brahmin’s qualities in him. Unfortunately Satyavati had given a birth to a son who is born Brhmin with Kshatriya qualities and on the other Satyavati’s mother, by eschanging Charu, gave birth to a Kshatriya son Vishwamitra with qualities of Brahmin.
Vishwamitra was a popular king in his kingdom in ancient India. It is said that he was a short tempered king of all time. He used to curse and punish his fellows whenever he was angry. Once he involved in great rift with Sage Vashisht while returning back from a Yudh.
While having the biggest conflict with Rishi Vashisht, Vashisht had snatched all his power and weapons. He was about to kill him when he was stopped by the Devas. Vishwamitra, also known as King Koushika felt humiliated and insulted by this event. After this he has realised that physical power is way too less than the spiritual power. So he opted for Tapasya to become more powerful Rishi than Vashisht.
He took the name Vishwamitra after he went for the tapasya. He successfully completed his tapasya and Rishi Vahsisht himself gave him the name Bramharishi. There were many times when Dev Indra tried to break his tapasya but no one could do that. He was strong man who had got what he wanted.
Relevance Today
Vishwamitra is a mythological story. As we all know that all the mythological stories carry their some deeper meaning than what they look like. Personally I believe every character from any of the mythological story has deep relevance in today’s life. Not only in today but also in every generation they set an inspiration for the people.
Talking about Vishwamitra, he was a short tempered King. He used to punish everyone who was wrong. The will power of the man was commendable. He was about to be killed by someone but stopped as Devas stopped the Sage. He could get back to his empire and could lead a better King size life. But rather he took the other way. He was humiliated as he felt his power was less than mere a sage.
Being a King he could win anything, but he chose to go for tapasya so that he could be more powerful than Vashisht and gain lot more power than physical power. Indra had tried several times to break his tapasya just to test him whether he is loyal to his words or not. Every time Indra failed to break his will power.
This kind of character is rare in today’s life. We often find people who will get back to their empire and lead a happy life rather than thinking the other way round. The character and the story teach us that it is easy to get distracted by any glittery things but a strong man will be him who will focus on his life and goal without getting distracted by external forces.
| Important Details of the show | |||
| Name of the show | Vishwamitra | ||
| Country | India | ||
| Language | Hindi | ||
| Subject | Mythology | ||
| Banner (production house) | K. R. Films | ||
| Director | Dasari Narayana Rao | ||
| Creator | Yamini Saraswati | ||
| Producer | Dasari Narayana Rao | ||
| Story writer | Kamalakara, Kamaleshwara Rao | ||
| Dialogues written by | Dr. Rahi Masoom Reza | ||
| Official Site address | |||
| Telecast Details | |||
| Telecast Date | 1991 | ||
| Aired on | Doordarshan | ||
| Telecast Episodes | |||
| Episode Length | |||
| No of seasons | 1 | ||
| Cast Details | |||
| Character Name | Real Name | ||
| Vishwamitra | Mukesh Khanna | ||
| Vashisht | Mulraj Rajda | ||
| Narad | Dharmesh Tiwari | ||
| Indra | Chakrapani | ||
| Arundhati | Aparajita | ||
| Madhvi | Sandhya | ||
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