Mithyabhiman

Mithyabhiman (pronounced [mit̪ʰyabʰiman̪]; English: False Pride) is an 1871 Gujarati play by Indian writer Dalpatram.

The play tells a story of Jivaram Bhatt, who suffers from nyctalopia (night blindness) but does not want people to know about it.

He conceals his disability by pretending to see everything, and rejects the helping hand offered by two shepherds related to his father-in-law's family.

Ultimately, he tries to reach his destination by holding the tail of his father-in-law's baby buffalo, who drags him into a ditch beside the road.

[4] The second Act opens in the house of Jivram's father-in-law, Raghunath, who, as an orthodox brahmin, believes that the Vedas have mysterious meaning which God alone knows.

They ask him to accompany them home, but he, being unable to see at night, refuses to go with them, on the pretext that his mother-in-law called him ‘night-blind' on a previous occasion.

While sitting for dinner, he faces the wall; when his mother-in-law serves him lapshi (a sweet dish made of wheat flour), the young buffalo eats it.

He asks his relatives to erect a marble pillar in his memory and inscribe it with 12 stanzas which exhort people to abstain from the vices of pride, vanity and hypocrisy.

[3][5] In 1998, Kailash Pandya adapted the play as Bhungal Vinani Bhavai, which was staged at Natarani, Ahmedabad the same year.

[6] The play was staged at R. V. Pathak Hall of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, Ahmedabad on 21 January 2007.

Mithyabhiman book cover
Archan Trivedi who played Jivram Bhatt