In the olden era, men apparently needed to figure out some occupation to pass their time during days. Female folk stayed busy with their household chores, but men always looked for options to make life more interesting. Play ‘Are! Mayavi Sarovar’ showed how the hunt leads to something so adventurous, that it can become dangerous. Written by Dr
Shankar Shesh, the play discovers relationship of male and female and comments on the present day social values.
In the story, King Ilvalu, is bored from his daily routine and decides that he will go on the shabrinarayan pilgrimage with his wife. During their journey they enter a beautiful magical forest and get lost in the beauty of the place. There they found a magical pond and King Ilvalu takes a bath in the pond which turns him into a female. King, who likes this new form of himself stays in the forest as a female and sends his wife back to the kingdom. He finally bears a child for a sage, who was meditating in the forest and finds himself more comfortable in his new avatar. Now, a tussle erupts between the Queen and the King as they both claim that the throne of Kingdom belongs to their respective sons. Lord
Indra seeing this intervenes and finally turns the King back to a male ending the problem.