This Article First Appeared in The Scroll On Dec 13, 2023
In the spring of 1877, the Parisian intelligentsia hummed with rumours about an upcoming spectacle at the Grand Opera. Some said it was the myth of Orpheus set in India. Others claimed, no, it was an adaptation of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata. The buzz was heavy amid growing European interest in Sanskrit and Indian religions and philosophy, thanks to the works of Indologists like Max Müller. Tickets sold quickly and, in the last week of April, Jules Massenet’s Le Roi de Lahore (The King of Lahore) premiered, becoming one of the most talked about events in the French and international press.