Late Biswajit Das’s play ‘Mrugaya’, which had revolutionalised contemporary modern Odia drama, was first staged in 1970 and thereafter, published by Sathi Prakashan in 1971. Mrugaya was the product of an attempt to bring about a paradigm shift in the outlook of those critics who judged contemporary drama through a purely literary prism. Dramas, especially the ones authored with the objective of being enacted on stage, may or may not be an inseparable part of literature, but the ornamental superiority of literature cannot be the sole measuring scale of their success or the lack of it. The message, if any, carried by the play, must, more or less, influence both the aforesaid classes of audience. The complex expression of inherent thought behind a play or the crispness of its language may lift it to a high literary pedestal, but that is not enough to agitate the temperament of the audience. The imagination of “Mrugaya” revolves around the three layers of the human mind: unconscious; sub-conscious and conscious. The archaism of unconscious experience, depicted by complete darkness; the inevitable propensity of the sub- conscious mind for hope and aspiration, reflected by dark green light and the real experience of the conscious, epitomized by bright white light – are the three states of the human mind that regulate the nature and direction of the play ‘Mrugaya’. The play is an attempt to balance and maintain equilibrium among the various emotions associated with these three levels of the human mind. The play revolves around the hopes, aspirations, failures, achievements, vulnerabilities and hypocrisies of its three protagonists- Vivekananda, Sarathi and Mukta - and the various associated emotions evoked by the aforesaid three protagonists- Vivekananda, Sarathi and Mukta - and the various associated emotions evoked by the aforesaid three stages of the human mind.