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COME September (read, Navratras) and the night-life in North India undergoes a sea-change — thanks to the Ramlilas all around. Of course, things are changing: The number of Ramlilas is coming down, as also the number of the audiences who prefer instead the movies and TV serials based on Rama Katha. Unfortunately, for survival, the Ramlila organisers have started accommodating film-songs, their parodies, cheap interludes, titillating dances, even violence. True, benefitting from the services of trained directors, Ramlilas are becoming technically more advanced, but this gain is at the cost of what used to be their raison-d’etre, Bhakti-Rasa. Of course, the process of change is nothing new. In fact, Ramlila, as we know it, originated no earlier than the 16th century while the Ramayana on stage has been there for thousands of years — possibly since Rama’s own time, when Lava and Kusha presented Valmiki’s epic in the court of Ayodhya. The current Ramlilas follow Valmiki only in a broad way, the staple base being Ramcharitmanas. Tulsi, too, was not the originator of Ramlila; he himself refers in his works to Raghunayak Lila, Hanuman Natak etc. Touring extensively, he got the chance to pick up ideas from the various Rama theatricals that he saw here and there. On return, he sowed the seeds of a new tradition in the mind of a disciple, Megha Bhagat, who started the practice of different performers reciting/ singing the chaupais of Ramacharitmanas; only later grew the tradition of buttressing Tulsi’s verses with samvadas. When the British imported the Western brand of theatre, there grew in India the vogue of Parsi theatre; by and by, this model influenced the Ramlila stage which acquired, as it were, a new aim-mass entertainment. Only in certain parts of Uttar Pradesh, some Ramlilas are still struggling to retain the devotional core of yester-ages — Ramlilas of Varanasi, for example. The most conspicuous in this context is the Ramlila of Ramnagar in which thousands of sadhus become a part of its month-long recitative proceedings. What happens there is by no means high theatre. Instead, here we have a dozen Ramayanis reciting Ramcharitmanas chorally; when they have recited one chaupai, one of the two Vyasas prompts the relevant performer(s) to say the same thing in modern prose in a manner indicated by him. While the Swarupas (representing the divine characters) must speak in a flat tone, the others may adopt a more dramatic tenor. There being no lights or sound system, to the thousands of people present there, the performers remain both invisible and inaudible. Still, the devout audiences feel gratified-having caught a glimpse of their deity. The USP of Ramlila of Ramnagar lies in its using the environments of several buildings and localities (spread over 6 square miles) as the locales of performed action. In fact, the performance spots are permanently named after the mythical locales — Ayudhya, Janakpur, Lanka, Chitrakut, Panchvati, etc.; actual water features (like tank, lake, etc.) are used symbolically for action related to water bodies like river and sea. Moving from one locale to another, the performers and the audiences walk several miles every day. A casual visitor may find the ‘shows’ unexciting, untheatrical, even cumbersome-and he might declare the make-up of the swarupas (studded with stars, sequins, mica, etc.) odd-but for the devout every thing is perfect and the visit a blissful pilgrimage! If the Ramlila of Ramnagar is a prolonged affair with minimal theatricality, the Ramlila of Chitrakut in the city of Varanasi is known for its eye-catching tableau-like enactments. The most celebrated tableau, Bharat Milap at Nat Imli, has been declared the briefest theatre for the largest audiences: it lasts just a few minutes but is witnessed by lakhs of people. When Rama and Lakshmana alight from Pushpak Viman, Bharat and Shatrughana are waiting; as the brothers rush to embrace one another, the reunion evokes tears of joy in every eye. Another very popular spectacle of this Ramlila pertains to Rama’s return in Pushpak Vimana which is manipulated by hundreds of devotees: pushed forward by Ayudhya-vasis and backward by Lanka-vasis, it takes several hours to cover a bare mile. Another famous Ramlila of Varanasi is called Tulsi Ramlila because it was designed by Tulsi — the Mahant of an akhara at Char Ghat. It is known for its multiple, multi-levelled stages, Vishnu Manch for the deities, Raj Manch for royal personages, Devi Manch for women characters, and Jana Manch for the Ramayanis; the audiences sit on the Jan Path that links these stages. What is common to all
these Ramlilas of Varanasi is effusion of Tulsi, religious fervour,
and open-air freedom-features that are fast disappearing in Ramlilas
elsewhere. However, there is a measure of variety in respect of
approach, thrust, even form. In Madhya Pradesh, for example, they have
Ramayani which is a veritable extension of the famous Pandavani style.
In Kanpur, they have Parsurami in which Lakshman-Parsuram interface
tends to assume the format of night-long shastra-arth. In
Rajasthan, there is greater stress on martial arts, whereas in Bihar
one notices excessive focus on celebrations, songs and dances. If in
Delhi, Kathak Kendra has turned Ramayana into a regular ballet,
in Kumaon, Ramlila tends to mirror the practices of Raslila. |
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