Multitasking, life killing strategy …

A girl seating at Darpan academy’s theater suddenly reminded me of Gujarati folk theatre and its initial traditions and it gave emancipatory insights when I found relevance of my studies in this died out fomat of theatre. I am talking about Bhavai, a folk theatre from Gujarat and Rajasthan region of India originated 1360 AD. Uniqueness of this theatre is embedded in its way of depicting and narrating caste ridden Indian society.

Bhavai, was initiated by group of people who were actually excluded from the caste system, it was a kind of punishment given for not following caste norms this group was led by Asiat Thakar who wrote about 360 Vesha (plays, also known as swang) among which 60 has survived till date. This group instead of protesting against social structure in violent manner took creative and sarcastic way of protesting. They started providing entertainment to people, but how entertainment can be way of protest??

Looking at format of Bhavai, it easy to find out that it provided several ways of social inclusion to all strata of society. Bhavai was mainly performed by people who were excluded from caste system; later on they made their own caste called tragala. Play of Bhavai use to take place in temple (of Goddess Amba) on square shaped stage called Chachar. Performing arena was marked by Nayak (chief of troupe) by putting lighting lamps and offering Kumkum on all four sides. On front side there was place for audience and this place was not categorized i.e. people of all strata has to sit together (this is very rare in ancient India where caste system was too rigid and people of lower strata were not allowed to sit with people of upper strata) . Left side of arena was reserved for musicians accompanied with Bhungal (a four feet long copper pipe that provides a strong note and is unique to Bhavai) which was exclusive played by Khachiya (migrant vegetable vendor community from North India). Vesha(performances) used to include satire about oppressors likes Brahmins, robbers etc.  Or social evils like; child marriages, dowry, untouchability   (abhadchhat, most famous sarcasms) etc.

Coming to inclusion, Bhavai had famous clown characters like Jhandoo, Jhulan and a Muslim fakir which represents harmony of Hindu and Islam religion. Many actors and musicians came from migrating communities like Khachiya from Uttar Pradesh; Gujjars from Mewar; Odra from Utkala, Kalinga, and Odra (Udra) Desa; Bhavai also had amalgamation with Urdu as it was born in Mughal Era representing religious and regional inclusion. Almost whole crew was illiterate and thus, they didn’t had a scripted performance, this issue instead of being hurdle served as a benefit to Bhavai. Bhavai got chance to be performed in every known dialect and range of dialects was vested from Gujarati, Kathiyavadi, Marvadi, to Sanskrit, Urdu and Persian. This was clear example of linguistic inclusion.

Village community used to provide in kind support to this performing troupe, like barbar used shave for free, Brahmin(priests) used to provide oil and place of performance, Baniya (traders) used to provide food grains, Dariji (tailors) provided with costume and so on this was really interesting way of social inclusion where whole village support the people whom they have excluded and thus, for me it is a successful social movement which attained its goals of being included in society.

With the passage of time, this folk theater become popular and started losing its core values, it slowly and gradually adopted vulgarity and started facing criticisms from elite class and after 19^th century it became vulgar theatre of lower strata population. Eminent authors like Dalpat Ram and others tried to revive Bhavai through their drama (Mithyaabhiman) and tried to remove vulgarity from Bhavai but this revived format was not much effective as the real one.

During colonial period Bhavai , started sarcasm against government and not social evils which is still continuing. Another amendment made in this theatre form is addition of characters like Ranglo (male anchor) Ranglee (female anchor) and Jhuthan (a lying clown). Interestingly, character of Ranglee is added just because some elite actresses wanted to do that role (previously Bhavai didn’t had female actors, all female roles was done by male actors dressing like female).

Since years, we have come across various forms and devices of entertainment some are really good and some are really bad, trust me on this!!! Area of my academics (or even of interest) is not theatre or dramatics, but due attachment towards music, I have bit inclination towards various forms theatre.

Some appreciable efforts from Coke Studio to Shamina Short flim club for preserving, reviving and developing certain kinds of formats of entertainment are still on my mind. It is true that these efforts are really big deal in the world that is highly depended on electronic forms of entertainment but somewhere; somehow these efforts are not able link themselves with social change.

Thanking to such efforts and exertions of some theatre lovers this format of drama (Bhavai) has being revived but it is now performed in modern auditoriums. Commercialization has taken away Bhavai from its real goal of social inclusion. It is now reduced to mere form of earning money and symbolizing traditions. Theatre formats like Bhavai actually, strengthen my belief that entertainment or theatre can be effective tool to develop and direct social change…..tha thaya thaya tha thai !!!!