BHAVAI- entertainment as way of social change
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 19th 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
!!!!
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