Nadiad keeps tradition of bhavai alive

NADIAD, Oct 14: The dying art form of bhavai still has its pride of place of place in Nadiad. Thanks to the people who lustily cheer vete...

NADIAD, Oct 14: The dying art form of bhavai still has its pride of place of place in Nadiad. Thanks to the people who lustily cheer veteran artiste Dahyabhai Naik, who visits Nadiad every year during Navratri. The 72-year-old Dahyabhai, has been coming here for 42 years now.

With Bhungals’ in the streets and town heralds the arrival of Dahyabhai. The day is fixed for different areas. Before the bhavai show, he personally visits the residents of the area and invites them to witness his vesh.

A bhavai troupe usually has 20 members — five female role players, five male role players, five singers and five others. But Dahyabhai’s troupe consists of 12 artists. Each of them is competent to play different roles, do their own make-up, sing and play the harmonium. Tabla or the dholak are the usual musical accompaniments. Often saree-clad young boys play female roles and are heartily cheered by the audience. In the evening, the troupe collects oil from the residents here for aarti, puja and lighting during their performance.

His show begins with an invocation to Lord Ganesha. The comic characters Rangla and Rangalee appear and set the stage for the bhavai narrative. At about half time you find Dahyabhai who is now dressed as "Mataji" perform his act of arranging seven brass pots on his head. Then "Mataji" joins the garba. People announce their gifts/donations, with every pot being taken off from the head.

The three hour show ends at midnight. Earlier it used to go on till day break. Dahyabhai says the troupe’s expenditure per day is around Rs 800. This amount is collected by way of donations while the show is on. The next morning, the troupe visits each house of the area when people provide rice, dal, vegetables, oil, including tea and sugar. However, he says this is not enough. More often than not the troupe fasts during the off days during the off seasons. The troupe travels for eight months of the year. Surat and Kheda districts are their favourite as they are well-received.

The Bhavai veshas narrated orally are not found in any manuscript. The leader of Bhavai carries his chopada, which separates the narratives based on various religious theme like Ganapati, Shiva-Parvati and Kana Gopi.

Historical vesha themes like Zanda Zulan, Ashma-Odan, Viko Sisodio and Vesha with social theme like Sadhu and Sahudi, Purabid, Lalvadi and Fulvadi are favourites.

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Dahyabhai who started his career in Mumbai, also had stints with drama companies. He played small roles in Gujarati films too.

Thus, while bhavai, jadorgani, bajana, kathputli, tamashas artistes find the going extremely tough these days, Nadiad has been doing its bit in keeping these art forms alive by whole-heartedly cheering Dahyabhai’s troupe during its annual visits.