Journalism of Courage
The Chitrakoot ground in Varanasi, far from the Ganga and the ghats where the believers seek salvation, is where the earliest known Ramleela is believed to have started 477 years ago. Tulsidas was more than 80 years old when he composed the Ramcharitmanas in the local language of Awadhi in the 16th century. According to one legend, Tulsidas was lost in thought on the steps of the Assi Ghat in Varanasi when he had a vision of Ram, Sita and Lakshman pass by in a tableaux. With Megha Bhagat, as great a devotee of Ram as he, Tulsidas started, or reworked, the tradition of Ramleela.
Varanasi became the birthplace of the initiatives that evolved into the modern Ramleela.
IN PIC: A painting from the Kashi royalty in Banaras, depicting the Bharat Milan of the Chitrakoot Ram Leela from the mid-19th century from Prinseps Benaras Illustrated. (Story: Dipanita Nath; Photos: Tashi Tobgyal)
Ram is played by 14-year-old Abhishek Mishra and Sita is Pawan Giri (11) but it has been a while since anybody called them by their names. They are known by their mythological titles. Even in private, they do not call each other anything else. (Story: Dipanita Nath; Photos: Tashi Tobgyal)
Chitrakoot Ramleela has not stopped for historic upheavals, be it the fraught year after the demolition of Babri Masjid or when the Mandal Commission cleaved the Hindu heartland. “The Ganga has overflown and flooded the grounds. But the Ramayanis, the Brahmin experts of the epic who read the Ramacharitmanas during a performance, have stood in knee-deep slush and continued as usual,” says Vyomesh Shukla, a Varanasi-based poet.(Story: Dipanita Nath; Photos: Tashi Tobgyal)
Shri Mukut Pujan is held at Ayodhya Bhavan, which is a modern, freshly-painted hall in a marketplace called Bada Ganesh. Opposite the boys sit the Ramayani who spell out the epic purpose of the Ramleela. “Aado Ram tapovanadi gaman…” they chant loud enough to be heard over the traffic. (Story: Dipanita Nath; Photos: Tashi Tobgyal)
Amid loud drum beats and clanging cymbals, the Shri Mukut Pujan bestows divinity on the chosen boys. It also marks the time that entire communities associated with the Chitrakoot Ramleela turns into its supporting cast and crew, based on an unchallenged script of caste. (Story: Dipanita Nath; Photos: Tashi Tobgyal)
But first, the play: The Ramleela was, in all probability, started by Megha Bhagat, a friend and disciple of Tulsidas, and follows the jhanki style of performance in which each episode lasts a few minutes. “It is not a Ramleela that entertains, but enlightens,” says Pandit Mukund Upadhyay, organiser of the Shri Chitrakoot Ramleela Samiti, Kashi. “We follow the tradition that has been passed down to us to the last detail,” says Upadhyay. (Story: Dipanita Nath; Photos: Tashi Tobgyal)
The Ramayanis are essential to the performance. They read out the Ramcharitmanas to the beat of drums and cymbals, as the swaroop, largely silent, enact the text. When they have to speak, a vyas or teacher accompanies them to a dais and tells them what to say. In episodes like Ravan Vadh, Ram is taught to fight the demons and acts that out at Lanka Maidan. (Story: Dipanita Nath; Photos: Tashi Tobgyal)
The Ramleela is promenade theatre, where the swaroop move from one place to another by foot or chariot. Once performed in a forested area, the woods have now made way for mohallas and roads. On Bharat Manawan, when Bharat and Shatrughan come to Chitrakoot to plead Ram to return, for instance, the action stretches across a kilometre between Nandigram (a neighbourhood park, where children play and cars rest), and Chitrakoot. A small knot of people weaves their way through. Lightbearers walk ahead and drummers beat relentlessly. Cars and bikes stop to let them pass but a group of water buffaloes don’t. The royal procession waits and, when the animals have ambled past, continue their journey. (Story: Dipanita Nath; Photos: Tashi Tobgyal)
The days are named after the chapter to be played — Van Gaman (leaving for the forest), Hanuman Milan (meeting with Hanuman) and Ravan Vadh (slaying of Ravan), among others. The twelfth is dedicated to Surpanakha, the princess of Lanka and Ravan’s sister, who was so bold as to propose to Ram and Lakshman. (Story: Dipanita Nath; Photos: Tashi Tobgyal)
On Vijaya Dashami, held at the Lanka Maidan, thousands gather to watch and play as the pushpak viman, once a flying vehicle owned by Ravan and now carrying the victorious Ram, races around and mock-charges at the crowd. The greatest show is Bharat Milap, so famous that it inspired paintings during the colonial era and continues to draw enough crowds to shut down that corner of the city. (Story: Dipanita Nath; Photos: Tashi Tobgyal)
The Chitrakoot Ramleela is also a play outside a play, with fixed roles assigned to different communities. The swaroop are always Brahmin, vegetarian and students of the Vedas. “Families have been participating in the Ramleela for five or six generations. When one member passes away, it is the right of the successor to take his place,” says Upadhyay. (Story: Dipanita Nath; Photos: Tashi Tobgyal)
The Chitrakoot Ramleela also symbolically accommodates the other great religion of the land. A Muslim man is in charge of the fireworks that are lit every evening around the swaroop. Mohammad Arif plays the drums at the head of the procession to announce the arrival of a swaroop. (Story: Dipanita Nath; Photos: Tashi Tobgyal)
