Mahabharata inspired works by Professor Niren Sengupta

I hate sequels and that is why I hate watching soaps on television. The way serials leave the viewer high and dry literally and metaphorically is not amusing at all.

But the one serial that I have watched riveted like rest of the Indians across the globe was B.R. Chopra’s Mahabharat. Never mind if it was calendar art at its very best. Rhetoric and hyperbole for dialogues and heroes with many shades to them and characters that fit our own imagination was simply superb.
But then I am a die-hard Mahabharat fan. The sheer shades of the characters and their range is absolutely mesmerising and perhaps the folk form from the Chattisgarh region of Madhya Pradesh — Pandvani — really epitomises how much the form depends on the Mahabharata for its sahitya.
This narrative form of balladry, literally means the voice of the Pandavas. The performer narrates episodes from the Mahabharata in song with mime and dance movements.
At intervals, the performer enters into a religious discourse with the accompanying musicians. Though earlier only men performed Pandvani, women have now taken the lead and emerged as scintillating performers in their own right.
Many have seen two of the most riveting performers Teejan Bai and Ritu Verma in action and know to what extent the two can hold one spellbound by their performances. They are Krishna, they are Arjun or Draupadi and in the next moment they are also Duryodhana and Keechak or Dhritrashtra.
These forms have been actively used in contemporary times as active vehicles of social change. It is to the folk performers’ credit how they have incorporated messages of literacy, health, hygiene, para-banking and environment into the narrative and gone deep within the rural belts.
The idea is to share the content in an acceptable form, in a language that is palatable with common reference points. The way these social messages have been used is fascinating. In some cases they have been used like commercial breaks in the main narrative and in others, new content has been written in the age-old form. The way the characters dispensing social messages have been demarcated in some of these forms by making them either wear a vidushak’s outfit or trousers and other western attire.
While folk and traditional arts in North India have used the epics as a pinnacle of the vast pageant of human life, their influence on folk and traditional arts — performing and visual arts — is all pervasive. In the south it is the Bhagvatmela and the Yakshagana traditions, which have held sway.
In Orissa and to some extent Bengal, the Jatra theatre that has depicted episodes from the Mahabharata that the audiences are familiar with, but still want to see yet again either as a fresh interpretation or as an intensely moving personal experience.
Mayurbhanj and Purulia Chhau also incorporate themes from these epics, which are narrated, sung and danced. The stories use Valmiki’s Ramayana only as a peg, for there are significant departures from it.
The Ankia Nat and Bhaona from Assam, relies on the Ramayana and the Mahabharata for its sahitya and has interesting links with Bengal, Orissa and even Andhra.
In the western part of India, the Bhavai form from Gujarat and tamasha from Maharashtra invariably use episodes from Krishna’s life, many of which come from the Mahabharata and the Harivansha Purana.
The more popular episodes that lend themselves well to dramatic presentations are of course the game of dice when Yuddhisthir loses everything and the ensuing cheerharan. Draupadi’s rebuking the Pandavas post the game is so stimulating and contemporary in its women-centric approach that it can’t but mesmerise — be it in any form.
As does Abhimanyu’s valiant fight. The characters themselves are multi-dimensional as they are colourful. And the etching by the performers makes them even more so. The Yakshagana artistes from Karnataka use it to great effect and in fact their entire repertoire that consists of nearly 60 plays is all based on the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and Bhagwat purana.
In fact, the Bhagvatmela and the Kuchipudi traditions were greatly enriched by the literary texts from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. It will be useful to remember that Kuchipudi dance as we know it now, is a recent construct and was earlier a dance-drama form like Kathakali. Interestingly, there is also evidence of a literary genre that freely traversed the regions of present-day Karnataka and Andhra, thanks to the Bhagvatalu or the performer.
In addition to all these forms, there are several others that have not found mention for constraints of space, and some of these forms have disappeared in the last two decades, but in no way does it imply that they have not been influenced by these epics.
For how can you not be moved by the sheer drama of the various stories in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana? For who has not aspired to be daanveer like Karan or brave like Arjun or for that matter beautiful and fiery like Draupadi? At some level they all dwell within us perhaps as part of a deep genetic memory.
Some of the Indian performing arts, are neither folk nor classical in the conventional sense of the term, but belong to the twilight region combining the elements of both.
This so-called twilight zone again might be a construct of the Western scholars for we have had no hard dividing lines between the two. Often widely divergent in character and in expression, our folk and traditional forms present an organic cohesiveness and a world-view, which is dynamic, effervescent and vibrant.
And like life, the only thing constant about them is change. Change that signifies growth, for we don’t view tradition as a museum piece, but as a dynamic and ever-changing entity. More on that another time, but I promise you no sequels!

Dr Alka Raghuvanshi is an art writer, curator and artist and can be contacted on alkaraghu-vanshi@yahoo.com