Similarities Between Bhavai And Folk Art Forms

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN BHAVAI OF GUJARAT AND SOME FOLKART FORMS OF ANDHRA PRADESH

DR. SAIPRASAD ALAHARI

In our country most of the regions have their own folkart traditions. These are spontaneous expressions of people. One such tradition is our folk theatre. Each region in our country has its own folk theatre tradition handed down by earlier generations. Prominent among them are Nautanki of Uttar Pradesh, Tamasha of Maharshtra, Maach of Madhya Pradesh, Swang of Punjab, Veedhi Natakam of Andhra Pradesh, Teru Koothu of Tamil Nadu and Bhavai of Gujarat.

The term “Bhavai” in Gujarat signifies a form of entertainment characteristic by narration, dialogue, lyrics, farce and drama.

Scholars contend that Bhavai must have originated as a ritual to propitiate ‘Shakti’ and took the shape of a folk form. (Sudha Desai, 1972 and Uma Shankar Joshi, 1972). Some of their arguments are based on the fact that Bhavai performances are held mostly on festival days dedicated to goddesses like Amba and Bahucharaji. Poet Asait who lived during 14th century is believed to be the father of this tradition. The legend says that Asait was excommunicated by his community for rescuing a Patidar girl from soldiers, claiming that she is his own daughter. It is significant that an excommunicated Brahmin created folk form to entertain the people belonging to the lower strata of the society. Umashankar Joshi opines that Asait might have consolidated an already existing tradition and given it a new form Kapila Vastyayan had this to say about Bhavai “We find that into the making of Bhavai have entered many few factors, all seemingly exclusive, belonging to different social levels and artistic streams and mutually conflicting, but in the new form they were all assimilated to create a new form”, (Vastayan, Kapila 1980). Asait who belonged to Siddhpur in North Gujarat is said to have composed more than 360 Bhavai vesh. Most of the earlier and several contemporary Bhavai artists who happen to be Kayaks and Bhojaks of Targala community, belong to the same region. However ‘Bhavai’ is not restricted neither to that region nor to that community.

Bhavai as a folk form flourished in Gujarat till recently. And even now it attracts considerable crowds in rural areas of Gujarat.

Bhavai, a simple but expressive form of folk play blends narration, dialogue, humour and mimicry. It presents several independent episodes called ‘Vesh’ one after another. Vesh means costume but here the part stands for the whole i.e. episode. Each of these acts has its own plot and dramaturgy. Duration and number of characters, vary from Vesh to Vesh. Each Bhavai performance consists of several such ‘Vesh’. But there are no fixed number of Vesh to a performance. It largely depends on the repertoire of the Bhavayya troupe and the preference of the audiences.

Bhavai is generally performed in the open air either in the courtyard of a temple or a village (Chora), with very little paraphernalia. No stage is needed, nor any curtains required, because most of the change overs are brought about by suggestion.

A couple of musical instruments and some colourful costumes are the only requirements for a successful Bhavai performance. The performances commence generally in the evening and come to an end late in the night.

Bhavai performances used to follow a pattern. As a beginning, Nayak, the leader of the Bhavayya troupe draws a circular line on the ground with castor oil which demarcates the arena. They believe that this will keep the evil spirits at bay. Spectators sit around the circle. A bearer with a lighted mashal stands on one side. The mashal provides the lighting for the performance. Some say that the torch symbolises the Devi (Jwalamukhi). Nayak applies vermilion to the mashal and the mashal bearer. Flower petals are showered on the musical instruments, artists, and audiences. After that the Nayak signals the commencement of Bhavai to the accompaniment of Bhungals, Pakhawaj and Cymbals. The shrill and sharp notes of a pair of Bhungals herald the Bhavai performances. This is followed by Devi stuti rendered by Bavayyas.

Then the nayak by invoking Ganapati announces the entry of Ganesha. Ganesha enters holding a brass plate marked with trishul or swasthika against his face and dancing to the accompaniment of music. Lord Ganesha blesses the crowd and exits.

Next entry is of ‘Kalika’ who looks ferocious in a gaudy costume. Kalika blesses the admirers and patrons of Bhavai. Kalika then curses the detractors of Bhavai and withdraws.

The third entry is of a brahmin. This character is a ploy to ridicule Brahmins by presenting their mannerisms in an exaggerated fashion.

These are the preliminaries which most of the Bhavai troupes observe. Then onwards different episodes are enacted one by one. Each character in a Vesh is introduced by ‘Avanu’. Dramatically ‘Avanu’ is very significant. The introductory remarks of Nayak, the pitch of the musical notes, the pace of the dance with which the character makes its entry, create a mood and instantaneously provides a preview of the character’s personality. Usually in conventional theatre it takes several incidents and dialogues to establish the nature of a character but in but in Bhavai is achieved in a couple of minutes.

Music and dance are used in Bhavai to enhance the dramatic effect of the performance.

Bhungals, Pakhawaj and symbals are the essential instruments used in Bhavai, Bhungals are a pair of long horn like instruments. They give out shrill notes with one or two variations. One of them is high pitched while the other has a low pitch. Pakhawaj is a percussion instrument. Cymbals are metallic instruments which produce resonant sound and are used to keep time.

Some troupes use Harmonium and a Ravan hatho, a crude type of violin. In addition to accompanying the Gavayyas the instrumentalists also provide ground music. Ragas and Talas used in Bhavai resemble Hindustani style hut they are executed in a particular way which is typical of Bhavai.

Dance plays a vital role in Bhavai. It helps establish the personality of the characters. Each act in Bhavai commences and concludes with dance. Dance connects the incidents and helps in change-overs. Some scholars opine that the dance employed in Bhavai is similar to Kathak (Sudha Desai, 1972).

Bhavai is essentially an oral tradition. Only some of the compositions are recorded. During the initial days most of the themes of Bhavai were from Epics and mythology. Among the mythological themes, Ram-Lakshman, Shankar- Parvathi, Kanha-Gopi are very well known. Over the years Bhavai acquired several other legendary themes into its repertoire. Some of them are “Jasma-­Odan” (Siddharaj Jayasingh covets Jasma and kills her worker husband. Jasma curses him that his capital city will be razed to the ground and a mausoleum will come up at the site of his palace.), “Sadhra-Jesang” (Sidhharaj fights with Rai Khegar and kills him. His wife while committing ‘Sati’ curses that Siddharaj will die childless.), “Ratna-Hamir” (It is a famous love story which has a tragic end). There are other ‘Vesh’ which belong to the period when Muslims ruled over Gujarat region, like ‘Pathan-Bhanini”, “Zenda-Zhulan” and “Chel Batav-Lal Batav”. Some of these acts depict the socio-political conditions of those times. Some others deal with common experiences of characters one comes across in rural India. Typical among them arc Bania (Trader), Kansaro (Tinker), Sarania (Knife Sharpener). Dari (Tailor) and Maniaro (Bangle seller). Such acts provide the audience with an opportunity to peep into the lives of craftsmen and artisans and also give them a chance to laugh at their expense. Most of the themes of Bhavai Vesh are thin and simple, but they arc made attractive and presentable by punctuating them with acrobatics, tricks and jokes. Bhavai performances are dominated by humour and satire, though all the “Rasas” are represented. In addition to the humour provided by the characters themselves, ‘Ranglo’, the Jester, entertains the audience during the interludes with his wisecracks, horseplay and critical comments. Some troupes have a female character named Rangli’, as a partner to ‘Ranglo’. Using his wits as a facade Ranglo ventures to comment on society in such a way that the message invariably reaches the audience. Social comment and criticism form an integral part of Bhavai. Some of the acts like “Achooth”, and, “Kajiodo” are in fact attempts to chide people. ‘Achooth’ brings out the inhumanity in the barbaric practice of untouchability, while ‘Kajodo’ highlights the irrationality underlying the child marriages. Through judicious use of satire and sarcasm Bhavai tries to persuade people to introspect. The ingenuity of Bhavai lies in the way the message is conveyed, without making it appear as sermonising. The not so rigid structure of Bhavai allows the performers to improvise and imbibe contemporaniety. The performers who are adept at modifying the language and presentation to suit the audiences of different places and times take full advantage of this flexibility. Thus Bhavai with its spontaniety and contemporaniety endeared itself to the masses.

Bhavai which started as a religious ritual gradually acquired the features of a peoples’ art, drawing its sustenance from the life styles of rural folk. This shift from religious to secular plane was responsible for the vitality, variety in content and wider appeal of Bhavai.

Bhavai though considered as a pastime of rural folk, was and continues to be relevant socially in more ways than one. While picking up themes from contemporary life, Bhavai attempts to mirror the social life at a micro level. It reflects contemporary literary, social and political trends.

The earlier artists used to borrow from the contemporary literary works. Compositions of Kabir, Meera. Tulsidas and many other saint poets have been used by Bhavai performers, thus serving a useful purpose. At a time when there were no mass media and when the literature was not accessible to the masses, these performers used to bring the philosophy and wisdom in the literature to the masses in a language and manner which is comprehensible to them. In fact these performers were playing the roles of interpreters.

Inspite of the overwhelming presence of modern media Bhavai is still popular and continues to be a living medium in rural Gujarat because of its contemporanety, vitality and credibility.

Shri Uma Shankar Joshi (former Chairman, Kendriya Sahitya Academy) said “The contemporary dramatist has much a adopt from the Bhavai technique”. This is precisely the reason why mass media planners started adopting Bhavai format for social campaigns.

Having described the salient features of Bhavai an attempt is now made to discuss the similarities between Bhavai and some folk forms of Andhra Pradesh.

Only those similarities between the forms which have something to do with contemporaneity and social education are taken into consideration.

It has been observed that a few folk forms of Andhra Pradesh share some features with Bhavai. Notable among them is ‘VALAKAM’. This form is considered as a fore runner to the present street theatre. An impromptu performance, it is used to expose the hypocrisy and exploitative nature of those who belong to the higher strata of the rural society. It is said that Valakam was once very popular in the north coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh (Krishna Murthy, R. 1970).

Hall mark of the form was its spontaneity. The intending performers plan the entire performance in few minutes. These performances used to take place on some festive occasions when residents of the entire village gather around a shrine. The performers, who are otherwise ordinary villagers mimic those people who exploit the villagers in various ways. They pick up people like the village money lender, land lord, village official and petty trader for their attack and expose their exploitative ways in a satirical way. The attack is never direct nor do they take names. The portrayal itself suggests the person under attack.

The religious occasion gives the performers the license to criticise and they used to take full advantage of it. Apparently ‘Valakam’ is performed to entertain the people but in reality the performers express the shared but repressed feelings of the entire village.

Another form called “PAGATI VESHALU” was in vogue in Andhra Pradesh. Mikkillineni Radhakrisnna Murty traces its origins to “BAHURUPAM” which was in existence as early as in 13th century (Joga Rao, 1970) The content of this form happens to be mythological. But to entertain people the performers put on the costumes of the local land lords, village officials and traders and the like. By imitating the mannerisms and using the satire they try to taunt the exploiters. Even in this form the attack is never direct. It is so subtle that the targeted person is forced to introspect.

“VEEDHI NATAKAM” otherwise known as “VEEDHI BHAGOTHAM” is yet another popular theatre form of Andhra Pradesh which has some similarities with Bhavai. The performers of Veedhi natakam especially Sutradhara and Vidushaka through their exchanges translate and convey the essence of Mythological episodes and puranic Literature which is otherwise inaccessible to the people due to factors like illiteracy. Vidushaka in Veedhi Natakam is almost like “Ranglo” in Bhavai. He keeps getting in and out of the play at his will. Often he becomes an observer of the proceedings and at times he plays the role of an interpreter. Like Ranglo some times Vidhushaka of Veedhi Natakam also ventures into social criticism.

All the above theatre forms have something in common i.e. the flexibility.

Irrespective of their origins and categories to which they belong, these are forms served some useful and socially relevant purposes.

Performers of both        Bhavai and Veedhi Natakam used to act as “CONDUITS” through which the essence of existing literature flowed to the masses. These art forms made the otherwise inaccessible literary works accessible to the masses through their interpretations.
Another common feature found in all these art forms is the social criticism. The objective is to create social awareness among the people and to sensitise them to social issues.

Performers of these art forms used to play yet another socially significant role. Not by design hut by coincidence. When the performers comment on the social inequalities and the exploitative nature of those who belong to the higher strata, they were in fact giving vent to the repressed feelings of the entire audience. The whole gathering (barring a couple of people) shared these feelings. While those in the audience as individuals neither had the courage nor the liberty to be critical, the performers had the licence to do it. As the episodes [1] progresses the audience also participate in it vicariously. Through this process the performers were helping the audiences to get cathartic release even if it is only for a short duration.

That could be one of the factors responsible for the unique relationship that exists between the masses and the folk art forms.

Shri Uma Shankar Joshi once said that the contemporary dramatist has much to adapt and adopt from the Bhavai technique. This statement holds good for all the folk forms as well. Scholars of folk forms and theatre must come forward to help the Media Planners in evolving ways of utilising the folk forms in the interest of the nation.

REFERENCES

1. Mikkilineni Radhakrishna Murthy Andhra Nataka Ranga Charithra Renuka Grantha Mala. Madras. 1969.

2. R. Krishna Murthy, Natyakala. A P Sangeeta Nataka Akademy. 1970.

3. J. S. Joga Rao. Natyakala. A P Sangeeta      Nataka Akademy, 1970.

4. Deasi, Sudha. Bhavai, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad 1972.

5. Vastyayar, Kapila
Traditional Indian Theatre
Multiple Streams
National Book Trust, New Delhi. 1982.