Reliving a legend every year
By Purva

IMPLICIT in every ritual and myth is a narrative, a story of impossible things. A given myth is the plot, and a related ritual is its enactment, in terms of human time and physical space. One such legend that is enacted year after year is the Ramlila.

A traditional Indian performance of the Ramayana that is the Ramlila, with rich presentational elements and textual material, is a significant part of both performance tradition and culture. Both Ramayana and Mahabharata also form the basis of fables told through Kathakali, the dance-drama of the South.

Throughout the period of the Muslim rule in northern India, the Ramayana remained a very popular theme in art, literature, drama and music. Both Ramayana and Mahabharata were translated into Persian and they were splendidly illustrated at the Mughal court. In northern India, people watch the Ramlila, where the legend related to Rama’s adventures is narrated in towns and villages, much to the delight of young and the old alike. In northern India, the romantic story of Rama and Sita emphasises the inevitable triumph of good over evil, of light over darkness. Legends often identify gods as the slayers or destroyers of the ever evil demons. The sole purpose of divine intervention is to battle with evil and violence, and make an attempt to restore peace and harmony amongst people.

Ramayana performances were also prevalent during the time of Tulsidas. Being a true devotee of Rama, Tulsidas wanted to popularise this fable and thus, gave it a dramatic design which formed the basis of the Ramlila performances. The Ramcharitamanas remains the basic text for a variety of approach, both for the story and the textual material.

Primarily, these Ramlila performances got linked with the Vijaydashmi celebrations in late September and early October — with Ramnavmi, the birthday of Lord Rama and Dasehra being the climax of the festival. There is, thus, a strong linkage between the religious festivals associated with Rama and the performance of the Ramlila.

Ramlila is an essential part of the religious and social fabric of the whole community. Throughout most of the Ramayana, Rama is portrayed as a human king, but according to the later additions to the epic, he became the God Vishnu in human form and, as a result, is now worshipped as a God.

The grand finale of the Ramlila performance is marked by the burning of the effigies of Ravana, his brother Kumbhakaran and son Meghnad, symbolising the victory of good over evil, of light over darkness. The techniques of narration, and even television have helped a great deal towards growth, development and the spread of the two great epics — Ramayana and Mahabharata.

There has been an ancient and an unbroken tradition of recitation of these two great epics. Earlier, there was a whole class of reciters and singers. They were mostly professional reciters of the epic(s). The tradition continued and thus acquired a religious character and a new identity — commonly in the form of Ramlila.

Later, even devotional songs, great epic poetry on the life and adventures of Rama, rituals and performances that took place in the temples and other such religious gatherings with music, dance and drama became prevalent. While Ramlila and Raslila (portraying the Krishna legend) became popular in the northern region, danceforms like the Krishanattam and Kathakali became popular in the South.

The Ramlila portrays the festive mood. In Ramlila, the fable of Lord Rama from his birth to his coronation is divided into different segments. Only one or two episodes out of each segment are generally performed. The end is usually a grand finale — the victory over Ravana is a grand spectacle. Rama’s victory forms the climatic event (or dramatic), always presented in a large open ground, more commonly known as the Ramlila maidan. There are a lot of these Ramlila maidans in our cities where the dramatic end is witnessed by huge crowds. After a brief battle, Rama and his brother Lakshman ride on a decorated chariot, drive to the effigies of Ravana and his brother Kumbhakarana and son Meghanada. They shoot at these effigies with their bows. As these effigies go up in flames, the crackers stuffed in these effigies explode to the delight of all.

Ramlila is an example of participative theatre. It is also rich in performance crafts, such as jewellery, costumes, masks, headgears (such as crowns and the likes), make-up, stage settings and dialogues. The actors for the role of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana or Ravana, are decked up like their very idols. Their faces are painted with white dotted lines, rich costumes are worn with jewellery and they sport gorgeous, sparkling crowns. Sometimes even processions known as jhankis are taken out, presenting various episodes from the life and adventures of Rama.

The Ramlila performance is performed with a lot of enthusiasms, both, by the performers and their spectators maintaining (preserving) the great ideals and values set by these great epics. Participating in and viewing such rituals and myths (down) the ages will continue to be an important part of our society.