Kila Raipur Olympics: Bazigars leave audience spellbound with their stunts

Legendary Bazigars stole the show on the second day of the Kila Raipur Olympics. Their gravity-defying stunts left the audience spellbound. Spectators also applauded the performers by offering them money out of respect for the art.

Interestingly, a family comprising a man, his father and nephew and an old friend performed stunts. Despite the Bazigars are continuing the ancestral tradition, they feel these traditional performances are not sufficient for sustainable livelihood.

Jora Singh, along with his father Bikar Singh, nephew Prabhjot Singh and a few other members of their group, performed stunts in front of the massive crowd. When Jora jumped through the ring set on fire, the crowd erupted in applause. Another stunt where three persons passed through the small circular ring at one go also left the spectators awestruck.

Talking to The Tribune, Jora, a resident of Bhagoke village in Ferozepur district, said he had been performing stunts at rural fairs for years. His grandfather Anoop Singh had remained the centre of attraction at every fair and after his death, his father took forward the legacy and fed the family with whatever he(father) used to earn by performing dangerous stunts.

“Now my father has turned 80 but he doesn’t want to leave the tradition started by my grandfather. As my father was turning old, he trained me hard by taking along at rural fairs. Now, I lead Bazigars’ group and perform at fairs in Punjab and other states. My father too remains with us and, apart from performing stunts at this age, his presence bestows us moral support,” he said.

When asked if the new generation is interested in keeping the age-old family tradition alive, Jora said since his children were small, his 13-year-old nephew, Prabhjot Singh, performs stunts in fairs. “I personally trained my nephew for the same. He will not choose the traditional practice as the only source of livelihood as the art has not that lucrative now. He is continuing studies and in spare time he performs with us,” he said.

He believed that to perform such stunts actively, they have to remain fit and require regular practice.

Running electrical repair shop too to support kin: Jora

“If I say we can earn livelihood for our family by resorting to the traditional practice, I would be wrong. Still, a few members of our groups who have been into this practice since their childhood are fully dependent on it to earn bread for their families. But to support my family, I balance my heritage with a small electrical repair shop at the village. This is how I struggle to keep the ancient arts alive”, says Jora Singh.