Bhaona is cultural backbone of Assam. Motion of Assamese ethnic Community was about to stop in medieval Assam. Political unrest and religious malpractices gripped the society resulting in internecine discordance among own people. Meanwhile Assamese polymath Sankerdev born in fifteen century initiated Bhakti(Devotion)Movement . Simply to speak, Bhakti movement is promulgation of equality and fraternity. This has awakened Assamese People to embrace renaissance.
Bhaona is socio-religio-cultural product of Bhakti movement or Vaishnavite revolution. After demise of Sankerdev, the various monasteries(Satra), Namghars (Assamese prayer house) and individuals pioneering role in giving different forms of original Ankiya Bhaona.Through much upheavals and transitions- Dhura, Fouzi, Matribhasha(mother tongue),Buka, Hazari, Baresohoria and many more Bhaonas are appearing.The Bhaona in English language, popularly known as English Bhaona is the latest addition of this kind.
CONCEPT :
English Bhaona is product of culturally rich Jamugurihat of Sonitpur district.It is brain child of famous Baresohoria Bhaona.One of progeny of Sankerdev, Hukai Dekagiri, started first Baresohoria Bhaona (People’s Bhaona)at Jamugurihat in 1797. The enthusiasm of people and high quality performance propelled to think chief executive of Prajanmya Unmesh,Arup Saikia,to perform globally. It is noteworthy to say Prajanmya Unmesh is a reputed socio-cultural organisation or troupe performing English Bhaona in India and abroad. But initially how and where will perform? Will non-Assamese, even non-Indian comprehend brajawali properly?
SINGAPORE CONNECTION:
Way back in early 2017 we visited Singapore to attend a cultural seminar. Apart from seminar, roaming around famous landmark Merlion park of Singapore. A Chinese troupe was performing a traditional drama in Assamese Bhaona like attire. Crown and outer loose garment have much similarity to that of Ankiya Bhaona of Assam. Female actors wearing Bodo-Kachari type dress with deep Mongolian look . Unlike Bhaona, their drama theme wasn’t religious, purely social. Story was going ahead while one co-actor hid belongings of a female counterpart. Little bit funny and smooth. Evil characters are less demonic than that of our Bhaona.
The cultural and biological uniformity between north east India and south east Asian countries are visible in all aspects.Saint Sankerdev took many locally available ingredients while creating Bhaona.Such as dressing,vocal tune, orchestra etc. Notwithstanding in foreign land(south east Asia), we were mentally not far away from Assam, India.
(a)LANGUAGE FACTOR:The actors were throwing dialogue in their vernacular Chinese language. Simultaneously interpretation was also going on,only of substance. As we keenly observed, the non-chinese spectators were equally not enthusiastic while enjoying the drama. Virtually interpretation can’t equally sustain origin tempo of a drama. Curiously we were compelled to ask fellow Chinese spectators about theme and suspense of drama.
This is mini version of Bhaona done by people of Assamese mongolian ancestors’ land(China and others also), we enjoyed.But language was posing barrier between us.
(b) ENGLISH LANGUAGE: Original striking feature of Bhaona is Brajawali language. Brajawali is admixture of many eastern Indian like Maithali, Oriya, Prakrit, Bengali etc.sankerdev’s effort to synthesize a common language that would be easily understood by all linguistic groups of eastern India. Thereby to reach out intensively beyond the borders of Assam. Imitating the footsteps of Sankerdev , we have selected english language. which on the other hand can greatly enhance the extent of its reach across the globe. Not only english, bu also other languages including russian were taken later in very less show. This way, after Brajawali and Matribhashar Bhaona, English Bhaona was born out.
SCRIPT & PREPARATION
“Udyog Parva” the fifth epic of Mahabharata selected for first performance. As capital of our country, New Delhi was chosen for wider publicity. Arup Saikia, director of Bhaona himself translated the script.Ms Girimallika Saikia and Ms.Gitimallika Baidya discharged their responsibility as joint coordinators. Artists were obtained from senior schools and colleges having brilliant academic career. Selecting artists of new generation having cultural background is really a tough job.
Rehearsal had been done almost for two and half month. Being the first Bhaona in English language by local artists, people were very exited including media houses. Almost all regional and national media extensively covered Bhaona news. Media persons name it as English Bhaona.
PERFORMANCE:
On 15th September 2018, Srimanta Sankerdev Bhawan, New Delhi, selected as venue for our show. Dr.Kapila Vatshayan, renowned scholar of international fame inaugurated the event. She is also Rockefeller, Padma Vibhushan and Sankerdev awardee besides many more to mention. The environment of venue was bustling in the evening. Back home people were watching live telecast.Dr.Kapila Vatshayan in her brief speech after end of show said “It’s English adaptation of Mahabharata. Not only the dialogue, but also songs, laments(Bilap)were all in English.The extra ordinary features of Bhaona -entry and exit of actors’ footsteps synchronising to the tune of english rendered songs.This is really amazing and it’s emphasized to preserve the roles of Bhaona with sequence.I have seen, only language is different.But other ingredients of Bhaona like, Aria, Agnigarh, Purbaranga(orchestra), Sutradhar, and at the end Mukti mangalam or Kalyan kharman all rituals are practised. It’s really very hard to find proper synonyms in other language.The English synonyms match the unique dialogue throwing styles of this Bhaona”.
Dr. Malaya khound,then associate professor, JNU, term the translation work of Bhaona as milestone of Assamese literature. Initially she has immense anxiety to listen some age old prevalent poetic narrative of Bhaona in English language.
Regional media houses of Assam -News Live, Dy365,News18, Prag, Assam talk, Sentinel, Assam tribune and many more unanimously declared the unique event as “Pride moment for theatrical history of Assam”
After Delhi, no looking back. Coordinator Ms Gitimallika Baidya stressed the necessity of Bhaona penetrating the metros to reach the elite classes. Everything done as planned. Many top Indian metros including Mumbai tested the devotional stream of sublime Assamese event.
FOREIGN DEBUT:
Coordinator Ms. Girimallika pursuing the mission to establish pristine beauty of Assamese Indian culture everywhere. Traditional play namely,Bhaona, is unique example of medieval Indian rich culture. We call Sankerdev ‘Jagat Guru “(Mentor of the world or universe). Therefore wider public acceptability will open the floodgates of the world. Ms.Baidya initially consulted with Assamese diaspora around the globe . After much consultation with energetic efforts we were capable of performing in many developed countries. The prominent countries or places were Moscow, St.Petersburg, Finland, Singapore, Macau,Dubai, Abu Dhabi etc. Govt.of Assam cooperated with us and partially sponsored almost all the programmes. Apart from previous Udyog Parva, other plays are also performed from Ramayan and Ankiya Keligopal (playful lord). Keli Gopal, known as Rasleela in other parts of India.So far we know we may be the first even from India to perform Rasleela in English language as Keli gopal. Representatives(M.P,MLA, ministers,officers) from govt.of Assam/India attended some of our event.
EFFECT :
1:Every country has own traditional drama or culture. The speciality and uniqueness of Assamese Bhaona is not less than that of others. Even some of dramaturgy and repertoire of gestures are more amusing. Entry and exit of Sutradhar (Anchor), crying tune (Bilap),Gayan Bayan (orchestra) dramatically enthralled the people a lot.Bhaona is neither dance nor dialogue based drama. It is really a melodrama interspersed with songs, dance, dialogue and music. World drama started in Greece nearly 2500 years ago by ancient dramatist Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides etc. All are born before 450BC.Sankerdev’s plays have undoubtedly have influence of Sanskrit drama. But some features are neither taken from Europe nor from the earliest Sanskrit dramatist like Bhasa or Bhavbhuti. Bhaona is confluence of Arayan, local Assamese and immigrant south east Asians. Sankerdev’s exclusive contribution to integrate the all makes Bhaona -genius the difference.Finally the few non-Indian people present in our show atleast partially understood the rich cultural treasure of Assam and Assamese.
2: Bhaona converting its ideals or look to be more artistic than previously prevalent religious. Artistic acceptability always prevail over that of religious.This is another striking transformation or feature of English Bhaona.
CRITICISM & OBSTACLES:
Mindsets of people reflect culture of the said location. Bhaona from ,Chinha Jatra, to present day lot of changes have been occurred.People are accepting Bhaona in various languages including Assamese. But some sections of Assamese people are getting foreign language English bizarre. Critics perceived the theme and presentation of Bhaona get distorted if presented in other languages except Brajawali. Location wise sporadic protest meetings are also held. Director defended multi-lingual Bhaona saying as”Language can’t be barrier for culture. Even creator Sankerdev had not presented Bhaona in mother tongue Assamese. He used composite language Brajawali for wider publicity”Director Arup Saikia added more to his riposte-“only feeling and dramatic appeal matter most in any play.”
Financial scarcity, Visa and immigration difficulty for minor students, venue and location arrangements in abroad are most common problematic issue.
To attain revolutionary success one artist has to be wealthy, courageous, intelligent and healthy. First Assamese film maker Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Aggarwal is good example of this genre.
FUTURE PLAN:
To continue the performance in more countries and more languages. Inter country languages connect between minds of humans. But translation bearing more relevance and closeness to heart.To establish Saint Sankerdev as cultural maestro too at par with Leonardo Da Vinci and Michael Angelo Sankerdev’s tag of religious preacher has to be diversified into multi dimension as mission of Assamese.
(The article is solely the opinion of the author. The views expressed here are solely personal and not in any way connected to any organisation or any political party).
(Writer:Arup Saikia is an alumni of Delhi University. He is noted cultural activist, actor, scriptwriter and poet. Arup Saikia has performed Bhaona ,Assamese traditional drama, in English language for the first time from Assam and abroad. Email: arupsaikia07@gmail.com)