Ramayana: Fractured, Fixed and Foretold: A solo performance of a folk version of Ramayana

“All the world’s a stage and all the men and women are merely players.”
— William Shakespeare

The Enact Collective of Bhawanipur Education Society College organized “Ramayana: Fractured, Fixed and Foretold: A solo performance of a folk version of Ramayana” on 16th September 2023 from 4 pm in the Jubilee Hall of the college campus. The solo performance was enacted by Dr. Janardhan Ghosh, a performing artist, academic, theatre Director, Film Director, Film Actor, Playwright, Performance coach, and a Storyteller. His 2021 film “Kalkokho” won the 69th National Film Award in 2023.

The event started with his mesmerizing performance and through his act as he raised a question to the audience, asking:
“What do you see in the mirror?
Is it you or the one you believe you are?
Is it simply an illusion or a shadow?”

During his performance, two of his team members painted the entire story of Ramayana in the form of “Alpona”. His organization is named “OGLAM (Organization To Give Life A Meaning).” The form of Ramayana performed by Dr. Ghosh is known as “Katha Vinayak” which is based on the two Indian folk forms, ” “Daskathia” from Odisha and “Pandavani” from Chhattisgarh. He mentioned that the story he performed was told by a housemaid from Murshidabad village named “Balachand Dewan.”, which she narrated at the age of six or seven. Her version of Ramayana has influences from the other versions of Ramayana as well. According to Dr. Ghosh, Ramayana is subjective, as he enlightened us about the fact that A.K. Ramanujan said that there are 300 versions of Ramayana today.

The solo performance followed a talk on “Playing the Poems and Tales: Indigenous Storytelling Practice Advocating Environmentalism in Southeast Asia.” Dr. Ghosh chose this version of Ramayana as it included elements of environmentalism which was his prime focus. His performance was not just a mere performance but also a mission to make us feel the very two important things, “Nature” and “Women.” He describes both of them as powerful, but we keep overlooking and underestimating them. We are so involved in the virtual world that we miss reality. In his words, “Our body doesn’t experience nature. We do not go barefoot on the grass, not touch the flowers, nor embrace a tree.” He feels that the existing folk forms relate a lot to the elements of nature. His performance was to make us feel the need for nature.

He also spoke about the storytelling form of Rajasthan and “Pattachitra” in Bengal. He enlightened us with “Ramakien,” the Thai Ramayana where Ravana was more guilt conscious, and “Khon” the heritage performance of Thailand which is based on Ramayana. He mentioned that “Ashok Vatika,” “Panchavati,”Vanar Sena,” “Hanuman,” represent forests, animals, birds, and trees. Rama and Lakshmana at the end marches with the river in Ramayana. All these stated that we are a part of nature and should take care of nature.

The event ended with a short Q&A session where one of the students questioned the importance of rhythm, which was used in the performance, to which Sir answered that Natyashastra has four types of performances, namely, Angika (use of body), Vachika (use of voice) Aharya (use of instruments) and Satwika (use of emotions) and rhythms help to express emotions better. Another question asked to Dr. Ghosh was his opinion on Ravana’s character to which he stated that Ravana was an extremely educated man trapped in the wrong situations and ended up committing mistakes. The last question was about how Dr. Ghosh rehearses his performances to which Dr. Ghosh quoted Abhinava Gupta that the audience sees the Rasa (Performance) and not the actor as the actor’s consciousness is divided into two parts. On one hand, the actor needs to be very calculative about his every move on stage, and on the other hand he must portray his real emotions on stage. It comes with a lot of practice. Dr. Ghosh said, “A performer is like a meditator.”

The event was an overall success and ended on an inspiring note.

Reporter – Moubani Maity