History of Bengali Language and Literature c10.s3: IV. The yātrās or popular theatres

History of Bengali Language and Literature c10.s3

Language: English

IV. The yātrās or popular theatres

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Unlike the kavi, a yatra-party consists of male performers only, the part of women being performed generally by youths. The old yatras were a sort of melodrama,[*] the dialogues being mainly conducted in songs. There was no scenic representation of any kind. On the bare ground, a large carpet was spread, and the actors appeared upon it, all at one time. They usually began their performance by playing on musical instruments only, unaccompanied by any vocal music. The deep voiced khol accompanied by the shrill clang of the kartal produced a loud musical chord which summoned the people of surrounding villages to assemble at the place of performance. This loud music would continue for a couple of hours, after which the play would begin in earnest. A green room, so to speak, was reserved for the actors to change their dress. Sometimes one would be observed to throw away his false whiskers, and dress himself as a woman, in full view of the audience; the faces were not very clean shaved, so that while playing the serious part of a princess or a lady of high rank, an actor might often be observed to bear on his chin remnants of the beard or moustache that had adorned his previous masculine part. The performers including those who were dressed as women, would sing in chorus; and the master-singer was always behind them and could sometimes be seen pulling the ear of some erring lad who could not pitch his tone correctly to the high notes of the musical instruments. Another actor, while delivering a speech, might be tempted by the sight of a hooka, and in the midst of a pathetic display of feeling, be seen to stop for a moment to snatch a puff of smoke, so that the first line of a song would coincide with the curl of smoke that issued from his mouth. Sometimes we may see the mother of the hero weeping over his dead body; suddenly she springs to her feet, and takes her place in the middle of the chorus, which bursts into a song of grief; at the same moment, the slain hero himself rises, in order to swell the volume of the music! The want of scenic representation was made up for by the simple declaration of the actor that he had now removed to a different place. Thus, Nārada the sage, who happens to be in the heaven of Viṣṇu, declares that he will now visit the Vrindā groves, and, advancing a few steps from where he stood, begins to describe the scenes of Vrindavana, as if he had now actually traversed all the distance between heaven and earth. In these yatras of the past, the audience comprised people of all ranks, for it was a free entertainment to which all were welcome, held at the cost of the master of the house. Early comers generally occupied the front places, irrespective of their position, and late comers had the disadvantage of back seats; but people did not mind this. They often stood on their feet enjoying the songs for hours together without seeming to feel the inconveniences to which they were subject.

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∗ This word is used in its technical, not popular, sense.

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Redeemed by rich poetry.

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Though defective in so many ways—and from a superficial point of view the whole performance was marked by incongruity and want of all æsthetic perception,—yet the old yatras had the power to captivate the soul and keep men and women transfixed for hours at a time. The songs describing the scenes of Baikuntha, the heaven of Viṣṇu, of Amarāvati, the heaven of Indra, or of the Alakā, the heaven of Kuvera, couched in rich poetic words and set to pleasing modes of music, made up for all want of painted scenes. They suggested romantic situations, and carried the audience to heights of imagination where no painter's brush could have led them. The outward anomalies, the defective and even grotesque elements, were all forgiven and forgotten. These songs, thrilling with pathos, gave life to the performance, and the audience laughed and cried as though they fully believed in the joys and sorrows of the characters of the play. A very familiar personality in the old yatras was Rādhā; she would come with flowing tresses frenzied by Kṛṣṇa’s desertion, and address the flowers, Mālatī and Kunda, as if they were her friends, asking them where her Kṛṣṇa was. She would then recollect the great love which Kṛṣṇa bore to her; how he would play with her ringlets, saying “blessed am I in the touch of thy tresses”; how he would himself paint her feet with ālta, and bedeck her hair with flowers and garlands, how when looking at her face tears would start into his eyes without any cause, and he would call them tears of joy. He, who could not bear a moment’s parting, had now deserted her. The maids were calling him a knave, a hypocrete and faithless lover. But Rādhā could not bear that Kṛṣṇa should be reviled by others, though she was dying for love of him.

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The master-singer is generally expert in the theological lore of the Vaiṣṇavas. He comes frequently into the midst of the performers and interprets this love as divine love, making a little commentary aside. Chandrāvali, who was a rival of Rādhā, in Kṛṣṇa love, comes to the Vṛndā groves and sees that Rādhā is lying in a state of unconsciousness, the maids fanning her with lotus-leaves and weeping at her distress. Chandrā would not at any other time have cared to see her rival, but now the common grief of parting with Kṛṣṇa has turned her into a sympathiser and friend. She sees Rādhā, and sings:—

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*“ How remarkably handsome is Rādhā! I never saw her so closely before. When she stood by the

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*“ এতই রূপের রূপসী রাই, আমি নয়ন ভরে দেখি নাই। যখন বঁধুর বামে দাঁড়াইত, আবার হেসে হেসে কথা কহিত, side of Kṛṣṇa, and smiled, and talked, how beautiful did she look! Kṛṣṇa, lying on a bed of flowers, would seem to wear her on his bosom, as one wears a precious necklace. Alas, she, the beloved of Kṛṣṇa, now lies in the dust! How fine, how peerless are her feet that Kṛṣṇa was never weary of praising, those feet that he would softly touch to paint with scarlet alta. When these tender feet would trip over the thorny paths of the forest to meet with Kṛṣṇa, one could almost have wished to place her own bare bosom on the road, so that she might have stepped on it."

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When the singers had sung this song, the master-singer would approach and draw the attention of the audience to the description. He would say—"Rādhā's physical charms are not what the poet refers to. In all the points of this description, one may see that it is the love of Kṛṣṇa that is described by the poet as constituting her beauty. Only when she was smiling and talking with Kṛṣṇa, would she look charming in Chandrā's eyes, and not at any other time. Chandrā regrets her

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The interpretation.

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তখন এইনা মুখে—মুখের কতই যেন শোভা হ'ত। বঁধু থেকে কুসুম শয্যায়, হৃদয়ে রাখত যায়, বঁধুর সে ধন আজ ধূলায় গড়াগড়ি যায়॥ অতুল রাতুল কিবা চরণ দুখানি, আলতা পরা'ত বঁধু কতই বাখানি, এ কোমল চরণে যখন চলিত হাঁটিয়ে, বঁধুর দরশন লাগি গো অনুরাগে,— হেন বাঞ্ছা হোত যে পাতিয়ে দেই হিয়ে॥"

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Rāi Unmādinī by Kṛṣṇa Kamala.

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present condition, because she was the object of so much care to Kṛṣṇa; she offers her own bosom for the treading of Rādhā’s feet, when she may go out to meet *him*! In all this she indicates her love for Kṛṣṇa as the only point that contributes to her beauty. Love for God can alone adorn a man—neither wealth, nor physical charms, nor power.”

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The pathos created by Kṛṣṇa’s going to Mathurā was the never-ending theme of the old *yatras*, and it was a matter, the lightest touch of which was sure to melt the hearts of all true Bengalis. Yaçodā, the mother of Kṛṣṇa, wept, and said to her lord Nanda—

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* ‘O Prince of Gakula, I dreamt a dream; Kṛṣṇa came to me and disappeared.’

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and she details the dream by referring to little incidents which are full of tender pathos.

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The shepherd boys sing in chorus.

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† “Have you left us, O Kṛṣṇa, because we took you for a common play-fellow, and did not pay you the tribute of worship that you deserved at our hands? How often, when playing, we quarrelled and abused you! Did you take these things to heart, and desert us, though we were so deeply devoted to you? We often beat you, or carried

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∗ “শুন ব্রজরাজ, স্বপনতে আজ, দেখা দিয়ে গোপাল কোথা লুকালে” Svapnavilāsa by Kṛṣṇa Kamala.

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† “তাই ভেবে কি ভাইরে সুবল, ছেড়ে গেছে প্রাণের কানাই; আমরা সামান্য ভেবে, কখন মান্য করি নাই।”

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you on our shoulders, and rode on yours. Often we ate first, and gave you the remnants, calling you by all familiar names. Have you, for all these, forsaken us, Oh beloved Kriṣṇa?"

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So the shepherd boys sang; and as they sang they wept, and the audience was moved. All thought themselves in those Vrindā groves, where Kadamva trees rose upon the sight fringing the lovely horizon on the banks of the dark-watered Jumna,—those groves that the tears of the milk-maids and the shepherds have hallowed for ever. The yatras without any regular stage, without scenery, without the artistic display of costumes, could rouse emotions which now-a-days we scarcely experience, while witnessing semi-European performances given on the stages of the Calcutta theatres.

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The subjects of the yatras were mainly episodes in the life of Kriṣṇa. There were, however, other subjects also taken up by different parties. The story of Vidyāsundara on the lines of Bhārata Chandra's poem, was adopted by a class of yatra-walas, of whom Gopāla Uriyā heads the list. The Vidyāsundara yatras had no serious element in them. They were in high favour with the light-brained aristocracy who enjoyed the humour, dances and

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খেলা বেলায় করি দ্বন্দ্ব, কত যে বলেছি মন্দ, সে মন্দ কি ভেবে মন্দ, ত্যজেছে ব্রজের সম্বন্ধ ॥ কত মেরেছি, ধরেছি, কাঁধে করেছি, চড়েছি আপনি খেয়ে, খাওয়াইয়াছি, তোতকার করেছি সবাই ॥"

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Rāi Unmādini by Kriṣṇa Kamala.

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witty sayings in the play, and as I have said on a previous page, the songs and dances of Hira, the flower-woman, formed by far the most important and attractive features of the Vidyāsundara yatras.

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Gopāla Uriyā was born about the year 1819 at Jajpur in Cuttack. When a boy of nineteen he came to Calcutta, and, being very poor, adopted the calling of a hawker,—selling bananas. One evening he was passing along a lane of Bowbazar Street, where Babu Rādhā Mohana Sarkār, a distinguished noble man, was busy with the rehearsal of a Vidyāsundara yatra which he had organised. Gopāla was crying ‘good bananas sir,’ and only for fun he was called in before the party, where question upon question was put to him. To the surprise of the jovial company, they found that the lad was remarkably witty, and had an excellent voice. He was at once admitted into the troupe, and soon after began to compose songs himself. Becoming trained in music by the favour of his patron Babu Rādhā Mohana Sarkār, he organized a party which far outdid the fame of all other Vidyāsundara yatrawalas. He died about the year 1859.

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Gopāla Uriyā.

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Besides the Vidyāsundara yatras, there were the Chandi yatras, the Mansār Bhāsān yatras, the Rāma yatras and other yatras which had for the subject-matter of their songs mythological stories from the Mahābhārata.

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Other yātrās.

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There are no authentic records from which we may trace the early history of the yatrawalas.

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From the time of Chaitanya, yatras have flourished in Bengal, and developed their melodramatic character.

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The first great yatrawala, of whom we have any information, was Paramānanda Adhikāri, who lived in Birbhum more than 200 years ago. The subject of his play was Kāliya Damana. The next yatrawala, who earned a reputation in the same subject, was Sudāma Suvala Adhikāri. Lochana Adhikāri, who flourished after Sudāma had left the field, had two favourite subjects, in which he pre-eminently excelled. One was the Akrūra Saṇvada or the advent of Akrūra at Vrindāvana to take away Kriṣṇa and Valarāma, under orders of the King Kaṃsa of Mathura. The other subject was Nimāi Sannyāsa, or Chaitanya’s taking the ascetic’s vow. It is said that Lochana made so great an impression on Rājā Nava Kissen of Çobhābāzār and Babu Vanamāli Sarkār of Kumertuli, by his songs, that these noblemen under a sort of spell, made him gifts of immoderate amounts of money. Other noblemen of Calcutta, it is said, did not venture to engage the party fearing lest they also might be led, under infatuation, to pay him rewards beyond their means, as the two other noblemen had done. Govinda Adhikāri, an inhabitant of Krisnanagar, (1798 to 1870,) Pitāmvara Adhikāri of Kātwa and Kalāchand Pāl of Vikrampur, Dacca, were the latter-day luminaries in this field. Premchand Adhikāri, Ānanda Adhikāri and Jaychandra Adhikāri of Patāihāt obtained celebrity in the Rāma yatra. Guru Prasāda Vallabha of Farāsdanga and Lāusen Bādala of Burdwan

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A brief history of the yātrā-wālās.

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excelled in the Chandi *yatra* and the Manasār Bhāsāna *yatra* respectively.

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But we have not yet named the greatest *yatra*-wala that Bengal has ever seen. We have reserved a notice of Kriṣṇa Kamala Gosvāmi for the more elaborate treatment that he deserves at our hands.

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The greatest of them,—Kriṣṇa Kamala; his life.

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Kriṣṇa Kamala was born in 1810 at Bhājanghāta in the district of Nadia. He belonged to one of those few families of Vaidya Gosvāmies in Bengal who claimed Brāhmin disciples. Kriṣṇa Kamala’s great ancestor Sadā Çiva, a friend of Chaitanya Deva, was reputed for his great piety. Kriṣṇa Kamala received his first lessons in Sanskrit grammar at Vrindāvana, where his father Muralidhara had taken him when only six years of age. He was a handsome boy, and by his pleasing manners attracted the notice of a millionaire who desired to adopt him as a son, and make him the heir to his vast fortune. On this, Muralidhara fled from Vrindāvana with his son, who was then only twelve years old.

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Returning home, Kriṣṇa Kamala to please his mother Jamunā Devi, wrote a melodrama on Chaitanya which greatly pleased the village people of Bhājanghata, who marked the author as a young prodigy. When in his twenty-fifth year, his father died, and the poet left Bhājanaghāta and came to Dacca with his patron and disciple Rāma Kiçore. He composed his great *yatra* poem, the Svapnavilāsa in 1835. It was at once taken up and played by the amateur parties of Dacca. The success, this work attained, was unique. The songs of Svapnavilāsa

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His poems.

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were in the mouth of every one in Eastern Bengal, and even now, though about a century has passed since the publication of the poem, there is scarcely any old man or woman amongst the higher classes of that place who has not at least some songs from the book by heart. In a country where a lyrical element predominates, and where devotional feelings are preferred to action, songs are bound to occupy the same place in the popular estimation, as does drama in other countries where work and not sentiment is the motto. We cannot look for a Garrick here. A Kṛṣṇa Kamala or a Govinda Adhikāri will better fulfil the natural cravings of the soul that longs to hear of lofty sentiment and of the highest flights of love. In the preface to Vichitravilāsa, a subsequent yatra poem by Kṛṣṇa Kamala, the author writes about Svapnavilāsa. *“The public probably liked the book; otherwise why should there be a sale of nearly 20,000 copies within so short a space of time?” The sale of 20,000 copies of the book within a few weeks in Eastern Bengal, where a demand for printed books had not yet been created, was quite a phenomenon at that time, and showed the wonderful popularity which the poem had attained.

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The best yatra by Kṛṣṇa Kamala, however, was his Rāi Unmādini which appeared shortly after the Svapnavilāsa. After this poem had seen the light, there were produced in succession the Bharata-milana, the Nimāi Sannyāsa, the Goṣṭha and other works.

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∗ “বোধ হয় ইহাতে সাধারণের প্রীতি সাধিত হইয়াছে, নতুবা প্রায় বিংশতি সহস্র পুস্তক স্বল্প দিনের মধ্যে নিঃশেষিত হওয়ার সম্ভাবনা কি ?”

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The Bharatamilana describes that episode of the Rāmāyaṇa in which Bharata meets Rāma in the forest with prayers for his return to Ayodhyā and acceptance of the kingdom. The Nimāi Sannyāsa describes Chaitanya’s entering into the holy order of ascetics. All other works relate to episodes of the life of Kṛṣṇa. His two best works are the Rāi Unmādinī and the Svapnavilāsa, and in both of them he describes in highly poetic language the woes of the inmates of Vṛndāvana and especially those of Rādhā caused by parting from Kṛṣṇa. And we may observe that in these poems the author, while giving the noblest expression to the tender feelings of a woman’s love, takes the real cue from Chaitanya’s life. We have read many speeches in the poems attributed to Rādhā which in reality have been borrowed from Chaitanya-Charitāmṛta and other works on Chaitanya, only rendered into more refined forms, as the matter passed out of the hands of biographers into those of a poet. The Rādhā described by Kṛṣṇa Kamala typifies and represents the frenzied condition of Chaitanya in divine communion and has been portrayed in a very exquisite form. Kṛṣṇa never came back to the Vṛndā groves, but the Bhāvasammilana or union in spirit is described by all Vaiṣṇava poets. The significance of this is that a material loss, though fraught with pain for the time being, is bound to prove a spiritual gain to the faithful in the long run. Our souls feel a craving for love,

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The conception of union in spirit.

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and imagine that this desire is satisfied by union with some particular individual. But circumstances are not within our control, and when we encounter sorrow in our love, the mind seeks happiness in its own resources, and under favourable condition of spiritual development, may find the fountain of love within itself,—a perennial stream which never dries up. This is the Bhāvasammilana, and in it the lost are found permanently, and the heart satisfied for ever. Nature offers in all directions what seemed to have been lost in a particular spot, and the blessed soul rises from its external sorrow stronger, freer, and happier, realising union which can never be interrupted. The Vaiṣṇava poets were always averse to tragedy; but as they did not find it mentioned any where in the sacred texts that Kriṣṇa ever returned in the flesh to the Vrinda groves, they created this Bhavasammilana in its place,—the ever-blissful subjective union, in which the mind, freed from the trammels of its material environment, revels in a delight, the fountain of which is within one's self.

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We have already on pages 532-536 and 728-730 quoted passages from Kriṣṇa Kamala's works. I give below an extract from his Sankritan poems in which the shepherd-boys importune Yoçodā to allow him to go with them to the forest.

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*“Make Kriṣṇa ready, O mother Yoçoda, to go with us to the fields!

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“The time is already up—the time for our sport.

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*ও মা যশোদা দে মা দে সাজায়ে, তোর শ্যামচাঁদ লয়ে যাই বনে। “How long must we delay our woodl-and games ? “Give us your Kriṣṇa, mother, for the day. You ask, what care shall we take of him? “We shall carry his flute and his rod; and we shall place him in our midst. “He is so merry ! He dances as he goes ! “When the rays of the sun are strong, we shall take him to the cool shadow of a tree, and let him rest; and we shall do our best to give him pleasure. “If the way is thorny, we can carry him on our shoulders. “And if we see him pale, we shall give him the fruits of the forest to eat. “If he goes not with us, whom shall we adorn with wild flowers under the cool shadow of the *tamala* tree? “Whom shall we crown with peacock feathers, and whose fine hair shall we plait with the *bakula* buds?

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খেলার বেলা যায় মা বয়ে,
কখন যাবে গোচারণে।
ওমা সুধাও, সুধাও গো, তোর শ্যামসুধাকরে,
কানাইর বেণু বেত্র লয়ে আমরা যাব ব’য়ে,
মাঝে নেচে চলে নীলরতনে;
দিবাকরকর প্রবল হইলে,
লয়ে কালশশী বসি তরুতলে,
কমল বল্লভে ও প্রাণবল্লভে,
শোয়াইয়া সেবি রাখালগণে।
সাধের কানাই না হলে, কদম্বের মূলে, কারে
সাজাইব বনফুল দিয়ে।

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“ The sound of whose flute shall charm our ears, and whose embrace shall cool our bodies ?

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“ The peacock, the cuckoo, the bee, the Sadi and the Suka in the forest-bowers are waiting with heads uplifted to catch the sound of Kṛṣṇa’s flute.

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“ Help him to dress in his yellow cloth in the manner in which he appears peculiarly charming, O mother, and allow him to come with us.

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“ In the green pasture under the *kadamva* tree, we shall make him sit, and weave a garland with the *kunda*, the *sephalika*, the *ketaki*, the *mallika*, the *nagakesara*, the *tagara*, the *champaka*, the blue lily and the *kadamva* flower, and put it round his neck.

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শিখিপুচ্ছকুলে, বকুলমুকুলে, চূড়া বেঁধে দিব কার চিকণ চুলে।

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কার বংশীরবে শ্রবণ জুড়াবে, কার আলিঙ্গনে অঙ্গ শীতল হবে।

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শিখি-সারি-শুক-মধুকর-পিক সকলে উৎসুক আছে ঊর্দ্ধমুখে।

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ধড়া ক’রে বেঁধে দেগো, পীতাম্বরে, পীতাম্বর। বনফুলে সাজাইব আমরা নিয়ে বনান্তর ॥

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গোচারণ স্থলে, কদম্বের মূলে, বসাইয়া সাধে দিব সাজাইয়ে।

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কুন্দ সেফালিকে, কেতকী, মল্লিকে, নাগেশ্বর, টগর, চম্পকে,

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নীল শতদলে, কদম্ব মুকুলে, গেঁথে হার গলে দিব পরাইয়ে। “Do not hesitate, O mother, but allow him to go with us!

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“Look at the cows; they will neither graze, nor drink, if they see not the sweet face of Kṛṣṇa.

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“They will not even low, so long as they do not hear Kṛṣṇa’s flute,—but will remain as mute as statues.

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“When the flute of Kṛṣṇa is sounded, how quick and great is the response from all quarters.

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“The sages see their highest visions, the stone melts and the Jumna stops her course.

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“Your son, O mother, has magic arts! If he sounds his flute, the very cows understand and instantly obey his command.”

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Kṛṣṇa Kamala lived the high life worthy of a true Vaiṣṇava. He died in 1888, at the advanced age of 78, but all his best works had been written

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নিঃসন্দেহে দে মা কানাই, ধরি তোর যুগল চরণে,
ওমা ধেনু না দেখিলে কানুর বিধুমুখ,—
অধোমুখে রয় গো, মুখে না লয় তৃণগণে।
যখন শুনে বেণুরব, করে ধেনু রব,
নহিলে নীরব রয় সকলে।
কানাই যখন করে বেণু ধ্বনি, ত্রিভুবনে হয়
জয় জয় ধ্বনি,
মুনিগণ’ মন করে আকর্ষণ, পাষাণ গলে, হয়
যমুনা অচল।
তোমার কুমার মাগো, না জানি কি গুণ জানে,
বেণুর সঙ্কেত করে বনে চরায় ধেনুগণে।”

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within the first fifties of the 19th century; hence we include him within the range of our treatise. When Kṛṣṇa Kamala was brought to the Ganges at Chinsura and his last moment arrived, his eldest son Nitya Gopāla Gosvāmī wept like a child, lamenting that after the death of the master of the house, he would be quite unfit to govern it. The dying poet, who had till then retained his senses and power of speech, addressed his weeping son and said*:—"My son, do not weep. I really never knew that I was the master of the house. I knew you all to belong to God and as such it was my duty to offer my humble services to you all my life. Though you were my children, I kept away from my mind the vanity of knowing myself as the master. Guide yourselves in the light of this principle, and you will be ever happy."

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The dying poet's words.

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We have a few *yātrā* poems interspersed with prose by authors who lived in the 17th and 18th centuries. Some of these are mentioned below:—

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1. Duti Saṃvāda by Rāma Vallabha.
2. Vidyā Sundara Gāyan. The name of the author is not known.

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Here is a song of Hirā, the flower-woman from this work.

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Yātrā poems with prose.

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*“বৎস, কাতর হইও না। তোমরা গিরিধারীর; এই জ্ঞানে এতাবৎ আমি তোমাদের সেবা করিয়াছি, পালন করি নাই। প্রতিপালনের কর্তা গিরিধারীকে জানিও। এই ভাব লইয়া সংসার করিও; কষ্ট পাইবে না।”

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From the biography of Kṛṣṇa Kamala, by his son Nitya Gopāla Gosvāmī.

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* “I am but one, still to how many do I give pleasure!

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“All is incomplete where I am not.

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“When I do not go to the good damsels of the neighbourhood, interviews with their lovers can not be arranged, and the pain caused by separation kills them.

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“If I do not come to the garden, the flowers and buds are all plucked by unknown hands”

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3. Manasā Maṅgala Gāyan. This works begins with a conversation between the manager of the *yatra* party, and a constable of the Rājā's palace where the *yatra* is to be held.

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† “*Const.* Who are you making an uproar here, at this late hour of the night?

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*Manager.* We are *yatrawalas*, and pray who are you, brother, yourself?

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*Const.* I am the Rājā's constable.

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* “একলা প্ৰাণে ক’দিক যায়, পড়েছি বিষম দায়। যে দিকে না চেয়ে দেখি, সে দিকে সব ব’য়ে যায় ॥ পাড়াতে না গেলে পরে, বিরহিণী প্ৰাণে মরে, মালঞ্চে না গেলে পরে, কুসুম কলি সব লুটে ন্যা’য় ॥”

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† “জমাদার। তোমরা কোন লোক হে, মহারাজকা নগরমের এত তা রাতমে ঝুমঝাম কিয়া?

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যাত্রাওয়ালা। হে, আমরা যাত্রাওয়ালা গাইন হে। আরে ভাই, তোম্ লোক কোন্ হে।

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জমাদার। আরে হাম্ মহারাজকা জমাদার হে।

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*Manager.* And, answer me! Where are you going, at this late hour of the night?

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*Const.* I am going to call Kalua, the sweeper of the palace.

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[*Enters Kalua, the Sweeper.*]

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*Song (in Hindi).*

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“I do not know who it is that calls me.

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“For the whole day I have been in attendance at the palace.

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“I have swept the roads, and removed all dirt and filth.

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“Why I am called again I do not know.”

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In old *yatras*, farcical episodes were introduced, by way of relief, in intervals of a serious play, and the above indicates the way they were introduced.

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A *yatra* performance usually commenced at 4 A.M., and ended at noon, thus lasting for 8 hours or more; of this, as I have said, the first one or two hours were spent in playing a high pitched clamorous music, the intention of which was to advertise the commencement of the performance to the

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যাত্রাওয়ালা। আরে রাতমে কাহা চলতে হো। জমাদ্দার। আরে হাম কালুয়া হাড়ী বোলানেকো আনে চলতা হায়।

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কালুয়া হাড়ীর গান। “মেরা কোন্ বোলা হে চিনতে নারি, সারা রোজ হুজুরমে দিয়ে হাজ্জিরি। ঝাড়ু ভি দিয়া, সাফ ভি কিয়া, ফের কিসতরে বোলাতে হে বুঝতে নারি।”

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villagers. The farcical scenes which were introduced at intervals were generally called সঙ, and the children who accompanied their mothers to the place of performance, and who could not understand anything of the main play, were greatly interested in সঙ. In fact they would doze the whole of the time that was occupied in the enactment of the serious portions of the performance, and hailed these farcical scenes with great delight, noting each point with gaping mouths, and sometimes indicating their high gratification by the merry sounds of juvenile laughter.

Cites (3)

Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
চৈতন্যচরিতামৃত — Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja 1580, Bengali
Vidyāsundara — Bhāratacandra 1728, Sanskrit