jatra
THE FOLK THEATER OF BENGAL
Jatra is a popular folk-theater form of Bengal. Its origin can be traced back to the days of Bhakti movement in Bengal when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is said to have performed as Rukmini in a jatra Rukmini Haran. In fact, this performance which is believed to have lasted all night long in 1507 may be the first jatra performance that may have some historical basis.
Though the current versions of jatra are very much secular in nature, originally it evolved, like many other traditional theater forms, from religious backgrounds. In the initial stages, the followers of Krishna performed Krishna Jatra, a devotional ensemble of singing and dancing. This may be said to have been inspired by Raslila. Jatra comes from the word ‘yatra’ or religious processions of the devotees who travelled from place to place and consisted of musicians and artists who enacted scenes from the mythology. These acts later came to be performed on tableaux and then in open air arenas called ‘aasar’ in Bengali. Jatra, which began mainly with the kirtans, later allowed other traditional forms of music and dance like panchali, gambhira, jhumur, etc. and began to assimilate them and evolve into a completely new genre of theater. Later jatra was adopted by the urban Bengal and interest in this art form saw further development. Soon it gained the patronization of the rich and wealthy and flourished. Kolkata saw numerous groups emerge mainly basing themselves in the area around Chitpur Road (present day Rabindra Sarani) and it still houses numerous such groups. Popularly this area is called ‘jatra para’ or the locality of jatra. Once, jatra continued through the night but it later became a four-hour affair preceded by a musical performance which lasted for another hour. But nowadays, after incorporating many elements from the proscenium theater, it has curtailed its durations to about two to two-and-a-half hours. It is still preceded by the musical performance, a trademark feature of jatra. The performance is high pitched with dialogues delivered in a highly stylized manner and actions showing exaggeration. MORE |