Garhwali Folk Literature-2

Types of Garhwali Folk Dramas : A Literary Discussion
(An examination of Clasification of Garhwali Folk Theatre)
Bhishma Kukreti

There have been abundant literature available on the themes of Garhwali folk poetry , Garhwali folk stories but there is least written about Garhwali Folk Dramas or chronological detailing on Garhwali Folk Dramas or Theatres . Very recently, Madan Duklan, Ranu Bisht, Prem bahuguna, Veena Pani Joshi, Bhishma Kukreti, Khushal Rawat tried to collect the articles about Garhwali Folk Dramas from learned personalities. At Dr D.R. Purohit is leading learned personality who has collected many folk dramas, transformed them in contemporary theatrical mannerism and managed to stage many plays. Dr Nand Kishor Hatwal is also one of the industrious collector of Garhwali folk dramas based on religious events.

The commentators classified drama into following types (Brown, 2007):
Comedy
Tragedy
Historical or lore based dramas
Tragic-comedy
Melodious , Farce,

The author will review the types, kinds of Folk Drama available in Garhwal and Kumaun regions.

Classification By Dr D.R. Purohit

D.R Purohit (2005) classified Garhwali folk Drama into following types:
1- Pandav Leela: The dramas related to Mahabharata saga are included in Pandav Leela types of folk drama of Uttaranchal (Kumauni and Garhwali). There are around thirty stories for Pandav Leela dramas and main dramas are- Chakravyuha, Makrvyuha, Garud Vyuha, Suchivyuha, Laxagriha, Hathi-Duryodhan, Kalangari, Keechak badh, Bailon Ki Ladaee, Pinddan etc . These plays are staged mainly in the areas of vallys of Aleksandra , Bhilangana, Mandakini, Laster, balganga, Bhagirathi (Mostly in northern part pf Garhwal ). The dramas are basically music oriented plas and traditional music instruments are used.
2-Bagdwali: This form of folk play is related to events of religious rituals. The dramas are based on the life sketches of brave Bagdwal and purchasing of bulls, Tilanga, nauniya Bagdwal, budera, sali Bharana , Ropani Karuna are the characters of Bagdwali
Mask Dramas:
3- Mask Dramas related to religious and ritually travel procession of pilgrim events (Jat Yatra Mukhauta Natak)
4- Mask Dramas related to Events and festivals (Utasvaon ke awasar par dikhaye jane wale mukhauta natak)
This types of dramas are common in Pindar valley of Chamoli Garhwal ,Malla Danpur in Bageshwar of Kumaun region, Sor valley of Pithoragarh, komodo, Bajeti, Balakot and kanaleechina villages of Pithoragarh. In thses types of dramas the characters use mask of famous deities, goddesses, heroic characters or animals. These dramas are heroic and melodious dramas .
5-Swaang or Khel: Surprisingly, Dr Purohit did not detail about Swang and Khel types of dramas
6-Heroic melodramas by traditional Singers and musicians (Beda, Huddkiyon, Damayiyon ki Veer gatha Vachan) : Purohit did not provide much details on this type of folk dramas of Garhwal .
7-Radhakhandi Ras: Again, D R Purohit did not provided any details about Radhakhandi Garhwali Folk dramas.
Dr Shiva Nand Nautiyal ( 1981) , a prominent and profound personality of Garhwali folk literature described Radhakhandi ras in details. The lyrical drama is based on the love stories of lord Krishna . The specialty of this type of drama is that it has more lyrical dialogues between the two or more singers. He main dramas of Radhakhandi Ras are Radha-Krishna, Rukmani-Krishna, Chandravali-Krishna
8-Dramas at the time of ritual events (Anusthanon ke manchan): Purohit failed to provide any examples of such dramas . However, the dramatization of stories in Satya Narayan Vrat Katha or Ghadelas etc come under this category.

Classification by Dr Rajeshwar Uniyal

Rajeshwar Uniyal (2009) tried to classify the Garhwali folk dramas but his classification is a way of generalized way of classification and he classified the Garhwali Folk dramas into two types:
1-Dramas based on Folk stories/legends : He describes that the dramas which are based on folk songs, folk lore, traditional or oral stories, faith, customs are under in this category as the stories of bhad bhad Madho Singh, Tillu Rautella, Gangu Ramaula,
2- Dramas of based on Imaginary Folk oriented Elements ( kalpanik Lok tatwaon par adharit) : This is the weakest point of Uniyal’s commentary on Folk Dramas of Garhwal . Without providing any example he described this category and misinterpreted Ramlila as initing point of Garhwali folk dramas

Classification of prose Garhwali Folk Dramas by Bhishma Kukreti

Bhishma Kukreti tried to classify the prose or semi prose folk dramas played by a specific Garhwali professional class-Badi and women of Garhwal based on the emotional and rapture bases of Bharat’s Natyashashtra. Bhishma Kukreti provided the examples of stories, plots and dialogues.

1- Folk Based on love raptures including tragedy
2-Based o chivalry rapture
3-Fear Based dramas
4-Comedy
5-Abhorance based dramas
5-Progeny based love
6-Preaching or inspiring dramas
7-Wrath based folk dramas
The main importance of Bhishma’s classification is that each point is having example from his own experiences of watching dramas of Badis and women.
He also classified the Garhwali folk dramas into three types
A -Pure prose folk Dramas
B- Pure musical or lyrical folk drama
C -Combinations of lyrical and prose folk dramas
However, he stressed that it is better that the classification of dramas played by Badis and women in Garhwal are classified by the raptures and emotions of main plots.

As happened in any Folk literature, there is no agreements among the taxonomists of Garhwali folk dramas for classifying them. There is need of more researches and studies for knowing the characteristics of folk dramas of Garhwal

References:
1-Brown, Larry, A., 2007, Types of Drama, http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/files/IntroTheater/TYPES_OF_DRAMA.htm
2-Purohit, D.R., 2005, Uttaranchal ka Paramparik lok Natya, Veer Thakur Singh Lok Natya Mahotsava , (a Souvenir) published by Akhil Bhartiya Garhwal Sabha, Naishvila Road, Dehradun, India, pages-26 to 27
3-Nautiyal, Shiva Nand, 1981, Garhwal ke Lok Nritya Geet, hindi Sahitya sammelan, Allhabad, India, Pp-368-370
4-Uniyal , Dr. Rajeshwar, 2009, Garhwali Lok Natya Ki Samkshaa, Hamari Chitthi, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, pages-25-27
5- Kukreti, Bhishma, 2009, Badyun ka Swang, Jananyun ka Swang ar Bharat ku Natyashashtra, Hamari Chitthi, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, Pages-5to 18

Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti, Mumbai, India, 2009