A 150-year-old celebration of Ram Leela back in action
The Performance
While the birth of Lord Ram is celebrated in the local temple on Ram Navami, the performance begins a day later and ends with the death of demon king Ravana and Lord Ram returning from his exile, after 21 days. All the characters abstain from eating non-veg and give great emphasis on maintenance of sanctity during the 21 days.
The cast includes people of all age groups, from a six-year-old child who plays the role of a young Ram to 86-year-old Subhas Chandra Sai who essays the character of an old boatman. All the characters are played by men including that of Devi Sita. Interestingly, the character of Lord Ram is played by Sailin Kumar Babu who is an executive assistant in the Watershed and Soil Conservation office and Ravana by Dr Rudra Narayan Patel, who is senior gynaecologist in a local government hospital.
An interesting aspect of the Ram Leela here are the wooden masks, used by artistes during play. The masks are as old as the tradition and were prepared for the first show of Ram Leela 150 years back. Back then, except for Lord Ram, Devi Sita and Laxman, all the other characters including 'Banar Sena' and 'Asuras' had masks but today, only 20 of them exist including that of Hanuman. The mask of Hanuman is worshipped every day at the Jagannathpada temple. 'When Ram Leela was started, the king had got these masks prepared from Padmabati village in Nayagarh which had wood craftsmen. Over the years, many of the masks got damaged and became unusable. The remaining masks are repaired and coloured every year to be used in Ram Leela,' said the Natyaguru Behera.
Unlike Behera who inherited the Ram Leela tradition from his father, his son isn't keen on doing so. But that doesn't worry him. To keep the tradition alive, Behera is now training a new generation of artistes. 'There are many other youngsters of Balangir who are willing to learn it. Hopefully, they will take forward this cherished cultural tradition in all its authenticity,' he said.
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