Of the theatrical satire in Kashmir: Bhandeh Pather, the syncretic theatrical form

With Arshad Hamid

It was the autumn season and my mother had taken me to the shrine of Hazrat Zain-ud-din Wali (locally called Zain Shah) in Aishmuqam, south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. Inside the premises of shrine perched on hillock, my mother was murmuring passages from the holy Quran intermittently seeking blessings and intercession from Zain Shah. Hands cupped together, facing the shrine’s decorated and painted gate, I was waiting for some miracle to happen. I could see tears gushing from mother’s eyes wetting her pheran (a traditional outer garment). My attention was diverted from a sudden blare of shahnai and thuds of dhool.

My curiosity took me outside the shrine and while descending the stairs I saw a small crowd gathering. A woman taking quick leaps towards the spot blurted “Bhande Pather”. Inviting others, she told it has already started. I too rushed to the watch. Jostling through the crowd, I made my way to the front row. Squatting on the earth I eagerly watched a row of men dressed in unique costumes forming a semi-circle and facing the crowd.

The pather had really started. The scenes that were enacted include - a common Kashmiri peasant cringing in front of a cruel king, his men wiping him with a hunter, king enjoying the dance with his women etc. etc. For a 12-old child it was something unusual. The crowd was sometimes getting serious but intermittently bursting in laughter. I could hardly make anything out of it except for laughing in sync with the gathered crowd. 

I left the spot with all these images fresh in my mind. Back home I came to know the Bhands were staging Raz-i- Pather. My father told me about the extravagant kings that once ruled Kashmir and unleashed terror on the people. The staging of the pather made me to link lives of people with the ruling class. I started liking the way Bhands choose to take on the system with their own knowledge systems and expressions, besides entertaining people. There are many pathers that Bhands stage even now-a-days. 

Objectives:

1.       A study on the politics of the religion as reflected in the study

2.       Understand the influence of Sufism on the theatre form

3.       The thin line of ‘detachment’ and ‘attachment’ in satirising contemporary situations- socio-politico-religious

4.       The definition of knowledge systems in juxtaposition to colonial education

5.       Examine the present situation in which the theatre operates

Note

The Bhandeh Pather is probably the oldest theatre in the Indian subcontinent. Though the history of its evolution has not been comprehensively documented yet one comes across some ancient books.

The word Bhand with its origin in the Sanskrit “Band” meaning comical behavior or imitation is found in most of the north Indian languages. Even today in Punjab the Bhands are commonly addressed as Naqqal, meaning those who are adept in imitation. There are still the remnants of Mohan Bhand in Rajasthan. The medieval Bhakti poetry of Gujarat is replete with allusions to the Bhands. Bharata’s Natyashastra (2 A.D.) makes an oblique reference towards the mocking disposition of the folk theatre. The lacunae and loopholes of the courtly plays are identified and held up for ridicule. The Neelmatpurana (5 A.D.) gives evidence of the folk plays during festivals or on some special occasions.

In a book titled Rajatarangini  (River Of Kings) by noted 12th century A.D. Kashmir Court Historian, Kahalana Pandit one comes across the references of plays being staged in courts and temple courtyards. One gets a hint of the Bhand culture acting a link between and the court and common people.With bandhs staging the performances in the vicinity of sufi shrines might have some history that needs to be explored. 

Even  in Sir Walter Lawrence’s book “The Valley of Kashmir”(1895) one gets an idea of the Bandeh Pather being an oldest traditional form of entertainment .In the Bhandeh pather’s seemingly innocuous comedy serious messages are being transmitted through what is termed as the “phir kath” (roughly translated as twisted talk). This feature makes it a coded narrative. The staging of such performance is a sort of resistance that transmits the information of previous colonizing regimes be they Mughals, Afghans, Sikhs or the Dogras in Kashmir’s chequered history to the newer generations.

At the same time it brings alive intercommunal relationships. In the Bandeh pather culture one can come across the nuances and complexities of Kashmiriyat. It has been nourished both by Hindu Shaivism and Sufi mysticism.

Bhand Pather underlines not merely the shared cultural space and the interweaving of everyday Hinduism and Islam but illustrates, how, despite such differences it is not impossible to live together.