6. Minor Hindu Theatre FormsI. Gostha Leeia: Tending the cows n. Udukhol: Child Krishna Play ID. Goura Leela: Play of Lord Goura

6. Minor Hindu Theatre Forms

The present study is on minor Hindu theatre forms with three separate stories. Hindu

indigenous theatre forms have emerged as branches or associate enactments to the main

corpus or classical theme of Raas Leela. The Raas Leela is a grand Hindu thesis. With

the advent of more and more people comming into the fold of Hinduism and the spread

of practices & principles of Hinduism in different regional areas, villages as well as

extended households became centres of minor Hindu theatre forms to meet the needs

and requirements of the entire Vaishnav community. Detailed experience of lord Krishna

as a child and his achievements, miraculous deeds and his pranks were all educative

experiences for the young and the old. At another level, the three studies may also be

seen as representative examples of the Hindu conversion process through the circulation

of the stories.

The ‘ Sansenba’ episode is a physical expression of the cow tending stories as found in

the classical text Bhagavata. The episode describes the crossing of the five years of age

by Lord Krishna and his initiation into the cow tending activities outside of the homestead

environment of Nandalaya. The stories begin with the arrival of ‘Narada’ and his disciples

‘Balabasu’ to the capital and their being received by the King & his family. The main

episode being the teaching of Krishna in the art of milking the cow. A real cow is

introduced in the scene. After the tuition in the act of milking the cow, arrangements are

made for Krishna and Balaram to lead the journey to the maidan or an open field in an

actual external space and environment for the cows to be tended. Chariots which took

the idols of Krishna and Balaram are being pulled to the performance space with

accompanying rituals which is similar to the ancient tradition of Lai Haraoba deity. Two

evil demons Dhenukasur (bull) and Bakasur in a giant crane form are killed by the brothers.

The whole episode is a collection of enactment of a s tay personification of the deity

by actor, children and real ritual worship of the deities in their journey of initiation to

the rites of passage of the deity as a child. Double actors playing single roles are used to

add uniqueness to the characterization and adding of variety to the roles of the actors.

The Udukhol leela is a late entry to the Krishna cycle of stories. It is an enactment of

the curse of Narada to the two sons of Kubera who indulged in carnal frolics at the

sacred river Mandakini. Narada’s advice to the two youths was disregarded and Narada

was provoked to curse them so that for their sins. They shall have to wait for many ages

till the advent of the Dwarpur Yuga when the child Krishna in his episode of stealing the

butter from the Brindavan household shall ensure the salvation of the two who were

changed into trees through the curse of Narada. The moral of the story is about the

necessity of the citizenry to convert to the Goudiya Vaishnavism to transcend sexual

indiscretion and keep a hold on morality till Lord Krishna showed them the way towards

appropriate moral behaviour. The chapter of the story has been extracted from the

Bhagavata Gita Text which tells about Krishna’s pranks in the family household and how

his mother chained him to the family mortar. In the event of pulling the mortar by the

crawling Krishna, he uprooted the two trees out of which the sons of Kubera emerged,

freed from their curse and they gave their obeisance to the Lord.

The Goura leela is a different episode of Krishna worship as experienced by his devotee

Chaitanya (also known as GourangaPrabhu or Nimai). During the youth of Chaitanya

his mission for the conversion of many elements of society in the Vaishnavite fold was

resisted by Muslims who had become powerful sections of the Bengali society in the

15th Centuiy. The story of two brothers Jogai & Madhai and Iheir perpetuation of violence

and oppressron of simple religious devotees were later challenged by Chaitanya and his

cousin brother Nityananda. The act offorgiveness practiced by twoVaishnavite brothers

was the essence of appropriate Vaishnavite character and moral which was spread to the

audience. The episode of conversion processes into Hinduism, the grace, the tolerance

and patience of two preacher of Hinduism were ennobling lessons for Hie community

as whole. Along with conversion of many elements of society the personnel development

of Chaitanya was his religious philosophy and act of Sanyctsi.

The three studies are being incorporated together in order to highlight the communities

progressive association with the manifold stories of Krishna cycle. The extent of

widespread assimilation of the details o f Krishna stories explain the meandrous depth

ofknowledge of the producers of Krishna plays and the gradual education of the young

in the complicated rituals and philosophical studies of Hinduism and the compulsory

association of personal salvation processes through worship of the Lord by the followers

of Goudiya Vaishnavism. The association of indigenous ritual procedures adaptation of

a foreign story in the material milieu of understanding, behaviour of the natives, multi­

faceted enactment of plays, games, sport and other activities where children youth &

elders along with the motherly characters would interact freely, lovingly and with

devotion reflected the intense nature of Hindu conversion processes through the art of

the theatre.

The gradual shaping of the traditional theatre from indigenous ritual performances to

well conceived plots, characters, story line and association with nature behavioural

practices of fun, humour, community dining and merriments along with defeat of demons

and evil spirits are all woven into the structural presentation of the Manipuri theatre

form during the glorious days of Hinduism. Hinduism therefore was made to synthesis

with indigenous practices beliefs and behaviour and classical text of rich corpus of

Krishna lore was exuberantly physicalized through the fast growing theatre form. The

Balya leela or child Krishna stories along with the more appropriate conscious practice

of Hinduism by Chaitanya are all indicators to the complex milieu of native education

through expressive theatrical art.

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The three studies are therefore placed in their separate context with their distinctive

character and style. The first two sections are on the event of the childhood of Krishna

and the third is a separate section of Chaitanya’s revelation and personal experiences of

sanyasi. The third event is about appropriate progressive addition through the example

of personal sacrifice.

I. Gostha Leela: Tending the cows

Gostha Leela, a Hindu court supported religious genre of traditional theatre is based on

the Srimad Bhagavata (10th skanda). The Gostha Leela also popularly known as ‘Sansenba’

revolves around the enactment of childhood pranks and games of lord Krishna, Balaram

along with the gopas. Apart from the jokes and pranks there are some serious theatrical

improvisations like killing of demons. It can be identified as a children’s theatre as the

themes are concentrated on their activities performed by themselves.

Gostha Leela is the enactment of how the lord played with the sakhas during the leisure

hours on their journey to tend cows. Gostha Leela since many years is performed annually

at Govindajee temple or Gostha Asthmi which coincides with the Nipcmi Pemba of

Hiyangei, November of Lunar Calendar. The leelas embodied within Gostha are some

of the important dramatization from the early life of Lord Krishna in Gokul and Brindavan.

With distinctive storyline and theme Gostha Leela however failed to rise above at par

with the main Hindu theatre forms like Raas leela and Nata sankiitana.

Though it is believed that the seed of Sansenba must have been sown during King

Bheigyachandra1 (1763-1798), it was revived and led to growth, expansion and

development during the reign ofKingGambhir Singh2 (A.D. 1825-1834). It was in his

reign that GosthaLeela became apopular genre oftraditional theatre in Manipur. By the

time of King Chandrakirti (1850-1886), different new theatre forms were encouraged

and performed like Prahlad charit, Kansa badh, Kalidaman, etc. Sri Sri Govindaji

Natyashala or popularly known as Jagoi Loishang phyed a significant role in inspiring

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basic lessons in the above mentioned Hindu theatre forms. Much progress of Gostha

Leela was seen during King Churchand (1891-1941).

Scholars believed that ‘Kalidaman’ a Hindu religious play was performed in its earliest

time in a completely creative natural backdrop of rivers, ponds, hills or open field. It is

one of the extant leela or play of the childhood acts of Lord Krishna with full of songs,

music and dance. Kalidaman is about how the divine cowherd suppressed Kalia or the

ferocious poisonous cobra and dances on its hood. Kalidaman used to be performed in

Mera (September-October) of 1854A. D. on the natural background of Thangkap Lake3.

Such type of performances was popular and commonly performed during the reign of

King Chandrakirti (1850-1886) which drew large audiences4. This perhaps was a

breakthrough in the Manipuri theatre history and development.

Before studying the form and content of Gostha Leela a brief reference of the

classification of age of Sri Krishna leela is important. It is broadly categorized into

three stages based on the Brajaleela episodes - Balya episodes (0-5years), Pogand (5-

lOyears), and Kishore (10-15 years)5. The pogand stage with slight overlapping of the

immediate preceeding and succeeding of Balya and Kishor stage is the most important

part of Krishna leela. The Gostha Leela or ‘Sansenba’ episode begins with the Pogand

period. The Braja sakha or Lord Krishna’s peer group throughout the leela showered

faith and devotion to Lord Krishna. Amongst his peer groups or sakhas there were some

older, few of his same age and still few younger to him. The well known sakhas closely

associated with Sri Krishna were Baldev, Sridham, Sudam, Basudham, StokKrishna,

Bhadrasen, etc. Sridham was the most important sakha of this group. Sakha Subol was

very dear to Sri Krishna, whereas Madhumangol and Puspanka were comic characters6.

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According to Srimad Bhagavata, the moment Sri Krishna crossed five years, he went to

the vast open field of Brindavan for cow tending or Sansenba. Sri Krishna used to tend

small calves within the lawns of the house. In many of the childhood events, he killed

Byasasur who came in disguise of a calf and later Bakasur in disguise of a big crane.

He killed both the demons before the Gostha Leela in the childhood leelas of Sri Krishna

like Gokul Leela, Kishore Leela, etc.

The leela chrome of Sri Krishna begins from his 15 days old. Since then numerous

leelas were performed like killing the demons, beginning of Sansenba and Gostha Leela,

Kalidaman, Jhulon leela, Vastraharan and Raas leela. By the completion of eleven

years, Mathura Leela substituted Brindavan leela. With the beginning of Pogand, Sri

Krishna and gopas became cow tenders. During the Goucharon Leela, the gopas tended

the cows in the nearby open place, took out their food packets and had food together.

They meanwhile organized fun games like hide and seek, sing, dance, bullied and played

pranks on each other. They enjoyed the enactments of games, personifying characters

like the king, ministers and common subjects.

All the above episodes and events are divided according to the seasons. The scholars

and gurus of Manipur took the spirit of the above episodes or events of the Goucharan

leela. They squeezed into one daytime performance in the forms of Gostha Leela in

both the Nritya and Natya form. It is thus purely the genius creativity and innovative

attitude that led to the forming of a completely new genre of traditional theatre. Songs

are also added from time to time to give the present form, a complete Hindu traditional

theatre performance.

Additions and subtractions were made to enable the long storyline to be performed in

few hours. The finalizing of the songs of Gostha Leela was almost completed during

Sri Churchand’s (1891-1941) reign. The Gostha Leela performed in Manipur is divided

into two main parts - the Nandalaya leela and Lamthokpa leela. The Nandalaya leela

itself makes a complete beautiful performance. In Srimad Bhagavata the Nandalaya

episode is minimized giving more predominance to Sansenba or tending of cows episode.

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Performance Structure

The Gostha Leela begins with the usual rituals of offering puja in the morning by the

Brahmin purohit to Lord Govindaji. The leela chrome begins around 9 a.m. The leela

opens with Gourachandrika. However, in Gostha Leela it is not in the form of Nata

Sankirtana. Meanwhile, preparations are made to begin the Gostha Leela on the Koubru

or north-west comer of the mandap. The two drummers or pungyeibas are seated to

the east. The conch blower or moibung khongba faces the same direction and seated

on the right of the pungyeiba. The position of the Sutra is on the northern side facing

south. The guru of the Gostha Leela who is also the chief Sutra, performs Uthi. The

Arangpham offers lei chandan (flower and sandal paste) to all of them including the

master of the ceremonies or mandap mapu followed by boriba (offering of cloths) to

mandap mapu. Lei chandan (flower & sandle paste) is offered to pungyeiba, Sutra

singers, king, queen and nobles (during monarchial) and pay homage to the audience by

bowing (dandavat).

The pungyeibas, Sutra, moibung khongba in their attire take their respective seats.

The Arangpham again offer boriba cloth and betel nuts to them. All the performers or

actors first pray to Lord Govindaji, respect and honour to the mandap mapu, and finally

to the audiences. The sankha dhwani or the conch is blown to mark the auspicious

beginning. The pungyeiba or the drummer begins the raga. In Gostha Leela, Nata

Sankirtana does not exactly begin the performance but the pungyeiba play the drum and

Gourapad is sung by Ihe sutra, which is quite similar to the Nata Sankirtana. The

introductory invocation or sort of purvaranga concludes with the Goura pad. A brief

introduction of Lord Gouranga incarnation (of the divine pair of Krishna & Radha) and

the state of the Sakhas to go for Gostha Leela is asserted. Sutra quotes the lines which

introduce the first character, ‘Narad’. Narad rishi or Gosai enters the performance space

playing tanpura and simultaneously chanting Haiinaam from the north-east comer of

the mandap. The Arangpham goes for lower & sandle paste to Narad. Narad declaim

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loudly the explanatory section of the play based on the lord Knshna cycle.

Narad extol the name of Gopal, and suddenly calls out his disciple Balabasu. Balabasu

enters in the space along with background music and Radha Radha Govinda songs given

by the orchestra. He comes in taking long strides saying aloud that he has come to

fulfill the wish of Narad. Balabasu bows to Narad paying homage with great honour.

Narad and Balabasu exchange a dialogue where Narad informs Balabasu to get ready to

attend the utsav organized by Nandaraj. Balabasu enquires whether Nandaraj will feed

him properly. His funny gestures steal a laugh from the audiences. Narad and Balabasu

exalt the name of Lord Krishna and start their journey to Nandalaya by encircling the

performance space.

From the formal commencement of the Gostha Leela, on the central southern side,

preparations are made to represent Nandaraj’s palace with three big chairs. Nandaraj and

his two associates Upananda and Sunanda are seated. Two of the guardsmen or Dwarpal

in the full costume keep moving to and fro keeping a watch to the entry and exit of the

palace. Narad stops encircling the space and share his excitement of reaching Nandaraj

palace to Balbasu. Narad enquires the Dwarpal and the dialogue leads to an argument

between Balbasu and dwarpal. Songs and dance are performed and a direct struggle is

enacted as if they are fighting for a Thang-ta (traditional martial arts sword and spear)

dwell. Narad tells the Dwarpal to narrate to his lord Nandaraj, the will of Narad to join

his utsav and to be a part of his joyous moments. Dwarpal immediately turn his back and

depicts the action of going inside the palace. He shares his encounter with Narad to

Nandaraj.

Nandaraj with his two other friends stand up astonishingly at the news. They move out

hastily to receive Narad and Balabasu. Nandaraj provides them seats and perform the

role of a good host. Narad being pleased raises his arms and bless him. Meanwhile,

Balbasu initiates whatever Narad is doing including the act of blessing Nanda, Sunanda

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and Upananda. The audiences in such scene laugh aloud. The dwarpal attends Narad to

make him feel comfortable. All the essential materials are provided for the puja to be

conducted by Narad. Narad enlightens Nandaraj about the auspicious day to teach the art

of milking the cow to Balaram & Krishna. He further advises Nandaraj to spread this

favourable news far and wide.

Nandaraj orders dwarpal to go and inform the Queen mothers. Dwarpal moves towards

the central-western side of the performance space that represents the place for Yashoda

and Ruhini. He gives the message to the mothers to ready Balaram & Krishna for milking

the cow episode. The mothers hand over Balaram & Krishna to Dwarpal, holding one by

his left and the other by his right hand, the Dwarpal proceeds towards Nandaraj. Nandaraj

receives them on the halfway and brings them near Narad. Narad blesses the two child

actors for milking episode. Nanda orders to bring the cow. Normally anyone can bring

the cow inside the mandap. Seeing Balaram & Krishna, Narad quotes few lines from the

theme of Dasavtaar.

Meanwhile a milch cow with a calf is brought in. The cows are offered food facing west.

Narad carries out puja on the cow. As the first chance goes to Balaram, Narad takes him

near the cow to impart the lessons of milking the cow. The milch cow is revered. Sutra

sings a beautiful song while Nandaraj enacts the act of driving away the flies with the

end of his shawl. The scene however is casual and everyone watch anxiously.

Narad shouts jaidhwani as Balaram learns the lesson. Nandaraj, Balbasu, and the

remaining actors on the space respond to the Jaidhwani by raising their hands. Lord

Krishna in his turn, hides behind his father being scared. Krishna: “Babahold me. I am

scared of the cow”. Sutra presents a song narrating the subtle acting between father and

son. Narad make attempts to please the young lad but Lord Krishna run back to his

father. Lord Krishna finally agree though act as if he is very scared. Sutra sings how

Krishna finally learn to milk the cow. Narad in excitement shouts jaikar loudly. The

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jaikar orjaidhwani sound is accompanied by the sound of conch played by the moinbung

khongba. Nandaraj offers fruits, eatables and dakhina (money) to Narad. As Balabasu is

left out, he gets angry and almost walk out of humiliation. When Nandaraj gives his

share, Balabasu protests the difference in the nature of gifts. The audiences roar in

laughter.

Balaram & Krishna stand with their hands on the shoulder of each other facing east.

Songs are sung and they are blessed again by Narad and Balabasu. The cow and the calf

are taken out of the performance space and the area is cleaned. The dwarpal takes back

Balaram & Krishna to their mothers. As Narad and Balabasu leave, Nandaraj and his

friends take their own seats. Meanwhile Balaram & Krishna are seated with their mothers

in western area meant for them. With this the milking episodes comes to an end. It acts

as a prelude of the real performance of Gostha Leela.

Meanwhile all the sakhas were already occupying the four cardinal comers of the

mandap. Sutra begins a “utti” (timing to stand up). An equal number of gopas in the four

comers stand up immediately. The makok chingba or leader of the northwest group

(koubru side) is the first to shout “urli or awa” (signal of beginning the game). The

remaining three groups (northeast, southeast and the southwest) repeat the same one by

one. This scene represents the young cow tenders of Braja calling out Balaiam & Krishna

to get ready for sansenba.

All the four groups together sing a vandana and shout urli/awa-awa in unison. The drum

players beats ‘ektaal’ - a drum beat and the first group strike their feet on the ground

simultaneously singing a song. It is a signal to the sakhas to get ready for heading towards

Nandaraj s house. The sakhas tap their feet in the same manner but each group sing

different songs one by one in continuation. The end of the song sequence of each group

is interspersed by the loud sound of “Awa-Awa”. The four groups together sing a song

again and in its completion shout ‘urli’.

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The first group begins moving followed by the other groups. Sutra and gopas sing together

a song “Let’s go and call Balaram & krishna for sansenba.” All the gopas take seat

forming a big semi-circle. Two sakhas from each group step out, altogether eight sakhas

stand facing the west (Krishna Sharya) and call for the two brothers. Balaram & Krishna

come out resting their hands on each other shoulders in tribhanga form. The eight sakhas

- Sridham, Subol, Gandharv, Subhadra sakha, Ujjwal sakha, StokKnshna, Sudam and Aqun

sakha, with folded hands respond together to the song started by Sutra. The eight sakhas

stand right in the centre of the space, tap their feet exhibiting slow body movements.

The remaining gopas form a line and encircles the mandali. All of them sit down

immediately, when the first of the line reaches the drummer’s area.

The eight sakhas divide among themselves into two groups, each consisting of four

sakhas. They in a pair sing, act and hold or touch Balaram & Krishna. They join the

original pattern and do subtle acting. Sutra singers interspersed in between a song -

maithongna kaya ningthiri. The eight sakhas keep on dancing until a fresh song

substitutes it. They split again into two lines, one group performing cartwheels towards

east and the other group towards west. In between the sakhas perform uplei and punglon

j a g o f .

The dialogue or conversation between Lord Krishna and the gopas begins with lord

Krishna telling the gopas to wait for a while so that his mother will dress him up for

goucharan. However, Yashoda deny stating that Krishna is too young for sansenba or

cow tending. Yashoda and Ruhini through beautiful facial expression sing the lyrics “how

can a son of a king go for sansenba”. Outside, one of the sakhas stand up and insists

Sridham (two child actors play the same role) to go and check why Krishna is taking too

long in dressing up the Natvesh.

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In the background song of sutra the two Sridham actors tapping their feet, move straight

toward the mothers. They kneel down with folded hands and request to allow Krishna to

go with them. The two mothers disagree which is expressed through a song using the

hand gestures and facial expression. The two Sridham sing a lamenting song with hands

on their heads depicting the pain of not permitting Krishna to join them. They come out

slowly being angry at the stubbornness of the mothers. Subol hearing the news get up

(Subol again act by two child actors) and proceed to the mothers and seek their permission

to send Krishna for sansenba. Yashoda denies again. Next, StokKnshna tries to please

Yashoda & Ruhini. He pulls Krishna from his mother’s hand. All the sakhas quicklyjoin

hands and encircle them singing a song. After the song, all of them prostrate to the

queen.

Balaram gives a wink to the sakhas to have a little patience, as he will try to convince

Yashoda. Balaram with folded hands approaches the queen mother and through songs,

seeks her permission. Both, Yashoda and Ruhini finally agree to send them for sansenba.

The two mamasabis take Balaram & Krishna towards the east, (slightly leftward) and

pray to the sun God. A small interlude of Yashoda teaching the two brothers is added.

After their mothers have taught them, Balaram and Krishna performpunglon jagoi or

the rythmic dance movements and cartwheel in front of the queen mothers. Krishna and

Balaram perform cartwheel from north and south direction respectively. The sakhas

dance uplei sequence and throwflowers to Balaram & Krishna with loud shout of joykaar.

Balaram & Krishna get back to their original position doing cartwheel. Conch is blown

and the eight sakhas join the other sakhas. Balaram & Krishna extend their hands for

sweets to queen mothet Yashoda. Yashoda gives the sweets to them. She hands Krishna

to Balaram asking him to take care of the young lad as shown through facial gestures and

bodymovements. Yashoda guides the two young boys to Nandalaya. BaJaram&Krishna

stand in bhangi pose. Seing the beauty, Nandaraj recites a sloka that expresses his love

for the young boys and his fear to send Krishna in the forest for tending the cows.

Upananda and Sunanda bless both Balaram & Krishna.

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Nanda hands Balaram & Krishna to their closest sakhas, Sridham and Sudam. The next

sequence is the Madhumangol khel. As Nandaraj moves out all the sakhas sit down with

Balaram & Krishna. Madhumangol holding his lugoon (sacred upnayan threads) with

his right thumb come slowly from the eastern side towards west and pleaded Yashoda to

give ladoo and sweets. He runs around with the plate, teasing the other sakhas. It is a

depiction of a very mischievous and naughty child. All the sakhas anxiously wait for

their share. They scream at Madhumangol to distribute quickly. Madhumangol acts

indifferent and goes on eating. He stands up and distributes the sweets to the saldias

leaving behind two of them. The young two sakhas stretch out their hands for sweets but

Madhumangol teases than again. They get angry and Madhumangol pleases them by

giving the plate along with the remaining sweets. The completion of the Madhumangol

khel brings to an end the first main part of the Gostha Leela.

lire second part of the Gostha Leela is Lam-thokpar or performance in open space episode.

It begins with all the sakhas holding their decorated sticks and flutes. Baldev will hold a

plough (toy plough). The Lamthokpa or performance in open field has a close

resemblance with the Lamthokpa of Lai Haraoba. The procession of the idols of Lord

Balaram & Krishna taken out from the temple in the Lamthokpa is a unique feature of

Gostha Leela. Young kids, elders, personified demons & animals and the audiences

participate in the Lamthokpa procession. The idols of Balaram & Krishna for Gostha

Lamthokpa are placed in the decorated chariot. The sakhas form two lines and follow

the chariots. The sutra, pungyeiba, moibung khongba and helpers of sutra lead the

procession. Two Brahmin sakhas provide chamar seva in the chariots of Balaram &

Krishna idols.

All the devotees even including the king (during monarchy) help in pulling the chariot. A

white pe (umbrella) is put above the idols as a marie of honour. The priest, Duhon and

other se w n * (assigned organizes of Govindaji) follow the chariot On reaching the

field or an open space, the chariot is kept facing north-east. An open performing space

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in the centre is reserved for the enactment of Lamthokpa. The audiences surround the

area almost in a circle. There are loud noises and the atmosphere quite casual. There is

rush and it takes some time for the audiences to settle down. The security guards move

around to prevent any untoward incident.

The gopas come out in the performing space and stand forming a big circle. The idols of

Balaram & Krishna are put down from the chariot and placed, right in the centre. The

dram player begin dramming the beat - “ taghin khara kharcT which signify the beginning

of bhangi. Balaram & Krishna occupy the central position of the performance space. In

the Gostha Leela two Bhangi Parengs are performed. The first one is Bhangi pareng

achouba and the second is the Gostha Brindavan bhangi pareng (same as Brindavan

Vaman). The two Bhangi parengs signify the same meaning and expression like Raas’s

Bhangi but the style of performance is different The four lines o f the Bhangi pareng

song are repeated again and again by the sutra till the gopas & the two main characters

dance out the Bhangi Pareng achouba. The lines are repeated but the tune varies. After

Bhangi achouba is over the gopas perform the Brindavan bhangi pareng. The movements

of Brindavan Bhangi are more vigorous and energetic.

In the Lamthokpa episode various dances which are very athletic are also performed by

the gopas. The bhangi episode is followed byphibul habi (piggy back riding and throw

& catch of cloth ball) dance. It is a game played by young children which however is

incorporated in the Gostha Leela. It gives a ritualistic development in the enactment of

Leela. The pungyeiba presents a drumbeat and hearing it the gopas divide into two

groups. Each group has a leader or the makok chingbi. The two line stand facing one

another. Both Balaram & Krishna join the two groups separately.

During this play the sutra sings the main songs. The sakhas in between repeat and respond

the same lines of sutra. The two group dance together for a while. Reaching the right

pad of sutra s song, one of the sakhas from Krishna side come out in front of their

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group. He runs in rhythmic motion and squat on the ground. The game continues for

sometime changing the gopas of the two groups. They rest for a while. Suddenly Sridham

stand up as if he remembers an errand. He shout to Vishal and Arjun to collect the cows

grazing in the feild. Vishal and Arjun proceed ahead calling the name of the cows. They

walk around for some time and on their way meet demon Dhenukasur (represented by a

man wearing the mask of a bull). They out of fear run back quickly. Balaram with his toy

plough marches ahead towards the demon Dhenukasur. Balaram attacks Dhenukasur

with the plough. The sakhas join Balaram in killing the demon with their sticks. In Srimad

Bhagavatathe episode of killing Denukasur will come after killing ofBakasur sequence.

The sakhas out of sheer ecstasy sing and dance merrily. After dancing they play phibul

habi like before. Vishaal & Aijun again search the cows by shouting their names.

Unfortunately they meet another demon Bakasur (representation of a huge crane). They

shout and run back screaming loudly. Krishna leads the gopas and kill Bakasur by tearing

the mouth apart. The sakhas join Krishna in this glorious act.

After the defeat of Dhenukasur and Bakasur, the sakhas come out in the centre and

dance joyously in the song “khelat sri Balaram kanhaf. The Arangpham distributes

clothes to all of them. The priest offers fruits, dhup, light and betelnuts to the Balaram

and Krishna idols along with aarati. Meanwhile Sutra gives the background song and

moibung is blown. Finally, sutraperforms ‘phera gosthi aarati’ and leads the procession

back to the temple denoting ‘sankarakpa’ (or returning of cow after grazing). The idols

are received in the verandah of the temple and perform puja. For the Gostha Leela at

local level, the mothers or mamasabi perform aarati to the Balaram Krishna actors,

(aarati is identified with sacred flaming tray) for protection of protagonist from the

influence of the evil spirits.

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The observance in the beginning and ending of the Gostha Leela is very ritualistic. The

content of the Gostha Leela is religious, however, the development of the form and the

execution or enactment of the performance is inclined towards realistic secular path.

The entry of Balabasu which depicts a clown character, is one step closer to secular

traditional Hindu theatre forms.

Elements / Performance spaceThe performing space or mandap in few cases are permanent like that of Govindaji

mandap, Bijoygovinda mandap etc. However, for performance which is held in courtyard

or in public open space, temporary mandap is set up. Volunteers turn up to decorate it,

which is normally done in a realistic yet ritualistic manner. The pillars are wrapped with

white cloth. The ceiling is decorated with ‘thakarC beautifully.

The space is sub-divided into different spheres according to the need of the performance.

Some of the areas classified areNandalaya palace, mamasabi (queen) residence, playing

space for the gopas, Krishna and Balaram. Different realistic stage props are used to

make the performance meaning complete. Three chairs (almost like thrones) are kept

on the central area of the southern side. The chairs represent the seats ofNanda, Upanand

and Sunanda. A small phak (mat made of reeds) for Narad is placed a little away. Other

essential requirements for the rituals are arranged. For example materials like sweets,

garlands and other offerings are kept on the south western comer. The things are placed

and arranged in order for the easy access of the Arangpham and continuation of the

various rituals during the performance. The area for the queen is on the western side,

where few objects including seats for Krishna and Balaram are kept. An area on the

north east comer is a well demarcated passage, which serves as an entry into the world

of Nandalaya palace, and to the other performance involved in the space. The major

characters like Narad, Balabasu and Nanda enter from this area. The cow with a calf for

the milking episode is brought in from this passage.

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Audience

The spectators surround all the four sides of the mandap. Nobody can sit anywhere as he

or she wishes. In the ancient times during the reigii of kings, the rules were strict and

severe. The king was seated on the south and the learned Brahmins, mandap mapu, Raj

purohit, and other dignitaries occupy his left and right side facing north. The seat of the

Maharani or the queen (in local mandap) was opposite to the king in the north. In few

instances the queen’s seat is arranged after the pungyeiba on the koubru side or Northwest

comer. The queen’s seat was also extravagantly decorated but less grand than that ofthe

king. The half of the north to the comer ofthe west was for the ladies, and the ladies of

the aristocrats occupy the front row. The north eastern region is generally taken over by

the dignitaries of different loishangs (schools).

The king was honoured with pe and chamar. Other accessories for the respect and for

the comfortable ofthe king were provided. The seat was luxuriously decorated8. Two

monteks or coloured raised cushions are arranged on the mamasabi side for Krishna

and Balaram. The two idols are dressed in natvesh. In the far end comer of the temple, a

chariot type carriage is kept which will be used later in the Lamthokpa episode.

Guardsmen and other officials are at Govindaji service. Some of the guards are seen

frisking to and fro in the outer area of the mandap for security purpose. Later, the

whole concept of providing security in the performance context transformed into the

trend of an official ‘jagoi ngakpa’’. He should be a fine gentleman who is well qualified,

respected, a man of integrity and who has the wisdom to ease out any misunderstanding.

The Jagoi ngakpa prevents any untoward incident during the performances. His seat is

on the eastern side ofthe mandap. The mandap mapu another important official needs to

be well versed in puranic texts and should be acquainted with all the rasas and bhavas.

Actors

There is a clear demarcation of two age groups, the elders and young children in Gostha

Leela. Elderly actors and actresses perform the roles of Nanda, Upananda, Sunanda,

Yashoda, Ruhim, RishiNarada, Balabasuandthe demons characters. Completely contrasts

to such actors are the young children who enact the characters like gopas probably quite

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a lot including the main Sakhas of Krishna, Knshna, Balaram, etc.

In ancient times, the queen mothers were the only female actors in the Gostha Leela.

The roles of the gopas, Knshna and Balaram were specifically meant for small boys. A

strict norm of a Brahmin child to enact the role of Madhumangol was laid down. In its

historical development during the reign of King Churchand Singh (1891-1941), girls

mainly of the royal family were encouraged to participate and took up the roles of

gopas. The continuation of this trend in the post 2nd World War led to a recent

phenomenon of small girls outnumbering small boys in Gostha Leela. Today the main

roles like Krishna, Balaram and important gopas are generally performed by young girls.

Another strange character of the acting in Gostha Leela is the depiction of a few single

roles by two persons or actors together at the same time, like Sridham, Subal and

StokKrishna. This technique was told mainly to add beauty to the songs and acting. The

practical reason as informed by the gurus was for a satisfactory performance as the

voice of one child is not audible to the audience (already quite noisy). The two Queen

mothers perform one kind of role - the character of the mother singing the same song,

dancing the same steps and even in the form of similar expression through gestures and

movements. They almost go together and perform the same except in one or two veiy

minor scenes where one will sing and the other will perform subdued acting. This dual

personification of one character has some affect on the audience. The age difference

between the two distinctive groups enabled to convey the genuine rasas and emotions of

parental care, love and friendship in the peer groups to the audience.

D ress

The actors according to their characters wear different costume. Nanda wears a loose

type of kurta wilh tight sleeves and below knee length with a white dhoti. A yellow

reddish silk cloth wraps the chest area and put a kokyet (turban). The turban is decorated

with small artistic patterns (known as latin man) made of plantain leaves and flowers.

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Nandaraj wears ornaments especially big bangles. Upananda and Sunanda wear maijai

type of kurta, silk cloth put in khaon style, a white dhoti and Ajmeri type turban (without

decorations of latin mari). The dwarpal wears churidarpyjama and kurta (gala bandhi

type) hold swords and a stick on the other ornaments are used for all charaters. The

Brahmin purohitis dressed up in dhoti, gala bandhi kurta, yellow turban and mala (beads).

The two queens Yashoda and Ruhini not only do the acting together but put on the same

costume. They wear Kumin type (lower part) with velvet blouse mainly green studded

with sequins and ornaments. The khamen chatpa phi (a local design cloth serpent dragon

motif) is wrapped as half saree with the head covered by the end of the cloth. King

Churchand also brought in the trend oV‘brajamaijF (costume of Brindavan mothers)

dress, which was more comfortable to the actresses. Narad rishi wear saffron dress, the

dhoti kunja (pleats) rolled up on the left and with an innafi or shawl as khaon. An

artificial white wig and a long white beard is his trademark. He also accompanies a

tanpura and mala (a type of rosary made out of a shrub plant). Balabasu depicts a comi c

character with ash smeared all on his body, unkempt wig and wears saflron/yellow dress.

He carries a bag on the left shoulder and mala (rosary) on the right.

All the gopas, Balaram and Lord Krishna wear natvar vesh. The ordinary gopas are in

golden natvar vesh whereas the few main characters wear golden, green or blue. They

are adorned with mukut chura or crown of peacock feathers. Ornaments decorate in al 1

parts of their body. Each one of them holds a decorated flute and stick. Balaram will

hold a plough (an imitation rested on his shoulder). The man portraying the demon

Denukasur put a cow like mask with horns, long artificial hairs, artificial long nails, and

his body wrapped with white cloth up to the stomach.

The mm portraying Bakasur in the foim of a “crane” attaches two wings on the sides and

a separate mask with a long beak. The inside part ofthe beak is red and outer area is

coloured with yellow, it is quite homiying to see the demon with the mask on. The

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wings and beak are manipulated by the actor, which moves up and down. Atight trouser

is used in order to symbolically highlight the long legs of the crane. The actor masters

the gaits of the crane. Actors either in Denukasur and Bakasur were normally very tall,

well built and quite big during the days of King Churchand (1891-1941) to King

Bodhachandra (1941-1955) etc. They used to wear the malbesh attire with ash smeared

all over the body or coloured their body parts.

The actors perform abhinaya at their level best in order to enable the audience experience

the ultimate bhaktirasa. People make their sons and daughters enact the roles in Gostha

Leela as it is considered auspicious. The audience cries shouting aloud ‘Harinam’ as

they experience the rasa of the Gostha Leela in different ways. However, the young

gopas unaware of the inherent dynamics and their main concern is to take part and feel

happy. Practically, the young children being very small and inexperienced at times could

not bring out the appropriate abhinaya to the audience. But the audience sees the young

children performance with utter devotion as if they are real. In such way of viewing the

performance the audiences attain Bhakti rasa. On the other hand the elder actors do

their abhinaya well to express the right kind of sentiments and emotions.

Songs

The songs of Gostha Leela as seen today started from King Chandrakirti’s times. New

entries were added during King Churchand (1891-1941). By the time of King

Chandrakirti, the songs of the Gostha Leela were well developed. However the song

sung in the bhangi performance was incomplete as the lines were repeated continuously.

Renowned surviving gurus gave the information thatthe first recorded bhangi song was

not adjustable to the bhangi punglon form. This idea faintly throws light on the state of

the Gostha Leela form in that particular time. Most of the songs were in Bengali and

Sanskrit. The dialogues in between were mainly in Hindi and Brajaboli. In the bhangi

jagoi, the song of a few lines was repeated again and again with variations in the tune.

Therefore the songs of the Gostha Leela are not as clear and precise as the Raas leela

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bhangi pareng. In the Lamthokpa sequence, the sutra sings a particular song repetitively

in the procession taken from the temple premises to the open spot.

DevelopmentThe Gostha Leela took its present form and structure through a chain of development

and growth. Different kings patronize it. Innovations were made during King Churchand s

time. During his reign, Gostha Leela performance was popular and frequently performed

in the Govindaji mandap, local mandaps and even in the village open field by constructing

pavilions. Even in spite of the presence of numerous Vaishnav padavalis the songs of

bhangi are very short. The overall question of Gostha bhangi and its spirit was altogether

different from Brindavan Gostha Leela. In Brindavan Gostha, the main part was Sabhayatra

(crowd procession).

DanceThe dance forms of Gostha Leela are in between lashya and tandav styles. There are

slow rhythmic lashya type dance sequences in the performance structure. However

vigerous tandav dances are also incorporated especially the Balaram dance. In the first

part of the mandap performance at Nandalaya’s palace, dance compositions are

concentrated to important actors like Balaram, Krishna, Madhumangol etc. The dance

sequences of the gopas are uniform. However, the major part of the dance is performed

in the second part or lamthokpa of the Gostha Leela. Gostha bhangi pareng and Gostha

Brindavan pareng are performed in the open field within the backdrop of the setting sun.

King Chandrakirti (1850-1886) added the above two bhangi parengs of Gostha Leela.

The movements of the Bhangi parengs correlate and resemble their fim games, chasing

one another and other acts like jumping as mentioned in the source text Srimad Bhagavata.

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Uniqueness and greatness of the local scholars, gurus, and patrons stand out as they

made efforts to expand the Gostha Leela form by giving life to the acts mentioned in

Bhagavata in different theatrical styles. The two demons perform a kind of dance where

the movements, expressions and gesture depict valour, strength, power, and fear. The

effort of such legends led to the successful expression of the rasas in Gostha Leela

which was locally restructured, redefined and innovated. During this period important

development in the theatre was the clowning or court jester leading to secular

performances like Phagee leela. The important features of a comic character from the

Phagee leela could have influenced the comic character of Balabasu in Gostha Leela.

The overall dance sequences give emphasis on feet movement. Some of the movements

emphasized on body parts or anga-pratyanga like the head (kok), further dividing into

Nikpa, Leiba, khetpa, ngaklei or the movement of the neck and so on.

Gostha Leela performance was first held in Brajaboli and Bengali but later performed

in Manipuri. The first part of the milking the cow is dramatized incorporating the basic

theatrical elements of cross talk, songs, dialogue, dance and communication through

symbolic representation. The Lamthokpa episode is dominant with dance and less

emphasis on dialogue or verbal communication. As Gostha Leela is a part of the children

theatre, one fails to see any genuine dance or songs from the art point of view. Yet, the

devotees through participating it experience the rasa of Lord Krishna’s childhood leelas.

As a traditional form of theatre, in Gostha Leela the actors enjoy a kind of relaxation to

execute or enact parts of their own sentiments, which slightly drift from the strict

confinement of other theatrical traditional performance like Nata Sankirtan and Raas

leela. Gostha Leela comparatively to other traditional theatre form like Nata Sankirtana

and Raas leela is found to be more dramatic, secular and realistic. The dialogue, abhinaya

and movements of Gostha Leela are stylized and improvised. The Gostha Leela form is

towards the realistic development with emphasis on songs, dance and dialogues. Gostha

Leela with its close association with rituals and its distinctive features serves as another

art form which enriches the traditional theatre forms of Manipur.

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II. Udukhol Leela: Child Krishna play

Udukhol is one of the recent Hindu theatre forms. Udukhol Leeia was introduced by

King Churchand Singh ( 1891- 1941) in the early part of 20* Century9. It was a sincere

effort on the part of King Churchand to fill up the absence of Shri Krishna Balya Leela.

The first Udukhol Leela was shown at Pishum Ningom Leirak in Laitonjam Ibomcha’s

mandap10. The important Gurus of Udukhol Leela were Gurumayum Iboton Sharma and

Guru Kora Tombi11. Udukhol Leela which was commonly performed was mostly based

on the text of Ojah Gurumayum Iboton Sharma. Later on, many additions were made

that created Udukhol Leela a complete traditional theatre form. Some of the gurus who

took the challenging tasks ware Ngangom Jadu, Khaidem Nongyai, Mongjam Tilak,

Thounoujam Kunjakeshore andWaikhom Chaoba12 Udukhol Leela translated in Manipuri

was first performed in khabam lakpa mandap, hnphal on 13® February, 1971 (Saturday)13.

The same group performed Gostha leela on the following day. The use of vernacular

language in performance to other languages clearly shows the popular base and mass

appeal. This particular Udukhol Leela was composed by Shri Elangbam Mani Singh,

Shri Elangbam Nilakanta Singh and Smt. Thourani Indu Devi from Keishamthong

Elangbam leikai, Imphal. The guru or Rasdhari was Shri. Ibopishak Sharma14.

Udukhol Leelais based on Srimad Bhagavata. The Udukhol Leela is popularly known as

Balya Leela. It is a delightful play based on the childhood acts of the divine Kanhai

(young Krishna). The Balya Leela was created by Lord Krishna when he was 2 years old.

The text highlighted the begining of Krishna Balya Leela with the curse of Narad Muni

to the two young sons of Kubera (guardian of North) Nalkuber & Manigriba as kamalaijun trees15.

19 7

As depicted in the text the main essence of Udukhol Leela was to free the kamalaijun

trees from the spell of the curse. Likewise they attained salvation on the feet of Lord

Krishna. Another important aspect of Balya Leela was to show the true from of lord

discuss the matter. In the middle of this crisis Nandaraj come in to share the good news

of a son bom in his family. It definitely brought suspiciousness to Kansa. In this way the

U dukhol Leela rolls on plot by plot.

In between interesting episodes associated with the life of Knshna are enacted including

the killing ofthe demon ‘Putana’. Putana, sister of Kansa in disguise of a beautiful

woman enters the house of Nanda. She conveys her happiness and delight on the news of

a son bom to Yashoda. They chat for a while and Putana asks Yashoda to show her son.

Putana pleases Yashoda by praising the beauty and the good fate in having Knshna as her

son. Putana insists to breastfeed the baby. Yashoda thinking the genuineness of the

beautiful lady, give Lord Krishna to her. Krishna keeps on sucking. His power drains

away the life of Putana. Her real visible form appears and collapses on the floor.

With the killing ofPutana by Lord Krishna, the next episode is ‘Trinabartabadha’17. The

demon Trinabarta is sent by king Kansa to Yashoda’s residence to kill Lord Krishna,

fondly called as Kanhai. Yashoda put Kanhai on bed and the people of Braja under the

spell of Trinabarta go off to sleep. Trinabarta enters and lifts Kanhai. Krishna shouts

‘Baba andEma’ (father and mother) loudly out of fear. This improvisation is made by

the gurus in order to make the episode more interesting and dramatic. Suddenly a storm

sets in and due to the power of Kanhai, Trinabarta soars up in the sky. Kanhai becomes

heavier and heavier taking the ‘Bishwambar muiti’. Trinabarta fell down with Krishna on

top of him. Trinabarta passes away and free himself from Ihe curse. Meanwhile Nanda,

Ruhini and Yashoda search for Kanhai Sutra intervenes how Lord Krishna gives salvation

to Trinabarta. Nanda and others are shocked to witness the scene. They run towards

Kanhai. Nanda lifts Kanhai and shower his affection. Yashoda is pleased to see his son.

With Trinabartabadha, the Udukhol Leela continues with Brajadham (Brindavan) chapter.

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Hie episode begins with sutra singing how Nandarani or Yashoda is sleeping with Kanhai

and Sutra narrates Yashoda’s love for her son. Yashoda holds her son tenderly and kisses

him. She gets up quietly not to disturb Kanhai. After an invocation song to Suryadev ,

with background music of soft Bharavi ragini, Yahoda goes to Kanhai and expresses

her happiness for having him as her son through graceful facial gestures and abhinaya.

The Rasa of the act is conveyed to the audiences. Yashoda softly wakes him up. She

sings a song describing the beautiful sunrise and the mundane activities of Braja Gopis.

Yashoda: Kanhai get up, I have lots of work to do. All your Mends are awake... Kanhai

wakes up rubbing his eyes.

Yashoda freshens him up and put the costume and ornaments. She sings praising the

beauty of Kanhai. Yashoda enquires Ruhim if Baldev is readyso that both of them can

have food. Sutra sings how Baldev or Balaram jumps up hearing the name of Kanhai. He

looks around for Kanhai and immediately calls him. A song intersperse narrating the

love and friendship of Balram & Krishna. Baldev dresses up and touches Yashoda’s feet

with respect and love. Both the mothers sing together in joy and offer food to Kanhai &

Baldev. The mothers ask both the brothers to dance in front of them. Kanhai and Baldev

dance happily to the song of their mothers. They are richly rewarded with milk cream.

As daily routine in the morning, the milking of the cows begins immediately. Yashoda

shouts the names of her cows “Shabali, Shyamli, Kali, Surabhi...” to come quickly

Kanhai imitates his mother. In between Sutra sings the ongoing enactment of Kanhai

following his mother which somewhat obstruct Yashoda to move and work freely. The

big cow Surabhi mata (or Surabhi mother) enters and Yashoda tell her son to bow as she

(the cow) nurtures human life. While singing Yashoda milk Surabhi and Ruhini drive

away the flies. Yashoda pray to Surabhi to bless them with her ‘amrita’ (milk). Yashoda

then makes preparation for Suiyapuja (sun worship). Meanwhile, Kanhai asks his mother

to pour a little milk for him. For his stubbornness, Yashoda scolds Kanhai. Sutra

intervenes the childhood pranks of Kanhai releasing the young calves out of anger.

Yashoda shows her anger too. Kanhai struggles with the pot and dip his hands. Yashoda

cannot help the misbehavior of Kanhai and she ignores it knowingly.

Agroup songis presented as the mothers collect the flowers for Suryadevpuja. Krishna

and Baldev spoil the gathered flower. Kanhai hides himself in one comer. Yashoda calls

him and takes his son hands for Surya puja. Baldev holding Kanhai goes out happily.

They are joined by the sakhas who already are anxiously waiting for them. All the sakhas

shout the glory of Baldev and Kanhai and say “a waawa..... their trademark of beginning

the game. They move out together.

Kanhai plans with the sakhas to steal butter, cream, curd and sweets from the gopis

residences. The sakhas jump in jubilation. Out of excitement all o f them run, jump, and

sing together. In the meantime, two gopis along with their pots come out of their houses

to fetch water. The two gopis are quite surprised to see all of them loitering around

together. Seeing their delight, they stop for a while. Kanhai requests them to offer milk,

sweets, cream and other eatables. Kanhai continuously tries to win them by showing his

innocence that he never steals filings. The two gopis request Kanhai to sing and dance in

front of them in the same way he usually does in front of Yashoda & Ruhini.

Kanhai, Balram and Sakhas sing the group song and dance together. Both the gopis are

pleased. They go back to their houses and bring sweets for them. All the sakhas run

towards them. The gopis ask Kanhai to go back home as Yashoda inata must be quite

worried. They leave humming songs describing their affection for Kanhai. Sutra presents

a song which makes the audience aware of how the sakhas are preparing to sneak inside

the houses of the gopis. Kanhai with Baldev taking the right time sneak in one of the

houses. Madhumangol and other sakhas wait outside impateintly. The sakhas disperse in

small groups and hide themselves. The movements of Lord Krishna, his glance, his

gestures, body movements and abhinaya are narrated through the songs of Sutra. Kanhai

calls the sakhas to come inside and help him in reaching the pots. They climb on top of

each other one by one (pyramid model). The pots are put down on the floor. Kanhai,

Baldev, Sndam, Sudam and other sakhas play and enjoy themselves, without any fear of

their mischievous acts. Madhumangol khel is performed later.

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As soon as the dance is over, Madhumangol quickly gets up and declare: It’s enough. All

of you please be seated quietly and I’ll take the privilege to distribute the sweets.

Madhumangol takes his seat right in the centre and picks up the tasty ones. He keeps on

trmnr.hing The sakhas mock him not to behave like a true selfish Brahmin. Madhumangol.

I am just tasting so that I can distribute the tasty ones to you all. Saying so, he keeps on

eating the sweets. The sakhas unable to bear anymore stand up. Madhumangol out of

fear right away distributes the sweets. All the sakhas eat and enjoy singing together.

Baldev happily tells the sakhas to eat as much as they can. Madhumangol gives a stem

look to Baldev and out of greed pack as much as he can in his cloth. Madhumangol keeps

on telling that he will take home and eat afterwards.

Suddenly they hear a noise of someone coming inside the house. All of them in a second

run away quickly except Madhumangol who is till busy in packing his share. Krishna

very quietly run out with a pot containing butter. The gopis catch Madhumangol and one

of them tries to hit him, but distracted by Kanhai and sakhas shout to her from behind.

The gopis shout loudly that thieves have entered her house. In a short while most of the

Brajabasi assemble at her place. She narrates the mess created by Kanhai and his gang to

them. The Brajabasi catch Kanhai and tie his hands. A veiy interesting development in

this episode is the acting of these young characters especially their facial expressions

and body language. Seeing their acting and gestures one of the Brajabasis comment on

who will believe the true nature of them.

All the Brajabasi express their opinions and take a decision to complain to Nanda and

Yashoda about their son’s misbehaviour. One of the brajabasi indirectly tells her woes.

Yashoda is in a state of shock. She tells them that Kanhai is at home throughout the day.

That statement infuriates one of the gopis. She further advises Yashoda that supporting

Kanhai’s mischievous acts will only harm him more. All of them finally plead to Yashoda

to teach Kanhai a lesson. Yashoda again telling that Kanhai is in the house throughout

and the one they have brought is Madhumangol not Kanhai. Yashoda calls her son to

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come out Kanhai comes out with a smiling face. Yashoda tells her son that the Brajabasis

have come to complain about his misbehavior acts. Kanhai denies it and tells his mother

that they are unknown to him. Exchange o f d i a l o g u e between Knshna and Yashoda follows.

The Brajabasi finally request Nandarani not to scold Kanhai anymore. They confide that

they complain just for namesake and never genuinely meant to hurt him, as they enjoy

seeing Kanhai doing all the pranks. They together sing a song praising the greatness of

Kanhai and good fortune of Nandaraj and Nandarani.

Udukhol episodeThe Udukhol episode takes place when Lord Knshna attains the age of 2 years and 3

months. It begins with Yashoda churning milk to make cream and butter by drawing the

rope to and fro. Yashoda in her song mention the making of butter cream for her son and

anticipating how Kanhai will come near her asking for more and more. She takes Kanhai

in her arm and breastfeed him. Yashoda suddenly remembers the boiling milk. She goes

inside to put off the fire. After that she prepares to go to Yamuna River for ritual bathing18.

Kanhai plays around and breaks many pots. He invites the monkeys to drink the milk.

The presence of monkeys further worsen the mess. Sutra describes how Kanhai pokes

the pots with sticks and large quantity of milk oozes out. He dances in excitement and

seek pleasure out of it.

Kanhai on hearing the footsteps of his mother hide in one comer out of fear. Yashoda

looks for Kanhai quietly to make him realize his mistakes. Yashoda shouts ‘Kanhai,

Kanhai’ but Kanhai remains silent Yashoda while searching tells herself that the gopis

are quite right when they complain about her son. Kanhai jumps out with butter and

cream on his face Yashoda scolds him. Exchange of dialogue between Kanhai and Yashoda

takes place. Yashoda holds him and call one of the attendants to bring a rope for tying

Kanhai on a sumbancP or pestling mortar. Sakhas gather nearby and watch seriously.

Yashoda informs the sakhas especially Subol not to free him. Yashoda moves out for

work. Subol, who is crying, wipe his tears and anxiously goes near Kanhai. He tries to

free Kanhai but Kanhai disagrees. Subol expresses his sadness too. Meanwhile, Baldev

enters the performance space. Baldev sheds tears and angrily question everyone, who is

responsible for troubling Kanhai mercilessly? Kanhai cries and told the truth. Baldev

cannot believe it. Ruhini asks the same question to Kanhai. “Because I stole some butter

and cream,” Krishna answers to them. Ruhini searches for Yashoda to make her realize

the mistake she has committed. Kanhai goes on crying and crawl on his knees dragging

himself the heavy ‘SumbancT or mortar.

Sutra once again in the slokas expresses how the world in a moment has forgotten the

Lord, punishing him Kanhai crawls slowly and slowly heading towards a destiny as

already planned by the will of lord. Kanhai passes in between the huge Kamalarjun trees

Accidentally, the Sumband gets stuck in between die trees. Kanhai by one of his powerful

force uproot both the trees that have been growing for centuries. The two trees fell

down with a thundering noise. Nalkuber and Manigriba emerge from the fallen trees.

They happily touch the feet of Kanhai chant Haiinam and narrate how they have become

trees centuries back due to the curse of Sage Narad. They thank Kanhai for freeing them

from the curse and giving them salvation from their sin. Kanhai finally bid farewell.

Both the brothers take a parikarma (anticlockwise), sing a prayer and proceed towards

north. Nanda, a bit tense enter in the scene enquiring about the loud noise. Nanda thinking

that the demon has attacked Kanhai and uprooted the trees, comes nearer to his son to

check if anything has happened to him. The sakhas inform Nanda the event as they are

the eyewitnesses. Yashoda mata, Ruhini mata, Baldev, Upanand and Sunanda, all enter

the performance space. Immediately, they turn towards Yashoda and express their grief

on what she has done. Yashoda tries to explain what makes her desperate to tie Kanhai.

Yashoda breaks down. Kanhai goes towards his mother, touch her feet and tells her that

he is feeling very hungry. Yashoda being pleased hug her son tightly and showers all her love and affection.

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1 n the other comer, Upnand shares the story of the two trees, surviving for thousand of

years due to the curse of Narad to attain salvation in lord Knshna s feet. As informed to

them by the sakhas and the two figures heading towards north. Upanand hints Nanda not

to take gopal as an ordinary child. Nanda for a moment out of fear of losing Kanhai

expresses his inner conscience that Kanhai is his only child and no one can take him

away from them. Nanda moves out ofthe space quickly with a heavy heart. With this the

Udukhol episode comes to an end. And, along with it the performance of Udukhol Leela

ends with the audiences standing up exchanging bows with the actors.

Theatrical aspectSongs and dances play an important role in this performance. The dances are extremely

graceful and enchanting. There is the development of conversation and dialogue in

common speech. The gestures, facial expression and body language are lively and rhetoric.

Real like actions are performed. The actors exercise the artistic freedom to make their

dialogue delivery and actions more meaningful and expressive. The actors in some scenes

do not deliver their dialogues or sing but through body gestures and movements depict

the meaning of the song either sung by the Sutra or choms.

The Sutra even sings the songs giving background information maintaining the basic

storyline of die performance before the audience. As such, the Sutra, choms and actors

together present the various scene of the leela to the audience together. Few stage

properties are used in the leela. In many instances, this theatre form relieves from the

chain that governs and binds like Nata Sankirtana and Raas leela. No doubt, the theme or

content is Krishna based theatre a creative secular approach is seen in the overall

performance. The episodes of the Udukhol Leela are arranged within a sequential

structure. The dialogues ofthe characters are more expressive and dramatized. Though

the content ofthe leela is specifically based on Srimad Bhagavata, the local gums have

made innovations with new entries/additions in the dramatic chrome ofthe leela without

d. verting from the main essence ofthe text. The Udukhol Leela follows the beginning

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and ending procedures of Nata Sankritana. As Udukhol Leela is a type of mandap leela,

it fulfills all the rules of mandap based performance.

Hie first main plot which begins the leela and the last episode of the leela are presented

realistically. These two episodes are interrelated and act as a outer shell which cocoon

the Balya Leela or stories of Krishna. Even though it has been secularized it is performed

within the realm of Bhakti Rasa. Another Bhava or emotion in which the ardent Vaishnav

devotees try to understand is the character of Kanhai as thief-stealing butter cream and

troubling the gopis in the leela The Vaishnav devotees in the deepest core of their hearts

understand the Rasa bhava of Kanhai or Krishna as the lord19.

The technique and style of performance of Udukhol Leela is quite similar to Gostha

I .eela. It is true that the leela of Lord Krishna is vast and varied. The talent and efforts of

the gurus in making numerous Hindu theatre forms from the Krishna cycle and enactments

need to be appreciated. It is the outcome of their huge creative and artistic exercise,

wlien the content of the Vaishnavphilosophy in dexterously weaved in the local indigenous

form, the result is a unique grandeur.

III. Goura Leela: Play of Lord Goura

Goura Leela is one of the most dramatic Hindu traditional theatre fonns. The speech,

dialogue, abhinaya and body movements are stylized and improvised. This theatre form

is ritual oriented and involves a string of ritualistic preliminaries before its performance.

( ioura Leela whichis clearly towards the realistic enactment emphasize more on songs,

dance and dialogues of common day-to-day lives. Itthus makes it one of the most popular

theatre forms. The beginning of Goura Leela (first taught by Ayekpam Leibakmacha

Singh) in Manipur was during King Chandrakirti’s time20. However there is a strong

thesis of Vaishnavite scholars tracing the beginning of Goura Leela in Narsingh’s time.

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The beginning however is quite controversial. Learned scholars like Khurai Lakpa and

Sanakhya Koh adorned his court. There is no clear mention of Goura Leela performance

in terms of date and year except as a reference during King Churchand s reign (1891-

1941). There is an entry of staging Goura Leela (in Maxupuri) in A.D. 1919 and King

Churchand’s patronage led to the development of Goura Leela performance21. The present

day Goura Leela thus is the product of long years of development under constant efforts

ofthe gurus.

The earliest form of Goura Leela as informed by the surviving Gurus is ‘Nimai Sanyasi’

episode. In the initial stage of Goura Leela, the main characters were Bharati, Madhu,

Sachimata, Bishnupriya and Abhiram. The leela began with Nityanand’s journey to Braja

and search for Sridham to start the Nabadweep leela. After Abhiram episode, Nimai

Sanyasi episode was performed. The above mentioned structure of the old form of Goura

Leela was created by Ngangbam oja Mala22. In later days, episodes like Jogai Madhai,

Tara Devi and more were added gaining an impression of a vast content that has become

varied.

Famous pandit Khurailakpa Sanakhya Koh during king Chandrakirti Singh’s reign added

“Madhumata” (Napet’s mother)23 episode. The most famous actor in Napet’s role was

late Khoidong Sharma and Kalimubi in the role/character of Madhumata. During king

Churchand’s reign, Ayekpam oja Chagemton added Abhiram Prasana, Jogai Madhai uddhar

and Trithabasi episodes24. Ngangom oja Jugindro Singh in the later stage during Maharaja

Bodhachandra Singh (1941-1955) introduced Ganga Snan, Brahma Mohon, Ganga Paar,

Samudra Patan and Thounaojam Kunjakishor Singh further added Prabhu Jamma leela25.

Both these renowned Gurus created Qajidamon.

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rhe brief historical outline of the growth and development of Goura Leela clearly

states the difference in the early Goura Leela and today’s performance. Major additions

to the present Goura Leela form were during King Churchand Singh. As a result it would

be not wrong to claim the highest mark of achievements during Maharaja Churchand

Singh. Gurus and scholars have a unanimous decision of Maharaja Churchand in shaping

the modem Goura Leela form. The essence of Goura Leela is to chant Harinam. It is

Bhakti oriented. The re-enactment of Goura Leela by the devotees is believed to be

auspicious. Goura Leela can be performed for five to six days. The rough outline of the

Goura Leela is as follows:

Brief Structural Frame work

On the first day, Goura Leela begins with Sankirtana of Nipa Macha Pala (young boys).

The leela starts with the episode of ‘Brahma Mohan’. The birth of Prabhu marks a new

turn in the Goura Leela and Prabhu is given Gangasnan. It is followed by ‘Sukritiuddhar’.

As Prabhu grows up, the episode of Sri Krishna’s Balya leela or Udukhol is enacted. The

first day of Goura Leela comes to an end with the enactment of ‘Bol Bikram’. The

second day of Goura Leela begins with the Nityananda’s Balya leela. Here Nityanand is

the manifestation of Ram’s avatar and carries a bow and arrow, a symbol of the incarnation.

Digvijay Pandit’ and ‘Jogai Madhai uddhar’ are performed and concludes with ‘Qazi

Damon’. On the third day of Goura Leela, Hilanba episode, meeting of Bharati Desai,

taking Bikhya are enacted followed by Madhumata episode. Sashi Bilap, Sarbhumb

Sangha, Advaita Bhojan and Samudra patan (jumping in the sea) are performed in order.

In the present day Goura Leela, the varied additions in the historical process, lengthened

the text starting from Balya leela to Antya leela or the end part. Because of an oversize

content, Goura Leela is extended to two/three day’s performance. Not only the episodes

of Goura Leela, but Krishna leela and Rama leela, are also added.

Performance space & setting

In ancient times though the popularity of Goura Leela was high the staging of its

performance was done with great difficulty. It was normally performed in a Mandap.

The enactment lacked the present facilities. The perfonnance space therefore was quite

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Fig.“I .

1 Sachimata sajja (the mother Sachi’s bed where the child Krishna is reared) 2. imai s and Bishnupriya bed 3. Household decor: Decoration with table, flower pots,

mat. fruits..... near the bed 4. Musicians 5. Sutra 6. Pungyeiba 7. Pungyeihaiol lower 8. Conch shell blower 9. Mandap Mapu 10. Seats for royal dignitaries

I male ) and senior elders 11. Elders (male) audience 12. Jagoi Ngakpa (keeper o f 'lie audiences)13. Space reserved for the royal ladies and brahmin women 14. Seats

for women 15. Pillars o f the mandap (12 nos.) 16. Entry7 17. Temple facing east.

simple. However, it slowly definitely underwent great changes which later attained a

complex structure.

The setting design of every Mandap (erected generally in Shumang or community place)

was the same, with slight variations depending on the investment. The Mandap was mainly

covered with reeds. Numerous medium bamboo strips criss-cross forming Keiyen (type

of ceiling) and its outermost face covered with phak (mat either made from reed or

bamboo). The nine or twelve pillars of the mandap were first wrapped with straws tied

with thin bamboo strips ipaya) and finally covered with banyan leaves. It was a technique

used by the Gurus to make the pillars look big, natural and suitable environment for the

leela. The four comers were decorated with flowers. Nowadays, beautification of the

mandap is done with readymade items.

Within the macro performance space, there are micro spaces considered sacred and

arranged beautifully. Prabhu mandir or a small space is reserved. It is decorated by

leaves, coloured papers and flowers. Another space Sachi mandir on the north is reserved,

Prabhu Sajja (bed) is placed along with few other things that give a representation of

Prabhu Sharya or personal domain. Aphak ox mat (of reeds), montek (raised seat/cushion

made of coloured velvet) for Sachi and Bishnupriya are arranged on the south. The

identification of mandali is not so important in Goura Leela. For Balya leela, associated

properties like true staircase and other items are kept on the eastern side.

Seating Arrangements

The seats for audience are classified by a strict code of decorum. On the east is Leela

Ngakpa, invited elders according to age on south and MandapMapu on the south west

facmg north. The Sutradhari along with the orchestra (which includes cymbal player,

pungyeiba, moibung khongba and other instrumentalist) occupied the north western

comer of the mandap. An air of nobility was created in the early Goura Leela

performances with hookah, khudeishal, kaoshel, etc., for the nobles.

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ActorsThe main characters of Goura Leela like Chaitnya or Nimai or Prabhu, Nitya, Abhiram

are given to the concerned families who would like their sons and daughters to have an

opportunity to participate in this kind of theatre. The roles ofthe other characters are

given to the whereabouts and acquaintances of the children in main roles. The trend of

casting roles by the Guru according to the talents and skills of the children is no longer

popular. Few Vaishnav families genuinely seek an opportunity to offer Goura Leela

performance to erase the sufferings and ill fate of their children. Though inexperienced

the Child actors due to their innocence and purity of heart could convey the essence of

the characters they are enacting to the audience. Roles like Nanda, Narad, Balbasu,

Bharati, Sachi, Jaganath Mishra, Sunanda, Jogai Madhai are enacted by well trained

professionals. They bridge up the gap of the youngsters, with their experience, humour

and skills. These professional actors including the Gurus of Goura Leela formed their

own party or group and travel extensively to perform the leelas. To cite an example,

dining King Churchand, in one of the Goura Leela staged in 1919, Thawan (August)

humni panba, Wednesday, the characters of the leela were played by the matured

professionals: Mahaprabhu by Lalhari Sharma (35), Nityanand by Nityapad (40), Bharti

by Takhellambam oja Thambalngou, etc26.

With the addition of new episodes based on Nimai childhood events the characters of

the leela are increased. Today the main roles in a Goura Leela are Sachimata, Jaganath

Mishra, Knti Pandit, Nartini, Bol Bikok, Brahma Mohon, Subol, Krishna, Sukriti Brahmni,

Qaji Damon, Nityanand, Prabhu, Abhiram, Tara, Jogai, Madhai, Dwaipal, Children bhaktas,

DigvijayPandit, Saraswati, Bishnupriya, KeshavBharati, Madhumata andNapet. AGoura

Leela party ponsists of eight to ten actors and actresses. The roles are interchanged.

One performer enacts three or four characters in a Goura Leela. As a result, the basic

four or five main professionals interchange the roles ofthe Goura Leela performance.

Some ofthe renown Gurus during the time of King Churchand came to be known by the

characters they portrayed instead of their real names.

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Costume and Make upThe attire or costume of Goura Leela performance is set in close reality to the specific

characters as perceived by the human mind. The costume is designed after understanding

the merit of the characters based on Bhava Rasa, aesthetics, colour, comfort and

synchronized with the native tastes. The costumes of Gopas, Nanda, Jogai Madhai, etc.

of the Goura Leela are the typical costume of Manipur. In the past the actors and actresses

used certain items to beautify or to identify the character portrayed. The absence of

modem makeup brands in those days was substituted by alternatives like chalk, sindoor,

soot, oil, turmeric, etc.

Sources & Performance TextThe story of Goura Leela is based on the life history of Lord Gouranga as depicted in

Brindavandas’s Chaitanya Bhagavat, Krishnadas’s Chaitanya Charita Mitra, Kabibhupati’s

Gouranga lilamrityas, etc27. The script of Goura Leela is a mixture of languages like

Sanskrit Bengali and Brajaboli. Evenhindi words are also used. Improvisations in die

languages are made according to die type of events enacted. For e.g. in Goura Leela to

connect with Braja leela in ‘Sridham Milan”, and in many other such cases, dialogue is

set up mainly in Brajaboli phrases and sentences. This is one aspect of Goura Leela that

makes it very theatrical and dramatic. Nowadays, except few episodes greater part of

the Goura Leela is in Manipuri language. The using of Manipuri however helps the

audience to understand the essence of die leela better.

Sutra singers vary from four to five. It can be more or less depending on the number of

episodes to be performed. The main musical instruments are Khol, Ram Taal, flute even

Harmonium. There are songs which express the inner meanings or rasa bhava of the

specific enactment The gestures and dances or body movements are typical Manipuri

style different from outside. The body languages are purely from Lai haraoba, Raas

leela and Nata Sankhtana forms.

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Training & PreliminariesRehearsals and practices are quite frequent before staging Goura Leela. The Guru or the

head of the performance will provide the general story line. A script regarding the

sequences and dialogue of all the characters are prepared in advance. The actors or

performers need to be acquainted with the lines, songs or dance according to the script

or plots. In ancient times the teaching or training of the actors was in oral tradition.

Records of the legendary Gurus showed scribbling of dance steps, Songs and few lines

in pages of their record book known as “Corbek”. This could probably be referred as

their script in one point of time. The scripts of modem Goura Leela comparatively are

more refined and clear in the building up of plots and climaxes. The actors and those

involved in the Goura Leela observed many preliminary rituals. These rituals are mainly

centred on the conscious observance for performing the Goura Leela successfully. After

dressing up, the performers worship the respective deities and personified as the real

characters. Puja is performed and adhivas concludes with aarati puja. Meanwhile audiences

assemble to be a part of it by offering Bhakti prem.

Performance Structure

The main structure of Goura Leela begins with Hari Sankirtana either in the form of

Mangalacharan or Purvaranga by Nipamacha Nata Sankirtana pala. The Nipamacha pala

(all young boys) sing Goura chandrika invoking the Bhakti rasa and ends with the release

of Mel. The Nipamacha pala performers are young boys between the age group of eight

to ten years. They wear saffron pheijont (dhoti) with black borders and kwangyet or

waist band of white cloth. They put urik (a type of rosary made of tulsi plant), lugoon

0upnqyan thread), Sandal tilak, bangles and garlands.

The Arangpham offers Lei chandan service to the pala dignitaries. After the lei chandan

service, three actors enacting the roles of the deities stand up and shout ‘Haribol’ thrice.

Everybody reply “Hare Hare”. The drummer begins RagaAchouba. Along with cymbal

music the young boys perform exactly like the Nata Sankhtanapala. Goura Leela episode

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begins with the end ofthe Mangalacharan or Purvaranga. Some ofthe mam episodes of

Goura Leela are discussed irrespective of their sequence to study the presence ofthe

elements of traditional theatre.

Brahma MohonThe Goura Leela begins with Brahma Mohan episode. It is the re-enactment o f how

Lord Brahma stole the calves in order to test Lord Krishna’s power in the Dwapur Yuga.

In Kali Yuga Lord Krishna incarnated as Lord Gouranga and his best sakha Subol as

Gouridas, to play all the leelas again. While Lord Knshna was tending cows with his

friends, Lord Brahma disappeared with Lord Krishna’s sakhas and calves. Lord Knshna

realized the plan of Lord Brahma and used his own Maya or power. Lord Brahma later

asked for forgiveness and Brahma Mohan ends. In the enactment of this episode, Sutra

chants slokas and sings in between. There is exchange of dialogue between Lord Krishna

and Subol and with Lord Brahma. There are dance movements, songs, expressive gestures

in the performance.

Prabhu Jamma

The Brahma Mohan episode creates a conducive environment to celebrate the birth of

Prabhu Gouranga or Parbhu Jamma. Advaita comes out chanting harinam and deliver a

message that the time has come for Lord Krishna to reborn again, infusing the spirit of

Bhakti, love and harinam in Kali yuga. Advaita honours the Lord with a Puja at River

Ganges. While Advaita offers the puja, Sachimata is taking bath near the river bank. The

flowers put by Advaita in the water with a strange power form a garland and fell on

Sachi’s neck. Sachi being shocked to witness an extraordinary power of God remain

still for some time. She enquires about it to Advaita. Sutra narrates the sequence one by

one to the audience. Advaita is pleased knowing Sachi as the chosen one. Sachi hurriedly

returns home. She shares everything to her husband Jaganath Mishra. Sutra in one ofthe

song presentation narrates the pregnancy and birth of Gouranga (union of Radha &

Krishna) to the blessed Sachimata to fulfill the promises made by Lord Krishna to Smt.

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Radha atNabadweep in Kali Yuga.

Waking up of Gouranga & Balya LeelaAs Prabhu Gouranga grows up, he played many leelas and was popular atNabadweep for

his mischievous yet adorable character. In Balya leela episode, JaganathMishra complains

to Sachimata as Gouranga is not around the house. Sachi: Nimai is still in sound sleep.

Thakur Mishra: It is already quite late, why don’t you wake him up? Sachi enacts the act

of waking up Nimai (sleeping in the bed) by singing songs. The song describes the beauty

of the morning sunrise, the sweet fragrance of the flowers, birds chirping and the sounds

of Radha Govinda. Nimai keeps on sleeping. Sachi lifts Nimai and bring out to pray to

Suryadev (sun). Sachi mata tells thepunglon (drum beats) and insists Nimai to dance.

She is delighted to see his son dancing joyfully. However, Nimai scatters all the flowers

and Tulsi leaves offered to Suryadev. Immediately Nimai stands in bhangi pose. Sachi:

Nimai, what have you done? Nimai: I am the Lord, pray tome. Sachi: Don’t say like that,

it is inauspicious. Nimai: pray to me. Sachi raises her hand to stop him. Nimai run away,

fell down and starts crying. Unable to bear with his misbehaviour Sachi resorts to Mishra.

Jaganath Mishra tries to correct his son but Nimai goes on playing the pranks. Sachi

prays to Surya to forgive his son. With this Balya leela or waking up of Nimai by Sachi

mata comes to an end.

Ganga Snan

In Ganga snan episode Nimai insists his father to take him to river Ganga to take bath.

Nimai’s brother Vishwarup also follows to take bath. Nimai: Father, I will compete with

my elder brother in swimming. I can beat him, easily. Mishra looks at Vishwarup with a

curious smile. Visharup: I agree father. Both the brothers compete for the races in which

young Nimai comes out as winner. Mishra teaches the mantra to be chanted during Ganga

Snan to his two sons. They return home and Mishra hands over the naughty Nimai to

Sachi. Sutra plays an importantrole in singing out themajor developments ofthe story to the audience.

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Bol BikramIn Bol Bikram episode one woman comes out carrying sweets and eatables for Nimai.

Her character is called ‘Nartini’ by Gurujans. Nartini on her journey to Nimai’s place

sings and calls Nimai to eat her sweets. Bol Bikram, two brothers who use to steal and

indulge in robbery are the main characters of this event. They dress up like Bengali

traders. Both the brothers decide to meet Nimai as his name has become quite famous

and to get the lucky stone he wears on his neck. However they have no faint idea about

Nimai. So, in this episode as a part of the development of a major plot, Bol Bikram wish

for the help of someone who is acquainted with Nimai. Suddenly they hear Nartim singing

Nimai’s glory. Bikram: oh, someone is coming singing Nimai - Nimai, I will definitely

enquire about Nimai. Bikram stops her. He enquires what she is carrying on her head.

Nartini tells the truth to Bikram. Bikram exchanges a brief dialogue with Nartini on

Nimai. Bikram finally tells Nartini to give the sweets to him so that they will also have

a chance to meet Nimai. Nartini denies and the two brothers snatch the sweets and offer

to Nimai. Bikram lure Nimai of more sweets at their place. Nimai requests Bikram to

give a ride on his back. Bikram takes off the necklace from Nimai’s neck as it would be

uncomfortable and instead put on his neck. Bikram lost track and after turning round and

round reach the same spot where he offered sweets to Nimai. Bikram puts Nimai down

and suddenly realizes that he is carried off in a whirl of Maya and find himself standing

at Nimai’s house. He run to save himself and laments for his misdeeds.

Sukriti Brahmin sequence

In the well known Sukriti Brahmin episode, Sukriti Brahmin a great Krishna devotee

visits Jaganath Mishra. Mishra introduces himself to Sukriti Brahmin. He gives the honour

and respect for the learned man. Mishra calls his wife Sachi to look into the needs &

requirements of the Brahmin. Sachi comes out with Nimai and bow to Sukriti Brahmin.

A light conversation is performed between Sukriti, Mishra and Sachi. Sukriti Brahmin

cooks the food for himself and offered to Lord Krishna. Nimai mess up the food. Sachi

blames it to the monkeys. Mishra finds Nimai eating the food. He scolds Nimai not to

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commit such mistakes. Nimai try to defend himself by stating that the food is offered to

Him by the Brahmin. Mishra rather gets angry with Sachi as she fails to correct Nimai s

mischievous acts. After a brief conversation, Suknti prepares the food again. Nimai

troubles die Brahmin by eating the offerings of Lord Knshna. Mishra tries to stop Nimai.

In between Sutra presents a song which correlates Nimai’s behaviour with Braja leela

Lord Krishna. Sachimata then sings a song in continuation lamenting the mischievous

actions of Nimai. Sukriti Brahmin prepares the food again. Finally everybody goes off

to sleep. Nimai gives the ‘Bhangi Mtirti’ Vision to Sukriti Brahmin. Suknti Brahmin

offers prayer to young Nimai, realizing that Nimai is none other than his Lord.

Nityanand Balya LeelaIn Nityanand Balya Leela, child actors personify the roles of Rama, Ravana and Hanuman

to re-enact the play based on Rama & Ravana in Treta Yuga. Harai Pandit enters: oh, all

of you want to play the leela of Rama & Ravana. Go on. Nitya: Mukund, you play the

role of Ravana and Damoder you can play Hanuman. Hari Pandit: Start die leela we are

ready to watch i t The character Ravana starts giving dialogue to Lakshmana. Their

argument turns out to be hot and finally settle with waging weapons on each other. The

Pandit and Padmabati stop the children as one of them got hurt. They chant the basis.

They asked the Children to chant Harinam again and again. Sankraranya comes in the\

space for bikhya (seeking alms). Harai Pandit: help this sage with rice and dal. Sankra:

1 am here not for rice and dal. Hari Pandit: Why don’t you ask then? Sankra: Please give

Kubera as Bikhya. Padmapati intervenes the impossibility of giving away someone’s

son as Bikhya. Kuber also insist his parents as it is the will of God. Finally Nityanand

bid farewell to his parents./

Qazi Udhar

The Qazi Udhar episode opens with king Mulak anticipating Qazi Saheb. Qazi enters,

wish the king and takes his seat. King Mulak then ask Qazi to go for an inspection to

check if the market is properly naming or not. Qazi invites the king for participation

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too. As they move for inspection all the shopkeepers wish to Qazi and Mulak. They

return from the market after a joint Nawaz (prayer). Qazi: Your lord, Rahim Sheikh of

our area has changed into Haridas and loiters around with Hindus singing processional

songs glorifying Harinam. We need to give him a lesson. Haridas enters with other

bhaktas nhanting Harinam. The king orders to bring Haridas to Him. Haridas explained

that as he is a true bhakta or devotee of Lord Krishna nothing could stop him from

chanting harinam King Mulak talks to Handas to convert back into Muslim fold. Haridas

clarifies slowly and wins the hearts of Ghovan. Qazi intervenes their conversation

requesting King Mulak to punish Haridas for his deeds. Mulak: what have you done for

shattering the image of a community’s religion? You need to show a puranic text that

confirms his ideology. The king put Haridas in an ordeal, to survive from continuous

beating (as suggested by Qazi) until he accepts Islam again. Haridas bears all the beatings

but keeps on chanting Harinam. At the end he emerges as a winner. King Mulak gives

Haridas the permission to be a Hindu and chants God’s name everywhere at his free will.

Finally king Mulak and Ghovan crowd realize their mistakes and begged for forgiveness.

Digvijay episode

Keshav Digvijay a renouned scholar from Kashmir after conquering various place with

his intelligence and knowledge on Ved Shastra reach Sridham Nabadweep. At Nabadweep,

Prabhu’s devotees glorify the wisdom of Nimai especially in Grammar shastra. The

devotees mention the need to remove ego and pride of Kashmir Pandit to Nimai. They

visit Digvijay pandit to convey the message of Nimai Pandit. Digvijay joins the crowd

and introduce himself to Nimai Pandit. The episode is a type of intellectual debate to

judge the wisdom of the two scholars. Nimai Pandit: I want you to mention some qualities

of Ganga in front of us. Digvijay recites a series of slokas on the River Ganges. Nimai

Pandit reviews a single phrase of Digvijay sloka recitation. He corrects the wrong

grammar of die sloka. The ardent devotees tease Digvijay Pandit to shed his ego and

pride. Digvijay Panditfeels humiliated and perform puja to seek blessing ofSaraswati.

Goddess Saraswati enlightens Digvijay in his dream. Digvijay Pandit achieves the true

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knowledge with divine grace. Digvijay’s sole purpose In life after that incident is to

chant Harinam.

Abhiram SangaIn this episode Naimai Prabhu call all his friends to play together. Nitya insists prabhu

to go with other sakhas as he is unwell. Nimai expresses his gried of not knowing where

Abhiram has gone. Nitya: I knowhow in Sri Brindavan’s (GovardhanNikunja) we played

with Abhiram. The flashback or the journey back to Braja leela is narrated by Sutra

singers. The sutra highlights how the Gopas with Kanhai performed the leelas in Brindavan.

As one of the plot of the leela, Nitya goes back to the days of Brindavan Leela in Dwarpur

Yuga. He looks for Stidham in the Kunja forest. As they meet, Nitya informs Sridham

that his lord Kanhai and Sakha are bom in Kaliyuga as ‘ Gouranga’. Nitya insists Sridham

to follow him towards Nabadweep to meet Lord Nimai or Gouranga. Nimai is glad to

see him. He gives Sridham a new birth as Abhiram. Nimai: where have you been for so

long Abhiram? Abhiram: I have always been with you and I will be there for you bowing

down in your lotus feet. Prabhu then lifts Abhiram and the episode concludes which

being spiritual contentment to the audience28.

Jogai Madhai

The scene opens with a group of devotees praising the re-union of Abhiram & Nimai.

Their songs give prior information of how lord Nimai is going to cleanse the sins of

Jogai Madhai brothers. Nimai enters the space to meet Nitya for spreading the message

to chant Hariman. In between Sutra mentions the coming of Tara (in the space) singing

Harinam. Tara: when will I experience the blissful day of being blessed by Goura. Oh

Lord, you are the saviour of the downtrodden... Sutra narrates a sloka of the coming in

of Jogai Madhai. (The brothers are dressed in funny costumes) Jogai shouts to Madhai

to go and bring the women who is crying pathetically at Nabadweep. Madhai following

his elder brother’s command went in search and found out the women to be Tara Devi.

Jogai Madhai mockingly consoles her. Tara: Ihave one unfulfilled wish that’s why I am

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crying. Jogai Madha convinces Tara to give her everything she desires and wants. Tara

requests them to join her to witness Sri Gouranga Sankirtana at Nabadweep. Madhai

stops Tara not to mention Goura’s name. Tara goes on pressing them to chant Harinaam.

It infuriates the two brothers. Jogai Madhai get angry due to Tara’s stubbornness. They

trouble her. Tara goes on calling Goura. Jogai Madhai exchanges a short conversation of

how Lord Goura and his followers are making everyone crazy. Both of them drink wine

to their heart’s content and fell down unconscious. Nimai meets them on their way. One

11 f the disciples inform Nimai that the two brothers are high class Brahmins.

After the Sankirtana, Madhai warns Gadadhar to stop such nonsense otherwise threatens

him with a stick. Jogai Madhai make taunting remarks but Gadadhar keeps on insisting

them to chant harinam as it is the only way to attain salvation in Kaliyuga. Nitya and

I lari das report the inconveniences of meeting Jogai Madhai to Nimai. Nimai tells the

Bhaktas to perform Sankirtana again. Madhai comes charging and argues with Nitya.

M adhai out of anger hit with the pot on Nitya’s forehead. Nitya fell down on the ground

unconsciousness immediately. Nimai takes care of Nitya. He went out of anger wish for

‘ charka’ to kill Jogai Madhai. Nitya immediately stop prabhu from punishing the two

foolish brothers. Jogai admits their mistake and plead for forgiveness. Madhai also

prays for forgiveness. Nimai forgive both Jogai Madhai brothers. The scene concludes

with and Sankirtana where all the actors raise up their hands in the loud chants of Harinam.

The Jogai Madhai episode incorporates a great amount of dialogue, responses from

audience, space improvisations, body gestures and abhinaya. Apart from its religious

based plot within the structures, the Jogai Madhai is a hilarious episode. The Jogai Madahi

being Brahmins in the beginning wear Ajmeri dress but nowadays their dress almost

resembles that of a wrestler. Within the Goura Leela, Jogai Madhai are taken as comic

characters because of their funny gestures, rhythmic speech delivery, carrying of liquor,

etc. Their characters are loved and liked by the audience.

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Nimai Sanyasi

N imai Sanyasi is the most important part of Goura Leela. Sutra begins the episode with

a song. Kesav Bharati comes out in the performance space chanting harinam. Bharati

presents a song and enquires about ‘Bishambar ’ to a young boy. Kesav sends the boy to

convey the message to Bishambar that a Gosai has come to meet him. Nimai gets the

message, comes near ‘Bharati’ and honour him with respect. Bharati reminds Nimai to

fulfill the promise of his last birth and the arrival of the right time to take Sanyasi.

Nimai is blessed by Keshav Bharati. Sachimata hears the news from others. She enquires

her son Nimai if he is going to take sanyasi. Nimai denies which give momentary relief

to her mother.

Sutra begins ‘pheroi thaba dhop’ and sings the tension building up in Prabhu’s mind.

Prabhu is pleased in Jogai Madhai salvation. However he is caught and restless on the

question of sanyasi. The climax develops plot by plot, bringing out the full theatrical

elements of Goura Leela. Sutra continues singing expressing the inner thoughts of Nimai.

Bishnupriya enters like a blooming lotus mad in Goura prem Bhakti. She takes care of

Prabhu and performs charan seva to the Lord. She is aware of the lord wish to take

sanyas. She asks Nimai to clarify her doubts. Prabhu denies it and teaches her the basic

lessons of pure bhakti and love which is beyond Maya. Sutra through songs narrates the

tension between Nimai & Bishnupriya building up within the plot. Prabhu wishes to he

down for a while. Bishnupriya ties the end of her cloth to that of Prabhu’s khwangchet

(waist band cloth) to notice if Prabhu walk away. She stays awake until she goes off to

sleep by the power of Prabhu. Nimai gets up slowly and untie the knot. He takes off all

the ornaments. He is destined to take a new journey leaving behind the symbolic external

relationship with his wife Bishnupriya, his mother, his home, his birth place Nabadweep

and his loving disciples. He bows to Srimad Bhgavata, symbolically seeks blessings

from Sachimata and Bishnupriya in his thoughts.

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Prabhu crosses river Ganga (through the episode of Nimai hi-lanba or Nimai’s crossing

by boat) and meet Bharati. Bharati: Have you taken Sachimat’s permission for sanyasi.

Prabhu returns home to obey Kesav Bharati. Prabhu thought of ways and means to take

the blessing of Sachimata. An idea strikes his mind. He climbs up the treegrowing in

front of his house. He sings like a cuckoo (or Kokil). Being unaware that her son is out

of the house and believing that Nimai is still sleeping, Sachimata delivers a dialogue.

Cuckoo go away, your place is Brindavan where you can sing the glory of Radha and

Krishna. Your cooing is disturbing my son’s sleep... This episode is known as kokil

bidai ” or biding goodbye to cuckoo. It is a very emotional scene expressing multi-

Bhavarasa.

Sutra narrates (through 13th sloka) how Bishnupriya wakes up and in Nimmai’s absence

Bishnupriya goes mad and she keeps on crying. The leela now depicts the pain, agony

and pang of separation. Bishnupriya laments of leaving her alone. She removes her sindoor

(mark of her marriage to Prabhu) and goes crying to Sachi mandir (Sachis’s room). She

narrates sachimata about Gouranga leaving home for sanyasi. Hearing the news Sachimata

is so hurt thatthe pain makes her unconscious. Sachi then sings expressing her heart has

gone with Nimai at Brindavan. Sutra’s song intervenes informing the audience how

Sachimata and Bishnupriya searched Gouranga the whole day and night. They enquire

about Prabhu to his bhaktas and the people around. Everyone lament the Sanyas dharma

of Lord Gouranga.

On the other side Kesav Bharti and Nimai are waiting for the right moment to initiate

into Sanyasi. Bharati tells Prabhu to go to Napet (barber) to shave off his head. Prabhu

goes to Baba Madhu to clean the head for Sanyas. Baba Madhu, after a tiring day is

shown lying down. He shouts back to Prabhu to come the next day. Nimai persuades

Baba Madhu to agree. Madhu tries to scare Nimai with a stick. Madhumata stops Madhu

and sings a song of Gouranga form. Nimai confides everything to Madhumata. She shares

her sorrows for Sachimata & Bishnupriya and requestsNimai to go back home. Finally,

Madhu shavesKrishna’shead. Nimai takes therituaibath atGangaRiver. Bharati dresses

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up Nimai with the sanyasi attire (saffron attire) and Nimai askes Bharati to teach the

mantra. He is blessed by all the Gods. After the completions of all the formalities,

Nimai offers dakhina to Gurudev Bharti. Nimai goes for bikhya (seeking alms) in the

surrounding village and proceeds for Brindavan.

As Nimai is loitering around in search of enroute to Brindavan, he enquires about it to

young cow tenders. The cowherds point towards Shantipur (as conspired by Nitya) for

Brindavan. Nitya comes out in the scene and wrongly informs Shantipur as Brindavan

and Ganga River as Yamuna to Nimai. Prabhu jumps into Ganga river thinking as yamuna,

meanwhile Advaita also enters and corrects Prabhu’s wrong perception. They cross the

river and reach Advaita temple. He prepares food in the sequence known as Advaita

Bhojan. Sutra glorify the moments in the songs.

Sankirtana and aarati are offered. In another version, Sachimata with Prabhu’s disciples

visit Advaita temple and meet Prabhu. Then Prabhu takes his own joumey while Sachimata

with others come back to Nabadweep. The 13th sloka of Sutra comes to an end. The

short story of the journey of Prabhu from Shantipur to Kshetra as narrated in the 14th

sloka of Sutra is rarely performed which includes the episode of Sarbhumb Sanga. The

rich manifestation of a stylized dialogue delivery, dance, songs, body movements,

gestures, abhinaya, antiphonal singing, space improvisation, classification of sub plots

within macro plots, rhythms and tune are the influences of a rich local culture.

The real beginning of Goura Leela was with Nimai Sanyasi but later lengthened due to

many additions. The one day performance led to three or four days. There are episodes

which are more liked by the devotees. In the ‘hilanba’ episode (crossing the river by

boat), the choreography, expression, gestures and dialogue delivery straight away touch

the heart, mind and soul of the audience. The audiences including children shed tears in

this painful episode of Goura Leela’s Nimai Sanyasi. But the kind of quality which was

witnessed a decade ago is declining as the actors are in a rash to complete the sequences

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within the allotted time frame.

It is true that Goura Leela has become more complete but somehow the essence or soul

of Goura Leela is diverted from its body. As the performance text broadened the main

performance of Nimai Sanyasi (Goura Leela) has now taken the form of Ramayana and

Mahabharata. Much of the emotional episodes like Sachi Bilap, Kokil Bidai and Advaita

Bhojan are neglected nowadays. The songs are not sung properly. The efficiency of

Sutra singers is reduced. The present day generations are facing problem in sparing

time for two or three days. The out of proportion size of Goura Leela text necessitates

dividing the episodes or events on relevant specific days. The young actors especially

children need to be encouraged and trained. The actors’ clear understanding of the roles

will enable to attract huge crowd as it used to do few decades back.

The body once infused by the spirit or soul, experience growth, expansion and

development. And it led to the emergence of Vaishnav traditional Goura Leela theatre

form - yet again to sing the glory of Harinam as a means to attain salvation by the

Vaishnav’s ardent devotees. The form and codified structure of Asian theatre seen in

such traditional theatre plays an important role in shaping and enhancing the form of

Manipuri theatre.

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End Notes:225

I A. Shyamsunder,Manipurgi ShumangLeelaAmasung theatre, (Imphal: Manipur Sahitya

Parishad, 1980), p. 11.

: Surchand Sharma, Proceedings o f Manipuri Dance Seminar 1971, (Imphal: Manipur State

KalaAkademi, 1975), pp. 193-194.

3 L. Ibungohal andN. Khelchandra Singh, CheitharolKumbaba, (Imphal: Manipur Sahitya

Parishad, 1966), pp. 248 & 269.

4L. MangiandL. Mani, Vijaipanchali, Vol. Ill, (Imphal, 1974), pp. 152-153.

5 Surchand Sharma, Sri Govindajee Gostha Leela: Meilei Jagoi, 14th Part, (Imphal: R.B.

Printing House, 1993), p. 43.

6 The Dwadas Gopal as mentioned in Gostha Leela were Sridham, Subol, Sudam, StokKnshna,

Gadadhar and Bhadrasen.

7 The cartwheel episode from ancient times was performed after Madhumangol khel. However,

the audience move out to get the front seats of the next lamthokpa leela episode to be held in a

nearby field. So this episode was encouraged to bring up form its normal sequence and

inserted in between the leela during King Churchand under the auspicious guidance of the Guru

Ningthoujam Thambou as cited in Surchand Sharma, Meitei Jagoi, part III, (Imphal: 1970),

p. 25.

8 Aunique kind of symbolic representation is also seen in the decoration of the seats if the

phiranjee (carpet type) is covered with white cloth, it is for the king and queen.

9 W. Bhagirath, “Gostha Leela, Udukhol, Goura Leela and other leelas”, paper presented at

Seminar on Manipuri Theatre: Past & Present, (Imphal: Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance

Academy, 12th & 13th January, 1980).

Hidangmayum Chandrika Devi, Manipur da Gouriya Vaishnav dharma andpunsiga

sagonmba thouramsing\ an unpublished thesis submitted to Manipur University.

II Surchand Sharma, Meitei Jagoi (Udukhol) vol. 9, (Imphal: 1971)p. iv.

12 W. Bhagirath, op. cit., p. 3.

13 Surchand Sharma, op. cit., p. i.

; Ibid, p . i.

SrimadBhagavata, vo///translated by J. Sanyal, (New Delhi: MunshiramMarcharlal pub.

Pm. Ltd, 1973), p. 38.

' Gurumayum Ibopishak Sharma, personal interview.

The Pandya ruler due to the curse of Durvasha rishi turned into a demon, Trinabarta.

’ In order to fulfill the Udukhol it is believed that some gurus consciously sent Yashoda to the

Yamuna River, so that Kanhai performs the leela elaborately.

' As Krishna is the Lord, everything belonged to him and it is the human beings that take away

everything from him. With this belief the audience accepts the depiction ofKrishna as a butter

stealer and experience the spiritual enlightenment with each moment of his leela.

' Phurailatpam Iboton Sharma, MeiteiPhijetLeiteng, (Imphal, 1990), p. 32.

W. Bhagiratha, op. dt.

- ; SorkahibamNarain Singh, “Shri Shri Goura Leela”, Paper presented onManipur Jagoi

Seminar, Organized by Manipur State Kala Akademi, Imphal, May22,1977.

1 Elangbam Nilakanta Singh, “Present Trends in Goura Leela”, Paper presented on Goura

U'ela Seminar, Organized by Manipur State Kala Akademi, Imphal, September 1,1986.

Ibid.

' Ibid.

' W. Bhagirath, op. cit.

;7 Ibid.

■' The most famous actor portraying the role of Abhiram till now is “Ibomcha Sharma.” (As told

by the famous Goura Leela Guru, Narain Singh.)

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Photo 15 : Nandalaya episode in Gostha Leela.(Courtesy: M.S.K.A.)

i t A |«MM liinrtilfn ot ptocession(Courtesy: M.S.KA)

Photo 20 : Bakasur badha or killing of Bakasur demon by Krishna.

Photo 2 1 : Sequence in Udukhol leela.

Photo 22 : Goura leela (Painted by l\l. Bhadra Singh, 1861-1927)( Courtesy: M utua Museum )

Photo 23 : Taking Sanyasi (ascetic life) by young Nimai or Chaitanya.