RAMLILA

Subject: Art & Culture

Context: The world famous Ramnagar Ramlila – which many consider to be the oldest in the world, being over 200 years old – began in Varanasi.

Concept:

• The Traditional performance of Ramayana was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.
• Ramlila, literally means “Rama’s play”, is a performance based on Ramayana epic. Ramlila recalls the battle between Rama and Ravana and consists of a series of scenes that include song, narration, recital and dialogue.
• Ramlila is performed during the festival of Dussehra every year across northern India. Out of them the most representative Ramlilas are performed in Ayodhya, Vrindavan, Almora, Sattna, Madhubani, Ramnagar and Benares.
• Staging of Ramlila is based on the Ramacharitmanas. Ramlilas recount episodes from the Ramacharitmanas through a series of performances. Ramacharitmanas are sacred texts devoted to the glory of Rama. It was composed in the Awadhi dialect of Hindi by Tulsidas in the 16th century with an objective of making the Sanskrit epic available to all.
• The performance of Ramlila lasts for ten to twelve days, but Ramlilas performed in some places like Ramnagar may last for an entire month. The Ramlila holds the distinction of bringing the whole population together, without distinction of caste, religion or age.
• However, in the recent past owing to the development of mass media the play has experienced reduction in the audience thereby losing its principal role of bringing people and communities together.

Additonal Information: Khon Ramlila

• Khon Ramlila is a masked form of Ramlila art of Thailand.
• It’s a form of masked dance depicting the scenes of Ramlila. It has no dialogues and background voices narrate the whole story of Ramayana. It is also famous for its beautiful attire and golden masks.
• It is included in the list of UNESCO’s Intangible cultural heritage.