Ras purple

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Radha and Krishna dance purple on the bank of the Yamuna , surrounded by cowherdesses (gopis). Indian miniature from Jaipur , 19th century

Ras lila ( Hindi रास लीला , IAST rāsa-līlā), also Raslila , is a religious dance theater, whose origins lie in the historical region of Braj in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and which belongs to the Bhakti cult in Hinduism . It is performed in large parts of India by dance troupes from this region and also in a completely different form in the Manipuri dance style of the northeast Indian state of Manipur . Around Vrindavan in the Braj region play the mythical stories of the young god Krishna , his lover Radha and the cowherdesses ( Gopis ), as they are passed down in the Bhagavatapurana , in Gitagovinda and in writings from the 17th to 19th centuries.

In the dance of Krishna ras ( rāsa ) is expressed: the Sanskrit term stands for “mystical emotion” and “sweet feeling” in the field of drama and poetry, as well as for “circle” and “dance”, the form of representation for spreading this emotion . Lila denotes the enjoyable, entertaining game according to divine will. Ras lila is considered to be the forerunner of the classic kathak dance style.

The two main characters and the Gopis are portrayed by boys in Braj, the other actors are male adults. The costumes come from the courtly culture of the Mughal times . According to the performance tradition established in the 16th century, the performances take place outdoors on circular, in some cases covered, stages. The best known are the performances on the occasion of the annual festival at the beginning of spring ( Holi ) and at Krishna's birth ( Janmashtami ).

origin

As the for the worship of Rama belonging Ram lila is ras purple a devotional theatrical tradition. Together with the Krishna cult, it goes back to Vedic times, when the forms of theater, which always consisted of dance, dramatic action, song and music, developed from religious rituals with which human gods were worshiped. In the aftermath of the ancient Indian rituals, both the early classic are Sanskrit theater and the subsequent popular religious ritual traditions such as Kutiyattam , Theyyam , mudiyett , Ayyappan tiyatta and krishnattam in Kerala , Kattaikkuttu in Tamil Nadu , Prahlada nataka in Orissa or Chhau and Gambhira in West Bengal . The development of entertainment theater, which at least partially also includes mythological themes and some of which in northern India belong to the swang environment, went parallel to the classical tradition .

The emergence of Indian theater began with the desire to please the gods with dance and music, according to folk tradition. Bharata describes the underlying myth of the development of the theater in his work Natyashastra ( shastra , "writing / instruction" about the "drama", natya ), which was also composed of the music theory of Gandharva of the time . After Indra had declared that it was not good for a god to appear as an actor in a play himself, Brahma asked the priests and came to Bharata, whom he asked to learn the arts of theater from him together with his 100 sons. Bharata agreed, and so it was that he put on the first play. It was about the victory of the gods over the demons. Musicians, singers and nymphs ( apsaras ), which Brahma had specially created, contributed to the entertainment . In order to ward off the malicious influence of the demons, Brahma decreed that the gods should perform a sacrificial ritual ( yajna ) and that the performers should perform a homage ( puja ) before the performance . The sequence and elements of the drama are dealt with in detail in Natyashastra .

The first performances were less plays than dialogues ( sanvadas ) in the entertainment language Prakrit , in which Krishna or Shiva were the focus. The appearance of all Gopis at the grand finale was particularly attractive. The scholar Patanjali is attributed the work Mahābhāṣya (around 150 BC), which is regarded as the earliest reference to a Krishna drama. A distinction is made between three forms of representation according to increasing visualization: (1) the appearance of the storyteller ( granthikas ), (2) showing images of individual scenes and (3) the dramatic staging with physical means of expression ( abhinaya ). The narrator may have begun to make his speaking role somewhat expansive, later he illustrated his lecture by showing painted pictures, which was then called mankha vidha . Such picture scenes had been around since at least the 6th century BC. Known. Mankhaliputra Goshala, a follower of the Ajivika sect and contemporary of Mahavira , is said to have made use of them. Even today, the Bengali patuas present scrolls ( pat ) while they tell stories, as do the spirits ( bhutas ) expelling priests ( bhopas ) of Rajasthan and the tribesmen of the Thakar of Maharashtra . Possibly in the 2nd century a form of acting had developed from this, for which Bhasa , the first known Indian playwright and father of the Sanskrit drama, wrote eight plays, which mainly deal with the life of Krishna.

Shrinathji, the blue-skinned Krishna boy at the age of seven. Painting in the Shrinathji Temple in Nathdwara , a Vishnuit pilgrimage near Udaipur in Rajasthan. Late 19th century

Bhasa called Krishna a sutradhara who pulls the strings ( sutra , "thread") in the universal drama of life. This is how the master of ceremonies or theater director is respectfully named, who greets the audience in the prelude purvaranga and guides them through the program as a commentator. In the piece Balacharitam, the oldest surviving ras lila , it becomes clear that the source for many of the adventures depicted was folk tradition. It begins with the birth of Krishna in Mathura on a stormy night. The five acts deal with further episodes from the life of Krishna: The evil giantess Putana, daughter of the demon king Bali , wants to kill the young Krishna by offering him her poisoned breasts. Krishna sees through her intention, sucks all the milk out of her and thereby kills her. Krishna cuts off the head of the asura (demon) Pralambha, who disguised himself as a cowherd. This happens at a time when Krishna and his brother Balarama have to look after cows in the forest of Vrindavan and there they also have to kill the demon Dhenuka who controls a piece of forest nearby. In another heroic deed, Krishna defeats the poisonous snake Kalia, which lives in the Yamuna River and has already killed many people and cows that had fallen into the water. Krishna jumps after a ball that he has thrown into the water. In the river he defeats the snake and finally reappears dancing on its five heads. The piece ends with the adult Krishna, whose main task is to free the world from the tyrant Kamsa . Kamsa had disempowered his father, declared himself ruler of Mathura and forbade the Vishnu cult. He had Krishna's father Vasudeva and his mother Devaki imprisoned and murdered six of their eight children. Krishna survived in the care of foster parents. Krishna kills the two wrestlers Chanur and Mustik in a competition, finally Kamsa himself and puts the rightful King Ugrasena back on the throne.

These stories are popular with audiences to this day; Playwrights tell them over and over again. In the third act of Balacharitam , Bhasa describes popular forms of singing and dancing. All the cowherd boys and girls dance the hallisaka dance with Krishna and Balarama . The men dance like oxen all night, making enjoyable sounds. They are accompanied by the drum dindima . The Dindima counted aloud the Natyashastra with Bheri, dundubhi and others to form a group of particularly loud processional and war drums with indefinite pitch, the shape of which is not described in detail (it was probably questionable celled tube drums ). These drums did not play with other instruments. The hallisaka was the forerunner of the ras dance as described in the later Puranas . Over time, the dance focused more and more on the person of Krishna, so first the cowherd men and then disappeared until the Balarama ras only remained Krishna as the only male dancer in the midst of the Gopis. This is how the poet Vishvanatha Kaviraja describes it in his work Sahitya Darpana, which he completed in 1384 .

The collection of poems Gatha Saptashati ( Gaha Sattasai ), written in Maharashtra in central India and attributed to King Hala of the Shatavahana dynasty, mainly contains love poems and describes the dance of Krishna with the Gopis. The ancient Tamil literature includes the epic (and musicological work) Silappatikaram from the 2nd century AD. Within a larger story, an older cowherdess selects seven girls to perform a dance theater in which they mayavan (corresponds to Krishna), Balarama and Pinnai (tamil for Radha) should embody. It seems that with the expansion of the ancient Indian tribe of Abhira mentioned in the Vedas, the Ras theater gradually moved south from northern India.

Krishna keeps Mount Govardhana protective over the cowherd. Miniature of Mola Ram of the Kangra School, around 1790

No Krishna plays have survived from the following centuries, but according to other literary references, the tradition is likely to have continued. In Harivamsa , a script assigned to the Mahabharata as an appendix from around the 4th century, which is also called Harivamsa-Purana and thus represents a link between the epic and Puranic scriptures, a drama written in colloquial language is described in detail, in which a troupe as Apsara's designated beautiful actresses perform Krishna purple . The action takes place in Pindarak Tirtha , a nicely situated bathing spot where Krishna and other members of his Yadava family sit down for a picnic. During the dance ( ras ) in the first section, the performers clap their hands to the rhythm of the accompanying orchestra and choir. This is followed by the drama ( abhinaya ), which, in addition to the above, includes numerous other episodes from the life of Krishna, such as Krishna holding up Govardhana with one hand to protect the shepherds and flocks of a village from the rain of the angry Indra. The Krishna lila of the Harivamsa shows that there was a flourishing musical theater at that time, which was performed on a covered stage ( ranga ) or on a dance floor.

In Harivamsa , a distinction is made between two Krishna theaters: the ras on a folk level, whose stories are set in the environment of the cowherds in the forest of Vrindavan, and a more refined form of theater that takes place at the royal court of Dvaraka and was cultivated by actors employed there. The latter was considered to be the style chalikya-gandharva (Sanskrit chalika, "dance song", gandharva , heavenly musicians), which came down from heaven . He is described in the 89th chapter of the Harivamsa . Both styles of theater, ras and chalikya , were equally popular during the Gupta period . The poet Kalidasa , who lived in the 5th century, called them the most beautiful sacrificial acts for the gods. From his play Malavikagnimitra it can be seen that the chalika art form has been cultivated for generations.

The performances began with asravana, the tuning of musical instruments, which included an arch harp ( vina ), a flute ( venu ) and a drum ( mridangam ). When the pitches of the stringed instruments and drums were matched, the rhythm had to be determined in the asarita process. According to the Harivamsa , a beautifully costumed dancer first stepped onto the stage, scattered flowers and sang solo worship songs. She was followed by a group of dancers ( pindibandha ) who performed a few dances together, holding each other by the hips or forming a chain by hand. After the Harivamsa the ladies belonged to the Apsaras, they entertained their audience with chants ( gita ), dances ( nritya ) and drama ( abhinaya ). In the Vishnuitic Puranas , the popular forms of Krishna theater are handed down in the well-known subdivision: A dance by Krishna in the midst of the Gopis is followed by the acting implementation of the stories from his life in a second program item. In the Bhagavatapurana from the 9th or 10th century, the central source on Krishna's life and the theater form ras lilac , the Ras performances are mainly composed according to this pattern.

For Bhakti followers, the Bhagavatapurana, along with the Vedas, contains the revealed religious truth. The origin of the ras is described in five chapters . Accordingly, Krishna created dance when he was struck by the sight of the moon and nature. On the banks of the Yamuna, he lured the milkmaids with his flute sounds, who danced around him in the moonlit night. When Krishna disappeared, they longed for him until they finally found each other again. The historical part of this mythical tale is made up of the Abhira tribe, which, according to Friedrich Max Müller, is identical to the Ahir caste that breeds cattle today. The popular religious worship of Krishna seems to have developed among them, the dance of Krishna with the milkmaids was accordingly an old folk dance of the cattle herders. Today's folk dances in the villages of the region, as performed at Holi , reinforce such a connection.

In the late Brahma Vaivarta Purana , Krishna's companion Radha enjoys special attention. The Natya Darpana , a treatise on dance and theater by Ramachandra and Gunachandra from the 11th / 12th centuries. Century names three Krishna plays by name, but without going into their content in detail. None of these three Krishna plays, or those of other authors of the time, survived. Only two were about Radha, all the rest were based on Krishna legends from the Bhagavatapurana .

Vallabha Acharya worships the image of Shrinathji, the young Krishna, in the landscape of the holy mountain Govardhana. In the foreground the residents of Vrindavan. At the top left a cow pours milk onto the still hidden image of Krishna. Gushing milk is a symbol of rasa , the love between Krishna and his followers.

In the 12th century Jayadeva wrote the lyric music theater Gitagovinda in Orissa . The soulful texts of the mystical devotion to Krishna were mainly written for the theater. Obviously she performed a four-part choir, which formed the narrative framework for the expressive movements of the dancers. The Eastern Ganga dynasty, which ruled Orissa from the end of the 11th century, did its best to promote the spread of the Krishna cult in East India. Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva (r. 1076–1147) had the Jagannath Temple built in Puri with cult images for Krishna (alias Jagannath ), his brother Balarama and his half-sister Subharda. Puri became one of the most important places of Krishna worship and a center of classical dance drama. Jayadeva's wife Padmavati is said to have danced to her husband's verses in front of the gods in the temple. In addition to the temple, King Chodaganga Deva also founded the tradition of the Maharis ( Oriya for the Devadasis , the dancing girls in the service of the deity and the temple). Her dances in front of the idols in the temple based on the themes of Gitagovinda were equally filled with feelings of shringara (erotic passion) and bhakti (devotion, love for God).

Ras lila in its current form probably originated at the beginning of the 16th century with the bhakti movement spreading throughout northern India. In response to the expansion of power and religious repression of the Mughals , many Hindus turned to a personal, inner belief. The Braj region as the country of origin of Krishna developed into the center of Vishnuit worship. There three sects were formed around their respective founders, who gave ras lila a different form in details. Today's dance troupes trace their tradition back to one of these founders. Vallabha Acharya (1479–1531), the founder of the Shuddhadvaita faith tradition , came from Andhra Pradesh in 1491 . Swami Hitharivans Das, the second saint of Vrindavan, came from Deoban near Saharanpur . The classical music player and poet Swami Haridas (16th century) came from a village near Aligarh . For Vallabha Acharya and Swami Haridas, one school gives Mathura as the starting point for the Raslila dance form. If so, they probably had no success there and Ghamamddeva, a student of Vallabha Acharya, managed to open a stage for ras lila in the village of Karahala. Later, Hitharivan's Das and Haridas successfully established themselves in Vrindavan, and the performances of their plays, which dealt with Radha and Krishna, soon eclipsed the tradition of Karahala.

Radha and Krishna. Ras lila in the Manipuri dance

In his sensual verses, Hitharivan's Das moved Radha and Krishna as the eternal lovers into the center and was limited to the heavenly dances of the two ( nitya ras ), which are usually at the beginning of the performance . There in heaven there is a joyful feeling that is not disturbed by anything and an eternal love affair; in contrast to the desperate mood of the milkmaids that Vallabha Acharya described when Krishna suddenly disappeared from their midst. In addition to the Raslila performances, Hitharivans introduced daily dance ( ras ) as a religious obligation for the Bhakti followers . In conjunction with the musical ability of Haridas, the poetic talent of Hitharivans and the deeply religious Bhakti disciples, ras lila reached the first creative climax of his development on stage, which could no longer be maintained after the death of the founder. In a phase of artistic stagnation, Narayan Bhatt appeared around 1545, who for many became the actual founder of ras lila , although according to oral tradition, Raslila performances were already taking place in his time. Bhatt's achievement was to have established dance stages ( rasmandal , also mandala , "circle") in the entire Braj region in all places that were connected with the earthly life of Krishna in mythology . By traveling around and telling the local people the religious significance of each place, he inspired his audience to set up a pilgrimage to each. Furthermore, he added the following dramatic form to the performance, which was previously limited to the dance and singing part ( nitya ras ). Apart from minor deviations, the individual lines of tradition have remained true to the structure established by Bhatt to this day.

content

Krishna is nibbling on the butter with his friends, while Yasoda looks in the kitchen after the milk boiling over. In front left butter-making vessel. Motif is part of the Ragamala series, which illustrates certain ragas . Miniature in Basohli style from the Kashmir region around 1750

The entire myth fund is divided into three groups according to the stages of Krishna's life: The first group contains the high-spirited jokes of the child Krishna in the village of Gokul, how he smashed the butter pot of his foster mother Yashoda with a stone and stole butter from it while she was just pouring the milk from Stove takes. Another time she punishes the disobedient boy and ties him to a millstone. The birth of Krishna in the prison of Kamsa is depicted in a play. His father Vasudeva manages the miraculous escape from prison and across the river to Gokul, where he leaves the baby with foster parents Nanda and Yasoda. In the “Play of Shankara”, Shiva visits the child Krishna with his foster parents, but mother Yasoda fears that the sight of Shiva could frighten the child and refuses to let him enter. Shiva remains seated in front of the door until Yasoda brings the child out.

In the second phase of his life, the young Krishna hides the clothes of the Gopis bathing in the river as a cowherd (Gopala), who is often jokingly like in his childhood. When the Gopis bring their dairy products from the forest to market in the city, he demands customs duties from them on the street. He plays on his flute in front of the thousands of gopis who adore him for his beauty. Although Radha is warned that Krishna is a thief, she takes dance lessons from him. When she misses her ring, which is later found with Krishna, the milkmaids take revenge and steal Krishna's flute, crown and cloak. A trick brings Krishna back into possession of his belongings: He approaches Radha in the form of a girl who is said to be languishing with love for Krishna. As a consolation, Radha gives the girl Krishna's crown and cloak and plays the flute.

The "Great Raslila" shows the dance of Krishna with the Gopis under the full moon on the banks of the Yamuna. For each of the milkmaids, Krishna multiplied himself in a human form. Occasionally there is a contest between Krishna and the god of love Kama during this drama , which Krishna naturally wins.

The grief over Krishna's departure from Gokul is the subject of the play "Journey to Mathura": When Kamsa hears stories of Krishna how he used superhuman strength to conquer all the demons that were supposed to kill him, he sends the respected Akrura over with the order, To lure Krishna and his brother Balarama to the palace of Kamsas for a competition in which Kamsa wants to kill the two. After a tearful farewell to the milkmaids, the boys leave with Akrura. As they rest on the river bank on the way, Akrura sees Krishna and Balarama sitting underwater in a vision.

Akrura's vision of Krishna and Balarama on the way to Kamsa. On the left, Akrura is talking to Krishna, who is sitting by the tree, on the right, the two brothers are resting on their carriage, while Akrura takes two ritual baths (standing in the water). When he first went into hiding, he first saw Krishna and Balarama underwater (right), then Vishnu sitting in the world serpent Shesha (left).

Finally, the stories of the adult, heroic Krishna follow, who fulfills his real task in Mathura and kills the tyrant Kamsa. The meeting of Uddhava, Krishna's friend and advisor, with the milkmaids takes place after Krishna's victory over Kamsa. Krishna has become homesick for the place of his youth and the Gopis, but his new role does not allow him to return again. So he sends Uddhava to Braj with a message to his parents and the Gopis. Uddhava is a follower of the philosophical school of Advaita -Vedanta, according to which the highest divine principle is hidden behind an earthly veil ( maya ). Accordingly, he cannot imagine that the milkmaids would be drawn to Krishna who appeared in human form. The devotion of these uneducated, low-caste cowherdesses, however, makes him change his philosophical view and become a devotee of the love of God ( bhakti ). The Gopis with their love for God, as they are characterized in the Bhagavatapurana , represent a revolutionary model of faith.

In Dvaraka , the fortress on a peninsula in Gujarat , Krishna ascends the royal throne, marries Rukmini , seven other women and 16,000 other women, whom he frees from their violent husbands by marriage. In the three phases of life, he optionally arouses the feelings of mothers, lovers and wives. With the exception of the fight against Kamsa and Uddhava's visit, only the stories from the first two periods of life are told during the performances in Braj.

In 1972, Norvin Hein listed 106 Raslila plays that are performed in Braj, their total number he estimated at approximately 150. Only about a quarter of the pieces come from the Bhagavatapurana , although it is considered the most important work of Krishna worship. The other plays refer to the Brahma Vaivarta Purana and to various poets from the 17th to 19th centuries. Four of these are among the best known. In the 17th century, Hitharivan's pupil Dhruvada composed 42 theater plays entitled Biyalis Lila . Chacha Vrindabandas wrote, among other things, the work Ras Chhadma Vinod in the 18th century , from which many performers today are inspired. The other two authors are Brajvasidas, who wrote the play Braj Vilas in 1743 , and Narayana Swami in the 19th century, from whose play Braj Vihar many theater companies perform excerpts in the speaking choir. In addition, there are the theater directors' own compositions.

Performance practice

The symbolic meaning of the Raslila performances is not the exact adherence to every transmitted detail, but the fundamental recourse to the long tradition and the connection between today's and the mythical geography of Braj. Each performance is a visualization of the known stories and fills the believer Spectator with an idea or vision ( darshan ) of the divine.

Stage, music and costumes

The place of performance ( rasmandal , also ras mandala ) is usually circular as the name suggests, and the shape is a remnant of the original circular dance and possibly a symbol for wholeness, for the infinite space in which the love game takes place. Most of the performance venues are outdoors and have neither a stage background nor a roof. A throne about one meter high with two wide steps in front of it is at the edge of the circular stage area. The floor of the two stages by Vrindavan is covered with carpets in the middle, which form a rectangular area 3.5 to 5 meters long and 2.5 to 3 meters wide. Here the stage is covered by a pillar-supported roof so that performances are possible even when it rains. The singers and musicians take their seats to the side of the throne, on both sides and in front of the throne the audience sits on the floor at a short distance from the performers. If necessary, the throne can be hidden from the audience by a curtain. The men watching sit on one side, separated from women and children on the other.

Stage decorations are sparse and are limited to the curtain mentioned and a cloth spread over the throne. The only thing necessary is the throne, which can be solidly bricked or consist of a wooden platform on which two chairs or a bench for Radha and Krishna stand.

The musicians and singers today hardly master the classical singing style Dhrupad or the lighter style Dhamar , instead they predominantly perform melodies from religious folk music ( bhajans ) that are popular with the audience . According to tradition, the accompanying instruments include the string sarangi , the bamboo flute bansuri , cymbals and the double-cone drum pakhawaj . Today the latter is mostly replaced by the kettledrum pair tabla and the sarangi is replaced by the Indian harmonium . The orchestra sits on the stage and typically consists of a singer (the theater director) and a second singer (both play the harmonium at the same time), a tabla player and a cymbal player. The lead singer starts the melody, after which the choir starts the chorus. Some songs are sung in unison . Music and dance combine ras lila and the classical dance style kathak , which according to general opinion has developed from the natwari nritya dance form cultivated in Braj .

Krishna with flute and Radha sit on the throne as actors in the theater and as images in the temple in the same way. Figures of gods in Vrindavan on the occasion of Radhastami, Radha's birthday, which is celebrated 15 days after Krishna's birthday Janmashtami .

The performers wear costumes from the Mughal period, which are also typical for nautanki and other entertainment theaters in the region. Krishna is dressed in a dhoti and a long shirt. He has wrapped a wide cloth around his hips and shoulders, and his headdress consists of a crown ( mukut ) with peacock feathers. The peacock is revered as a national bird in India, it is the mount of the god Kartikeya , protects against snakes and appears in miniature paintings as a subtle hint near lovers. With troops in the tradition of Vallabha Acharya, Krishna's peacock crown hangs to the right and thus away from Radha sitting on the throne to his left, with troops in Vrindavan the crown hangs to the left. With this symbolism, some emphasize the divine Krishna, others the togetherness of the lovers.

Radha's costume consists of a long skirt, a blouse, a cloak and a veil. Like Krishna, she is richly hung with jewelry, but her crown is a little smaller. The clothes of the milkmaids follow this pattern with less effort. All actors dance with ringing anklets. Members of the troop apply the light make-up to each other, and glitter flakes are sprayed over an adhesive layer. Yasoda, Krishna's foster mother, is played by a grown man who wears an ordinary sari , the end of which he has looped over his face. Kamsa looks like a typical Indian villain with a long black mustache. It is noteworthy that Shivaite symbols are painted on his forehead.

procedure

The basic structure of a Raslila performance consists of the danced and sung first part ( nritya ras ) and the second part ( purple ) with dialogues, also singing, but hardly any dances. The first part begins with a prelude consisting of songs and a spoken supplication, followed by dance performances, which end in a second invocation. The head of a theater company bears the honorary title Swami , he has his own inventory of written plays, which he performs as a narrator and stage director together with his company and which in some cases improvises. Its function corresponds to that of sutradhara in classical Sanskrit theater. Every Swami traces his playing style back to one of the founders in the 16th century, possible rivalries between the individual troops inevitably arise from the different lines of tradition highlighted in a sect-like manner. In play practice, the differences are minimal and are limited to the costumes, so the crown of Krishna leans more to one side or the other of the head, and the sign of blessing ( tilaka ) is applied differently. The first part of a performance is strictly defined, while the dramatic scenes ( purple ) of the second part can be selected and designed in a fairly free form from the Krishna legends.

In an adjoining room, the actors are costumed and made up. As soon as Radha and Krishna put their crowns on, they are considered to be incarnations of the gods and are treated with appropriate respect. Adult performers carry the two boys out of the preparation room in their arms and place them on the throne behind the curtain. Radha sits on Krishna's left and four or six milkmaids sit a little lower on the side steps of the throne.

The curtain falls on the first scene ( jhanki ) in which the theater director (Swami) approaches Radha and Krishna and touches their feet in a gesture of homage, after which he begins solo with the invocation song to the two gods. With the support of the choir, he sings more songs about the love of the two and in general, as well as about Braj's glorious past.

Ghee lamp for Arati worship

The swami changes to the dance and singing part nitya ras and recites a quiet, serious song in the dhrupad. Just before he finishes the song, the milkmaids rise and stand in front of the throne. As an act of consecration ( arati ), a milkmaid swings a brass tray with a burning oil lamp on it in a vertical circular motion in the direction of Radha and Krishna, who move close together in a love pose. Krishna puts his left arm around Radha's neck and holds the flute in playing position with his right hand. The gopis sing a corresponding Arati price song to the two gods and, after they have finished their singing, touch the couple's feet one after the other. One of the milkmaids utters the formal invitation phrase, “Oh lovers and lovers! It is time for the nitya ras , so please come to the ras mandala . ”Krishna accepts the invitation and addresses the same sentence to Radha, who also accepts and takes Krishna's outstretched hand. Both get up from the throne and go to the middle of the stage, where they perform a series of romantic, lively group dances together with the milkmaids. At the beginning of each dance, the Swami starts a song, according to the rhythm of which the dancers move slowly in a circle. If the speed doubles after a certain time, the dancers react with four to five pirouettes until they come to rest in a circular starting position, in which Radha and Krishna kneel on the floor opposite.

The sequence of rhythmic patterns and choral chants follows a constant pattern. The climax of the dances is the peacock dance, which Krishna performs on his knees. By alternately leaning on his right and left knee, he turns wildly in circles. The audience is thrilled when the costume and headdress flutter in the air. This sometimes ends the first part of the performance, otherwise there is a five to ten minute interlude in which all the dancers gather behind the curtain and the musicians sing a few verses. Once this has happened, the curtain disappears, Krishna appears and gives a speech about the importance of religious devotion or introduces the following dance scenes.

In the second section of nitya ras , the dances take a back seat to the songs. A choir is followed by a duet performed and danced by Krishna and Radha. At the next song Krishna sings with the milkmaids while Radha sits on the throne. A group singing, in which all dancers line up and beat the rhythm with their feet, leads to the final scene. Usually the smallest milkmaid cheers the audience on to shout “Radha Krishna” or a short verse loudly and continuously. The audience sings popular devotional songs until the performers leave the stage.

After a few minutes' break, the dramatic second part ( purple ) follows with the performance of one of the stories from Krishna's life. Lila is a one-act drama with a mixture of dialogue in prose form, poetry and songs. The main actor recites a few verses, which he then stages or explains in more prose form. Many of the scenes contain comical interludes by clown characters who make the audience laugh with antics or strange noises.

The content selection of the stories is based on the corresponding annual religious festivals. The “story of the birth of Krishna” ( Krishna jaman lila ) is appropriately performed at Janmashtami in August. Ras lila in Braj is inextricably linked with the spring festival Holi in February / March.

Social environment

education

The young actors inherit and learn the profession from their fathers; there are no organized training facilities. The theater director is responsible for the adequate transfer of knowledge. If the student cannot read, he will be instructed accordingly, because he has to memorize the texts in the local Braj dialect of Hindi and the intervening Sanskrit verses. Often there is no general schooling going beyond this. The starting age for the boys is eight to ten years when they take on the first role as one of the milkmaids. Those who are appropriately gifted can play Radha or Krishna. Beard growth and puberty put an end to the young actor's career. What remains as a career option is later employment as a choir singer, musician or for one of the few adult roles. The task of the theater director usually falls to his son, who has been involved since early childhood. Only if no suitable offspring can be found within the family can boys from outside get employment.

Troop

The theater director heads a troupe of 10 to 18 male members, around half of whom are child actors for the main roles of nitya ras between the ages of 8 and 13 years. Adults only appear in the purple that follows . The choir singers are called samaji , after the music called samaj ("party", "community"), which the Raslila founders played on the festive days. The choir and musicians have the task of filling in the interim times by repeating songs or verses when the performers need a break or appear late on stage. The theater director and lead singer intervenes during the performance if the actors lose their roles or lose their text. If a performer makes a mistake, the Swami intervenes with a euphoric exclamation, which is supposed to express his sympathy, but is actually intended to distract the audience from the mishap. In rare cases he has to call the audience to order.

Raslila troops act professionally. During the annual festivals, the troops perform several times a day at different locations in and around Vrindavan. Outside of Braj, they are invited by wealthy art patrons and to large festivals. Otherwise they are given the opportunity to perform in temples or ashrams in the Braj region for minimal remuneration. By 1990 there were about 45 Raslila troops in the Braj region, half of them based in Vrindavan. 17 of the Vrindavan troops belonged to the Nimbarka tradition, in which Radha is especially venerated, and 5 to the Vallabha-Acharya tradition, which focuses on Krishna.

Ras lila in Manipur

Raslila dancers in the Manipuri style

The performances in the Manipuri dance style have the same mythological themes about the revered Krishna, are inspired by the same devotion to the divine ( bhakti ), but differ fundamentally in their form as classical dances. The male dancers in Braj are folksy and lively, while ras lila in Manipuri style is presented by women mainly slowly, gracefully and seriously as lasya (feminine, sensually beautiful style). The costumes in Manipur correspond to the local tradition, all female roles are played here by girls and women, only Krishna's role is played by a boy. Their language is Meitei .

Ras lila originated in Manipur in the 18th century. According to legend appeared Maharaja Bhagyachandra (Ningthou Ching-Thang Khomba, reg. 1764-1789) in a dream Krishna and asked him to inaugurate a temple for themselves and ras purple to have it performed there. The ruler's daughter danced the role of Radha.

The different forms include basant ras ("spring pastime "), which is about love arguments between Krishna and Radha. The piece is performed on a full moon in March or April. The light, soulful kunj ras is about the ideal pair of lovers in the forest of Vrindavan, it is performed during Dashahara in autumn. Another piece, performed in autumn when the moon is full, is called maha ras ("large circle dance") and deals with the pain of separation of Radha when Krishna leaves her. Other forms are the diva ras and nitya ras played during the day , a traditional style performed all year round, but only in the temple. In natna ras, Krishna jokes with the milkmaids, while in the spring dance ashta-gopi-ashta-shyam ras literally eight gopis dance with eight Krishnas ( Shyam is an epithet of Krishna).

All dance themes follow the same pattern of action: First Krishna comes on stage and dances solo, then Radha dances solo. Then both dance together until one of them suddenly stops and it comes to an argument, which is carried out with all sorts of banter until the lovers dance together with the Gopis. It ends with worship songs in which the love of Radha and the Gopis for Krishna is praised.

Manipuri is a generic term that includes ras lilac and the male-powerful ( tandava ) style pung cholom as well as other dances. The dance ceremonies Lai haraoba and ras lila nritya are considered to be the most important performing arts of Manipur. The rhythmic accompaniment is the double-cone drum pung , melody instruments are the fiddles pena and esraj , the snail horn shankh, the bamboo flute bansuri , harmonium and cymbals ( karthal ). The Krishna songs are sung by a male, the Radha songs by a female choir.

literature

  • David ER George: India: Three Ritual Dance-Dramas (Raslila, Kathakali, Nagamandala). Chadwyck-Healey, Cambridge 1986, pp. 13-45
  • David Vaughan Mason: Theater and Religion on Krishna's Stage: Performing in Vrindavan. (Palgrave Studies in Theater and Performance History). Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire 2009, ISBN 978-0-230-61529-8
  • Darius L. Swann: Rās Līlā. In: Farley P. Richmond, Darius L. Swann, Phillip B. Zarrilli (Eds.): Indian Theater. Traditions of Performance. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 1990, pp. 249-274
  • Manohar Laxman Varadpande: History of Indian Theater. Loka Ranga. Panorama of Indian Folk Theater. Vol. 2. Abhinav Publications, New Delhi 1992, pp. 255-270
  • Manohar Laxman Varadpande: History of Indian Theater. Classical Theater. Vol. 3. Abhinav Publications, New Delhi 2005

Web links

Commons : Raslila  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Farley P. Richmond: Origins of Sanskrit Theater. In: Farley P. Richmond, Darius L. Swann, Phillip B. Zarrilli (Eds.): Indian Theater. Traditions of Performance. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 1990, pp. 25f
  2. ↑ Varadpande 2005, p. 49
  3. ↑ Sutradhara, Indian Theater Director. Indian Net Zone
  4. ↑ Walter Kaufmann : Old India. Music history in pictures. Volume 2. Ancient Music . Delivery 8. VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1981, pp. 32, 72
  5. ↑ Varadpande 2005, p. 55
  6. ↑ Varadpande 1992, pp. 231-233
  7. ↑ Varadpande 1992, pp. 255f
  8. ↑ Varadpande 1992, pp. 233f
  9. ^ Friedrich Max Müller , Georg Bühler (ed.): The Laws Of Manu: The Sacred Books of the East Part Twenty-five. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1886, p. 405, footnote 15
  10. ↑ Swann, p. 180
  11. ↑ Varadpande 1992, pp. 235-237, 254
  12. ↑ Swann, pp. 180-185
  13. ↑ George, p. 20
  14. ^ Norvin Hein: The Miracle Plays of Mathura. Yale University Press, New Haven 1972, pp. 163-178; after Swann, p. 190
  15. ↑ Swann, pp. 188-192
  16. ↑ George, p. 21
  17. ↑ Swann, pp. 195-198
  18. ↑ George, p. 17
  19. ↑ Swann, pp. 186-188
  20. ^ Darius L. Swann: The Devotional Tradition. Introduction. In: Farley P. Richmond, Darius L. Swann, Phillip B. Zarrilli (Eds.): Indian Theater. Traditions of Performance. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 1990, pp. 173-175
  21. ↑ Mekhala Devi Natavar: Music and Dance: Northern Area. In: Alison Arnold (Ed.): The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Vol. 5: South Asia. The Indian Subcontinent. Garland, New York 2000, p. 495
  22. ↑ Lai Haraoba, Indian Ritual. Indian Net Zone
  23. ↑ Dilip Ranjan Barthakur: The Music and Musical Instruments of North Eastern India. Mittal Publications, New Delhi 2003, p. 52