SBKK Ramlila: A Timeless Celebration of Faith, Art and Tradition

Shobha Deepak Singh

The Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra’s Rama transcends the barriers of spatial and universal time. From the moment that the spectator enters the sacred theatre, his involvement in the performance enables him to relive the myth from present time and space to universal time and space. The thin mesh which stands between his past and his present dissolves and he becomes a partaker in the enactment of the spectacle.

A Timeless Theatrical Experience

In its resolution to uphold the best in aesthetic tradition, the Kendra attempts every year to work out in detail every department of production values transforming from the earthly to the sublime. The revolving panels function as the wheels of the evolution of time. The music stands silently like a rock, unshakable, forming the back bone of the production.

Other related areas such as sets, lighting and costumes are researched and upgraded continuously in an attempt that the production assumes a towering dimension. The inspiration of rasa that the spectator derives from the Ramlila is something that has defied the vision of spectator for four generations. The divine vision of Ram as delineated in this production is not an instamatic creation. It is indeed the evolution of 45 years of the best in terms of committed creative minds of both big and the small.

The Enduring Appeal of Rama

This production is no longer a simple event of Inconsequential aesthetic values. On the contrary, the production appeals to both the classes and the masses. It draws from aesthetically rich idioms that the team researches and refines every year. The performance transports spectators from the mundane to the sublime across space and time. It leaves them spellbound. Each yearly visit to the sacred theatre reaffirms their faith in the enduring values of the Ramayana for future generations.

The plots of Ramayana are ripe with the emotions of life. For elders and necessarily for their children, fascination for the character of ‘Rama’ and ‘Sita’ are unavoidable. It is this, more than anything else that is responsible for its extra ordinary eternal appeal.

The Spiritual Philosophy Behind the Spectacle

The philosophical symbols relate the epic achievements of Maryada Purshottam Rama to the odyssey of Every Man. A brief decoding of the text is from the cosmic to the personal, from eclectic movement to exploration of man’s inner most personal realities and the links thereof.

From the recess of the cave (Kishkindha), Rama found direction of an illuminating beam. This beam helps him to decipher and comprehend the dual nature of time – with a still centre, and a moving circle. The concept of cyclic time, ie, ‘Kaal’ is central to Indian belief. The key to the contemporary relevance of this epic lies here.

This search for the discerning of the divine and the profane, is an urge that lies dormant, unless awakened. In its awakening, it stand in the form of a yantra – that divine space the stage which is a bridge between the visible and the invisible, the consecrated and the ordinary, the blissful and customary. This inner revelation manifests itself in the form of divine ecstasy in realisation of a lotus-like spiritual bloom.

Tomorrow How SBKK Ramlila evolved with time?