Ram Leela, Ramleela, Ramlila - Revision history

Jyoti: /* PrayagRaj: Katra/ focus on Ravan */

2025-07-17T07:01:49Z

‎PrayagRaj: Katra/ focus on Ravan

Jyoti: /* Varanasi: Chitrakoot ground/ A.D. 1541 */

2022-11-24T07:37:49Z

‎Varanasi: Chitrakoot ground/ A.D. 1541

Jyoti: /* Content and history */

2022-11-24T07:30:24Z

‎Content and history

Pdewan: Pdewan moved page Ramleela, Ram Leela, Ramlila to Ram Leela, Ramleela, Ramlila without leaving a redirect

2022-11-19T17:29:45Z

Pdewan moved page Ramleela, Ram Leela, Ramlila to Ram Leela, Ramleela, Ramlila without leaving a redirect

Jyoti: /* Shortage of suitable male leads/ 2019 */

2022-10-07T11:19:55Z

‎Shortage of suitable male leads/ 2019

Jyoti at 17:07, 6 October 2022

2022-10-06T17:07:58Z

Jyoti: /* Muslims and Ram Leela */

2022-09-25T08:25:03Z

‎Muslims and Ram Leela

Jyoti: /* Muslims and Ram Leela */

2021-12-01T20:15:24Z

‎Muslims and Ram Leela

Jyoti: /* Muslims’ Ram Leelas */

2021-12-01T20:14:30Z

‎Muslims’ Ram Leelas

Jyoti: /* Muslims’ Ram Leelas */

2021-06-17T12:10:20Z

‎Muslims’ Ram Leelas

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 In the Ramayan, sage Bharadwaj marries off his daughter Ilavila to fellow hermit Vishrava. The couple’s son Kuber, the Hindu god of wealth, goes on to become the original ruler of Lanka. Later, Vishrava marries asura Sumali’s daughter Kaikesi, with whom he has four children, the eldest being Ravan.
-[[Category:India|R RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA
+=Trinidad: Ramleela=
-RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA]]
+==As of 2025==
-[[Category:Pages with broken file links|RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA
+[https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-culture/ramleela-trinidad-enduring-representation-of-indianness-10106069/ Arjun Sengupta, July 5, 2025: ''The Indian Express'']
-RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA]]
-[[Category:Religion|R RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA
+Trinidad and Tobago, a tiny island country in the Caribbean, has a population of around 13 lakh, almost half of which traces its origin to India. The diaspora was brought to the islands as bonded labour in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and brought with them Lord Ram — specifically the tradition of Ramleela, the episodic dramatisation of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas.
-RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA]]
-[[Category:Theatre|R RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA
+''' Story of girmitiyas '''
-RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA]]
 = Uttarakhand=

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 ==Varanasi: Chitrakoot ground/ A.D. 1541==
-[https://indianexpress.com/photos/lifestyle-gallery/the-worlds-oldest-ramleela-chitrakoot-ramleela-started-475-years-ago-in-varanasi-3069163/2/  Oct 19, 2018: ''The Indian Express'']
+[https://indianexpress.com/photos/lifestyle-gallery/the-worlds-oldest-ramleela-chitrakoot-ramleela-started-475-years-ago-in-varanasi-3069163/2/  (Story: Dipanita Nath, Oct 19, 2018: ''The Indian Express'']
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 The Chitrakoot Ramleela also symbolically accommodates the other great religion of the land. A Muslim man is in charge of the fireworks that are lit every evening around the swaroop. Mohammad Arif plays the drums at the head of the procession to announce the arrival of a swaroop.
 [[Category:India|R RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILARAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILARAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:30, 24 November 2022
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	It is believed that Ramlila was first performed by Narayan Das, also known as Megha Bhagat, in the mid-16th century. It was based on Valmiki’s Ramayan. And the first lila organised by Tulsidas was on the Raj gaddi episode, in the locality known as Asi.		It is believed that Ramlila was first performed by Narayan Das, also known as Megha Bhagat, in the mid-16th century. It was based on Valmiki’s Ramayan. And the first lila organised by Tulsidas was on the Raj gaddi episode, in the locality known as Asi.

		+	==Varanasi: Chitrakoot ground/ A.D. 1541==
		+	[https://indianexpress.com/photos/lifestyle-gallery/the-worlds-oldest-ramleela-chitrakoot-ramleela-started-475-years-ago-in-varanasi-3069163/2/ Oct 19, 2018: ''The Indian Express'']
		+
		+
		+	The Chitrakoot ground in Varanasi, far from the Ganga and the ghats where the believers seek salvation, is where the earliest known Ramleela is believed to have started 477 years ago. Tulsidas was more than 80 years old when he composed the Ramcharitmanas in the local language of Awadhi in the 16th century. According to one legend, Tulsidas was lost in thought on the steps of the Assi Ghat in Varanasi when he had a vision of Ram, Sita and Lakshman pass by in a tableaux. With Megha Bhagat, as great a devotee of Ram as he, Tulsidas started, or reworked, the tradition of Ramleela.   Varanasi became the birthplace of the initiatives that evolved into the modern Ramleela.
		+
		+	Ram is played by 14-year-old Abhishek Mishra and Sita is Pawan Giri (11) but it has been a while since anybody called them by their names. They are known by their mythological titles. Even in private, they do not call each other anything else.
		+
		+	Chitrakoot Ramleela has not stopped for historic upheavals, be it the fraught year after the demolition of Babri Masjid or when the Mandal Commission cleaved the Hindu heartland. “The Ganga has overflown and flooded the grounds. But the Ramayanis, the Brahmin experts of the epic who read the Ramacharitmanas during a performance, have stood in knee-deep slush and continued as usual,” says Vyomesh Shukla, a Varanasi-based poet.
		+
		+	Shri Mukut Pujan is held at Ayodhya Bhavan, which is a modern, freshly-painted hall in a marketplace called Bada Ganesh. Opposite the boys sit the Ramayani who spell out the epic purpose of the Ramleela. “Aado Ram tapovanadi gaman…” they chant loud enough to be heard over the traffic.
		+
		+	Amid loud drum beats and clanging cymbals, the Shri Mukut Pujan bestows divinity on the chosen boys. It also marks the time that entire communities associated with the Chitrakoot Ramleela turns into its supporting cast and crew, based on an unchallenged script of caste.
		+
		+	But first, the play: The Ramleela was, in all probability, started by Megha Bhagat, a friend and disciple of Tulsidas, and follows the jhanki style of performance in which each episode lasts a few minutes. “It is not a Ramleela that entertains, but enlightens,” says Pandit Mukund Upadhyay, organiser of the Shri Chitrakoot Ramleela Samiti, Kashi. “We follow the tradition that has been passed down to us to the last detail,” says Upadhyay.
		+
		+	The Ramayanis are essential to the performance. They read out the Ramcharitmanas to the beat of drums and cymbals, as the swaroop, largely silent, enact the text. When they have to speak, a vyas or teacher accompanies them to a dais and tells them what to say. In episodes like Ravan Vadh, Ram is taught to fight the demons and acts that out at Lanka Maidan.
		+
		+	The Ramleela is promenade theatre, where the swaroop move from one place to another by foot or chariot. Once performed in a forested area, the woods have now made way for mohallas and roads. On Bharat Manawan, when Bharat and Shatrughan come to Chitrakoot to plead Ram to return, for instance, the action stretches across a kilometre between Nandigram (a neighbourhood park, where children play and cars rest), and Chitrakoot. A small knot of people weaves their way through. Lightbearers walk ahead and drummers beat relentlessly. Cars and bikes stop to let them pass but a group of water buffaloes don’t. The royal procession waits and, when the animals have ambled past, continue their journey.
		+
		+	The days are named after the chapter to be played — Van Gaman (leaving for the forest), Hanuman Milan (meeting with Hanuman) and Ravan Vadh (slaying of Ravan), among others. The twelfth is dedicated to Surpanakha, the princess of Lanka and Ravan’s sister, who was so bold as to propose to Ram and Lakshman.
		+
		+	On Vijaya Dashami, held at the Lanka Maidan, thousands gather to watch and play as the pushpak viman, once a flying vehicle owned by Ravan and now carrying the victorious Ram, races around and mock-charges at the crowd. The greatest show is Bharat Milap, so famous that it inspired paintings during the colonial era and continues to draw enough crowds to shut down that corner of the city.
		+
		+	The Chitrakoot Ramleela is also a play outside a play, with fixed roles assigned to different communities. The swaroop are always Brahmin, vegetarian and students of the Vedas. “Families have been participating in the Ramleela for five or six generations. When one member passes away, it is the right of the successor to take his place,” says Upadhyay.
		+
		+	The Chitrakoot Ramleela also symbolically accommodates the other great religion of the land. A Muslim man is in charge of the fireworks that are lit every evening around the swaroop. Mohammad Arif plays the drums at the head of the procession to announce the arrival of a swaroop.
		+
		+	[[Category:India\|R RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILARAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILARAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA
		+	RAM LEELA, RAMLEELA, RAMLILA]]
		+	[[Category:Pages with broken file links\|RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILARAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILARAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA
		+	RAM LEELA, RAMLEELA, RAMLILA]]
		+	[[Category:Religion\|R RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILARAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILARAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA
		+	RAM LEELA, RAMLEELA, RAMLILA]]
		+	[[Category:Theatre\|R RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILARAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILARAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA
		+	RAM LEELA, RAMLEELA, RAMLILA]]

	=Agra=		=Agra=

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 In Almora, over 16,000 people have moved out of the district in the past few years as per the migration commission’s report, which states that over 52 % people who migrated from Almora have moved out in search of work. Giri sums up the situation when he says, “The government may build a grand temple at Ayodhya but what will they do about the missing Rams?”
-[[Category:Religion|R
+==All-woman Ramleelas==
-RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA]]
+[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=04_10_2022_008_011_cap_TOI  Prem Punetha & Pankul Sharma, TNN, Oct 4, 2022: ''The Times of India'']
-[[Category:Theatre|R
-RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA]]
-[[Category:India|R RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA
+[[Category:India|R RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILARAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA
 RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA]]
-[[Category:Pages with broken file links|RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA
+[[Category:Pages with broken file links|RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILARAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA
 RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA]]
-[[Category:Religion|R RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA
+[[Category:Religion|R RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILARAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA
 RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA]]
-[[Category:Theatre|R RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA
+[[Category:Theatre|R RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILARAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA
 RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA]]

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 RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA]]
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 =Muslims and Ram Leela=
 ==Mughal-ruled Delhi and Ram Leela==
-[https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/Delhirsquos-very-own-Ramleela/article16881114.ece   Sep 13, 2009: ''The Hindu'']
+[https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/Delhirsquos-very-own-Ramleela/article16881114.ece  R. V. SMITH, Sep 13, 2009: ''The Hindu'']
 ''' With Dussehra round the corner, here is the history of Ramleela celebrations in the city from the days of Shah Jahan '''
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 In India, Muslims across regions have been retelling, singing and performing stories from the Ramayana as well as participating in local performances of Ramleela. The Muslim Manganiyars of Rajasthan tell Ram Katha as do the Muslim patuas skilled in patachitra in West Bengal. Most of the crafts associated with Ramleela in north India --the making of the Ravana effigy, the zardozi, mukut, costumes, the toy replicas of `weapons' -are all considered the domain of Muslim artisans.
 [[Category:India|R RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA

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 The Ramlila here has sustained the same zeal since 1963. Tailor Naseem, with his limited income, starts taking extra orders before Navratra to fund the 10-day affair. He is supported by other Muslims.
-=Muslims’ Ram Leelas=
+=Muslims and Ram Leela=
 [[File: The Muslim Manganiyars of Rajasthan tell Ram Katha.jpg| The Muslim Manganiyars of Rajasthan tell the Ram Katha |frame|500px]]
 In India, Muslims across regions have been retelling, singing and performing stories from the Ramayana as well as participating in local performances of Ramleela. The Muslim Manganiyars of Rajasthan tell Ram Katha as do the Muslim patuas skilled in patachitra in West Bengal. Most of the crafts associated with Ramleela in north India --the making of the Ravana effigy, the zardozi, mukut, costumes, the toy replicas of `weapons' -are all considered the domain of Muslim artisans.
 = Uttarakhand=

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:10, 17 June 2021
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	In India, Muslims across regions have been retelling, singing and performing stories from the Ramayana as well as participating in local performances of Ramleela. The Muslim Manganiyars of Rajasthan tell Ram Katha as do the Muslim patuas skilled in patachitra in West Bengal. Most of the crafts associated with Ramleela in north India --the making of the Ravana effigy, the zardozi, mukut, costumes, the toy replicas of `weapons' -are all considered the domain of Muslim artisans.		In India, Muslims across regions have been retelling, singing and performing stories from the Ramayana as well as participating in local performances of Ramleela. The Muslim Manganiyars of Rajasthan tell Ram Katha as do the Muslim patuas skilled in patachitra in West Bengal. Most of the crafts associated with Ramleela in north India --the making of the Ravana effigy, the zardozi, mukut, costumes, the toy replicas of `weapons' -are all considered the domain of Muslim artisans.
		+
		+	= Uttarakhand=
		+	==Shortage of suitable male leads/ 2019==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL/2019/11/11&entity=Ar00200&sk=262F1D8E&mode=text Ishita Mishra, Nov 11, 2019: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	Gaurav Gairola, 20, has played the character of Ram in the Ramlila staged in Pauri since the past two years. However, from next year, the law student will be moving to Dehradun to practise in the district courts after finishing his graduation from the Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal-University. That’s another ‘Ram’ gone. And organisers of the 119-year-old Ramlila have gone through this over and over again.
		+
		+	In the hills of Uttarakhand that have been hit by migration, Ramlila organisers have been finding it difficult to get suitable characters to play the role of Ram and other central characters of the epic like Lakshman, Hanuman, Sita and Ravan. “Every year, someone from the Ramlila moves out in search of a job or education, and we are left scratching our head for a suitable replacement,” says Gaurishankar Thapliyal, 69, president of the Pauri Ramlila committee, concern writ large on his face.
		+
		+
		+	For organisers of the Pauri Ramlila— which has been documented by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi, under its project to document oldest and unique Ramlilas of India — the struggle to get a good artiste is even more pronounced. This is because the Ramlila here is based on the ‘Geya Paddathi’ (singing method) — and the actors are required to also sing a bit. “There are no dialogues in the Ramlila — only ‘chaupai’ (couplets) and songs. We hardly get actors who can sing as well as act. As a result, we sometimes have to use voice-over artistes. It is a compromise with the original style that we are famous for, but what do we do?” says Thapliyal, who, in the absence of actors, has himself played various roles in the Ramlila in the past 45 years and currently plays Raja Janak, father of Sita.
		+
		+	According to the Uttarakhand Rural Development & Migration Commission, a body constituted by the BJP government in the state two years ago to find out ways to check the pressing problem of migration from the hills, Pauri is one of the worst affected districts in the state in this regard. The area has the maximum number of ‘ghost villages’ — 186 — which have been completely abandoned since their inhabitants left for towns and cities in search of better opportunities.
		+
		+	Ironically, a number of prominent personalities hail from Pauri — like chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat as well as Army chief General Bipin Rawat. Former chief ministers Major General B C Khanduri (retired), Ramesh PokhriyalNishank and Vijay Bahuguna also belong to Pauri as does Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath.
		+
		+	In Almora, another hill district, Ramlila organisers face a similar problem. At the Hukka Club’s Ramlila in Almora which like the Pauri one has also been documented by IGNCA as a unique Ramlila, children under the age of 14 years perform the roles of the main characters. This Ramlila, too, has been forced to compromise with its original form and take on adult characters to essay key roles. Tribhuvan Giri, 75, president of Hukka Club, says that it is a big struggle to get children who can enact their role while being also able to speak good Hindi. “The craze for English education as well as constant migration of people from the hills has hit our traditional Ramlila badly,” laments Giri.
		+
		+	In Almora, over 16,000 people have moved out of the district in the past few years as per the migration commission’s report, which states that over 52 % people who migrated from Almora have moved out in search of work. Giri sums up the situation when he says, “The government may build a grand temple at Ayodhya but what will they do about the missing Rams?”
		+
		+	[[Category:India\|R
		+	RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA]]
		+	[[Category:Pages with broken file links\|RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA]]
		+	[[Category:Religion\|R
		+	RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA]]
		+	[[Category:Theatre\|R
		+	RAMLEELA, RAM LEELA, RAMLILA]]