Keeping alive a tradition

Folksy feat

It is difficult to associate the woman in the green room with the one on stage.When I meet Teejan Bai before the show (she performed in New Delhi as part of a festival on Indian Folk Art), I almost fail to recognise her.

In a simple sari and without any make-up, the soft-spoken folk artiste could have been any other woman, and not the lively, energetic, high-pitched person that one has known her to be. Of course, that transformation comes the moment she dons make-up and gets on to the stage to launch into Pandavani, a form of folk art where tales from the Mahabharata are musically narrated.

Teejan Bai is the doyenne of Pandavani.
As the name suggests, this folk art deals with the stories of the Pandavas from the Mahabharata. The singer, accompanied by a group of performers on tabla, harmonium, majira and dholak, regales the audience with anecdotes from the life of the Pandavas. The singer builds up the performance along with accompanying singers who ask questions and provide a commentary, thus adding drama to the entire show.

Crushing troubles

Teejan Bai would hear her grandfather sing Pandavani during her growing-up years in her village in Ganiyari, Chhattisgarh. She was fascinated and took to singing Pandavani in the kapalik or standing style, one which only men followed; women sang in the sitting or vedamati style. She didn’t realise the repercussions of stepping into a complete male territory. At the age of 13, she performed in the kapalik style, singing loudly and in total abandon, in a neighbouring village.

This left her family embarrassed, and all efforts were made to stop her from singing. But, as she says, there was no stopping her. Despite the threats and ill-treatment by her family, she refused to give up her newfound passion. Even after she was thrown out of her in-laws’ home, she didn’t stop performing. “I was in love with Pandavani, and there was no way that I was going to give it up,” she recalls.

This dedication and passion paid off when noted theatre artiste Habib Tanvir heard her sing and took her under his wings. After that, there was no looking back for the feisty, determined young girl, who was all set to take this ancient art form on to the world stage. From the 80s began her journey of taking the world and India by storm, as she toured extensively, and in due course, was honoured and feted.

More than two decades later, Pandavani has been taken out of the confines of the dusty villages of Chhattisgarh and has become a much sought-after name in the annals of our socio-cultural history. And all this is thanks to the grit and determination of one woman who brought about this change. Today, many other women have taken to the kapalik style of Pandavani.

Ritu Verma is one of the other famous names today who, too, defied all odds to pursue a passion. This native of Chhattisgarh has also travelled across the world to showcase her art. Many others will soon join the rank; some 200 students are presently being trained by Teejan Bai at Bhilai, where she now lives with her fourth husband, children and grandchildren.

A staunch believer in God, Teejan Bai attributes her success to the almighty. The gut and gumption that she demonstrated in the early years, she believes, was possible because of her faith in God. “When God is there, it doesn’t matter what people say,” she says philosophically. Even her passion for the folk art is courtesy God, she says. “He has given me the voice, so why should I not sing?”

Shattering stereotypes

By stepping into an all male-dominated territory, Teejan Bai added her own touch to the folk art. In a first for a woman, she walked up and down the stage narrating stories from the Mahabharata. She recreated scenes, enacted roles and brought alive characters to an audience for whom all this was a novelty. Never before had a woman regaled them in kapalik tradition.

This fact, coupled with Teejan Bai’s impressive oratory skills, made her a favourite wherever she performed. Till now she has performed in various countries including France, Switzerland, Italy, Yemen, Bangladesh, London, Malta and Germany. She has been honoured with Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Sangeet Natak Akademi awards among many others.

Even after 40 years or so, her spirit is unflagging as she continues to regale her audience in her trademark style. The fact that none of her children have followed in her footsteps upsets her, but she is determined not to let that bother her. After all, the kind of dedication and hard work that she has put into her art, she believes, cannot be done by everybody.

Pandavani owes its survival to this one feisty woman from the hinterlands of Chhattisgarh. The character of Bhim, the strong Pandava, is her favourite, even as she continues to enact others with equal zeal and passion. It’s his rudra or angry avatar that fascinates her.

So, what keeps her going? “My passion,” she says, adding, “It has given me, an illiterate woman, so much.” Also, the fact that she has to preserve this age-old heritage keeps her on her feet — quite literally.