A Correspondent
Biswanath Chariali: The bhaona Ravana Badh was staged successfully in the English language in Mumbai at SIDCO Exhibition Centre Auditorium recently by Prajanmya Unmesh, a socio-cultural organization of Jamugurihat, Sonitpur district in cooperation with the Department of Culture, Government of Assam. This is for the second time from Assam that a bhaona was presented in English. Speaking to this correspondent about this presentation, Arup Saikia, who is the director of Ravana Badh, said that his aim was to propagate the universal vision of Srimanta Sankardev in front of the world and so he made this endeavour in English. He also said that his sole aim was to bring the bhaona form to people in the metros.
Saikia hails from the Sangiachuk village of Jamugurihat in Sonitpur district. Though the bhaona form was presented in the Brajavali language by Srimanta Sankardev along with some of his compositions like borgeets and ankiya naats of the Vaishnavite tradition, they decided to make it in English to show how rich the Assamese culture is.
On the other hand, only the English language was adopted but the theme of the bhaona, especially the musical instruments like khol (drum) and taal (cymbel), compositions, dramatic feelings of a bhaona were kept intact. Prajakta L Verma, Joint Managing Director of Urban and Industrial Corporation, inaugurated the show by lighting the lamp and lauded the initiative of Arup Saikia and his crew members.
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