(87-year Rax-Leela celebration)
Ranjan Kumar Padmapati
(The writer can be reached at rkpadmapati@yahoo.co.in)
Rax-Leela is the most popular festival in Assam, next to the Bohag Bihu. Hardly any village is left out without a celebration of Rax-Leela. Sankardeva connected Assam with the rest of India through the propagation of his Neo-Vaishnavism. Rax-Leela, in some form or another, is prevalent in other parts of India. Sankardeva took the theme of the ’Keli-Gopal’, written by him, from the texts from the ‘Kirtana’ and ‘Bhagavata,’ while he was at Patbaousi. It is a refined expression of the love story of the Gopis (milkmaids) with Lord Krishna. Here in Assam, the Radha cult is completely absent; she is not elevated to the status of a goddess but an ordinary consort of Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna is always above. The word Radha is completely absent in the whole text of Sankardeva. The story of the ‘Keli-Gopal’ needs no repetition here, as it is a household story in every home. It is believed that the first-ever play was staged in 1540 AD. Nowadays, the play is staged in an open environment mostly under a temporary pandal (shade), erected for the Ras-Leela with a thin hatched roof and bamboo frame. Spectators can peep into the clear sky and enjoy the autumnal, silvery, full moon-lit light through the roof.
Once planted trees at Milonbakori, now grown to a large size, standing tall and stout, as if to tell us its olden stories, these also serve as posts of the shade. According to Krishna, autumn is the appropriate season for the ‘Rax-Leela’. The translation of a verse from the ‘Dasama’ goes as follows: ‘… getting the smell of flowers, Krishna’s mind becomes highly joyous. The God moving in these beautiful jungles did Divine Sports of Love with Gopis’ in abundance’. According to Krishna, autumn is ‘Basonto-adhik’ more pleasant than spring. The tholee (open stage) is decorated with wild creepers, different bushes, and flowers, modelling the settings and resembling Brindaban. The big pans used for preparing jiggery are filled with water, and plastic toys of geese keep floating to look like a lake. In such a beautiful environment as Brindaban, when Krishna suddenly disappeared, the Gopis were made to cry, ‘O you Banyan tree, O you Kurubaka, Asoka, and Champa tree, O Jati, Yuti, Malati creepers, O Ama, Jama, Bela, and Bakula tree... Say, Where is the soul (Krishna) of life gone?’
Milonpur, a sleepy village, is at a distance of about 10km from Tezpur. The venue of celebration is ‘Milon Bakori’, a part of a large grazing field. The word ‘Milon’ means coalescence, thus a place where people assemble without any distinction of narrow geographical boundaries or other differences. The name was coined by the late Netrodhar Saikia of Dipota. Though the tradition of the Rax-Leela celebration commenced at Milonpur in the year 1936, the idea had been conceived much before in 1934, when Indreswar Sarma went to collect a copy of the ‘Keli-Gopal’ from the ‘Bholaguri Satra’ of Nowging, he copied the whole play. It has been the practice to distribute the roles of the same play on the full moon-lit night of ’Lakshami Puja’ known as ‘Nat-Mela’ or ‘Nat-Bhonga’. The Milonpur-Rax festival has travelled a glorious journey of 87 years, almost without any break; the exception was once in 1962 for the Chinese aggression and during the COVID years. Our generation has been closely connected with the festival since childhood. Enjoy this joyous event. The sweet memories of the Rax-Leela celebration of the olden past are so vivid and fresh in mind that it appears to me as if it happened only yesterday. I am tempted to name the pioneer office bearers of the Rax-Celebration Committee (1936): President Phanindra Kumar Padmapati, Vice President Debadhar Bora, Secretary Umakanta Baruah, and Tresurer Thaneswar Saikia. They were the stalwarts who steered and instilled the will to carry forward the tradition. The writer of this piece of writing is fortunate enough to see two of its founder office-bearers, treasurer Thaneswar Saikia and secretary Umakanta Baruah. The late Baruah, a noted humorous actor, played the role of ‘Putona Rakhyashi’. Thaneswar Saikia was the treasurer for 32 years, from 1967. The first-ever actors were Sutradhar-Padma Kanta Kakoti, Krishna-Raghunath Sarma, Radha-Jiwan Bora, Sankharasur Premananda Saikia, Prime Gopi-Bapuram Kalita, Gayan Bayan-Golai Kotoki, Molam Saikias, and others. Thanudev Sarma was the Nritya Guru of Raghunanath Sarma. The late Raghunath Sarma was a talented actor; his name and fame for portraying the role of ‘cunning-naughty’, Krishna, had spread far and wide. There will be no exaggeration if he is compared with noted actor N T Rama Rao of South, well-known for playing the role of Krishna. Raghunath Sarma last appeared in 1958. A group photograph (1958) with Raghunath Sarma has been preserved as a pleasant memory. All the records of the names of office bearers, actors, and Gayan-Bayan-Joras since 1936 are published in the ‘Smriti-Grantha’. Though the venue of the celebration is Milon Bakori, actors were also drawn from other places outside Milonpur; Raghunath Sarma was from Teleria Saikia Chuburi; and Sankhyasur-Baburam Kalita was from Dekargaon, just to mention two instances. This tradition is still being carried forward as in the past. In 2023, Krishna-Jyotisman Sarma hails from Borzargaon. This year, the other actors are Radha-Neeha Saikia, Chief Gopi-Dipu Kalita, and Sutradhar-Judutsu Bhuyan. Till the time of writing this article, ‘Sankhyasur’ has not been finalised but will be finalised after holding a competition among the contestants.
Now, cooperation among villages has grown larger than before; villagers from 12 different nearby villages cooperate in place of the seven villages of yesterday. The outlook has been a secular culture; Assamese Muslims of the village of Dipota cooperate in the celebration. The writing will not be complete without mentioning the name of the late Mimbokor Ali, who was intimately connected with the pioneer Rax-Leela celebration enthusiastic people. Now that many changes have taken place, females are also coming forward to play the roles of Gopis, Radha-Krishna, etc. A dance drama has been introduced to depict different stories of childhood Krishna to make it attractive and funny.
‘Rax-Leela is the conquest of lust. Persons who sing or listen to, without break, with the conquest of lust shall precede more in devotional trek’- as written in the ‘Kirtana’. Sankardeva skillfully intermixed all nine forms of devotion, shravana, kirtana, smarana, bandana, dashya, atmanivedana, saguna bhakti, and nirguna bhakti, together in the ‘Keligopal’. Conquering ‘kama’, the carnal desire, is Krishna’s ‘Kama-jai Keli’, which is the essence of Ras-leela.