Bhubaneswar
Harischandra Oraon of Jadipada village in Keonjhar district, Odisha, was about 10 years old when he learned the skills of rod puppetry from his father Raibu Oraon. On the wrong side of 60 now, he still sheds blood, sweat and tears to keep the rod puppetry alive and kicking.
“I have been staging shows since I was 10 years of age to keep my father’s legacy alive. However, I formed my troupe ‘Biswa Deba Silpi Kandhei Nacha’ (BDSKN) in 1994-95,” Harishchandra tells The Indian Tribal.
Harishchandra and BDSKN push ahead to play out rod puppetry with over 300 puppets, each having a height between 2 feet and 2.5 feet. With the help of rods of about 1. 5 inches in length stuck into a puppet, he and his troupe play out shows on the stage measuring 10. 5 feet in breadth and 8.5 feet in height. He comes onto the stage with his puppets to play out comic interludes amidst dramatic episodes enacted by them that leave his audience both amazed and amused. Sometimes he also lends voiceover to the characters on the stage besides being the chief director of his plays.
While his counterpart Padma Shri late Maguni Charan Kuanr of district headquarters Keonjhargarh bagged several awards, this tribal of Oraon community hasn’t received any recognition or felicitation for his impressive skills.
BDSKN’s journey too hasn’t been consistently smooth. It slipped into eclipse in 2006 after Nirmal Chandra Nayak, one of the pillars of the 12-member troupe, had to quit due to his domestic problems. However, having been associated with his Guru, Harischandra, for more than 20 years, Nirmal returned to the fold in 2012.
“I returned to BDSKN, as I, besotted with its art, could not snap ties with it for long. Besides, my long association with Guruji pulled me back,” says 51-year-old Nirmal, a Gond tribal.
Deepak Oraon, one of Harishchandra’s three sons and a truck driver, strove hard to collect monetary contributions from villagers and others to revive BDSKN in a stronger shape and in a better look. Troupe members too chipped in with their contributions. While some contributed finance, others collected wood of ‘gamhari’ trees for new puppets to be chopped and chiseled out of it.
‘Gamhari’ wood is preferred, because puppets, shaped out of it, is light enough to carry and can be easily polished to be fine with finish and finesse, according to Harishchandra, also a carpenter-cum-farmer.
For his part, Kundan Singh, an ardent lover of rod puppetry and a police constable in Keonjhargarh, coughed up about Rs. 50,000 from his savings to pump life into BDSKN. Kundan’s finance helped them in making and painting new puppets, and purchasing attires and decorative sets for them. “When I was learning tabla in early 2002, I used to witness Guru Harishchandra’s shows. Slowly, I got fascinated with his rod puppetry. Later, when I joined Odisha Police, I became a part of BDSKN after using up my savings to revive it,” says Kundan, who also directs and lends voiceover during BDKSN’s shows.
“We forked out about Rs. 2 lakh to upgrade our sound system, and another Rs. 20,000 to have a better light system after BDSKN’s revival. All this money was spent out of the donations,” avers Deepak.
The troupe stages over 15 shows annually particularly during special occasions like Ganesh Puja, Durga Puja and Diwali. It also performs at grand Gonasika Mahotsava organized once a year in Gonasika, the Juanga Pitha (The hub of Juangas, who are one of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups in Odisha). This apart, BDSKN stages shows to create public awareness about different government schemes and programmes.
The troupe plays out more than 12 mythology-based stories including Mrityusanjivani, Usha Vivaha, Kumbhakarna Baddha, Mahisha Mardini and Pitrubhakta Parsuram. It also stages the literary pieces of noted Odia playwright Gopal Chhotray, who had revived the long-lost Odia Geetinatya (plays in verses).
Each government show of 45 minutes at major events like Gonasika Mahotsav fetches about Rs. 12,000 for BDSKN, but a show of the same time duration at occasions like Ratha Yatra (Car Festival) in Keonjhargarh earns around Rs. 7000. However, BDSKN charges nearly Rs, 15, 000, if it stages a show of about three hours for a private party in Jadipada and its adjoining areas. But its fee per show of same time duration shoots up to nearly Rs. 30,000, if it is staged at a distant place. The fee also includes transportation cost.
Much of the earning is given out to BDSKN’s members after each show as remuneration that ranges between Rs. 1200 and Rs. 2000. “All troupe members are either daily wagers or farmers who mostly rely on their income they earn in different fields rather than on BDSKN’s earnings to run their respective families,” adds Deepak’s brother Kamal Lochan Oraon, a daily wager.
The innovative techniques that Harischandra has evolved lends a realistic dose to his show that makes BDSKN distinct and different from its other counterparts in the State.
Citing a few examples to underscore this point, Kundan points out, “When a character is slain or wounded in a fight during a show, blood is shown oozing out of it. Similarly, when a character lets an arrow off its bow, it is shown flying to hit the target. Another example is that when a character is attacked with a sword or with any other sharp weapon, its limbs, chopped off the body, are shown getting detached. All these amount to simulating a realistic semblance.” No wonder, the techniques have been kept wrapped in secrecy.
Its orchestra that comprises five to six musicians also packs a punch to its shows. Both traditional instruments and their modern counterparts are played. While instruments like dholak, harmonium, tasha, jhanja and gini form the traditional set, saxophone, mouthorgan, keyboard and the likes make the modern segment of the orchestra.
“We also hire a musician from Kendrapara district to play instruments like saxophone and flute to intensify the impact of our orchestra on the audience stronger. He charges Rs.2000 per show,” says Nirmal.
Songs are also an integral component that enlivens a show, and BDSKN hires Darshan Sahoo, a music teacher in St. Xavier’s School in Keonjhargarh. He has been lending his voice to the lyrical compositions since 2014. He too charges Rs. 2000 per show.
“Earlier, singers, hired by BDSKN, used to sing chhanda, chaupadi, bhajans and the like during a show, but lacked thorough knowledge about the fundamentals like ‘tala’ and laya. So BDSKN hires me to sing,” Darshan reveals.
When several art lovers, particularly in Keonjhar, wax eloquence about the deftness of BDSKN’s rod puppetry, it still remains outside the focus of the Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA), Odisha.
“During my tenure as SNA secretary between 2020 and 2024, nobody had brought up the name of BDSKN before me. If I had come across it, I would have given it a platform during ‘Dikhyant’, an annual programme I had introduced during my period in SNA to promote different forms of performing art,” said former SNA secretary Prabodh Rath.
“However, if I get to know the details about BDSKN, I will recommend its inclusion into the festival of Indian puppetry ‘Putul Yatra’ organized by the central Sangeet Natak Akademi,” he added.
Similarly, Superintendent of Directorate of Museums Dr. Bhagyalipi Malla, who has been in charge of SNA since the completion of Prabodh Rath’s tenure, also expressed her ignorance about BDSKN. She, however, said, “I will try to peruse all concerned files that may contain BDSKN’s application. If the files do not have it, I will look into the matter after the troupe approaches SNA.”
