In Trinidad, Ramleela actors give up liquor, non-veg food 21 days before performance

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Ramleela is sacred to Trinidadians and its performers see themselves as Bhaktas and Sadhaks, not actors, musicians or dancers, says Geeta Vahini, director of the Trinidad and Tobago Ramleela troupe.

The troupe performed at Ravindra Bhavan on Friday – the penultimate day of the 7-day International Ramleela Festival.

In an interview with Free Press, Vahini said that for them Ramleela is not just a theater play. “We strictly refrain from consuming alcohol and non-vegetarian food not only on the days of the performance but from 21 days before it and till Diwai,” she says.

Vahini says that of the tiny Caribbean nation’s 14 lakh inhabitants, six lakh are of Indian origin and of these, about four lakh are Hindu.

“All Trinidadians of Indian origin are the fourth generation of indentured laborers who were sent to Trinidad between 1845 and 1915 by the British to work on the sugar plantations. Our forefathers lived in India, mostly in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, but many of us are unable to trace our roots for want of proper documents,” she said.

Vahini says he belongs to an organization called Hindu Prachar Kendra.

“It is a 38-year-old institution and as part of one of its projects, called Bal Ramleela, started 18 years ago, we stage various episodes of Ramkatha, where only youth and children perform. “None of our actors are older than 25,” she says.

According to her, Ramleela is staged in the villages of her country from the beginning of Navratri to Dussehra. “These are unusual performances. There is no stage and the performers are not trained professionals. They are just secular,” she says.

Vahini said that for them Rama is god. “As for Ravana, we don’t see him as a demon, but as an extremely gifted and gifted scholar, a man of great virtue, who lost his way,” she says.

Vahini says that in her country Hanuman is a more popular character than Rama and Ravana. “We hold Hanuman in great reverence. Most children know the Hanuman Chalisa by heart,” she says.

She says that people of Indian origin living in Trinidad are very conscious of preserving the culture of their ancestors. “The government does little to support us, but we ourselves do everything possible not to divorce ourselves from the religion and culture of our ancestors,” adds Vahini.