A Brief History of Bengali Drama: Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century

women. 6

Keshey Dhoba also had a major role in the evolution of Jatra pala as a popular

means of entertainments in the nineteenth century Calcutta. 7 The comic relief

which was provided in between the acting out of the main stories consisted of

humourous songs and dances performed by the artists who were primarily manual

labourers, serving the bhadroloks . These songs and dances performed by them

were known as ‘jatra duets’ because the performers has duets like ‘dhoba-dhobani’

(washerman and washer-woman); ‘methor-methari’ (the sweeper and his wife).

These characters performed in sarcastic play on the habits of the babus . 8

Among other jatra troupes of the period, the well-known troupes were run by

Gobindo Adhikari(1789-1870) and Lokenath Das who was known as Loko Dhoba

as well as Boko and his brother Shadhu. Boko and Shadhu were Muslims and they

staged the episodes of Ramayana. 9

In the nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth century, a number of

bhadraloks set up jatra troupes being influenced by the folk form of the jatra.

Among them mention must be made to Sreenath Sen, Gurucharan Sen, Ramchand

Mukhopadhayay and Swaroop Dutta. There are evidences of the existence of

women artists who used to act in jatra . Motilal Roy and his sons Dharmanarayan

and Bhupendranarayan used the platform of Jatra to make the people united

against the British rule and made the people conscious of the fact that there

was nothing so bitter than to live within shackles of the British. They put the

dialogues of patriotism and nationalism in the mouth of chorus of the Puranic and

mythological roles. 10

The jatra themes of Motilal Roy influenced and inspired many jatra performers,

especially Ashwini Kumar Dutta and Mukunda Das of Barisal. Mukunda Das who

was a disciple of Ashwini Kumar Duta performed Swadeshi Jatra pala . 11 Being

clad in very common dress, he emerged as a bard instilling nationalistic fervour

among the people. He was an initiator of historical jatra pala . His songs became

so popular, that even the Muslims were imbued with the spirit of nationalism. 12

But the important jatra troupes in nineteenth century Calcutta used young boys

to act in the roles of female characters. 13 The jatra palas of the nineteenth century

revolved round episodes of the lives of Krishna and Radha, Shiva and Parvati and

6 Ibid. p.95

7 Ibid .p111.

8 Ibid .111

9 “Calcutta Review”.Vol.IX. No.XVIII.1848.p.248

10 Ibid .

11 “Parikatha”. 7 (2) May.2005.pp.310-312

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid.

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