Mukherjee

also in the theme of secular romance.

In the first half of the twentieth century, Swadeshi Jatra became very much

important. Jatras were performed to make the people conscious of the British

dominance over Indians. Swadeshi Jatra pala grew up and opened a novel chapter

during the anti-partition movements in Bengal in 1905 with the hands of Motilal

Roy. He went above all the existing trends of traditional jatra art and presented

new technique of performance blended with firm, flexible and normalcy that it was

liked by almost all the people of Bengal. 14 From that time, Jatra became a stage for

non-formal education. Mukunda Das was recognized as ‘popular agitator’ by the

British and they abandoned and censored jatras of Mukunda Das. However, his

‘Matri puja’ was a master-piece of his national ideals and he rose to the epitome of

popularity through his dramas. 15

After Mukunda Das, Bhushan Chandra Das, Haripada Chattopadhyay and others

became the pioneers of social and historical jatras . With them, jatra performance

took a shift from Puaranic influences. 16

Along with the Jatra , there was the prevalence of performance of stage-theatres

in Calcutta. In the eighteenth century, theatre was confined to the European

artists and Old Play House, Calcutta Theatre and Mrs. Bristo’s Private Theatre

were the places where English dramas were performed. Bengali theatre first came

into existence with the hands of a Russian adventurer Levedef and he established

a theatre house called “Bengallie Theatre” where the first Bengali theatre was

staged. The foremost aim of Levedef was the encouragement and usage of Bengali

language in the field of entertainment. He translated English dramas into Bengali

language. The artists were Bengalee and the theatre was done primarily for the

common Bengali people. Moreover, Levedef also introduced the use of orchestra

in the theatrical performance; especially the use of violin was noted. The two most

important theatres that was staged by Levedef were the ‘Disguise’ and ‘Love is the

best doctor’. These two Bengali comedies were translated from English drama. 17

The early nineteentyh century a few Sanskrit dramas were translated into Bengali

like ‘Promodchandrodaya’, translated into ‘Atmatattva Koumudi’ in 1822 and a

comedy called ‘Koutuksarvassa’ in 1828. However, they were not staged. 18

After Levedef, a few Bengali theatre-lovers staged theatres like Nabin Chandra

14 Ibid

15 Ibid

16 Ibid .

17 Bandopadhyay.Chittaranjan.(ed). Dui

Sataker

Bangla

Mudran-o-Pakasana .

Calcutta.1981.Pp.199-203

18 Ibid

450