Is Bhavai waiting for its swansong?

Harshad Vyas works as the warden of a hostel in Surendranagar. But apart from the hostel, Harshad is also a warden of the Bhavai tradition a dance-cum-drama form of Gujarat that runs the risk of being relegated to history books.

We are Bhavaiyas and belong to the Mahakadi Bhavai Mandal Baada Gaam. But now our troupe members hardly perform for three months in a year because nobody is interested in Bhavai, says Harshad.

Earlier times
Now struggling to earn a living, the life of Bhavaiyas was not always a tale of hardship. In fact, they were revered like heroes and had a fan following to boast of. Manharbhai Vyas, 55, who belongs to the same mandali as Harshad recalls tales of how villages would compete against each other to ensure that a particular Bhavai Mandal would perform at their village. 

“We earned our living wandering from one village to another and every village was honoured to have us. Our payment in money was never great. But often the village pradhan would ensure that we had a year’s ration with us. If the performance was very well received, people (particularly the wealthy patrons) would often gift us gold rings or other such jewellery,” said Manharbhai. He added that when in a village, the villagers would take up the responsibility of feeding the troupe.

He wonders if Bhavaiyaas nonchalance about monetary payments for their performance is also to be blamed for their present condition. He talks of a time when they would be ‘on tour’ twelve months a year. “But those were the days of kings and princely states and now things have become very bad,” he laments.

Current struggle
Performance skills, ability to write a dance-drama and an excellent voice are skills that everyone in this community boasts of. Yet, now they merely manage to eke out a living. “We hardly get Rs500 for a performance while our own expense is around Rs700 per person,” said Harshad, who revealed that every troupe has at least 10 to 15 members.

Apart from television’s ability to provide entertainment 24X7, changes in social structures have also played their part in Bhavai’s fall from grace. “Earlier, women did not have the social sanction to move about freely. This meant they wouldn’t go out of their village to watch movies and television was a luxury only few had access to. Hence, Bhavai performances were looked forward to,” said Harshad. He also adds that somewhere the old content and stories of the performers also played a part in making it unpopular.

But he added that Bhavai performers now try to give socially-relevant messages. “Bhavai was never about entertainment alone it was about giving a message in a funny manner,” said Manharbhai. His troupe now tells stories that are contemporary in nature like the need to save the girl child, Aids awareness, need for immunization etc. They now encourage the younger generation to study and take up a job.

“Bhavai is our heritage and we don’t want to lose it. But if we bring the younger generation into it we will be subjecting them to another life of penury,” said Manharbhai.

Harshad said that earlier the entire families of Bhavaiyaas were dependent on Bhavai for their livelihood and this meant few bothered to get their children educated. “Hardly 20% of our community members are educated. The result is that with Bhavai as an income source drying up, they are forced to work as manual labourers for survival,” said Harshad.

What is the future?
Manharbhai, whose troupe recently provided the sound and music for the MTV sound trippin season 2 video said that such collaborations could help save the folk form. “If other musicians show an interest in using our art form in a way that will appeal to the new generation we will be doing a great service to Bhavai. The artists are willing to make the change but there are no audiences,” he said.

But Joravarsinh Jadav, the founder and managing trustee of Gujarat Lok-kala Foundation that promotes folk art and artists from across the country, believes that folk artists and their art forms in fact have a tremendous scope.

“For many of the urban people, folk forms like Bhavai, that was once commonly known across Gujarat, is a novelty and hence has extreme curiosity value. We have had people coming to the performance of such artists in huge numbers because these are performances they will not get to see anywhere else,” said Jadav.

“We once took a Bhavai team to three countries where the audience didn’t know about the art form. Yet, they received tremendous response despite the audience not being able to understand their language. It was the novelty factor at play. People came in hordes to meet the artists and learn from them,” he added.