Khankar Buddya
EpisodeLate in the night, around 12:00 am, an
artist wearing white hairy mask and
carrying sheep skin entered the courtyard.
He was dressed like a clown and wore an
ugly mask of goat hide. The long goat hair
hid the small eyeholes in the faceless non-
wooden mask allowing the wearer to see.
The bells around his waist reminded of
horses.
I found two versions of his main role in the
festival. Version 1, he is appointed to keep
the audience away from the performance
arena. Version 2, his traditional role is
to narrate stories and keep the audience
awake before and during the Gopichand
performance irrespective of the time by the
watch. But now-a-days he plays tricks on
the audience like a mad old man.
He slightly burnt the sheep skin in
the big campfire around which all the
performances happened during the night
or rubbed the skin in the hot ash. He threw
the skin or rubbed the skin on the faces of
the audience that fell into a gentle slumber.
He and his friends laughed and said loudly,
fasiya, murga, or murgy. Another cheap
trick that needed caution. The old man
played tricks throughout the Gopichand
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