128. performance
DARSHAN
If you ask people why they come to Ramlila, the great majority will say, “To get
God ’s darshan.” Darshanmeans “vision.” Hindus take darshanof a holy person, ob-
ject, or place, believing that its mere presence, particularly the sight of it, conveys
blessings. There is a special term for the darshanavailable at Ramnagar: it is called
sakshat,or “direct-witness” darshan.In some sense, one is looking directly at God.
The crowned boy with gleaming decorations on his face is not a symbol. But the full
experience ofsakshat darshandoes not occur automatically; it requires the proper
attitude and openheartedness on the part of the devotee. This all-important feeling,
or bhavna,will be discussed below.
Although sakshat darshanis available from the moment the crown is placed on
Ram’s head, everyone feels that aratiis the time for supreme darshan,the greatest
chance to get a vision of God. Thousands of people come only for arati.Special
buses come late in the evening from Varanasi. During the illumination of the gods,
spectators sing, pray, recite mantras, or stare rapt with joined palms.
Legends about the origin of the Ramlila indicate that a direct vision of God was
what the creators had in mind. According to one story, a disciple of Tulsidas, Megha
Bhagat, prayed for a vision of the Lord. Subsequently he saw two boys dressed as
hunters but did not take much note of them. Later in a dream he learned that these
were indeed Ram and Lakshman. Deeply remorseful because he had failed to rec-
ognize them, he was told that if he would stage the Bharat Milap (reunion of the two
pairs of brothers after fourteen years’ separation) in the Varanasi neighborhood of
Nati Imli, he would get his vision. Another version of the story has Tulsidas pray-
ing for a vision, again seeing two boys in hunting dress and failing to recognize them,
but thinking he had seen a performance of the Ramayana.The story of Megha Bha-
gat has a dramatic ending. He staged the Bharat Milap, and at the moment when the
brothers embraced, he collapsed and died.^9 To this day the Bharat Milap at Nati Imli
is regarded as remarkably powerful. Even the Maharaja crosses the Ganga to at-
tend—the only time he leaves Ramnagar and misses part of his own Ramlila.
In addition to the nightly aratithere are a number of moments when the Ramlila
action is arrested to produce a strong iconographic tableau. These moments are re-
ferred to as jhanki—literally, “glimpse.” They are accompanied by the same spec-
tacular fireworks as are used for arati.Examples are when Ram holds Shiva’s bow
aloft, about to break it and win Sita as his bride; when Sita raises the marriage gar-
land over his head; and when the brothers embrace at the end of the fourteen-year
exile. An especially beautiful jhankioccurs on the first day: Vishnu reclining on the