an open-air ramayana. 123
As darkness thickens we slip and stumble. Finally we arrive at some unidentifi-
able spot in the Ramnagar forest. We squat on the comfortless ground, packed
tightly together. Dense clouds of insects swarm around the hanging lanterns,
dropping on everyone nearby. Ram and his party are being entertained at a forest
hermitage. As food is offered to them, a plaintive voice rises out of the low hum
of the crowd, crying, “Sitaram sitaram sitaram jai sitaram.”Hundreds of voices
answer, and the singing continues throughout the silent eating scene.
...
(After a long evening of trudging in the rain.) The place ofaratiwas a great mess.
Right in front of the platform was a gutter filled with water. As people crowded
in, we had to sit down in the muck. Since I can’t squat comfortably on my heels, I
just sat, feeling the mud ooze up through my clothes and all over my skin. At least
I was directly in front of the svarupsfor arati.What I didn’t reckon for was that the
great flare would be held just above me. When a piece of burning fireworks fell on
my head, I jumped away and brushed it off, the smell of sizzling hair in my nose.
The faithful have to endure such tribulations in the Ramlila. Tonight there was
a great feeling of pilgrimage, of undergoing sacrifices, with nothing between your
body and the harsh elements. If you are a devotee you have to keep going through
the dark, the mud, the rain. When the time comes to sit down in the mud for arati,
you sit down in the mud; and if you have to smell your own hair burn, you’re will-
ing to do that too.
...
(The second-to-last Lila—Ram’s coronation, initiating the golden age of Ram
Rajya, his perfect reign—is an all-night affair. After the regular performance ends
there are several hours ofdarshan,when the five deities are on display and huge
numbers of devotees crowd in to touch their feet and make offerings. The great
night culminates in aratiat dawn, an event that draws the largest crowds of the
whole Ramlila—people often claim over 100,000.)
10 p.m.The moment the performance ends there is a mad rush for the stage. Po-
lice holds sticks as barriers at the top of the steps. People push, sway, and dive
through each other to get to the gods. There is no order, no decorum, practically
no humor or kindness. There is only the endless press, the swaying and stumbling,
the instinctive leap to get ahead of somebody else, to force oneself up on the fourth
or fifth step instead of starting at the bottom.
Women, admitted in separate batches, advance their position by tricks or shout-
ing, while men seem to rely more on main force. There are periods of effective po-