Pauri - PAURI - RAMLILA - Golden 100 Years

Golden 100 Years

The Pauri Ramlila is one of the oldest plays, in the Uttarakhand region. The play portrays the life of Lord Rama as described in Ramayana. Pauri's Ramlila enjoys a unique place in the history of Garhwal region. It was begun by, Mr. Tara Dutt Gairola and Dr. Bhola Dutt Kala, the famous social activists. The first play of Ramlila in Pauri began in the year 1883-84.

At that time, Pauri was the administrative capital of East India Company in the Garhwal Region. Mr. Gairola and Kala organized the Ramlila and played it with the help of locals for six days at the sloppy fields of village Kandai. People supported the idea and it continued for years. During the period,some other literary persons joined the play and modified it into ‘Persian Theater”. They made the script with the help of Tulsi Das's Ramcharitmanas and some of their own interpretations.

In the year 1897, the newly decorated stage and the unique style of play received appreciation by the people. In fact, the Deputy Commissioner of Garhwal also appreciated the efforts put in to execute such a play.The unusual stage decoration, use of Indian classical music, and the style of play made the Pauri Ramlila special.

In the year 1906, Mr. Purna Chandra Tripathi joined the Ramlila and expanded the Ramlila tenure from six days to ten days. From thereon, the Ramlila began to be played during the ‘Shardiya Navratras’. This format was adopted in the year 1906 and is still continued without any fuss.

Later some more changes were incorporated in 1940’s when, Mr. Mathura Prasad Dobhal, the Director of play added his own written Garhwali songs for ‘Bharat-Shatrughn' and ‘Surpnakha’. In the year 1947, he wrote a song " Swatantra Bharat Punya bhoomi me Ram Raj aaya". Interestingly, the songs are famous among localities. In the same year, the side portrait at the stage was changed by the portrait of Subhash Chandra Boss and Mahatma Gandhi instead of 'Laxmi ji" and Saraswat ji".

The Pauri Ramlila could not be played during the Uttarakahand Movement in the year 1994 to 96. In the year 1997 Mr. Prithvi Pal Singh Chauhan, the M.L.C. of U.P. led a movement for restarting the Pauri Ramlila. Mr. Adwet Bahuguna gave the headstart to Ramlila in a new avatar by adding the light, sound effects and some locomotive scenes. The ‘Gajendra Grahav’ Meghnad vadh’ and Dashavatar’ are some famous memorable direction of Mr. Adwet Bahuguna. In the year 2004 Co-Director of Ramlila Mr. Naveen Bhatt and Surendra Singh added beautiful and enchanting seen of ‘flying Hunuman over the public in search of ‘Sanjeevani Booti’.

Pauri Ramlila is also known for its communal harmony where the Hindus, Muslims and Christians were and are the part of Ramlila. Mod. Sallar, Bare Yaqb, Muddi Qureshi, Munsi Abdul Haqeem, Husen Baksh, Mr. Victor Chowfin, Mr. W.C. Chowfin and many other people are famous for there contribution in Ramlila.

Here is the list of some famous people who are known for their contribution. It begins with Mr. Het Ram Joshi, Mr. Prem Ballabh Chandola, Mr. Kotwal Singh Negi, Mr. Bhagwant Singh Negi, Mr. Dayal Singh Rawat, Pt. SadaNand Kukreti, Mr. Dalloo Babu (Mahitab Singh), Mr. Yadav Chandra Gupta, Mr. Deveswra Prasad Devrani, Mr. S.K. Chandel and several other people whose effort cannot be forgotten.

In the acting and singing domain, Mr. Daya Sager Dasmana, Govind Naithani, Durga Prasad Thapliyal as ‘Ravan”, Mr. Nagmal Singh, Virendra Kasyap, Gauri Shanker Thapliyal as Janak’-Vibhisan-Dasharath. Mr. Jam Sahab, Raju Gatti, Giresh Thapliyal as ‘Hanuman’.

Mr. Gauri Sankar Thapliyal is known as a "Iron Pillar" of Pauri Ramlila. In new generation Mr. Manoj Rawat Anjul holds the command.