The Satires of Kashmir: Bhand Pather

Playfully smirking at the satirical literary works of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night Dreams or George Orwell’s Animal Farm has been a journey in itself. While these international scholars introduced and promoted satire as the means to talk about political charges and societal issues, India too knew how to turn a bag of controversial events into a bag of goodies with satires, especially the theatre of Kashmir known as Bhand Pather.

The folk theatre of Kashmir: Bhand Pather. Image Source: IWM Buzz

India’s folk theatre and music are known all over the world for their essence and authenticity of ideas. While romance and comedy take over the charts as being the most popular, some underrated satirical theatres in India have a knack for picking up some hot topics of the subcontinent. The traditional folk entertainers of India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are known as Bhands.

The word Bhand is derived from the Bhavana which means a satirical or a realistic drama that is usually performed in a form of a monologue. The actors who specialise in Bhand portray various contemporary socio-political and religious issues about the region. The plays of the Bhands or Pather are a full show, with actors delivering powerful dialogues, dance performances, music, and acrobats. The first-ever mention of Bhand Pather dates back to the 6th-8th century when you see its reference in Milamata Purana, an ancient Kashmiri text.

The script takes its influence from Vakhs and Shrukhs of Lal Ded and Sheikh ul Alam, the two renowned mystics of Kashmir. The most significant thing about Bhand pather of Kashmir is the perfect use of satire. It is a folk tradition in Kashmir that is not just passed down from one generation to the other but in its entirety within the village. The bhands of Kashmir pick various social topics such as peasant oppression by the landlords, ongoing lynching or discrimination in the valley along with various harassment and women-centric issues that call out for equality and justice.

Bhand Pather became one of the best and most significant ways through which the actors were able to spread educational values to a mass audience through an amalgamation of love, dance, comedy and the seriousness of the issue. While theatre in a lot of metropolitans becomes an art of the riches, Bhand Pather knows how to connect with the masses. They find a link to their sorrows and cry with them through the medium of art.

The act performed by Rayees Wathoori, a Kashmiri Bhand is the best example in recent times to portray the political unrest and the medium through which education was imparted to the people of Kashmir through this folk art.

A few years back, many farmers in the Srinagar region were affected by yet another developmental project. This project focused on the land acquisition for the construction of a Ring Road in Srinagar. Wathoori organised a special play for the protesting farmers that brought everyone sitting in the audience to tears. The performance touched the viewers, especially the farmers' rights to the core which motivated them even more for their cause.

Wathoori has been fighting for the people of Kashmir through his Bhand Pather. He creates awareness on issues such as dowry, environmental crisis, civil rights, food security act, and many more.

However, once revered Bhand Pather has now become a dying art form. Due to lack of promotion and inadequate funds, various Bhands have taken up alternative jobs for survival. The advocates of social causes themselves face the harsh realities of a society that forces them to give up something they truly love. Balwant Thakur, M.K Raina, Ravi Khemmu and many more have tirelessly tried to revive the essence of Bhand Pather but due to the lack of attention from the government, all their efforts were futile.

Let’s awaken ourselves from the sleep of ignorance and dive deep into the waters of Indian art forms that are facing a major existential crisis. Just like an artist from Wathoora said,

“Theatre is a reflection of society. One must understand the fact that without engraving and promoting the cultural ethos of Kashmir, we cannot change the theatre scenario in Kashmir. We stand nowhere and will have an identity crisis one day as we are leaving our roots”. 

Performance of Bhand Pather. Image Source: DML Studio'z