Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): Akhilesh Niranjan Prasad, the director of Shri Satsang Ramayana Mandali, Fiji, is a Procurement and Risk Manager with an international organisation in his country.
Of the other nine members of the Mandali, one is a school student and two study in universities. The rest include an accountant, an engineer, and even a pilot. None of them is a professional artist.
The Mandali, which staged its show titled ‘Kya Aap Mere Ram Banoge’ on Saturday, the concluding day of the 7-day International Shri Ramleela Festival at Ravindra Bhavan, in the city, is a group of professionals who showcase various episodes of the tale of Rama in theatrical form in their country. “Our objective is to keep our tradition alive,” he said.
Director Akhilesh Niranjan Prasad |
Prasad told the Free Press that of the around 8 lakh population of Fiji, 20% are Hindus. “We all are descendants of the Girmitiya (indentured) labourers, who were transported to Fiji, Mauritius and several other countries to toil in the sugarcane plantations in the 19th century,” he said.
“Our ancestors, most of whom were from north India, were treated as slaves and exploited mercilessly by the British. Fearing that they would lose their connect with their culture and religion, especially since Christian missionaries were very active there, some of them got together and began staging Ramleela. Ramleela was first staged in Fiji in the year 1902,” he said.
Now, there are more than 2,000 Ramleela Mandlis in Fiji. Till about two decades back, Ramleela was staged in villages with Hindu population just as in India. “It lasted for nine days,” he said.
However, with changing times, such Ramleelas are no longer. “These days, no one has the time and the patience to spend four-five hours everyday for nine days,” he says. Instead, now the Mandalis stage specific episodes of Ramkatha in short performances, lasting for an hour or two at the most.
According to Prasad, they first performed in India in 2016. “That was after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to Fiji in 2015, watched our show and was so impressed that he invited us to India,” he said.
About the various characters of Ramayana, Prasad said that in Fiji, Sita is especially admired for her courage and as a symbol of women empowerment “She is no helpless woman, who needs a male saviour. She argues as an equal with her abductor Ravana as well as her husband Rama,” he said.
Prasad said that Hindu religious festivals are celebrated with great enthusiasm in Fiji. “Diwali is a national holiday in our country. Ram Navmi, Holi, Navratri, Ganesh Utsav, Janmashthami… we celebrate every festival,” he said.
