Exploitation of tamasha artistes and Fr Jacquier

Fr Gurien Jacquier of Ghogargaon

(Catholic mission in Aurangabad diocese - 1892 onwards)



By Camil Parkhe
camilparkhe@gmail.com

Published by: SFS Publications,
PB No 5639
Rajajinagar, 1st Block,
Bangalore,  560 010

ISBN 81-85376-78-6
First edition 2009

Copyright : SFS Publications


Price: Rs 95, US $ 6.75
Published in 2009

22) Exploitation of tamasha artistes and Jacquierbaba

In the 1960s, there was a wave of tamasha-based films in Marathi film industry. ‘Pinjara’ (The Cage), directed by veteran film director V Shantaram, was one of these films. The hero of the film, a school teacher, attempts to prevent staging of a tamasha show in his village. The teacher whose role is played by Dr Shriram Lagoo single-handed disrupts tamasha shows notwithstanding the presence of hundreds villagers gathered there to enjoy this sensuous folk art presented by beautiful women. The school teacher (master) believes tamasha is an unethical art and it is his moral duty to keep people away from it. Even those villagers who enjoy the show do not offer any resistance when it is abruptly brought to an end.
The belief and action of this ideal teacher reflects the attitude of the society towards this old traditional folk art. What this master did in the film produced in 1970s was precisely done in reality in Aurangabad district by Fr Jacquier half a century earlier. A majority of the artistes in this folk art were the members of the untouchable community among whom this priest was working. The French missionary believed tamasha encouraged adultery, involved sexual and social exploitation of the women and other artiste members of the troupe.
In my childhood, tamasha shows used to be held on every Friday - the day of the weekly bazaar - in my home town, Shrirampur. The bazaar site was hardly 500 meters away from home. A tent, smaller than the circus tent, used to be erected on the ground adjacent to the weekly bazaar. From morning to evening on that day, we children used to hear the publicity of the show made on loudspeakers fitted on vehicles having pictures of dancing women with heavy make up and turban-wearing men playing dholkis (drums) and other musical instruments.
The tamasha shows were attended by a large number of men folks, majority of them residents of neighbouring villages. I do not remember any member of my or my friends’ families ever attending the tamasha shows. We children were allowed to see films in local theatres but never ever we entertained the thought of attending the tamasha show. The tamasha shows which consisted of obscene songs and dialogues, seductive dances with reciprocated response from the excited members of the audience was naturally not meant for people with good character, we were told.
Research scholar Dr Milind Kasbe in his book in Marathi Tamasha: Kala Ani Kalawant (Tamasha: Art and artistes’) says, “ the immorality which quietly creeps into this folk art is a matter of grave concern. The feudal mentally of the high caste people forces women belonging to the lower castes like Mahar, Mang and Kolhati to dance on the stage and throw cash towards her to make her strip. The question is why one should preserve this folk art if this mentality is not changed.1
Veteran Marathi stage and film actor Nilu Phule who has acted in many tamasha-related films in his preface to the above mentioned book has said: “Most of the tamasha artistes are people belonging to the so-called backward and untouchable castes like Mahar, Mang, Kolhati, and Gopal. Indebtedness is a major crisis plaguing the tamasha industry. The tamasha troupe owners take loans from moneylenders and the tamasha artistes take loans from the troupe owners. Thus, all constituents of this trade – the troupe owners, the artistes and the labourers – are deep neck into the debt trap. A majority of those offering loans belong to higher castes. The women tamasha artistes have to surrender themselves to the moneylenders if they are unable to repay their loans. I have always wondered why these artistes, despite always living in penury have clung on to this folk art.”
The opposition to the obscenity in tamasha became more vocal after India gained independence. The chief minister of the Mumbai province B G Kher had imposed a ban on this folk art in 1948. A tamasha reform committee, led by Mahamahopadhyay Datto Waman Potdar, was subsequently constituted to recommend changes in the content and performance of the folk art. The committee suggested imposition of conditions like performance as per the written script, avoiding obscene dialogues, ban on the members of the audience physically touching the women artistes. The ban was lifted when the tamasha troupes agreed to abide by these rules. 2
The University of Pune’s Pawala Paththe Bapurao Sahitya, Sangeet, Lok Kala Academy and Pathfinder International had organised a tamasha festival and workshop in Pune in October 2007. A brochure released on the occasion speaks on the origin of this folk art. Accordingly, the word tamasha has apparently has its origin is Persian language and was adopted in Marathi language through Urdu. Some scholars believe the folk art owes its origin to the Muslim influence in the medieval period. The brochure underlines that the folk art remained confined to the Mahar, Mang, Gondhali, Kolhati and Dombari, the untouchable and other depressed communities in Maharashtra. Of course, the patrons of the folk art who socially, economically and sexually exploited the tamasha artistes were the upper caste people.
For centuries, the traditional professions in India have been caste-based and so was the case with several folk arts. Tamasha art was mainly developed and preserved by Mahar and Mang communities. The women of these castes used to sing and dance while the men used to also sing and play various traditional musical instruments like the dholki, tuntune, manjira, duff, Halgi, kad and harmonium. The caste of these tamasha artistes speaks volumes for the social status or reputation enjoyed by this folk art in the society as a whole.
The season for the stage shows of tamasha normally started after the Dasara festival, that is after the monsoon season and ended after the Askhay Trutiya festival which marked commencement of the marriage festival. During the marriage season and also during the annual village temple festival (yatra), the Mahar folks offered music accompaniment.3 I remember during my childhood, sons of my uncles used to play pipani, dholki and other musical instruments during the village marriages. Only after reading this reference recently did I realise the social factors connected to this seasonal job. It meant the seasonal job was also caste-based and that my maternal cousins may have picked up the musical skill from some elder members in the family. Some members of either my father’s family in Wahegaon or mother’s family in Ghogargaon might have been associated with the tamasha trade in some way or the other as was the case with most members of the Mahar community at that time.
Veteran Marathi poet Narayan Surve in his article on Shahir Annabhau Sathe also underlines the social stigma associated to tamasha. In his article written in 1969, Surve writes: “Twenty five years ago, the word ‘tamasha’ was akin to an untouchable. Tamasha meant a form of theatre which was not meant for the gentlemen or girls and womenfolk. It included a nachya, (a dancer boy or man with long hair) who made indecent and obscene gestures, sang sensual songs. It was believed tamasha spoilt the cultural taste of the gentle folks. The tamasha artistes are untouchable persons and to see this folk art was considered a sin.” 4
This was the social scenario which prompted Jacquierbaba to persuade the members of untouchable community not to allow their sexual, social and economic exploitation by the higher social classes. He indeed resorted to the coercion route when persuasion failed and the local Christians continued their association with this folk art. The school teacher (master) in the film Pinjara (Hindi version of this film was also made) forcibly halts staging of a tamasha show with the same conviction that the folk art involved unethical, sinful activities. The present Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, R R Patil, has imposed a ban on dance bars in his state, on the ground that the singing and dancing by girls and women in hotels and bars is unethical and sexual, economical exploitation of the women concerned.
In the published writings related to the life and works of Fr Jacquier, I have never come across the campaign launched by this missionary against this folk art. Nonetheless, I have repeatedly heard from my parents and my maternal uncles about this priest’s solitary drive to bring down the curtain down to this stage art for once and for. My two maternal uncles, Shantwan and Waman Shingare, had for some years served as drivers of Fr Jacquier’s horse cart. There is not ground to doubt the credibility of the testimony of the old residents of Ghogargaon who had lived during the times of Fr Jacquier. My Mother, Marthabai, now nearing to be an octogenarian is also among those who had seen Fr Jacquier during his last years.
Fr Jacquier who was based in Ghogargaon since 1896 had earned the respect of the untouchable Mahar community - majority of whom had converted to Christianity - as well as the the upper castes Maratha and Brahmin communities. He also commanded respect among the government officials of the Hyderabad’s ruler Nizam. As an European and highly educated man, he was also feared by the otherwise powerful people in Gangapur and Vaijapur talukas of Aurangabad district. Under such circumstances, when Fr Jacquier single handedly opposed tamasha stage shows, there was hardly anyone who could challenge his moral or legal authority to do so.
Fr Jacquier had understood the social nature of this folk art. After arriving from France, Fr Jacquier had taken lessons in English and Marathi and acquired mastery over both these languages. Later, for several years, this French missionary used to teach the local populace to sing Marathi hymns and bhajans. He must have studied tamasha thoroughly before he decided to oppose on the grounds of its social and ethical implications.
It is said that whenever a tamasha show was staged in the villages around Ghogargaon, Fr Jacquier used to reach there. He would climb the stage and force the artistes to stop the show midway. Tamasha shows are always held at nights and continue till the break of the dawn. Jacquierbaba did not mind losing his sleep to travel a long distance at night if it meant preventing members of his flock from straying away from the moral path. He used to force the women artistes to unstrap the heavy ankle bells (ghoongaroos), each weighing five to seven kilos, and confiscate them. Sometimes, he also cut the long hair of the nachya to prevent him to play the same role at least for the next few weeks. Often, the priest used to return home carrying in his horse cart the dholkis (drums), cymbals and other musical instruments to prevent the tamasha troupe to stage another show.
Considering Jacquierbaba’s the strong opposition of Fr Jacquier to tamasha, it is doubtful whether any shows of this folk art were ever staged in Ghogargaon as long as this six ft-tall missionary was physically able to travel on horse back or in horse carts to stop the shows.
I have often heard my parents saying that two rooms in Ghogargaon’s church complex were filled with musical instruments confiscated by Jacquierbaba during his drive against tamasha. When I visited Ghogargaon in 2005, the local parish priest Fr Stephen Almeida endorsed this view. He told me that even he had heard from his parishioners that the musical instruments were stored in some rooms till a decade back.
Jacquierbaba’s drive against tamasha, of course, had social reference of the century-old period. Now, the times have changed and there are attempts by the government administration as well some cultural organisations to preserve this traditional folk art. However, despite the abolition of untouchability in India after the country gained independence, the caste-related references to this folk art have not changed. The tamasha artistes continue to belong to the lower castes like Mahar, Mang and Kolhati. Despite the state patronage to this folk art, tamasha artistes have failed to achieve economic prosperity or social respect. Artistes playing roles in Marathi theatre shows or in films now enjoy both prosperity and glamour. This fortune has eluded the tamasha artistes.
The exploitation of tamasha artistes has continued to this date as it was during the days of Jacquierbaba. No tamasha artiste would like her or his children to take up this profession. There seems to be some truth in the question posed by actor Nilu Phule as to why these artistes have clung on to this art if it has failed to offer them happiness and prestige. In the light of these circumstances, one may wonder whether the steps taken by Jacquierbaba to end this folk art were indeed in the interests of the tamasha artistes.

References:
1) Dr Milind Kasbe: Tamasha: Kala Ani Kalawant (Tamasha: Art and artistes) Marathi book published by Sugawa Prakashan, Pune (2007) (page 9)
2) As above, page 29
3) V M Dandekar and M B Jagtap, ‘Maharashtrachi Grameen Samajrachana’ (Rural social structure in Maharashtra), Publisher: D R Gadgil, Gokhale Institute of Economics, Pune 411 004 (1957) (Page 20)
4) Narayan Surve, “Manoos, Kalawant Aani Samaj” (Marathi), (Human, an artiste and the society), Published by Popular Prakashan, 36 C, Malaviya Marg, Mumbai, 400 034 (1992), (Page 68)
5) Dr Milind Kasbe: Tamasha: Kala Ani Kalawant (Page 51)
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