At Majuli, the masks come out on raasjatra

Context

The two-day jatra, which will be held from November 30 to December 1, is significant because the performance involves traditional handmade masks.

What is RaasUtsav?

• Raasis a celebration of 500 years of cultural and artistic contributions of the various sattras (the seat of Vaishnavite preaching introduced by medieval saint SrimantaShankardev for an all-inclusive form of religion) in Majuli.

What are its characteristics?

• The jatrais an annual festival that involves song, dance, dialogue in a performing art form depicting the story of the life of Lord Krishna.
• It begins with the birth of Krishna, his growing up, his tending to the cows at Gokul along with his fellow cowherds, his childhood, and his vanquishing of demons like Bakasur, Putana, Kaliya, and Kamsa.
• Continuous process: The entire performance happens without a break and is a continuous process involving more than 60 actors playing various roles.
• Major performances: Performances during raasinvolve:
  • traditional musical instruments like khol(a percussion instrument that resembles amridangam)
  • taal(big brass clash cymbals)
  • nagara(huge folk drums)
  • doba(a drum mostly played in prayer halls or temples)
• It also involves Assamese classical music and dance.
• Language: During the festival, all chapters of the plays use the Brajavali language popularised by Shankardev which is a mix of five different Indian languages viz Sanskrit, Maithili, Bengali, Assamese and Hindi.
• It involves traditional handmade masks and costumes using natural materials like bamboo, soft clay from the river bed of the Brahmaputra, sholaor kuhila stems, a water plant.
• Culture: The culture involving four basic components like angik (expression), bhasik (words) xattik (calmness) and aharjjo (costume and mask) as preached by Srimanta Sankardev is followed.
• The event takes place in an open-air set-up and happens at night.