The 65th edition of the world famous Dhanu Yatra of Bargarh kicked off here on Monday. The festival will end on January 16.For eleven days, Bargarh town has virtually been transformed into Mathuranagar, the capital of King Kansa, while the nearby Ambapalli village across the river Jeera has become Gopapura, the abode of lord Krishna. River Jeera flowing between the above two places stands for river Yamuna.
While Hrushikesh Bhoi is playing the character of Kansa, child artists Shreyansh Mahapatra and Shibansh Mahapatra are enacting the roles of Srikrishna and Balaram, respectively. In accordance with the tradition, after traditional puja at the local Samalei Temple in the afternoon, a cultural procession moved towards the Rajdurbar at Hatapada.
In the evening, acts like the marriage of Devaki and Vasudev in true regal style and fervour, a warning from the sky, Kansa’s ascension to the throne of Mathura by dethroning Ugrasen and Kansa shunting Devaki and Vasudev to jail were staged at the Ramji Temple at Talipada.
The Bargarh Dhanu Yatra is unique in many respects. For one thing, this is the world’s biggest open-air theatre. For another, with almost the entire population of the town taking part, it is the biggest assembly of actors that a play can ever have.
The festival is a cultural extravaganza in which the same mythological play is enacted year after year, but the interest levels of the audience and the actors have remained unchanged over the years.
The Dhanu Yatra is, in fact, a conglomeration of several open-air theatres with the action taking place simultaneously at different places. Both actors and viewers keep moving from one place to another as the show keeps unfolding. There is nothing new in the drama, but the uniqueness lies in the way it is enacted and the enthusiastic participation of the public, Government servants, politicians and businessmen.
The play comprises three mythological episodes Krishna leela, Mathura Bijay and Kansa Baddha. The story of lord Krishna killing the tyrannical King Kansa forms the play’s central theme.
Kansa, the maternal uncle of lord Krishna, invites Krishna and Balaram to witness and participate in the festivity, which is held in his capital Mathura. But Krishna smells an assassination plot behind the invitation and, ultimately, kills his tyrant uncle Kansa and liberates his subjects from his oppressive rule. The play ends with the death of Kansa.
It is believed that the Dhanu Yatra in its present form started in 1948, post-Independence, as a performance charged with a nationalistic fervour. Kansa symbolises the imperialist British Government on its way out and lord Krishna stands for the nationalistic aspiration of the people.