Due to corona and lockdown, 5000 artists of UP are struggling hard to earn and feed their families. Thousand of artists in Mathura are confused and worried due to lack of clear policy of Government about the Ramleela event permission.
Mathura is an hub for the folk artists. There are more than 5000 artists take part in Ramleela, Krishna leela, Rasleela etc. They travel to different states including Delhi, Karnataka, Rajasthan to play such character roles.
Some of them even travel abroad to play the character roles of Ram, Ravan etc. But due to lockdown and this pandemic, they are struggling for their livelihood since 6 months now. They still don't have any hopes as their is no such guidelines given from government for these events to held.
According to Sunil Chaturvedi (Ravana), the staging of Ramleela is an old tradition of the Chaturvedi society of Mathura. After that hundreds of Mandals were formed in Vrindavan and thousands of artists joined Ramleela, Rasleela, Gaurang Leela. The corona period has caused a great loss to artists.
Mayank Dev Chaturvedi, (Parashurama, Dasharatha) told that he was performing in Narayanpur, Rajasthan before lockdown. If the event is allowed with social distancing, then the way of staging will change. We want Ramleela and the effigy of Ravana to be burnt, just like prayer was performed on Ram temple land.
Meanwhile a positive initiative towards maintaining the historic tradition of Ramleela in the Aligarh district has energized the artists. Because of Corona, Ramleela artists and their families including ‘Ram’ and ‘Ravan’ are facing economic crisis but now decision of Aligarh administration has given them a light of hope, but all will depend on the policies of the government.
Sri Adarsh ??Ramleela Mandal (Registered) of Mathura inspired by Aligarh where Aligarh Ramleela Committee has announced to organize Ramleela as per the guideline of Central Government which allow to conduct religious programs with 100 people. While no decision has been taken yet on Ramleela in Delhi, Mumbai, Baksar, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana.
Vimal Aggarwal, President of the Ramleela Festival Organizing Committee, said that the tradition of Ramleela in Aligarh is very old, and he will make every possible effort to keep it alive. Artists and Mandal masters said that during this Corona pandemic, the burning of Ravana on Dussehra will give a positive atmosphere. Ramleela and Dussehra will be a great source of employment during this recession period.
Generates more than 1500 jobs in two months.
The city organized Ramleela at five places, Rasleela at one place and Leela at 35 places in the district. A Leela has an average of 15 to 20 people members. In this context, 700 people will get benefits directly and 1700 indirectly. The leelas in Aligarh lasts from Janmashtami to Dussehra and upto Diwali but now there is a silence due corona.
Suraj Dev Chaturvedi (Ram) said that the Corona period proved to be extremely bad for artists. Even if small scale events will be organized, hundreds of artists will get work. The Aligarh Committee's initiative is good.
Raghvendra Dev Chaturvedi, Mandali Swami said that those who did politics in the name of Ram did nothing for the artists during the Corona. If Ramleela will be held, many people will get employment. We as a fourth generation, have pride in doing Leela and will continue to propagate culture and devotion.