Notes-Class 10-History-Chapter-6-Entertainment and History-Maharashtra Board

Puppetry - Wooden Puppets (Kathputali) :  Puppet show was an important form of entertainment.

• The remains of clay dolls have been found in the excavations at the archaeological sites of Harappa, Egypt and Greece civilisations. It was assumed that they were used as puppets

• Information on puppets is found in the texts like Mahabharata and in Panchatrantra stories.
• The ancient text Mahabharat has a mention that puppetry was one of the 64 arts.

• The traditional art of Puppetry has two styles, one that developed in Rajasthan and the other in southern regions of India.
• The role of the narrator known as Sutradhar is very crucial in the Success of Kathputali shows.
• Though the stage for puppetry is quite small, the puppeteers make use of fight and sound in an ingenious way.
• There are four types of puppets used in Kathputali shows, they are shadow puppets-, wooden puppets, string puppets and hand puppets.

Dashavatara Theatre : Dashavatara is part of the folk theatre in Maharashtra.

• Dashavatcrra is a folk theatre based on stories of the 10 incarnations of Lord
• Vishnu, namely Matsya, Koorma, Varaha, Narsimha Wamana Parshurama, Ram, Krishna, Buddha and Kalki.
• The characters representing gods use wooden masks
• The show is mostly musical but some dialogues are spontaneous The Show ends by breaking dahi handi, an earthen pot of curd followed by Aarti.
• Dashavatara shows are mostly performed in Konkan region and Goa. Shyamji Naik Kale's 'phad', i.e. a troupe performed Dashavatara all over Maharashtra.
• Vishnudas Bhave, the pioneer of Marathi theatre, staged mythological plays by introducing some modifications in the Dashavatara style. His mythological plays have background of Dashavatara theatre.
• *The meaning of phad is ‘a troupe’.

Bhajan (singing devotional songs) : To sing songs in praise of God and chanting god’s name accompanied by instruments like taal (cymbals), mridangam, pakhavaj is known as Bhajan.

• There are two types of Bhajan — The pattern of moving in a circular fashion and singing without a break is called Chakri Bhajan.
• The style in which singer-actors act as devotees and deliver dialogues in the form of devotional songs is Songi Bhajan.
• Tukadoji Maharaj popularised Khanjiri Bhajan. Bhajans composed by Saint Tulsidas, Surdas, Meerabai and Kabir are popular in North India.
• Compositions of Purandardas, Kanakdas, Vijaydas, Bodhendraguru swami and Thyagaraj are sung in Karnataka.
• Saint Narsi Mehta gave momentum to Bhakti movement in Gujarat and Saint Namdev supported tradition of bhajan kirtan in Maharashtra through the Varakari sect.

Keertan : Traditionally, Naradmuni is supposed to be the founder of the Keertana tradition. Saint Namadev is known as the first keertankar of Maharashtra. Other saints helped the tradition to flourish.

• Naraadiya or Haridasi and Varakari are two main traditions of Keertan. In Haridasi Keertan, Haridas or Kathekaribuva shoulders the responsibility of narration of the story and singing the composition.
• In Varkari Keertan collective participation is more important. The players of cymbals are equally important along with the Keertankar.
• Haridasi Keertan further has two parts Poorvarang and Uttarrang. Poorvarang comprises of Naman and Nirupanache Abhang and Nirupan. Uttarang comprises narration of a story to illustrate the main theme.
• Keertan was used as a medium to create social awareness by Satyashodhak
• Samaj. Dattopant Patwardhan of Wai, Maharashtra started tradition of Rashtriya Keertan.
• Rashtriya Keertan placed emphasis on creating awareness by narrating the life stories of great leaders of the independence movement. Sant Tukdoji Maharaj and Govindbua Afle performed Rashtriya Keertan.

Lalit : Lalit is an old form of entertainment in Maharashtra. It belongs to the tradition of Naradiya Keertan. It is quite popular in Goa and Konkan.

• During religious festivals, Lalit performances are arranged.
• The presiding deity is invoked for the fulfillment of desires of the village community. Lalit is also performed in theatrical style.
• A few texts of Lalit is available in Hindi as well. Lalit forms a backdrop of modem Marathi theatre.
• The Lalit is performed in a theatrical style. Stories of Krishna, Rama and great devotees are presented during the performance.

Bharud : Bharud can be described as a metaphorical song that has spiritual and ethical lessons.

• Bharud is similar to a road show and is experimental.
• It shows a wide range of subjects has dramatic quality, easy rhythm and humour.
• Bharuds composed by Saint Eknath are popular in Maharashtra. He composed them with the purpose of educating people on various aspects of life.

Tamasha :  The origin of the word Tamasha is in Persian language. It means a pleasing sight.

• It evolved from amalgamation of folk theatre and classical arts.
• There are two types of traditional Tamasha - Sangeet Bari and Dholakicha Phad.
• Dance and music are given more importance than drama in a Sangeet Bari whereas drama is the main part in Dholakicha Phad. Vag a lively and entertaining part of drama was included a little later.
• It begins with Gan (praising the Lord Ganesha) followed by Gavalan. The Vag is presented in the second part of Tamasha.
• 'Vichchha Mazi Puri Kara’ or 'Gadhavache Lagna' are examples of the modem form of Tamasha.

Powada : Powada (ballad) is a dramatic narration by alternatingly reciting poetry and prosaic extracts.

• Powada is a dramatic narration in which poetry and prosaic extracts are recited alternately.
• Powada narrates deeds of heroic men and women in an impressive and inspiring style.
• One such Powada was composed by the poet Adnyandas on the incident of killing of Afzal Khan by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as well as one composed by Tulsidas on the battle of Simhagarh.
• In the British period, Powadas were composed to narrate the stories of Umaji Naik, Chapekar brothers and Mahatma Gandhi.
• During the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, the Powadas were used as a medium to create public awareness.

Contributor of Marathi Theater :

Bhosale rulers of Tanjore

• The rulers of Tanjore, the Bhosale family, were great patrons of drama. Some of them had written a few plays.
• They promoted plays in Marathi and southern languages.
• Some of them translated a few Sanskrit plays.

Vishnudas Bhave :

• He is known as the father of the Marathi theatre.
• Seetaswayamvar was the first play presented by him.
• It was followed by many historical, mythological and also light farcical stage plays.
• The farcical plays dealt with many social issues in a humorous way.

1. J. Kirtane :

• In the initial years, written scripts were not used.
• Lyrics were written down but the dialogues used to be spontaneous.
• V. J. Kirtane was the first author who wrote the script of the play, Thorale Mqdhavrao Peshwa, in 1861.
• With that started the tradition of script writing.

Khyal Music :

• In the latter half of the 19th century, Balkrishnabuva Ichalkaranjikar made special efforts to introduce classical khyal music in Maharashtra.
• Ustad Alladiya Khan, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan and Ustad Rahimatkhan contributed in a great way. Their efforts helped in developing a taste for classical music among the audience in Maharashtra.
• The growing popularity of classical music resulted in the origin of musical Marathi theatre.

The popular musical plays :

• Annasaheb Kirloskar — Sangeet Shakuntal
• Govind Ballal Deval — Sangeet Sharada
• Shripad Krishna Kolhatkar — Sangeet Mooknayak
• Krishnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar – Sangeet Mancrpcrman
• Ram Ganesh Gadkari - Sangeet Ekach Pyala.

Popular play writer and their play:

Acharya Atre : Sashtang Namaskar, Udyacha Sansar, Gharabaher

• Helped the Marathi theatre to continue when it suffered temporary decline.

Vasant Kanetkar : Raygadala Jevha Jag Yete, Ithe Oshalala Mrutyu

• Plays on historical themes

Vijay Tendulkar : Ghashiram Kotwal

• It threw light on social evils in the past and on the political system.

Vishram Bedekar : Tilak Ani Agarkar

• New type of drama focusing on differences in the opinions of political leaders.

Popular Marathi stage artists : Great actor of Marathi stage of the bygone era

• Ganpatrao Joshi,
• Narayanrao Rajahamsa, more popularly known as Balgandharva,
• Keshavrao Bhosale,
• Chintamanrao Kolhatkar
• Ganpatrao Bodas

Silent Movies :

• The contribution of Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatvadekar, also known as Savedada, is very important in the development of Indian movies. He was the first Indian to make a film (motion picture) in Mumbai.
• Madanrao Madhavrao Pitale and the Patwardhan family of Kalyan contributed greatly to the development of Indian movies.
• Gopal Ramchandra Torane and his associates made a movie 'Pundalik' with the help of foreign technicians and released it in Mumbai in 1912.
• Dadasaheb Phalke directed a full length movie 'Raja Harishchandra'. It was processed fully in India and released in Mumbai in 1913.
• Later, he created silent movies like Mohini-Bhasmasur, Savitri-Satyavana. He also made documentaries on the rock-cut caves of Verul and pilgrim centres of Nashik and Tryambakeshwar.
• Anandrao Painter was the first one to make a cine-camera of Indian make.

Movies created by Baburao Painter (also known as ‘Mistri’):

• Sairandhri -1918.
• Simhgarh - Historical silent movie
• Kalyancha Khajina, Bajiprabhu Deshapande, Netaji Palkar- Historical movie
• Savakari Pash - Realistic social issue.

Other Important Movies and producer ;

Bajirao-Mastani (1925) : Bhalaji Pendharkar : It was banned by the British government as it was suspected to be a medium of spreading nationalistic sentiments.

Savalya Tandel and 'Panna Dai- (Hindi): Kamalabai Mangrullkar : First woman producer oi Marathi

Ramshastri (1944) : Prabhat Company :Biographical movie

Mahatma Phule : Achcrya Atre : Biographical movie

Vasudev Balwant Phadke : Vishram Bedekar : Biographical movie

Dhanya te Santaji Dhanaji : Dinakar D. Patil :Historical movie

Bal Shivaji : Prabhakar Pendhakar : Historical children's movie

Sant Tukaram : Received international acclaim, shown in the international film festival in Paris. Vishnupant Pagnis acted as Saint Tukaram in this film.

Historical movies made in Hindi. The Hindi movies made in the pre-Independence period.

• Sikandar, Tansen, Samrat Chandragupta, Prithvivallabha and Mughal-e-Azam were made with a historical backdrop.
• Dr Kotanis ki Amar Kahani : Based on a true story.
• Andolan, Zansi ki Rani : Based on the Indian struggle for independence.