Raas festival of Nalbari, which
completes 69 years, has turned into a large religious and cultural event
of Assam as well as the North-east. During the celebration of 11-day Raas
festival, this tiny town in fact transforms into a sea of humanity as all
roads lead to the Nalbari Hari Mandir premises. Thousands of visitors
irrespective of cast, creed and religion throng ![]() the venue
to witness the famous Raas festival held during the time of Autumn. During
Raas festival, the whole Nalbari town wears a new look with the spectacles
of artificial electric light and the long que of visitors leave no space
on the roads of the town.
Raas festival in Nalbari was first
celebrated in 1933 with the notable contributions of late Amar Kundu,
Naren Basu, Gadamalla Baruah, Dandi Ram Mahajan, Bati Ram Deka, Kirti
Thikadar, Padmapani Dutta, Bhairab Chaudhuri, among others. They first
celebrated Raas puja at Nalbari Purana Natkhola in 1933 with a brief
arrangement. Actually, they first decided to celebrate the Raas in 1931
but cancelled it due to unavoidable circumstances. When they organized the
Raas festival at Nalbari town, it got wide response from the people which
encouraged them to continue with the festival.
However, at that
time the Nalbari Raas was celebrated only as a religious function but it
later turned into a cultural festival due to the growing attraction of
visitors. During the initial time, only the Brahmin artistes made the
idols of Raas festival as the lower caste persons were not allowed to make
the idols of god and goddesses. Later, the lower cast persons were
permitted to make the idols but the finishing touch was given by the upper
caste Brahmin artistes. Now there is no restriction of making the idols.
Noted idol makers of Dhurkuchi village late Ambika Nath Goswami made the
idols of Nalbari Raas in an attractive manner.
Though, the
Nalbari Raas was held at Purana Natkhola from 1933 to 1945, it was shifted
to the present location after construction of the Nalbari Harimandir in
1946. The old site, Purana Natkhola, was very small to accommodate the
growing number of visitors. The foundation of the Harimandir, the centre
of cultural and spiritual development of the district, was started in 1939
with the donation of four sal piles by Priya Nath Kaviraj of Elengidal
village.
Since then, the Nalbari Raas, which later become Raas
Mahotsav, has been celebrated uninterruptedly. Though it initially started
with a three-day programme till 1949, now it is being celebrated with an
11-day-long programme starting from the full moon night of the Autumn. In
1989 the Raas festival was celebrated with a day-long programme due to the
killing of three workers of the committee in a tragic accident and in
1996, it was held for three days due to the opposition of a certain
militant outfit.
There is a permanent puja mandap at the
Hari Mandir complex which was completed in 1975 with the donation of
Damahu Ram Mahajan. The main Raas puja is held in this mandap where
a large idol of Radha-Krishna is installed along with several pairs of
Gopi-Krishna idols. The committee has also set up about 100 temporary
stalls to install thousands of idols which depict different incidents from
the eventful life of Lord Sri Krishna. Noted artiste, sculptor Adya
Sarma’s landscape of main mandap as well as the other temporary
stalls also attract the visitors.
Last year, the Raas celebration
committee took some special measures to modernize the stalls to attract
the visitors. The main puja mandap was decorated with 11 pairs of
Radha-Krishna’s joint idols which were moved round the clock with a
mechanized system. Ten more stalls were also mechanized last year.
Besides, the terrorist attack in the World Trade Centre of New York,
killing of Bandit Queen Phulan Devi, devastating flood of Orissa were
erected with sophisticated devices specially brought from Kolkata drew the
attention of huge crowd last year.
The Nalbari Harimandir
Committee last year installed a life-size marble statue of Lord Bishnu at
the main temple at a cost of Rs 3 lakh which become another attraction of
Raas. Following the ceasefire agreement with BLT, the Bodo women in
thousands have again begun to witness the district’s largest cultural and
religious event. Similarly, number of visitors from outside of the state
is also increasing after the development of law-and-order
situation.
The secretary of Nalbari Raas Celebration Committee
Nagen Deka said that the celebration committee has made all arrangement to
celebrate eleven days Raas from November 19 to 29 in an attractive manner.
“This year we have decided to develop the Raas festival of Nalbari into a
national festival. For that, we invited a noted film personality of
Mumbai to inaugurate the mobile theatres during the Raas period,” Deka
said. He further informed that the committee has extended the areas of the
festival to accommodate the increasing numbers of visitors. Accordingly,
the sites of the mobile theatre groups have been shifted one kilometre
away from the Harimandir complex, the main venue for the Raas festival. It
may be mentioned here that the people wait engarly enjoy the year’s best
dramas of mobile theatre groups at Nalbari Raas
festival.
Elaborating the preparation of Raas festival, Deka said
that at least 20 idol-makers lead by Makhan Paul of Guwahati made about a
thousand idols to be displayed during the Raas. The committee this year
has erected four huge gates illuminated with decorative lights — one at
Barama Road, one at NT Road, one at Bata Chowk and another at the bus
stand. Meanwhile, the committee has appointed about 500 volunteers to
guide the visitors during the festival, Deka said adding, the police
administration has also geared up its security measures setting up some
temporary police posts on the main entrances.
The huge gathering
in Nalbari Raas festival has proved that the place, though a hotbed of
militancy is also a centre of cultural and spiritual development of the
masses.
Ramen Kalita
A festival
of autumn
Like many other Hindu festivals,
Raas is also a festival related to Sri Krishna. Sri Krishna played a vital
role in the spiritual life of every Indian. He is a legendary hero, a
complete man with a rare personality, fascinated everybody irrespective of
caste, creed and religion. He is a symbol of love, beauty and nature.
Krishna is the nerve of Indian culture, its rich heritage and old
religion.
On a full-moon night of autumn, the melodious tune of
the flute of Sri Krishna had infatuated the milk-women of Gokula. Keeping
all aside, they ran after the tune to Brindavana, by the side of river
Yamuna. Even mother feeding breast to her ![]() child, wife sleeping with her husband ran after the tune like
dancing snake of a snake-man. The moon in the clear sky shone brilliantly
with full bloom. The dazzling stars of the sky played hide and seek over
the silvery white water of Yamuna. The nature with all its scenic beauty
glowed like a newly-wedded bride. In such a scintillating weather,
milk-women of all ages ran to the bank of Yamuna to meet their heartthrob
Sri Krishna. In a frenzy of passion they played, danced and copulated with
Sri Krishna for the whole night of autumn. Krishna, with his full capacity
did dalliance with every one of them.
But Raas can not be
regarded only as an amorous sport of Krishna with the milk-women of
Gokula. It is one of “Krishna Leelas” (sports of Krishna) where a complete
devotion of mind and soul to Lord Krishna is attached. “Raas” means
“dancing in delight”. Encircling Krishna, the milk-women of Gokula danced
with joy and merriment leaving aside their personal lives.
In
Harivansa as in the Puranas it is described as “Hallish
Kriya” participated by man and woman of different ages. There is a vivid
description of “Raas-Kriya” in the 29th-33th chapters of Dasam Skandha
Bhagavata.
In Assam, the festival of Raas was perhaps
introduced by Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva in the 14th Century AD. Sri
Krishna was the only god in the ‘Eka Saran Nam Dharma’ initiated by
Sankardeva. By displaying different ‘Krishna leelas’, he tried to
establish Krishna as the supreme god. In the ‘Raas Kriya’ chapter of his
‘Kirtan Ghosha’ he gave a full account of Raas. With his poetic narration
he brilliantly described the beauty of this autumn festival with a
romantic description of nature. He also wrote an ankiya-nat (Vaishnavite
drama) Keligopal on the basis of Raas Kriya of Sri Krishna. His
chief disciple Madhabdeva also wrote a drama on it called Raas
Jhumura.
Raas festival nowadays is celebrated at different
places of the State with traditional gaiety and enthusiasm. In Majuli,
which is known as the abode of Vaishnavite art, culture and literature,
thousands of people throng to see the Raas festival celebrated at
different Satras situated there. The river island wore a festival attire
during the Raas festival observed at Garmur Saru Satra and Bar Satra,
Dakshinpat Satra, Auniati Satra, Bengenaati Satra, Samaguri Satra, Bhogpur
Satra, Uttar Kamalabari Satra, Natun Kamalabari Satra and many other
Satras with a three to four-day-long programme. Apart from the Satras, the
festival is also observed at Ratanpur, Natun Bazar, Panikhati, Gayan Gaon,
Phulani, Rangasahi, Bhakati Duar, Bangaon, Tataya, Kamargaon and many
other places of Majuli. The Misings, the largest ethnic group of Majuli
also celebrate the festival at Jengrai, Sumoimari, Sitadar and other
Mising dominated areas of Majuli.
Each Satras of Majuli observed
the festival in its own traditional way. The Raas of Dakshinpat Satra is
very old and is observed in a ritualistic manner. In 1948, the great
Satradhikar (head of a Satra) of Garmur Satra, Pitambar Deva Goswami
brought about a new trend in the festival by using stage for enacting the
play. Breaking old conservative custom and tradition he introduced
co-acting in the Raas. Instead of old classical drama, he wrote the Raas
drama using modern songs and dance. The play start with the birth of Sri
Krishna and come to an end with Maharaas. Different ‘Krishna leelas’ are
shown by using a number of masks. Masks of different asuras (demons) such
as Putana, Maghasur, Aghosur, Bakasur, Sankhasur, Kalinag, etc. of
different size and shape are the main attraction of the festival. The
masks of Samaguri Satra are very popular and earned laurel in the country
and abroad.
The Raas festival of Nalbari, Palasbari, Tihu, Howly,
etc. are also very popular and attract thousands of people every year. The
Nalbari Raas festival has been celebrated since 1933 and it is now
regarded as one of the biggest festival of lower Assam. But the Raas
festival of lower Assam is quite different from that of upper Assam. In
upper Assam, ‘Krishna Leelas’ are shown in dramatical form by acting
according to a drama. But in lower Assam, ‘Krishna Leelas’ are shown by
displaying different idols and masks arranged chronologically. Modern
technique, skill, light and sound are used extensively for decoration and
make it more attractive. The Raas festival of upper Assam is, therefore,
observed here in lower Assam as Raas Mela.
Babul
Tamuli |
