Hajari Bhand of Rajasthan: Jester without Court

Video Description

Hajari Bhand of Chittorgarh gained renown in the towns and villages of the Mewar region of southern Rajasthan as a bahurupia – a wandering mimic and comic able to perform in many disguises for the amusement of his audiences and for his and his family’s livelihood. 1982-83, at the age of 60, he graciously gave up semi-retirement so that John and Ulrike Emigh could document his work. Their film features Hajari Bhand performing twenty-five distinct roles, many by himself and some accompanied by his son, Jankilal Bhand. They perform a vast assortment of tradesmen, rogues, professionals, beggars, holy men, and fools, each role instantly identifiable by virtue of the Bhands’ mastery of the distinctive dress, speech, and behavior patterns of the castes, character types, and mythological figures that comprise the Mewari world. Hajari and Jankilal Bhand imitate, exaggerate, and sometimes violate the stereotypical expectations born of this shared knowledge for comic and dramatic effect. In the documentary, Hajari and a former royal patron discuss his life as a bahurupia and, prior to Indian independence, as a jester, praise singer, and caustic wit in the royal courts of Mewar. Bhands traditionally are jesters, only some of whom have practiced the mimetic art of the bahurupiya. They performed functions similar to those of the court jesters of medieval Europe and Hajari Bhand’s life and artistry can perhaps provide a distant if imperfect mirror into this lost history. While comedic performances, sometimes by a single performer, and the celebratory portrayal of deities at festivals are featured in ancient Sanskrit traditions of Hindu performance, the Bhands of India trace their lineage to the jesters of medieval Persian-influenced Islamic Courts and, more specifically, to the jesters brought to India in Timur Leng’s invasion of 1398, the legacy of which includes groups of Muslim Bhands in Kashmir who have traditionally performed farcical plays known as Bhand Pather. Owing to the distinctive cross-currents of its own cultural history, a Hindu caste of Bhands emerged in Rajasthan. Hajari Bhand tells how his ancestor became attached the royal Courts of Mewar by risking his life to fool a Raja during a hunt and offers examples of both the tributes of praise, called bhandais, and the tirades of blame that were in the Bhands’ Courtly repertoire. Hajari was nurtured within his Bhand community, particularly by his older brother, who died during our filming. The colorful public ceremony transferring status with the Bhand community as well as Hajari Bhand’s moving testimony to his brother’s influence are in also in the film. The bahurupiya’s art was already thought to be a dying one when this documentary was made, challenged by the spread of movies and television as well as by societal and economic changes. In the traditional caste-based societies of India, where social roles were understood to be proscribed by karma and dharma, the bahurupiah’s ability to convincingly take on many identities is both particularly appealing and potentially heretical. If the rigidities of dress and behavior in caste society facilitate the bahurupiya’s work, these same rigidities give added meaning to his humor. The bahurupiya’s seemingly heretical play with identity points, though, to another stratum of Hindu philosophy which holds that each human being contains within him or herself all the powers and potentialities of the universe. As a joker in the deck, “a wildcard” in an otherwise carefully labeled pack, the bahurupiya can be thought to serve as a reminder that even in the most rigid of societies, identities are not ultimately fixed. The wheel of karma takes many turns; a prince in one cycle may find himself a pauper in the next as the lila – or play – of life continues. Small wonder, then, that the rich and powerful would have strived to contain and control this disruptive presence through patronage, and that the Bhand’s flattery would have been sought after and his curses feared. The Bhand as bahurupiya has served not only as an entertaining reflection and distortion of the human comedy but as a reminder and immediate demonstration of the mutability of the human soul and the liveliness of the human spirit. Hajari Bhand’s life and art serves as a shining reminder. The Hindi/Rajasthani subtitles available for Youtube have been made possible by the work of Yatin Batra and Ayush Ghimire.