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| Keshabananda Dev Goswami addresses reporters on Friday. Telegraph picture |
Jan. 18: Xattriya exponent Keshabananda Dev Goswami today slammed the bhaonas staged by different organisations for not adhering to traditional norms.
In an interaction with the media, Goswami said most of the bhaonas staged in the city do not stick to the norms as laid down by Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Sankardev several centuries ago. “Most of the bhaonas staged here are not performed properly. Even the costumes worn by the performers are not proper. Care should be taken to prevent this degradation.”
Goswami discussed the need for a book that will highlight all the crises faced by xattriya culture. He praised the efforts of Asom Satra Mahasabha, the apex body of xatras in Assam to bring together many experts of the state to discuss the issues in a workshop and publish their views in a book, Xattriya Nrityar Aharjya.
The workshop organised with the support of the directorate of cultural affairs in 2010, had seen the participation of xatradhikars, scholars, researchers and xattriya artistes from across the state.
“A series of recommendations was collected and processed during the event and 1,500 copies of the suggestions were dispatched to the district branches of the Sabha, colleges, universities, socio-cultural organisations, scholars and performing artistes. After two years of discussion and deliberation, the book was published in an effort to prevent degradation of xattriya elements,” said a member of the organisation.
Descriptions of various facets of characters mentioned in religious books like the Bhagavat and Kirtan and other elements like borgeets and ankiya naats have been included in the book.
Goswami also had reservations about the performance of bhaonas, which were originally written in Brajavali language, in Assamese and languages of other indigenous communities. He said if people stage bhaonas in their own languages, they would forget the plays written in Brajavali.
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