The pandal being built for the Baresahariya Bhaona festival

Tezpur, March 26: Come April 1 and the sleepy town of Jamuguri on the north bank will host thousands of people from across the state when the 213-year-old Baresahariya Bhaona gets under way after a gap of several years.

Troupes from several villages in and around Jamuguri — 50 km from Tezpur town — will stage the bhaonas (religious plays) at the five-day extravaganza.

Traditionally, the bhaona is a dramatisation of mythological episodes rendered with different ragas and talas and played by a team of villagers, either at a namghar (holy shrine) and at the satras (monasteries).

It was devised by saint and reformer Srimanta Sankardev to propagate his “ek-sarana-nama dharma” doctrine in the 15th and 16th century.

The term baresahar means “several villages” and this year troupes from 21 villages will perform at the festival under a single roof constructed with bamboo and straw.

Amid the unfolding hues of spring and the smell of harvested crops, people in Jamuguri are busy constructing the huge podiums. The festival is organised every five years but it could not be held for the past several years owing to various reasons, including lack of funds.

Padma Kanta Saikia, secretary of the organising committee, said, “This year, the festival will see the revival of cultural shows that were last held in 1972”. The first chief minister of Meghalaya, Capt. Williamson Sangma, had attended the festival as a special guest that year.

Another member of the organising committee said “a couple of theatre personalities from abroad are likely to attend the festival this time. However, their attendance will be confirmed only after a few days”.

Jamuguri had been a cradle of Sankardeva’s Vaisnavite culture but the Baresahariya Bhaona was launched in 1797 by the local villagers to bring all the people associated with bhaona under a single roof.

In the 1900s, a drama troupe from Orissa had also participated in the festival.