Folk drama: In the context of Malda and South Dinajpur districts/ লোকনাট্য : মালদহ ও দক্ষিণ দিনাজপুর জেলার প্রেক্ষিতে

Abstract

Culture is the carrier and carrier of human civilization. Culture is the carrier and carrier of civilization. The individual characteristics of people living in the world are reflected through cultural activities. Although culture is the artistic form of human life, its form is different according to the country and environment. That is why we notice a huge difference between the culture of urban life and the culture of the illiterate working people in rural areas. The topic of my research paper is ‘Lokanatya: Perspectives of Malda and South Dinajpur Districts’. The predominantly agricultural lifestyle of these districts has especially dominated the rural culture. Gambhira, a folk drama of West Bengal's Malda district, is one of the genres of Bengali folk culture. ‘Gambheera’ is a narrative song sung in groups. In Malda district area ‘Gambhira-dance’ is performed to the tune of ‘Gambhira’ song by wearing ‘Gambhira’ mask. The ‘Gambhira’ festival mainly centres around Shiva Puja. Another name of Shiva is ‘Gambhira’ hence Shiva's festival is ‘Gambhira’ festival and Shiva’s bandana song is ‘Gambhira song’. Based on the story of ‘Gambhira’, the drama written and acted orally is ‘Gambhira folk drama’. ‘Gambhira’ folk drama is simultaneously visual, audio and acting. The folk drama of South Dinajpur is known as ‘Khon’. The word ‘Khan’ is derived from the word ‘Khand’ which means event. In other words, an incident that happened in the folk society is ‘excavated’. ‘Khon’ is a popular drama form of folk society of Dakshin Dinajpur district. In this research work, I have tried to highlight the definition, characteristics, origin, development, purpose, differences, and the discussion and features of ‘Gambhira’ and ‘Khan’ folk dramas in the cultural environment of the two districts.