"Ramleela" redirects here. For the 2017 film, see Ramaleela. For other uses, see Ramleela (disambiguation).
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Ramlila (Sanskrit: रामलीला, romanized: Rāmalīlā; literally 'Rama's lila or play') is any dramatic folk re-enactment of the life of Rama according to the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana or secondary literature based on it such as the Ramcharitmanas.[1] It particularly refers to the thousands[2] of the Hindu god Rama-related dramatic plays and dance events, that are staged during the annual autumn festival of Navaratri in India.[3] After the enactment of the legendary war between good and evil, the Ramlila celebrations climax in the Vijayadashami (Dussehra) night festivities where the giant grotesque effigies of evil such as of the rakshasa (demon) Ravana are burnt, typically with fireworks.[4][5][6]
Ramlila
A scene from annual Ramlila at Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi, 2012
Rama is the seventh avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu and the central figure of the Ramayana, a Sanskrit epic that integrates performance arts with stories driven by ethical values. The epic text is dated to the 1st millennium BCE and Ramlila is an adaptation of those stories. Most Ramlilas in North India are based on the 16th-century secondary work on Ramayana, Ramcharitmanas a verse form composition in the regional vernacular language (Awadhi a dialect of Hindi[7]), by Tulsidas.[4][6][8] These verses are used as dialogues in traditional adaptations. Open-air productions are staged by local Ramlila committees (Samitis), and funded entirely by the villagers or local neighbourhoods in urban areas.[9] The core team of performance artists train for the dance-drama, but the actual performance attracts impromptu participants from the audience and villagers.[4] This art form is a part of the Hindu culture, found for many gods and goddesses, but those of Rama, Durga (as Durga Puja) and Krishna (as Rasalila) are the most popular and annual events in the Indian subcontinent.[1]
The Ramlila festivities were declared by UNESCO as one of the "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity" in 2008. Ramlila is particularly notable in historically important Hindu cities of Ayodhya, Varanasi, Vrindavan, Almora, Satna and Madhubani – cities in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.[4][9] The epic and its dramatic play migrated into Southeast Asia in the 1st millennium CE, and Ramayana based Ramlila is a part of performance art culture of Indonesia particularly the Hindu society of Bali, Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand.[10] In the 19th and 20th centuries, with the movement of the Indian diaspora into European colonies as indentured servants, the cultural celebration of Ramlila is now found in many parts of the world such as Mauritius, Africa, Fiji, Guyana, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. It is also found in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand.[11][12]
^ abJames G. Lochtefeld 2002, p. 389.
^Schechner, Richard; Hess, Linda (1977). "The Ramlila of Ramnagar [India]". The Drama Review: TDR. 21 (3). The MIT Press: 51–82. doi:10.2307/1145152. JSTOR 1145152.
^Encyclopedia Britannica 2015.
^ abcdRamlila, the traditional performance of the Ramayana, UNESCO
^Ramlila Pop Culture India!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle, by Asha Kasbekar. Published by ABC-CLIO, 2007. ISBN 1-85109-636-1. Page 42.
^ abCite error: The named reference claus507 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Jennifer Lindsay (2006). Between Tongues: Translation And/of/in Performance in Asia. National University of Singapore Press. pp. 12–14. ISBN 978-9971-69-339-8.
^Constance Jones & James D. Ryan 2006, p. 457.
^ abJames G. Lochtefeld 2002, pp. 561–562.
^Mandakranta Bose (2004). The Ramayana Revisited. Oxford University Press. pp. 342–350. ISBN 978-0-19-516832-7.
^Cite error: The named reference un was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Ramlila – The traditional performance of Ramayana – Part I & II Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
Ramlila (Sanskrit: रामलीला, romanized: Rāmalīlā; literally 'Rama's lila or play') is any dramatic folk re-enactment of the life of Rama according to the...
Ramlila Maidan also Ramlila Ground is a large ground located in New Delhi, India, traditionally used for staging the annual Ramlila. It is used for religious...
Ramlila in Chandigarh is one of the most important cultural events of Chandigarh. Ramlila is regarded as dramatic folk re-enactment of the life of Lord...
and the Ramcharitmanas – a popular treatise that inspires thousands of Ramlila festival performances during autumn every year in India. Rama legends are...
dramatic performance, known as Ramlila, is annually hosted on the festivals of Rama Navami and Vijayadashami. Ramlila encapsulates the story of Rama through...
February 2020, led by Kejriwal as Delhi's chief minister for a third time at Ramlila Maidan. India portal Politics portal 2020 elections in India 2019 Indian...
annual Ramlila celebrations in India, and seasonal dramatic arts in southeast Asia, particularly in Thailand; and Bali and Java, Indonesia. Ramlila is a...
Ghazipur is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Ghazipur city is the administrative headquarters of the Ghazipur district, one of the four districts...
annual Ramlila, the enactment of the life of Rama which takes place during the 10-day Dussehra festival. First begun at the center in 1957, the Ramlila has...
offered to table the Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament. On 24 August, he went to Ramlila Maidan as a common man to support the cause of Anna Hazare, becoming the...
dharma. In the northern, central, and western states, it marks the end of Ramlila and commemorates the deity Rama's victory over the demon-king Ravana. Alternatively...
at the place where he had the sight of the deity. Tulsidas started the Ramlila plays, a folk-theatre adaptation of the Ramayana. He has been acclaimed...
stand at the place where he had the sight of Hanuman. Tulsidas started the Ramlila plays, a folk-theatre adaption of the Ramayana. He has been acclaimed as...
Navyug Ramlila and Dussehra Committee is one of the oldest committees of Chandigarh; established in 1979 cater to the interests of new generation, has...
Perumanoor Gopinathan Pillai, more popularly known as Guru Gopinath (24 June 1908 – 9 October 1987) was a well known Indian actor-cum-dancer. He is well...
includes: the bhavai of Gujarat, the jatra of West Bengal, the nautanki and ramlila of North India, tamasha of Maharashtra, burrakatha of Andhra Pradesh and...
Kumaon style, Ramlila has been recognised by UNESCO as one of the representative styles of Ramlila in India. The 150-year-old Kumaoni Ramlila was declared...
March, the opposition alliance held a protest rally against the same in Ramlila Maidan, Delhi on 31 March, where opposition leaders alleged the corruption...
theatre. Today, dramatic enactments of the story of the Ramayana, known as Ramlila, take place all across India and in many places across the globe within...
Hazare decided to hold his protest at Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi. On 20 August Hazare "left the Tihar Jail for the Ramlila Grounds". Hazare promised reporters...
oath on 14 February 2015 as Delhi's chief minister for a second time at Ramlila Maidan. Since then his party has passed the Jan Lokpal Bill though with...
many a cultural tradition, most significantly that of the tradition of Ramlila, the dramatic enactment of the text. Ramcharitmanas is considered by many...
title Ramleela was misleading, because the movie had nothing to do with Ramlila, the traditional enactment of the life and story of Hindu deity, Lord Rama...
He added grandeur to and formed the present shape of the world-famous Ramlila of Ramnagar which was a low-key affair at that time. He like his father...