Teejan Bai, Pandavani legend, exits the stage

Legendary Pandavani folk singer Teejan Bai, who took Chhattisgarh’s traditional storytelling art to audiences across the world through her commanding voice and expressive style, died at AIIMS in Raipur on Sunday after a prolonged illness, doctors said. She was 70.

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She was cremated with full state honours at her native Ganiyari village in Chhattisgarh’s Durg district, as hundreds gathered to bid farewell to the voice that carried the ‘Mahabharata’ to the world.

Standing on stage, wielding her 'tambura' (a stringed musical instrument) like Bhima's mace, she transformed storytelling into theatre. Her commanding voice, expressions and presence breathed life into every character of the Mahabharata.

Born in 1956 into the Pardhi Scheduled Tribe at Ganiyari village in Durg district, Teejan Bai, a Padma Vibhushan awardee, developed a passion for listening to and narrating stories from the Mahabharata at an early age.