‘Took centuries-old oral tradition to global arena’

Teejan Bai, the legendary Pandavani exponent, whose ringing voice carried tales of the Mahabharata from the villages of Chhattisgarh to concert halls across the world, died in Raipur on Sunday following a prolonged illness. She was 70.

- Yogesh Pawar

Born into a tribal Pardhi family in Ganiyari village in present-day Chhattisgarh, Teejan Bai inherited the narrative tradition from her grandfather who performed the Pandavani or songs of the Pandavas as an itinerant village musician. But it was Teejan Bai whose theatrical presentations took the centuries-old oral tradition beyond the villages of Chhattisgarh onto the national and international arena.

When she stepped onto a stage, her single-stringed ektara tucked under her arm, which she wielded as a shape-shifting prop, she brought the Mahabharata alive. She blended music, theatre, poetry and emotion with her voice, gestures and rhythm, displaying a masterful command of her material. She also broke barriers in a world where women folk artistes were considered subservient to the men. Teejan Bai was the first woman to perform the Pandavani in the physically demanding Kapalik style, where her instrument staff became Bhima's mace, Arjuna’s bow, Duryodhana’s sceptre or Draupadi’s searing rage. Shifting identities with ease and pacing the stage rather than being seated, her resonant voice and verve claimed what was an exclusively male domain.

Her journey began astonishingly early, making her first public performance at a village in Durg district at 13, a year after her marriage.