VARANASI: The four brothers met again at Nati Imli on Friday, October 23, as Mauni Baba’s Ramlila presented its Bharat Milap a day after the larger gathering at the same field.
Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna enacted the reunion at dusk before regular followers of the performance and residents from the surrounding area. The attendance was smaller than the previous day’s gathering, while the audience continued the familiar devotional responses.
Friday’s gathering was part of Mauni Baba’s Ramlila, a separate local performance cycle. Regular followers and neighbours returned to the ground for its own Bharat Milap observance, giving Nati Imli another evening centred on the reunion of Rama and his brothers.
A group of saints from Ayodhya attended the Bharat Milap. The account describes their participation as an annual observance connected with their own teaching lineage, adding another continuing relationship to the local gathering.
A familiar scene on another evening
The meeting of the brothers brings a long separation to an end within the Ramayana narrative. In a Ramlila performance, its emotional force comes partly from the audience’s familiarity with the story and partly from the movement towards the moment of reunion.
Beyond the central roles, a Ramlila depends on people preparing costumes, masks, make-up, scenery and lighting. UNESCO recognises this collective work as part of the tradition, in which communities contribute to bringing the Ramayana narrative into public performance over successive days.
UNESCO’s account of Ramlila describes a tradition combining scenes from the Ramayana with song, narration, recitation and dialogue. It also recognises the community work that supports the performance, extending beyond those who appear in the principal roles.
Coronation tableau at Nadesar
Elsewhere in the city on Friday, the Nadesar Ramlila presented its rajgaddi tableau. The programme began at about 7 pm, with the royal preceptor performing Rama’s coronation amid Vedic recitation.
The tableau remained available for viewing until around 9.30 pm, according to the event account. The coronation scene is a different stage in the narrative from Bharat Milap, moving the focus from reunion towards the return to kingship.
At Nati Imli, the emphasis was on the brothers meeting after separation; at Nadesar, it was Rama’s coronation. The two programmes belonged to different local Ramlilas, even though both were held on Friday and drew their scenes from the same epic narrative.
The evening’s two scenes offered different moments of homecoming: the family reunion at Nati Imli and the return to kingship at Nadesar. For the followers attending each performance, the familiar narrative continued within their own neighbourhood’s observance rather than through one citywide stage programme.
