Das and “Swadeshi” Jatra: Making Jatra Political in Bengal

Abstract

Amrita Bazaar Patrika1, the popular vernacular daily of Bengal reviewed the performance of Mukunda Das’s Swadeshi Jatra Party as an appropriate expression of the Swadeshi cult. In this paper, I shall attempt to discuss how Mukunda Das, often known as the Charan Kavi, revived Jatra, the popular but severely criticised folk form in twentieth century Bengal. This paper will further elucidate how Mukunda Das made jatra a voice of the Swadeshi movement by giving Jatra the political colouring. It has been observed that jatra, most popular form of theatre, stayed outside the arena of the cultural sphere of Bengal as crude, raising questions whether this form of mass entertainment possesses any social value or has the potential to contribute significantly in the formation of the political consciousness of the nation. The breakthrough in revolutionising jatra happened due to the attempts of Mukunda Das and his troupe, the Swadeshi jatra Party. This paper aims to focus how Mukunda Das revived jatra as a significant voice to talk about issues such as colonial exploitation, feudalism, oppression of the caste system, and the nationwide anti-colonial movement. The paper purports to discuss how jatra, the folk form finally attained the political status to fulfil nationalistic aspirations with the help of Mukunda Das’s Swadeshi jatra.