BARGARH : The 11-day-long Dhanu Yatra involves at least 100 artistes essaying various roles but a few stand out in the crowd. Two among them are Ainthu Sahu of Birmaharajpur and Lalit Mohan Panda of Bargarh.While Sahu has earned a reputation of playing various characters and capturing audience attention by his diction and dialogue delivery, Panda is essaying the character of Akrura - minister of the protagonist Kansa - for the last two decades.
Usually, the main roles of Kansa, Krishna and Balram are played by local artistes and the opportunity to essay smaller roles is given to artistes outside Bargarh following auditions. These artistes are replaced every one or two years but Sahu has been a part of Dhanu Yatra for the last 12 years.
The versatile actor essays at least six to eight roles in Dhanu Yatra and when required, he plays many other impromptu roles when an artiste backs out for some reason. For the organisers, Sahu is the trump card of the festival that takes place in Bargarh and Ambapali, situated across river Jeera.
He mostly plays the characters of Gargarusi, Drumilasura, Sandasura, Banasura, Jarasandha, Narakasura as well as Lord Shiva in Dhanu Yatra. But he is well versed with dialogues of almost every other character. A member of the artist coordination committee, Ashok Behera said on many occasions, artistes have walked out at the last moment due to various reasons and to fill up the spots, Sahu is called in. He gets ready in a minute to walk down the stage, Behera adds.
Sahu comes to Bargarh two months before Dhanu Yatra and rehearses for his roles. For him, the stage is more important than the remuneration. "The respect I get from this stage cannot be matched with anything else. I can never get a stage bigger than this to showcase my acting skills," says Sahu, who has also acted in Sabyasachi Mahapatra’s award-winning film 'Sala Budha'.
When he is not acting, Sahu preaches Bhagwat Gita and Ramayana in villages to earn his livelihood. Apart from Dhanu Yatra, Sahu acts in Odisha Opera and other ‘jatra’ events in the State. Panda, on the other hand, has been playing the role of ‘Akrura’ for the last 27 years for his love for Lord Krishna. In ‘Krishna Leela’, Akrura, though less recognised, is one of the few indispensable characters.
Had it not been Akrura, Krishna would have never come to Mathura and killed Kansa. An ardent devotee of Krishna, Akrura was a minister of Kansa who plots for killing Krishna in the Rang Sabha. He sends Akrura to escort Krishna to Mathura.
The character of Akrura is one among the very few roles which involves less dialogues and more of singing. Throughout his journey to Gopapur and back to Mathura, Akrura is lost in the thoughts of Krishna and keeps chanting ‘kirtans’ for him.
It is his love for Krishna, Panda says, that draws him to Dhanu Yatra every year. He first essayed the character of Akrura in 1994. It was one of his colleagues Upendra Kathar who forced him to act in Dhanu Yatra. Although he had no acting experience, Panda tried his luck at the audition. "The selection committee was impressed with the kirtan that I sung," he recalls.
Panda plays the role of Akrura in the seventh, eighth and the ninth day of the festival and during these three days, he sings around 45 to 50 ‘kirtans’ throughout his journey from Mathura to Gopapur and back. "This is the only way I connect with Lord Krishna every year," he says, adding that he wishes to play the role till he can act.