Indigenous Theatre in Bangladesh

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Syed Jamil Ahmed

Ed. by Niaz Zaman, Independent University Bangladesh
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.3.2: Pakistani and Bangladeshi Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Sarker Hasan Al Zayed (Independent University Bangladesh), Pavan Kumar Malreddy (J W Goethe University of Frankfurt), Delphine Munos (Université de Liège), Muneeza Shamsie (Independent Scholar - Asia), Niaz Zaman (Independent University Bangladesh)

Domains

Theatre

Dates

Date of occurrence c.500-

Places

Bangladesh (Location; Involved)

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Recommended Reading

Imagine this. On a chilly winter night, you, along with a few hundred other people, are sitting around an

āsar

(performance space) made of a pavilion, no more than a 12-foot-square area, situated at the centre of a public space in a village in Bangladesh. At each of the four corners of the pavilion stand bamboo poles that support a ﬂat shade of date-palm leaves on top. Two gas pressure lamps burn at two bamboo posts diagonally across from one another. Illuminated thus, a group of eight male performers are presenting

mādār pīrer gān

, a form of indigenous performance of Bangladesh. The choral singer/orchestra are sitting in a tight circle at the centre, singing the refrain of a song. Around them the lead narrator and two female impersonators are dancing in what appears to be an…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

5342 words

Citation: Ahmed, Syed Jamil. "Indigenous Theatre in Bangladesh". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 August 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19585, accessed 16 April 2024.]

View recommended reading for this article

Save this article