Lavni and Gondhal: Significant parts of Tamasha
At the heart of Tamasha
performance is the Lavni, which is a
kind of semi erotic song, full of literary embellishments. This could be called
the Marathi equivalent of the Urdu ghazal.
Lavni songs are composed on a variety of subjects but the stress is on eroticism.
The word Lavni is suggestive of both
singing and dancing. Lavni refers to
dancing to a song and in doing so, bending the body artistically in different
alluring poses. The dance is one of gay abandon.
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| Shakuntala Nagarkar, a famous lavni performer Picture courtesy: google image |
Against the semi erotic
content of the Lavni, stood another
type of verse composition, the Gondhal.
This was widely prevalent in the Tamasha of
the Peshwa days. This had a decisively mystic orientation and centred round the
alleged dichotomy between Shiva and Shakti. Followers of Shiva were called Turrewala, and followers of Shakti were
called Kalagiwala.
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| Gondhal Picture courtesy: google image |
The argument was usually expressed through a sort of question and answer session (Sawaal-jawaab) during which intricate conundrums would be posed and answered. This form of musical repartee has since long disappeared from the Tamasha and with it also all vestiges of mysticism from its verse compositions.
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