Years add to Ramlila, Ram Dal yatra charm

ALLAHABAD: Sangam City and Dussehra celebrations are synonymous with each other. The first Ramlila in the city was staged at Pajawa at the start of the 19th Century by mahant Baba Hathiram of Shahganj's Ram Temple.
It is said that from Shahganj Baba Hathiram walked all the way to Pajawa carrying actors playing the role of Ram and Sita on his shoulders and Sita on his lap.Pajawa means 'awan' and was frequented by potters at that time.
After staging Ramlila at the spot, the mahant and the actors rested at Atri Anusuiya Temple at Attarsuiya. Thereafter, he stopped at Chowk allowing people to have 'darshan' of Ram, Laxman and Sita. This trend later on became an annual affair and came to be known as Ram Dal procession.
Later, Pajawa Ramlila Committee was constituted for the purpose. Committee's convener Rajesh Mehrotra said, "It is one of the oldest committee in the city and are proud of our Ram Dal procession that is now a symbol of city's cultural identity."
He further said that the committee was still in possession of special masks used by actors playing the role of monkeys in Ram Sena in the first Ram Dal procession. "These masks are made of brass and are our proud possession. Even the crowns worn by Ram, Laxman, Bharat and Shatrughan are made of pure silver and have gold plating," he said.
Talking about the changes in Ram Dal procession, he said, "Torches were used to light up the entire procession taken out for the first time at the start of the 19th Century. It was later replaced by mica-made lamps and wax candles. Special chandeliers were also used to illuminate the entire procession. Now, we have various colourful lights."
Following Mahant's lead, Badshahi Mandi Ramlila's convener Beni Ram Kayastha too started taking out a procession. This committee later came to be known as Patharchatthi Ramlila Committee. Both these committees take out Ram Dal processions on the ninth and tenth day(Vijay Dashmi) of the current Kartik month.