Chandigarh, October 13
Beware, mela buffs! You may be taken for a ride by a man in police uniform. He may ask you to accompany him to the nearest police station threatening to lodge an FIR against you. A man posing as a faith healer or a mendicant may press you hard to entice employing all kinds of tricks.
You might lose your cool or composure dealing with such a squeaky character. But, don’t be sacred. They are the people with a heart of gold. They may give you some troublesome moments but at the end they leave you entertained with their art. They are known ‘behrupiyas’, who are born to entertain assuming all kinds of characters.
You may come across some ‘behurpiyas’, aka impersonators, at the ongoing Chandigarh National Crafts Mela, a joint venture of the North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC), Ministry of Culture, Government of India, and the Chandigarh Administration, at Kalagram.
A behrupiya or bahrupiya is an impressionist, adept at the traditional performing arts in the country. They are artistes to the core in their own right, born to entertain one and all.
Once proverbial as a popular art form, now on a decline with a majority of the practitioners living in abject poverty. They are a common sight at fairs, festivals or even at social gatherings and weddings, where they would make a dramatic entry at the designated venue or other festivities dressed as a policeman, priest, or other prominent figures and create a situation, causing commotion at the ongoing ceremony.
Behrupias are so perfect in their art that people tend to take them seriously. They play their part as an artiste to entertain others without causing any harm to anyone. Their idea is to create a farcical situation simply to entertain.
However, if they succeed in convincing their audience of their fake identity, they would be honest enough to reveal their identity and receive ‘baksheesh’ for having entertained the group.
The term behrupiya is derived from the Sanskrit words bahu (many) and roop (form or appearance). They are also known as naqqal, who are adept at mimicry. That is an outmoded term of addressing them. Sometimes, behrupiyas are also addressed as maskharas, an Arabic word in Hindustani dialect. In general term, they are jesters or buffoons or bhands, who are traditional actors, dancers, storytellers and entertainers of the Indian subcontinent, mostly from Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Traditional artistes
A behrupiya or bahrupiya is an impressionist, adept at the traditional performing arts in the country. They are artistes to the core in their own right, born to entertain one and all. Behrupias are so perfect in their art that people tend to take them seriously. They play their part as an artiste to entertain others without causing any harm to anyone. Their idea is to create a farcical situation simply to entertain.
