Charismatic Teejan Bai

Teejan Bai from Chattisgarh, a renowned Pandavani exponent was awarded  Padma Vibhushan awards in March, 2019 by the President Ram Nath Kovind for performing a traditional art form, Pandavani from Chhattisgarh, in which she enacts tales from the Mahabharata, with musical accompaniments.

Pandavani means stories of Pandava brothers in Mahabharat. It involves enacting and singing with instrumental accompaniment an ektara or a tambura in one hand and sometimes a kartal in another. As the performance progresses, the tambura becomes her only prop, sometimes to personify a gada, mace of Bhima, or Arjuna’s bow or chariot, while at other times it becomes the hair of queen Draupadi, allowing her to play various character with effective ease and candour. Her acclaimed performances are – Draupadi cheerharan, Dushasana Vadh and Mahabharat Yudh, Yudh between Bhishma and Arjun.

Teejan Bai was born in Ganiyari village to Chunuk Lal Pardhi(father) and Sukhwati(mother).  She belongs to the Pardhi Scheduled Tribe of Chhattisgarh state. She was trained informally under Umed Singh Deshmukh.

She was married at the age of 12 and was expelled by her community, the ‘Pardhi’ tribe, for singing Pandavani, being a woman. She built herself a small hut and started living on her own, borrowing utensils and food from neighbors, yet never left her singing, which eventually paid off for her.

She gave her first public performance in a neighbouring village at the age of 13 in Chandrakhuri (Durg) for Rs 10. She broke the tradition and sang in the Kapalik shaili of Pandavani, a first time for a woman, as traditionally women used to sing in the Vedamati, the sitting style. Teejan Bai performed standing singing out loud in her typical guttral voice and unmistakable vigor, entering what was till then, a male bastion.

A big break was given by Habib Tanvir, a theatre personality from Madhya Pradesh who noticed her talent and called her to perform for then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. Later she received national and international recognition. She travelled all over the world as a cultural ambassador, to countries as far as England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Turkey, Tunisia, Malta, Cyprus, Romania and Mauritius.She performed sequences from the Mahabharata in Shyam Benegal’s acclaimed Doordarshan TV series Bharat Ek Khoj based on Jawaharlal Nehru’s book.

She has been awarded the Padma Shri in 1987, Padma Bhushan in 2003, and Padma Vibhushan in 2019 by Government of India, besides 1995 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1995, given by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. She has also been awarded Fukuoka Award in 2018.