Beti Bechwa
{{short description|Bhojpuri Play by Bhikhari Thakur}}
{{infobox play
| name = Beti Bechwa
| writer = Bhikhari Thakur
| chorus =
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| premiere = 1925
| place =
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| subject = Women Empowerment, Poverty
| genre = Theatre
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Beti Bechwa ( Bhojpuri: {{Script |Kthi|𑂥𑂵𑂗𑂲 𑂥𑂵𑂒𑂫𑂰}} ) or Beti Biyog (English:- The Daughter seller) is a Bhojpuri play by Playwright Bhikhari Thakur.{{sfn|Dost|2017}}{{cite book |last1=Kishore |first1=Satyendra |title=Re-settlement of Ex-servicemen in India: Problems, Patterns, and Prospects |date=1991 |publisher=Concept publishing company |location=New Delhi |isbn=9788170223566}}{{pn|date=June 2023}} It was one of several plays written by Thakur based on true events, showing the bad side of society, poverty and Women Empowerment. The play shows the practice of mismatched marriages which are executed between young girls and aged men in exchange of money for the girl's family.{{Cite news|title="BIDESIA" – THE FOLK THEATRE OF EASTERN INDIA|work=The Theatre Times|url=https://www.thetheatretimes.com/bidesia-folk-theatre-eastern-india/|access-date=2020-12-23|archive-date=2020-12-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205114514/https://thetheatretimes.com/bidesia-folk-theatre-eastern-india/|url-status=live}}
Characters
- Upato : A young girl
- Lobha : Upato's mother{{Cite book|title=Bhojapurī Akādamī nibandhamālā: Sāhityika nibandha saṅkalana|publisher=Bhojapurī Akādamī|year=1995}}
- Chatak : Upato's father
- Gotiya : A relative of Chatak
- Pandit : A priest
- Dulaha : An old man and Upato's Husband
- Panch : Judge of village court
- Other characters: Some women and Baratis
Plot
Upato is the daughter of Lobha (mother) and Chatak (father). Due to the poor condition of the family they find it difficult to marry Upato and decided to sell her to any rich family. A person named Jhantul lives in a village named Baklolpur (trans.: City of fools), who is very rich, aged and unmarried. Chatak fixes Upato's marriage with him and took the money. No one knows about this in the village, When the barat arrives, everyone is astonished to see the groom. An old man with no teeth and muscle on his body.
Lobha wanted to sell her daughter but not with an old groom. Somehow she let the marriage happen and Upato went to Jhatul's home. Chatak goes to meet Upato after marriage when she asks him that what mistakes did she make that she is facing these. Greedy Chatak had not any answer to this question. After somedays Upato came to her parents' home and Jhatul's also reaches there. In Panchayat it is decided that since Upato is married to Jhatul now she had to live with him. Upato's Mother Lobha blames his father Chatak for this condition of their daughter.{{Cite book|title=Bhikhari: Lok Kalakar Bhakt Bhikhari Thakur ki samast rachnaon ka vishleshan|publisher=Loka Kalākāra Bhikhārī Ṭhākura Āśrama|year=1978|pages=83–90}}
Impact
This play was so impactful that, There are stories of young girls leaving the mandap and running away instead of docilely marrying the old men their parents have taken money from. In Nautanwa village in Uttar Pradesh, after the play was staged there, the villagers sent back a Baraat of an old bridegroom. After a performance in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, some members of the audience marched to a nearby temple and took an oath that they would stop this practice.{{Cite web|date=2021-08-07|title=Remembering Bhikhari Thakur, the bard of Bihar|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/art-culture/remembering-bhikhari-thakur-the-bard-of-bihar-101628335626595.html|access-date=2021-11-23|website=Hindustan Times|language=en|archive-date=2021-11-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122233238/https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/art-culture/remembering-bhikhari-thakur-the-bard-of-bihar-101628335626595.html|url-status=live}}
Shivlal Bari, an artist who worked with Bhikhari Thakur, said that after watching this play people stopped selling there daughter.{{Sfn|Dost|2017|p=108}}
References
Bibliography
- {{cite journal |last=Dost |first=Jainendera |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13528165.2017.1384187|title=Naach, Launda Naach or Bidesiya Politics of (re)naming|journal=Performance Research |date=2017|volume=22 |issue=5 |pages=106–112 |doi=10.1080/13528165.2017.1384187 |s2cid=158697968 |url-access=subscription }}
- {{Cite book |last=Rai |first=Sandeeo |title=Aesthetics and Politics: Two leading Bhojpuri Artists |publisher=Becomeshakespeare.com |year=2020 |isbn=978-93-90543-50-2 |edition=1st |location=Wadala (East), Mumbai |language=En}}