Manbhatt were

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests ( purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers ( ...

priests of south

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the nin ...

(India) narrating stories called ''

Akhyana Akhyana was a traditional musical theatre as well as medieval genre of Gujarati poetry and Rajasthani poetry. It was primarily practiced in Gujarat and Rajasthan states of India. Etymology and definition ''Akhyana'' literally means ''to tell'' or ...

''s to the accompaniment of music played on copper-made water pitcher or large globular metal pot (''man'') having a narrow mouth and bloated mid-part, used for beats of rhythmic beating time as required. The manbhatt has been an important fixture in the religious lives of middle-class Gujaratis for several hundred years. Today, this once extremely popular art of story-telling is almost extinct. The narrative consists of stories from the epics, the Puranas, and from everyday life. The singer uses fingers with metal rings to slap rhythmically the shoulders of the ''man''. Further accompaniment is provided by cymbals (''jhanjh''),

barrel drum Barrel drums are a class of membranophone, or drum, characterized by a barrel-shape with a bulge in the middle. They are often one-headed and open at the bottom. Examples include the Vietnamese ''trong chau'' and the ''bendre'' of the Mossi of Bu ...

(''pakhavaj''),

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, and

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

. The communities of Charanas and Bhats have been composing and reciting epic verses celebrating the exploits of their royal patrons. They use the '' raso'' (''rasa'' or ''rasaka''), a structure consisting of several poems that each tell a portion of the story, depict a scene, or speak in the voice of a character. The main raso forms are ''

doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the c ...

'' (couplet) and '' chhand'' (extended metre). A variant of the doha is the ''soratha''. The number of syllables per line is the same in both forms; however, in doha the first half of the line is longer and the rhyme occurs at the end of the line, whereas in sorath the second half of the line is longer and the rhyme occurs in the middle. In chhand, the metrical structure has many forms. According to scholar Krishnalal Jhaveri, at the time when the art of printing and printing process were not even developed, these story-tellers used to pick up stories from the Puranas (also the stories written by the newly emerging writers) and narrate them to the accompaniment of Man, before their audiences of near and far off places that they visited. Thereby, besides regaling their listeners, they used to bolster up their religious sentiments, too. The distinguishing quality or the ingenuity of these story-tellers or public-preachers was that they were superb singers and music composers besides being well-versed actors and performers having a marvelous sense of rhythm. Due to their extraordinary mastery over music and the art of performing, these well skilled story-tellers could make their audience laugh heartily or shed tears pathetically at will.

References

{{reflist Social groups of Gujarat Hinduism in Gujarat Gujarati culture

See also

References