Taste of Life: Ganpati melas: Songs, crowds and a struggle for food

The songs performed by the melas were meant to inculcate patriotism and valour in the hearts and minds of the young and the old and make them aware of certain social issues

The Ganeshotsav in the early part of the last century was known for its many dance and song troupes, known as “Ganpati melas”. Children, young men and women who were part of these groups would sing songs and dance during the festival’s ten days. Famous mela groups performed at important Ganpati pandals, and several mandals hosted more than one mela each night.

A week later, the newspaper published a letter by Ramchandra Gunye criticising the nature of the songs sung by the melas. (REPRESENTATIVE PIC)

The songs performed by the melas were meant to inculcate patriotism and valour in the hearts and minds of the young and the old and make them aware of certain social issues. However, these songs often ridiculed “Western education” and progressive thought. They also ridiculed and denigrated women who sought education, young men who frequented clubs and restaurants, widows who remarried, and progressive, liberal leaders like Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Pherozeshah Mehta. Melas such as the Shilimkar Mela, Navtarun Mela, and Gopal Mela chided youth for embracing ‘modern’ values.

Only a few melas had female members or men from the so-called “lower castes”. In the early years, most of the children who took part in the melas came from poor and uneducated families. By the beginning of the twentieth century, however, children from educated families, including girls, had also begun taking part in melas. Some organisers charged a ticket of one or two paise to watch the performances.

The Marathi newspaper “Dnyanaprakash”, in its issue of 23 October 1923, expressed concern about the children’s studies and questioned whether parents were comfortable paying to watch their own daughters perform. The newspaper feared that children who skipped school to take part in melas might eventually fall into addiction.

A week later, the newspaper published a letter by Ramchandra Gunye criticising the nature of the songs sung by the melas. Part of his criticism concerned the treatment of the mela participants. Gunye complained that the children were made to stand and sing for hours before and during the festival. They never received a share of the money earned by the melas, and the mandals and the group owners of the groups paid no attention to whether the children were hungry or thirsty.

In 1924, some members of the Matang community organised Pune’s first public Ganesh festival in their locality. Ganapati idols were installed at two or three places in the settlement, and they also formed a mela. Aba Babaji Ingale wrote an account of the event in “Dnyanaprakash” on September 27, 1924: “Since the children in our mela were uneducated, and poverty meant that they did not even have proper clothes to wear, and since this was our first attempt at taking out a mela, we were initially afraid of how it would turn out and whether the large crowds in the city would jeer at us.”

According to Ingale’s account, these fears proved unfounded. Most of the so-called “upper-caste” members of the public welcomed the mela. It first performed before Shripad Mahadev Mate’s “Asprushyatanivarak Mandal”, where it received a coconut and five rupees. At the Tambdi Jogeshwari Ganapati, the mela was given a rupee and a coconut. Many prominent mandals presented the performers with silver or brass badges and coconuts. Ingale’s account makes no mention of the participants being offered food or drinks by the mandals.

While it was very difficult for members of the so-called “untouchable” mela to receive food from the mandals, members of the so-called “upper” castes were not always treated differently. However, there were some exceptions.

In 1923, Pune’s traders came together and installed a Ganapati in the grounds of the Nootan Marathi School. The purpose was to give people an opportunity to hear the songs performed by the melas. Considerable money was spent on organising the event. Many melas took part, and medals and badges were presented to them. Crowds of five to seven thousand people attended each day. On the final two days, the melas continued throughout the day and night. After their performances, they were served a meal of puri and bhaji by the trading community.

The traders’ Ganapati continued for the next nine years, and the artists performing in the melas were provided with a filling meal.

Some melas held their own processions during the ten days of the Ganeshotsav and urged the public to “encourage” the participants with food and money. From 1928, the procession of the Chhatrapati Mela set out from Jedhe Mansion and made its way to the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Keshavrao Jedhe, Dinkarrao Javalkar, and Bhaskarrao Jadhav were among those who led the procession.

Accompanied by cries of “Shahu Chhatrapati Maharaj ki Jai” and, at intervals, the harmonious strains of musical instruments, the procession would stop before the Ganapati at Shaniwar Wada. There, many citizens would offer pedhas, barfi, and other sweets to the singers and musicians of the mela. When the procession reached the Chhatrapati Shivaji memorial, the mela would perform its songs. Here too, citizens would distribute food to everyone.

But the general apathy of the organisers of the melas and the mandals did not escape public notice.

About two months before the Ganeshotsav, mandals would call meetings of all their donors. Suggestions and complaints from the donors were heard at these meetings. In 1927, the question of feeding the children in the melas became a major issue at a meeting of the Sadashiv Peth Ganeshotsav Mandal. It was argued that the mandal should provide a proper, filling meal to everyone in the melas that performed before it. A few donors complained that these children performed on empty stomachs, while the mandals merely put a pedha in their hands afterwards. Some mandals, they pointed out, did not even take that much trouble. They therefore expected the Sadashiv Peth Mandal to set an example in this regard.

The subject came up again in 1928 at a meeting of the donors of the Rasta Peth Ganeshotsav Mandal. A donor, Shridhar Sathye, pointed out that the Ganapati of the Hind-Mitra Mandal was installed in the drawing room of Sheth Popatlal Shah’s house. The mandal served laddus and sev to the melas that sang before the Ganapati. At the meeting, Sathye demanded that the Rasta Peth mandal follow its example.

In 1929, the Hasabnis Bakhal Mandal organised a lecture by Yadav Shankar Wavikar. After the lecture, a mela performed. Coffee was served to the distinguished men who attended the lecture, while the boys who sang were served tea.

At the time, public sentiment against tea was strong. Many mandals had begun serving coffee to the distinguished men and women they invited to their programmes. An important part of the freedom movement was the making of an ideal citizen, and such a citizen was expected to stay away from tea. The mandal was therefore criticised for serving tea during the sacred festival of Ganeshotsav.

“Kesari”, on September 13, 1931, mentioned that some organisers of the melas and mandals had begun providing food to their performers after the immersion ceremony. “Shira”, puri, and “shev” were the standard menu for feasts organised for the melas.

This gradual shift in the late 1920s and early 1930s marked a growing recognition of the performers’ labour.