Udit Narayan Singh
(r. 1796–1835) The earliest performances of the Ram Lila were held in the
Maharaja of Benares' palace at Ramnagar during his reign.
The Ram Lilas are dramatized interpretations of the epic
Ramayana that go beyond conventional play and into devotion.
The Ram Lila at Ramnagar, the fort where the Benares kings
reside, is the most well-known and traditional of all these Ram Lilas.
According to legend, the Maharaja was a great devotee
(bhakta) of the deity Rama and a patron of the Ram Lilas at Benares, yet he
struggled to cross the Ganges on multiple times due to periodic flooding.
As a remedy to the situation, he funded his own Ram Lila,
which has since become the oldest, most traditional, and most significant Ram
Lila in Benares, no doubt symbolically meant to reaffirm his reign.
The sites of the Ram Lila, which is performed around the
city, were determined by Udit Narayan Singh, while his son Ishvari Prasad
Narayan Singh was in charge of penning the lines (samvads) recited by the
characters.
Anaradha Kapur's Actors, Pilgrims, Kings, and Gods,
published in 1990, is a good source of knowledge.
