Jeth Rangreni (Sansa): A Folk-Based Play Highlighting Rabha Community Heritage

The play Jeth Rangreni (Sansa) is a folk-based production rooted in the indigenous life, language, spiritual worldview, ritualistic beliefs, and traditional cultural systems of the Rabha community, viewed through the lens of Baikho Puja. Set during the fertility month of Jeth, the play portrays the Rabha people connecting nature, community, and the divine. Traditional tools such as folk songs, dance, rhythmic movements, chants, and symbolic actions transform the stage into a living ritual space. The performance focuses on the worship of Aaya Baikho and other spiritual forces that protect crops, ensure abundance, and maintain harmony between humans and nature, serving as an attempt to revive ancestral memory and celebrate indigenous knowledge.

Director

Pabitra Rabha, an alumnus of the National School of Drama born in Tangla, Assam, directs the production. His organization, DAPON-The Mirror, works to enhance the socio-cultural aspects of regional theatre. He has directed and choreographed plays in numerous languages and dialects, worked in various theatrical capacities, released a traditional folk music album titled “The Rhythm of Bordoichila,” and established Amar Gaon, a project based on theatre and vocational training.

Directors Note

The production aims to return to the primal roots of Rabha civilization, focusing on Baikho Puja and the veneration of the sacred, formless stone Aaya Baikho. Performers inhabit rituals rather than merely acting them out, turning the stage into a sacred space of invocation. By presenting Rabha heritage on a national platform with students from the NSD Sikkim Centre, the director seeks to initiate dialogue about indigenous knowledge systems, alternate spiritual practices, and community memory.

Group

The Sikkim Centre is the National School of Drama's first center established outside Delhi in 2011, offering a one-year residential certificate course in Dramatic Arts. Its Repertory Company, established in 2012, has staged notable productions across various national theatre festivals.