Regaining ‘Dastongi’ the forgotten art of story-telling

Dastangos or storytellers

Many would wonder what “Dastangoi” actually mean. Well, it’s the ancient art of story telling which till recently even I too did not know much about other than having heard the name. Dastangoi is a 16th-century Urdu oral story-telling art form. It has its origin in the Persian language. Dastan means a tale; the suffix -goi makes the word mean "to tell a tale". This art form of story telling was popular especially in 18th and 19th century in India. It reached its zenith in the Indian sub-continent in the 19th century and it almost died with the demise of Mir Baqar Ali in 1928.

At the centre of Dastangoi is the Dastango, or storyteller, whose voice is his main artistic tool in orally recreating the dastan or the story. Notable 19th century Dastangos included Amba Prasad Rasa, Mir Ahmad Ali Rampuri, Muhammad Amir Khan, Syed Husain Jah, and Ghulam Raza. Indian poet and Urdu critic Shamsur Rahman Faruqi and his nephew, writer and director Mahmood Farooqui, have played significant roles in its revival in the 21st century. So why am I telling you about it? Well, although accidentally, but my recent experience of Dastangoi which exposed me to this art form was a pleasant one.

Having being invited by Welham Girls’ School at the inaugural session of the Literary Festival 2014 organised jointly by Dehradun’s Welham Girls’ and Welham Boys’ Schools in August this year, I was a bit sceptical as the invite prominently focused only one major item in the inaugural session and that was, exposure to the students and guests of the ancient ‘Dastangoi’, the art of story telling. Since my conversation with Mrs. Jyotsna Brar, Principal, Welham Girls’ School earlier where I expressed my interest in attending the literary festival, on an invite from her, not knowing the agenda of the inaugural session, I was a little hesitant going for hearing a story (not fully knowing what Dastangoi art form is), that too right in the morning. I thought I was going crazy, but I was totally wrong. Had I missed that opportunity, it would have been a chance lost to know about the ancient art of unending story telling, where stories weaved and interlinked one into the other so beautifully, that words cannot express it. In other words, the USP of this art form is connection of one tale with the other. If the story-teller wants he can go on and on unending as the audience want more of it with every narration being made. It is like addiction. In olden times Dastango’s made good fortune from this art form as people greatly addicted to it. Legends say some of the Dastangoi’s went continuously for days together and amazingly with committed audience.

The tales are woven extemporaneously as Dastango’s narrate it. They narrated the story without leaving their seats—trading costumes, music and stagecraft for sheer poetic jugglery. It is a battle of wits: a storytelling qawwali.

A mesmerising 90 minutes performance of this ancient art form in limerick style by the new age, an ex-Oxford and renowned ‘Dastango’ artists Mahmood Farooqui along with Manu Sikander Dhingra and Nadeem Shah left the audience spell-bound. They presented the ‘Dastan-e-Chaoubli’, a famous Rajasthani folktale which went on for full 90 minutes. It could have stretched longer but for the time that an abridged version demonstrated. For me besides being spell-bound, it was a totally different experience. Such beautiful was the performance; I am sure like me the audience were all carried away two centuries back.

These young men, the artists of Dastangoi have taken the initiative of trying to revive the almost extinct Dastangoi simply to save a heritage art form. Mahmood Farooqui over the last few years has worked to revive Dastangoi. Since the start of his revival initiative, Farooqui and fellow actors have travelled to venues abroad and across India with their performances. Undoubtedly the tremendous potential of this art form does not only entertain but I feel it also has an educative edge to it. The stories are often brain teasers, especially for children and in no ways less effective than today’s intelligence testers.

One could not have imagined a story being told by the story tellers in a limerick style, wearing the traditional muslim dress “kurta and a loose pyjama” with a "taqiyah," (a short, rounded cap made from a coarse cloth) so interesting which kept not only the guests but even the today’s internet age students from over 20 leading schools of India at the Welham Girls’ who were present for this occasion glued to their seats and enjoy every moment of it. Truly, if this is what the magic of Dastangoi today, what it would have been in the ancient times when this was in its full bloom.

The dastans or tales have every element of a modern masala film. They speak of everything from whoring to trickery and betrayal and one might wonder how these elements of popular narrative culture could have possibly fallen out of favour. The tales borrowed freely from other stories such as the Arabian Nights and the Panchatantra.

For novice audiences, Farooqui elaborates on Dastangoi etiquette before each performance: He asks the audience to make eye contact with performers, refrain from clapping (these Western ways of appreciation don’t go down well with Dastangos) and express its appreciation verbally with variants of “Wah wah” instead.

So be on a look out to grab your seat as an audience the next time Dastangoi performed anywhere near. Sure, you will enjoy it better than many modern-day entertainments. Needless to say your contribution as an audience to this forgotten art form will help in its revival.