Pandavani legend Teejan Bai dies at 70 after prolonged illness

RAIPUR: Padma Vibhushan awardee and legendary Pandavani exponent Teejan Bai, who transformed a folk storytelling tradition from the villages of Chhattisgarh into a globally acclaimed performing art, died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Raipur early Sunday after a prolonged illness. She was 70. AIIMS Raipur in a morning bulletin said Teejan Bai breathed her last at 3.15 am amid prolonged intensive care and resuscitation efforts. She had been admitted to the hospital on May 27 with breathing difficulty and generalized weakness and was being treated in the critical care unit on ventilator support for multiple serious pre-existing illnesses. She suffered a cardiac arrest around 2.45 am on Sunday and could not be revived despite advanced life support measures. With her death, Chhattisgarh loses not only its most celebrated folk artiste but also the woman who redefined Pandavani — the oral retelling of the Mahabharata through music, narration and dramatic performance — for audiences across India and abroad. Chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai paid tribute, saying Teejan Bai had brought global recognition to Chhattisgarh through Pandavani and that her passing was an irreparable loss to the state's cultural heritage. He expressed condolences to her family and prayed for peace to her soul. Her health had drawn national attention last year, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally enquiring about her condition and assuring her family of all possible assistance. Armed with little more than a tambura and an expressive voice, Teejan Bai would seamlessly transform herself into characters ranging from Bhima and Arjuna to Draupadi, making the epic come alive on stage. She is widely credited with popularising the Kapalik style of Pandavani, breaking a long-held convention that women should perform only in the seated Vedamati style. Born on April 24, 1956, in Ganiyari village near Bhilai, Teejan Bai belonged to the Pardhi community. She learnt the Mahabharata by listening to her grandfather narrate its stories before receiving formal training from folk artiste Umed Singh Deshmukh. She gave her first public performance at the age of 13. Her journey was marked by social resistance. She continued to pursue the art form, eventually emerging as one of India's foremost folk artistes. Over the decades, she performed at more than 1,000 shows in India and overseas, taking Pandavani to international audiences. Her contribution to Indian folk arts earned her some of the country's highest civilian honours, including the Padma Shri in 1987, Padma Bhushan in 2003 and Padma Vibhushan in 2019. She also received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1995. She never received formal schooling. Her last rites will be performed at her native village, Ganiyari.