Lesson plan
Manbhatt
Manbhatt were Brahmin priests of south Gujarat (India) narrating stories called Akhyanas to the accompaniment of music played on copper-made water pitcher or large globular metal pot (man) having a narrow mouth and bloated mid-part, used for beats of rhythmic beating time as required. The manbhatt has been an important fixture in the religious lives of middle-class Gujaratis for several hundred years. Today, this once extremely popular art of story-telling is almost extinct. The narrative consists of stories from the epics, the Puranas, and from everyday life. The singer uses fingers with metal rings to slap rhythmically the shoulders of the man. Further accompaniment is provided by cymbals (jhanjh), barrel drum (pakhavaj), tabla, and harmonium. The communities of Charanas and Bhats have been composing and reciting epic verses celebrating the exploits of their royal patrons. They use the raso (rasa or rasaka), a structure consisting of several poems that each tell a portion of the story, depict a scene, or speak in the voice of a character. The main raso forms are doha (couplet) and chhand (extended metre). A variant of the doha is the soratha.…
Article summary
Manbhatt were Brahmin priests of south Gujarat (India) narrating stories called Akhyanas to the accompaniment of music played on copper-made water pitcher or large globular metal pot (man) having a narrow mouth and bloated mid-part, used for beats of rhythmic beating time as required. The manbhatt has been an important fixture in the religious lives of middle-class Gujaratis for several hundred years. Today, this once extremely popular art of story-telling is almost extinct. The narrative consists of stories from the epics, the Puranas, and from everyday life. The singer uses fingers with metal rings to slap rhythmically the shoulders of the man. Further accompaniment is provided by cymbals (jhanjh), barrel drum (pakhavaj), tabla, and harmonium. The communities of Charanas and Bhats have been composing and reciting epic verses celebrating the exploits of their royal patrons. They use the raso (rasa or rasaka), a structure consisting of several poems that each tell a portion of the story, depict a scene, or speak in the voice of a character. The main raso forms are doha (couplet) and chhand (extended metre). A variant of the doha is the soratha.…
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.