Then, bowing low to the audience, he’d announce, “That’s all for today, sirs and masters.” Putting aside his showman airs he’d pick them out of the dust, count them, and put them in a cloth bag hanging from his waist. The applause that followed would be thunderous and coins would rain onto Savara’s plate, some falling on the ground. But right afterwards a beaming Malli would spring out of the box, no longer wearing the dirty striped sari she had on before but a gorgeous dress. You could hear a pin drop while all this was going on. And, as if all that wasn’t enough, he’d place a large stone on the box. Then he’d tie a rope around the box and, ignoring the gasps and protests of the audience, throw it into a large tub of water. He’d stuff her into a wooden box and push swords into it so forcefully that some would go right through. She always came up with the right answers. He’d hypnotise her and ask her what he’d hidden in the pockets of the people in the crowd. Savara would cut her into pieces and then make her whole again. She’d climb on the top of a bamboo pole and spin on her belly, like a wheel.
The first time he came to our village he was with a big-built woman-Malli the bamboo-queen. He delighted in speaking of himself in the third person: Savara will go to bed now… Savara loves to eat pigeon peas… Savara will have some tea. He merely flashed his celebrated smile, revealing a row of shiny gold teeth-a smile he reserved for the finale of his performance, as he pulled metres of multicoloured ribbons out of his mouth. I remember asking him once who had given him his unusual name. Taking into account al these factors, it can undoubtedly be told that Bhagabat Tungi was the life or nerve center of the rural life, which can be told, was the village school, library, Judicial court, public relations and discussion of religious discourse.S avara travelled from town to town, living by the marvels he presented in his street shows. Its universal appeal is as old as perennial now. For ages together this masterpiece is the illuminiser and pathfinder of knowledge and devotion of crores of Oriyas. Bhagabata is really the companion of life and death of an Oriya. One can hardly find a village in Orissa, where there is no Bhagabata Ghara and a house, where Jagannatha Dass unique creation Bhagabat is neither worshipped nor recited.
Oriya Bhagabat Ghara bears ample testimony to this fact.
It continues of evoke spiritual feeling with an established ritual of regular recitation. His unique creation Srimad Bhagabat is a pioneering piece of Oriya literature. In the history of Oriya literature and culture the name of Jagannatha Das has been immortalized as a leading devotee. Atibadi Jagannatha Das needs no introduction to any Oriya, as his consummate work Bhagabat is daily read almost in every household of Orissa.
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