Ramnagar's Ramlila runs every evening for about a month, from Ananta Chaturdashi to the full moon, and does not use a stage. The town itself is the set: separate locations stand in for Ayodhya, the forest and Lanka, the actors, called swaroops, move between them as the story moves, and the audience walks with them.
It is staged under the patronage of the Kashi Naresh, the Maharaja of Benares, and is recognised by UNESCO as part of India's intangible cultural heritage. Much of its original form survives: it is performed without microphones or electricity, lit by petromax lamps.
Regulars follow the whole cycle night after night. A visitor can join for one evening and still see something that exists nowhere else — an epic performed at the pace of the season it was written for. Ramnagar is across the river from the ghats; allow time for the crossing, and expect long evenings on foot over uneven ground in the dark.
