Vagsamradnyee Kantabai Satarkar

After the sudden demise of her husband, Tukaram Khedkar, Kantabai’s world came crashing down. The family’s breadwinner and the owner of the Tamasha troupe was gone without warning. There were no financial resources, and even the question of making a living loomed large. The troupe, too, had fallen into disarray.

But Kantabai was not one to give up. She gathered the scattered pieces and rebuilt the troupe. Once again, to entertain audiences across Maharashtra, her ghungroos began to dance to the rhythmic beats of the dholki. Kantabai’s Tamasha performances, with her energetic, whirlwind-like dancing, began drawing thousands of spectators to overflowing tents in villages across the region.

Even after the age of seventy-five, Kantabai remains immersed in her own spirited world. For nearly two hundred to two hundred and fifty days every year, she travels through rural Maharashtra with around two hundred artists and troupe members, keeping the traditional art form alive and entertaining Marathi audiences. Through the troupe, she has kept Tukaram Khedkar’s name alive. Her son, Raghuveer, has grown capable of running the troupe. She has received the Maharashtra Government’s Lifetime Achievement Award and earned the honour of presenting Tamasha performances in Delhi. Above all, she has won the immense love of audiences. What more could an artist ask for?

Even today, the morning star reminds her fondly of those days gone by—the days of Lavani, whose memories continue to linger sweetly in her heart.