Artist playing Ravan dies of cardiac arrest during Ramlila in Ayodhya

Ayodhya: An artist playing the role of ‘Ravan’ in a Ramlila function in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya district died on stage of cardiac arrest.

This comes a day after a 50-year-old man playing the role of ‘Hanuman’ died during his performance in ‘Lanka Dahan’ episode of Ramlila in Fatehpur district.

The 60-year-old artist, Patiram, was enacting the role of ‘Ravan’ during the episode of ‘Sita Haran’ in Aihar village of Ayodhya when he clutched his chest due to pain.

Before anybody could react, he collapsed on stage.

The staging of Ramlila was immediately stopped and Patiram was rushed to a nearby hospital by the members of the Ramlila committee but the doctors declared him ‘brought dead’.

Doctors confirmed cardiac arrest to be the cause of his death.

Village Head, Puneet Kumar Sahu said that Patiram had been playing the role of Ravan for many years.

He is survived by wife Devmati, two sons and two daughters, one of whom is married.

In a similar incident earlier, Ram Swaroop ,50, who was playing the role of Hanuman, died after suffering a cardiac arrest during his performance in Salempur village of Fatehpur district. The video of the incident also went viral on social media.