TRIBAL SONGS OF JHARKHAND
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The Sarhul is celebrated by the Oraon. It is the time of the marriage of the Sun and the Earth. The green Saal forests have long ago shed their leaves and dressed themselves in green raiment over which their white flowers have blossomed like capes of old ivory coloured blossoms, this is the Sarjom flower, the most beautiful manifestation of the central Indian jungles.They stand like tall ladies in their mantle of creamy white and sickly sweet scented white flowers. The Sarhul Puja will take place at the end of March and the Pahans or tribal priests dressed in their immaculate white dhotis and white head dresses will come like kings before the old Saal tree with rice and chickens to be sacrificed and mohwa liquor to be sprinkled. The cold weather has come to an end when by the end of March the Sarhul is celebrated and is a very welcome atmosphere for the dance as the first warmth of the summer approaches. The arrangement of boys and girls in the Sarhul dance is similar to as in the Jadur dances. Now and again the girls let each other’s hands go and clap them rhythmically while continuing unbroken the line of movement in the dance. In another variety the boys and girls advance in two parallel columns in the same direction around the dance ground or akhara. In another version , as in the Kharia dance, the boys and girls alternately make circuits of the akhara. When one group begins the first part of the song the other group repeats it and shous in unison “Hurr! Hurr!” and this is repeated several times. At the end of the dance all shout “Hurr!” loudly and jump stamping their feet loudly. Then the second party leads the song and it starts over again. This ends again with the same cry “Hurr!” and the umping up and loud stamping with the feet. In his way the songs and dances continue. The boys who are employed by an Oraon family to graze cattle and help with the agriculture are called dhangar. A few days before the Sohrai day they are sent to the tank to catch fish and the fish is distributed among the neighbours. A popular song among the youths and maidens at this time is the Fish-Catcher. ( I give Victor Rosner’s translation from The Flying Horse of Dharmes, p.281) I put a tattered cloth about me And I went out to catch fish! I tied a little basket (datom) around my waist, And I went out to catch fish! When the Sarhul approaches the young people sing to the Pahan who will perform the Puja- Oraon Sarhul Song Year after year O priest, Like kings you are married! Year after year O priest Like kings you are married! Bury the Jamun twig O friend, Ear-stick of it I will make! With you hand in hand I will dance! The Jamun twig do bring O friend – Ear-stick of it I’ll make ! The Jamun is the tree with purple fruit (Eugenia jambolana) whose twig is used during the Sarhul ceremonies. The old and young priests who attend to the puja performed during the morning of the Sarhul day at the foot of a Sarjom or Sakhua tree (Shorea robusta) , are in the song described as resembling kings with their big white turbans and starched white dhotis. ~
"Sanai Pahar mey Bindu-Larang rey ! Tirio-Tirio- Bindu-Larang ! Ketai door jabhey Bindu-Larang ? Hey ! Bindu-Larang !" Another song common in our villages in Hazaribagh is translated here by my wife Philomina: In the Sanai hill See the butterfly-like flowers, O Bindu-Larang! The little white flowers, Like the music of the flute (tirio) They are climbing in curling tresses! How far will you go O beautiful Bindu-Larang? Oh look at the flowers, how beautiful they are! ~
Is standing by the wall; The poor widow’s daughter dressed in rags Is dancing with the boys! Get up O widow’s daughter, Get up! Will you not go out to husk paddy? You eat Koinar-saag and sleep like a horse. Will you not go out to husk paddy? ~
“As long as I lived in your house O father Like a peacock feather it looked! As long as I lived in your house O father Like a peacock feather it looked! If you let me be married and go away The house will become empty! If you let me be married and go away The house will become empty." The Kharias are tribe of the southern parts of Chotanagpur long associated with the Oraon. Below I give a Kharia song collected by my friend the late Victor Rosner (The Flying Horse of Dharmes, p.10) Water-Lilies By the lake’s bank, look! See! The bright red blooms, red, red! Go and fetch them, little brother, Bring them from the water for me. As I look at them My heart leaps in my breast! Go quickly, little brother, bring them to me, And let my heart leap in my breast with them As I clasp them to my breast in full bloom! ~ |
Bulu ImamMr. Bulu Imam is the Winner of the 2011 Gandhi Foundation International Peace Prize along with Dr. Binayak Sen.
He is the curator of Sanskriti Museum and Art Gallery in Hazaribagh, and is a researcher in the field of indigenous art-forms of Hazaribagh, namely, Sohrai and Khovar, having exhibited the paintings worldwide in various universities and art-galleries. He is the Convener of the Hazaribagh Chapter of INTACH and has to his credit the discovery of many rock-art sites in the North Karanpura Valley of Jharkhand. |