A few months ago, an event was organized in the school where I work, wherein the students had to submit a rangoli design made on a piece of paper. Here in Bangalore, the pan-India background of the students is quite obvious. I was intrigued to see the regional touches in the Rangoli designs submitted.

Rangoli in West Bengal

In this pandemonium, my mind often races back to the happier times- to those of my childhood days.

As a young girl, I remember, the night prior to the Saraswati Puja, I was made to study for a couple of hours extra as the books would be resting at the deity’s feet for the next two days.

So, right after dinner, my mother would tuck her pallu in her waist and make me a loose batter made up of ‘Atop chaal’ ( refined rice)  and water. She would then give me a piece of clean cloth, and with a twinkle in her eyes, she would say, “Go, now make something beautiful!” I would then sit and make the rangoli (or “Alpona,” as we call it in Bengali). Often this would continue till midnight. I would be accompanied by my Thamma, who would lie on the cot right next to me and narrate the stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata while I worked. Amidst the quietness of the night, she hummed through and the room would turn into a magical place with her vivid descriptions.

Also Read: The scroll painters of Naya – the village of myths and lores

Rangoli in South India

A few years later, when I was in college, I happened to visit Kerala and Kanyakumari for college excursions. The train was late, we reached the hotel at the crack of dawn. While on the way to the hotel, my curiosity was aroused again when I noticed ladies making rangolis at their thresholds. It was not wet; on the contrary, they were using some kind of a white powder. The rangolis looked very different too. There were no floral patterns, but an intricate pattern of dots and lines. The receptionist later explained that these were traditionally called Kolam in Tamil Nadu and Muggulu Rangoli in Andhra Pradesh. Rice flour was used to make these so that the ants and the birds didn’t have to go elsewhere looking for food. I was fascinated!

Kolams are still made at the thresholds of houses after the floor is wet wiped. In rural areas, much like that in Bengal, the floor is first smeared with cowdung. It is believed to have antiseptic properties.

Across India, special occasions are celebrated by laying down beautiful and colourful rangolis. In Bengal, we call it Alpona. It is called Aripana in Bihar, Kolam in Tamil Nadu, Muggulu rangoli in Andhra, Chouk Purna in Chattisgarh, Joti in Odhisha and so on.

But how did it all start?

To assign this practice to the recent past would be an anachronism. There are myriad stories and anecdotes to support the creation of such rangolis.

Thamma once told me that the first Rangoli ever was made by Lopamudra, the wife of Agastya Muni. She wanted to help her husband in his daily rituals and decided to decorate the Yajnakunda. So, she invoked all the five elements from nature and, therefore, derived red colour from the fire, white from the wind, black from the soil, green from the water and blue from the sky. That’s how the first-ever rangoli was created.

One more story from Mithila, Bihar, mentions that King Dhrupad was ecstatic when Ram wed Sita and commanded the royal servants to decorate the whole palace with ‘Aripanas.’

Another story from Southern India mentions how the Gopis drew kolams to drown their sorrows when Lord Krishna left Vrindavan.

Some of the common motifs used in such rangolis are also very riveting. Considering the fact that during ancient times, the means of communication were very limited. Yet, there were many similarities in the Vedic symbols used in the designs pan India.

Such designs became absorbed into tribal households as well. One could find evidence of these symbols on the walls of the mud houses in many tribal villages across the country as well.

The practice of drawing threshold rangolis resonates with the idea of “Vasudaiva Kutumbakam”- the entire universe is a single family. The designs are primarily symmetrical, which portrays the idea of Shiva and Shakti and idealizes universal balance. Rangolis are made to drive away evil spirits and channelize positive energy to promote a sense of unity and peace.

I genuinely feel that we all should realize the significance of these traditional practices. And arise from “me and you” to “us.”

Trivia

In several Asian cultures, we find a prevalent spiritual symbol called ‘Mandala.’ It is also found in several monasteries in Sikkim. Mandala directly translates in Sanskrit to a round object. It is believed that as one progresses from the outer core of the mandala towards the centre, all his sufferings transform into joy.

About Ria S. Mazumdar

Based in Bangalore, Ria is an educator by profession, artist and singer by passion. A true Bong at heart- that kind of a person who would choose fuchka over panipuri, polau over biryani and ‘mamlet’ over “omlette”!

The post History and Significance of Rangoli appeared first on KolkataFusion.

“Mariye chhaon pa tene ney holud baliyari

Jol perulei kodomkhondi baul ganer bari

Thik bari noy barir moton janla dorja

Duhat kore khola

Deyal teyal chhutte chhutte chhutte chhutte

Akashe aalbhola

Eikhanetei ganbhashi ek pakhir oraori

Tinte diner bari amar tinte diner bari

Thik bari noy ganer bagan baulbagan bari”

Which means, – Just along the banks of the Ajoy river, there’s a house, a garden house of music, the house that is made up of the Baul songs. One can come here and stay afloat in music for three days.

The Joydev Kendulir Mela (famous as Joydev er Mela) is a unique fair that celebrates poetries, baul songs, and mysticism. It is probably the largest non-religious rural fair in India and the only one of its kind, for there’s no other fair in our country that celebrates the music of the wandering minstrel community, the Bauls.

History of Joydev Fair

There’s no written account on the year of the origin of the Joydev Kendulir Mela. During 17^th Century C.E., a Radhamadhab Temple was built by Raja Kirti Chandra of Bardhaman. Most probably, after the temple was built, an annual fair started where the devotees visited after the darshan of Radha Madhav.

Related Post: Sweetmeats from Bardhaman, West Bengal

It is believed that the temple was erected just on the site of poet Joydev’s house. Poet Joydev, who lived during the 12^th Century C.E., was one of the nine ratnas (gems) of the King Lakhshman Sena’s court. Gitagovindam was his immortal literary work. The uniqueness of Gitagovindam lies in its essence – it’s in Sanskrit, but the expressed emotions speak that of a Bengali.

The Legend of Joydev Fair

Poet Joydev was a devoted worshiper of Radha Madhav. He used to walk all the way from his village in Kendubilva (now called Joydev-Kenduli) to Katwa for taking a holy dip in the River Ganges, return to his house and worship Radha Madhav.

Devi Ganga, pleased with Joydev’s devotion, granted him a boon. She came in his dreams and said that during Makar Sankranti, every year, she’ll come to him as an upstream in the Ajay River near the Kadamkhandi Ghat. If he takes a bath then, he won’t need to travel to Katwa every morning. Thus, the ritual of the holy dip during the Makarsankranti began.

Cultural Significance of the Joydev Kendulir Mela

As a poet, Joydev created some memorable verses, which were converted into songs mainly by the Bauls. The mysticism of his poems found the mystic voices of the Bauls. To celebrate this union, to celebrate the life and poetries of Joydev, the Bauls from all over India as well as the world, gather in the Akhras of the Joydev Fair ground, adjacent to the Radhamadhab Temple and spend three days amidst verses and songs.

Not only the Bauls, Fakirs and Kirtaniyas are also found performing in the Joydev Fair. It won’t be an exaggeration if said that the Joydev er Mela is the platform to find all the different rural Bengali Music genres. There are Kirtans, Baul songs, Fakiri Songs, as well as the Santhal songs.

Present status of the Joydev Kendulir Mela

Over the times, the Kirtaniyas have outnumbered the Bauls in the Joydev Fair. One of the reasons behind this change might be that many present Bauls belong to the Vaishnava Sect. Along with the Baul songs, they sing the Krishna Kirtans and hence the popularity of Kirtans started increasing slowly. Moreover, the Kirtaniyas are more organised than the Bauls. Therefore, their participations bring forth a comparatively organised format.

Recently, the district magistrate office of Birbhum has given a more systematic structure to the Joydev er Mela. The sanitization system and toilets have improved a lot and the stay facilities are also provided. Although a welcome change, but these structures have dimmed the natural rustic flavour of the fair somewhere. There are fears that the corporate agencies might also come and spoil Joydev Fair’s soul under the garb of facilities and advertisements.

We cannot stop that from happening, can we? With the growing pseudo-consciousness about the prevailing folk culture, the corporatization is a helpless inevitability.

We can only pray that the secret Vrindavan (Joydev is also called Gupta Brindabon) remains as sacred and intimate as it can be, for as long as possible.

“Dekhbi jodi cholo re mon Joydeb jai

Jetha gupto brindabon.

Setha bhoktirosher boiche joar

Tate bhashen koto mohajon.

Raat pohale roj shokale dub dao mon

Ganga bole Ajoy sholile –

Khyapa muchhe jabe moner kali

Korbi jugol doroshon.”

The songs says: If your mind wants, visit the secret Vrindavan at Joydev er Mela. The stream of devotion flows upstream here and the people swim along. Take a dip at the Ajay River, thinking of it as the Ganga. The Radha and Krishna await your presence after you erase all your evil thoughts with the holy dip.

A Few Details about the Joydev Kendulir Mela

Reaching the fair ground

From Kolkata:

Take a train to Durgapur (Hool Express or Black Diamond Express).

Get down at Durgapur and take a Bolpur Bus from Durgapur Railway station and get down at Muchulipara. From there you can take an auto-rickshaw to the Fair Ground.

You can also take a direct bus Joydev er Mela from Durgapur Railway Station.

Apart from Baul songs and Kirtans, the Joydev er Mela is also famous for rural knickknacks. If you want to buy handicraft clay items made by rural artisans, you can get from he

Stay and Food options are basic ones with a place to lie down, and a typical Bengali Veg Thali, please do not expect any luxury affair in this rural place. Non-Vegetarian Food Items are not available in the precincts of the Joydev Fair. You can stay in the numerous Akhras available here or at Durgapur.

Resources:

1. Utsabe Melaye Itihase – Sudhir Chakravarti
2. Terracotta (Sharat Sonkhya)– A Bi-Monthly Bengali Magazine on Archaeology, Anthropology and Folk-Culture of Bengal

The post Joydev Kendulir Mela – The fair that celebrates humanity and music appeared first on KolkataFusion.

Guest Post

বহু বছর পর এবার পুজোতে বাড়ি মানে বেলুনগ্রামে যেতে পারিনি।ভীষণ খারাপ লাগছিল।যদিও ভাই এর অকাল প্রয়াণে পুজোয় গ্রামের বাড়ি যাওয়ার আগের সে আনন্দ, সে আবেগ সে আকুলতা আজ আর আসে না।বড় ফাঁকা লাগে ।

গ্রামে যেতে না পারাতে  আমার বৌয়ের কয়েকশো কান্নাকাটি হয়ে গেল।প্যাণ্ডেল ঘুরে পুজো দেখার অভ্যেস আমার নেই।তারপর মৌসুমীর শিরদাঁড়ায় চোট।সব মিলিয়ে পূজো প্রায় ঘরে বসে কাটলো।

“সপ্তমি অষ্টমী তিথি তুমি গত হয়ো না

কানছে রানি ধুলায় পড়ে প্রাণে বাঁচে না

বিজয়া দশমী তিথি তুমি গত হয়ো না

গৌরী গেল কৈলাসে সম্বৎসর আসবে না…….. ।”

For the lyrics of this song, read The legacy of the Bengali Agomoni Songs

ভাসানের পরে এই গানের টান ছোটো ভাই মারা যাওয়ার পর আগের মতো আর অনুভব না করলেও এই গানের চিরন্তন এক আকর্ষণ আছে যা আমাকে আজও টানে।ছোটো থেকে বাবা  কাকার গলায় এই ‘চিরন্তনী’ শুনে এসেছি।গৌরীর বিদায়ের গান।চারদিনের আনন্দ মুখর দিনগুলি কাটিয়ে আমাদেরও ফেরার গান।বৎসর কাল পরে গৌরী আবার আসবে এই আশা নিয়ে যে যার কর্মজীবনে ফিরে যাওয়ার গান।

প্রতিমা নিরঞ্জনের পর এটা ছিল আমাদের ঘরে ফেরার গান।সেই কোন কাল থেকে এক ভাবে চলে আসছে।ভাসান হয়ে গেলে কালীতলায় চলো।সেখানে কাঁচা হলুদ মুখে দেওয়া ও গেলা। কামড়ানো চলবে না।তারপর উপস্থিত গুরুজনদের সবাইকে প্রণাম করার ধূম।সমবয়সীদের সাথে কোলাকুলি।শেষে ঢাকের তালে তালে এই গান গাইতে গাইতে ভগবতী তলায় ফেরা।এই সেদিনও মনে হতো ভগবতীতলা যেন এখনি না আসে।গান যেন শেষ না হয়।গান শেষ হলে ভগবতীতলায় পৌঁছে গেলে মনে হতো সব শেষ।

বিভিন্ন সময় ছোটো কাকা, বাবা, লিচুকাকা ছিলেন সূত্র ধারক।মনপ্রাণ দিয়ে এই গানের বোল ধরতেন।তারা আজ আর কেউ নেই।
একবার প্রচণ্ড বৃষ্টিতে কালীতলা থেকে ভগবতী ঘর পর্য্যন্ত প্রচণ্ড কাদাময়। মামা, বড়দা, বাবুদা, বাবা, কাকারা সবাই একসঙ্গে গান গাইছে।হঠাৎ বাবুদা গেয়ে উঠলো “এই কানছে রানি কাদায় পড়ে প্রাণে বাঁচে না”। ধুলা হয়ে গেল কাদা। সে সব দিন কি ভোলার।সেই বুড়হ্যা কালীতলার ঘাট থেকে বোলপুকুরের পার দিয়ে, মিত্তি(মিত্র) তলার ভগবতী ঘর হয়ে,’মাহানঠাকরান আর দুর্গেশনন্দিনীর’ নাছ(পাশের রাস্তা) দিয়ে গাইতে গাইতে আমাদের ভগবতী তলায় পৌঁছাতাম।উর্দ্ধবাহু সে নৃত্য আর গান – এক অনাবিল আনন্দে মন ভরে উঠতো।সময়ের সঙ্গে সঙ্গে নানা ঘাত প্রতিঘাতে মনের দ্বার আজ রুদ্ধ। সেই আনন্দের অংশীদার আর হতে পারি না।

আমাদের প্রজন্মে হারু, আমার ছোটো ভাই অরূপ এক নিষ্ঠ সূত্র ধারক ছিল।গ্রামের আরো অনেকের সঙ্গে আমার খুড়তুতো মামাতো ভাইবোন – সব একসঙ্গে সূত্র বা বোল ধারকের সঙ্গে গাইতাম আর আনন্দে নাচতাম, করতালি দিতাম। ভগবতীতলায় এসে গান শেষ হলে শান্তি জল নেওয়ার হুড়োহুড়ি। ‘আমার পড়েনি আমার পড়েনি’, বলে চিৎকার ।পুরুত মশাই, বাবাদের তিনকড়ি জ্যাঠা, শেষে হাঁড়ি উল্টে এক মাথা জল ঢেলে দিতেন কারো কারো মাথায়। তিনকড়িদাদুর ছেলে তামুদা একই ভাবে আনন্দ রসিকতায় এই ধারাবাহিকতা আজও ধরে রেখেছে।শান্তি জল পর্ব শেষ হলে শুরু হতো দিদার কাছ থেকে নাড়কেল নাড়ু আর বাতাসার প্রসাদের জন্য হুড়োহুড়ি কাড়াকাড়ি -একবার পেলে হবে না।আবার চাই।প্রায় নারকেলবিহীন নাড়কেল নাড়ু আর ভাঙা বাতাসা-তাই নিয়ে কাড়াকাড়ি।তখন ওটাই আমাদের কাছে ছিল ‘মজামৃত’।

এরপর বাড়ির কালীতলায় প্রণাম সেরে বাড়ি ফেরা।মনটা একটা কি রকম দুঃখানন্দে ভরে উঠতো।বাড়ি ফিরে ধান-কলাই-সিঁদুর-টাকা-মাছ ছুঁয়ে গুরুজনদের প্রণাম করা। ঠাকুরদাদার ফটো দিয়ে প্রণাম শুরু হতো।
এই রীতি আজও চলে আসছে।আমার খুড়তুতো মেজদি, ভাষাদি, স্নেহ মায়া মমতা সব কিছু দিয়ে বাড়ির এই ট্রাডিশন ধরে রেখেছে।

The post স্মৃতির দুর্গাপুজো – ২০১৭ appeared first on KolkataFusion.

If we listen to the verses of the Agomoni Songs, we would see that all these songs have depicted a sad picture of Bengal’s erstwhile society. They have represented the plight of Goddess Durga in Kailasa, the household of Lord Shiva. This representation has been found to be synonymous with the apprehension any mother feels for her daughter after she had left for her husband’s home post marriage.

On listening to the Agomoni Songs, we would understand the position of Goddess Durga in the Bengalis’ lives which is similar to that of a daughter in her own house. Thus, explaining the reason behind the euphoria and festal ambience in Bengal during the four days of Durga Puja.

Evolution of the Bengali Agomoni songs over the years:

In the past, mostly in the pre-renaissance Bengal, child marriage was prevalent. It was called ‘Gouridaan.’ These child brides were often married off to faraway places. Due to the lack of communication modes, the parents of those child brides did not get to see or hear from them for many days at a stretch. The sorrow of parting with their beloved daughters and lack of news of their well-being caused worry among the mothers. To ease the pain, they composed songs on Goddess Durga and her parents, Giriraj Himalaya and Menaka, imagining Menaka to be as worried as they were. The snippets of a few of the songs had been shared in this video below by Chandra Mukhopadhyay of Geedali, an initiative to keep alive the traditions of village songs of Bengal.  

In the songs shared in the video, Menaka, mother of Uma, or Goddess Durga, is heard pleading Narad Muni to bring some news of her daughter and asking Durga’s father to bring their daughter back home for a few days.

Though the Agomoni songs composed by village women have faded away from the common memory, the Agomoni songs composed by the Bengali Sakta poets are pretty popular still now. The songs had been composed keeping ‘Vatsalya Rasa’ (expression of parental love) as the main theme. The famous poets who have written memorable Agomoni songs were Ramprasad Sen, Kamalakanta Bhattacharya, and Dashrathi Roy. Later, poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, too, composed a few memorable Agomoni Songs.

The founder of Sakta Padabali, Ramprasad Sen had written down some heart wrenching Agomoni Songs, by listening to which we can feel the yearning in the heart of Menaka for her daughter –  

“Giri, ebar amar Uma ele/ Ar Umay pathabo na

Bole bolbe loke mondo/ Ami karo katha shunbo na…….”

Or, in this song:

“Jao jao Giri anite Gouri/Uma boro dukhe royeche

Ami dekhechi sopono Narod bochon/Uma Maa Maa bole knedeche

Bhangar bhikhari jamai tomar/Shonar bhromori Gouri amar

Amar Umar joto boson bhushon/Bhola tao beche bhang kheyeche”

where Menaka laments that Uma, her beloved daughter, is suffering because her husband, Lord Shiva, is only interested in being intoxicated by Bhaang. The above video is an extract from a 90s Bengali film ‘Hirer Angti’ directed by Rituparno Ghosh. Such is the relevance of the unforgettable words that the song has given a different meaning to this particular scene.

Much later, after the Bengal renaissance movement spearheaded by Rammohan Roy and Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, the Agomoni songs started donning a different avatar altogether. For example, when we hear ‘Bajlo tomar alor benu, matlo re bhuban’, the opening song of the iconic radio programme, ‘Mahishasurmardini’, or ‘Jago Durga, Jago Dashapraharandharini’, we feel the deep reverence towards the Mother Goddess evoking utmost devotion and love to the all-powerful Shakti, the power of a mother, a woman.

In Kazi Najrul Islam’s famous Agomoni song, ‘Jago Jogmaya, jago mrinmoyee, chinmoyee rupe jaago, tobo konishtha konya dhoroni, knaade ar daake Maa go’, we can find the representation of the Mother Earth as the youngest daughter of Maa Durga and how she wishes to feel the healing love of her mother in her heart.

He had also wished Maa Durga to stay always in all the Bengali households irrespective of caste, colour and religion in this unforgettable Agomoni song,

‘Ebar Nabin Mantre Hobe, Janani tor udbodhon

Nitya hoye roibi ghore, hobe na tor bisorjon

Sokol jatir purush narir praan

Sei hobe tor puja-bedi

Maa tor pithosthaan”

expressing that Durga does not only belong to Bengali Hindus but to the Bengalis belonging to all religions alike, to all the God-believers as well as the non-believers.

Classification of the Agomoni Songs:

Basically, the Puratani Agomoni songs are divided into 4 parts, – Agomoni, Saptami, Nabami and Dashami or Bijoya.

In the Agomoni category, the mother of Goddess Durga, Menaka is seen lamenting about her daughter and persuading Giriraj Himalaya to bring back her daughter to their home.

In the Saptami songs, Menaka is seen happy to meet her daughter after a year. She showers all the motherly affections on her Uma in every possible way.

We can see that in this song written by poet Kamalakanta Bhattacharya:

“Aay Ma Uma chumi tomar chaandbodon

Giyechile aandhar kore e girir bhubon…”

(Come, my beloved daughter, Uma, let me shower my affections on you. How could you go away from me, leaving me in darkness?)

or “Uma amar kamon chhile horer ghore” (How was your health in Kailasa? Were you fine?)

Again, in the Nabami and Bijoya songs, a deep sorrow in Menaka’s heart awakens and she doesn’t want to part with her daughter anymore. 

An old household song from Belungraam says,

“Gouri gelo Kailashe sombotsor asbena/ Bijoya Dasami tithi tumi goto hoyo na

Kandche rani dhulai pore praane banche na/ Saptami Astami tithi tumi goto hoyo na

In this immortal song written by poet Chandidas Maal, one can feel the true melancholic essence of a Nabami Night:

“Nabami nishi tumi ar jeno pohayo na

Dukhini maayer praane aar byatha dio na….”

Hear this song in the given link to experience Menaka’s pain of parting with her beloved daughter:

In this song, Menaka earnestly requests that the Nabami night should not come to an end because her daughter will leave for Lord Shiva’s abode the next day.

‘Nabami Nishi’ resonates with the feelings of all the Bengalis alike. We don’t want the Nabami to end because, after that, we would wait for another year to welcome back Maa Durga. Though the song was written hundreds of years ago, the pain, the pining, the profound evergreen love for the dearest daughter sustains and will continue to sustain its relevance till the end of the human civilization.

Bibliographical References:

1. Sangeet Kosh by Karunamoy Goswami
2. Loksangeet Bibhakar by Subodh Gangopadhyay

Acknowledgments:

1. Niladri Roy, Head, Department of Performing Arts, Presidency University
2. Late Mr. Ajoy Chatterjee, GM (Engineering)
3. Chandra Mukhopadhyay, Geedali initiative

The post The legacy of the Bengali Agomoni Songs appeared first on KolkataFusion.

ছবি সৌজন্যঃ সৌম্যালী বসু মল্লিক

Guest Artist

আমরা দুজন একটি গাঁয়ে থাকি

সেই আমাদের একটিমাত্র সুখ,

তাদের গাছে গায় যে দোয়েল পাখি

তাহার গানে আমার নাচে বুক।

তাহার দুটি পালন-করা ভেড়া

চরে বেড়ায় মোদের বটমূলে,

যদি ভাঙে আমার খেতের বেড়া

কোলের ‘পরে নিই তাহারে তুলে।

                                                         আমাদের এই গ্রামের নামটি খঞ্জনা,                                              আমাদের এই নদীর নাম অঞ্জনা,

আমার নাম তো জানে গাঁয়ের পাঁচ জনে–

আমাদের সেই তাহার নামটি রঞ্জনা।

দুইটি পাড়ায় বড়োই কাছাকাছি,

মাঝে শুধু একটি মাঠের ফাঁক–

তাদের বনের অনেক মধুমাছি

মোদের বনে বাঁধে মধুর চাক।

তাদের ঘাটে পূজার জবামালা

ভেসে আসে মোদের বাঁধা ঘাটে,

তাদের পাড়ার কুসুম-ফুলের ডালা

বেচতে আসে মোদের পাড়ার হাটে।

আমাদের এই গ্রামের নামটি খঞ্জনা,

আমাদের এই নদীর নাম অঞ্জনা,

আমার নাম তো জানে গাঁয়ের পাঁচ জনে–

আমাদের সেই তাহার নামটি রঞ্জনা।

 আমাদের এই গ্রামের গলি-’পরে

আমের বোলে ভরে আমের বন,

তাদের খেতে যখন তিসি ধরে

মোদের খেতে তখন ফোটে শণ।

তাদের ছাদে যখন ওঠে তারা

আমার ছাদে দখিন হাওয়া ছোটে।

তাদের বনে ঝরে শ্রাবণধারা,

আমার বনে কদম ফুটে ওঠে।

                                                         আমাদের এই গ্রামের নামটি খঞ্জনা,                                                আমাদের এই নদীর নাম অঞ্জনা,

আমার নাম তো জানে গাঁয়ের পাঁচ জনে–

আমাদের সেই তাহার নামটি রঞ্জনা।

 (ক্ষণিকা কাব্যগ্রন্থ থেকে)

About Soumyali Basu Mallick 

Soumyali is from a small village Sheakhala, district Hooghly, West Bengal. Currently studying in class 12, she finds joy in painting as it helps her express her feelings through different types of art. It appeals to her heart. So it is a medicine for the mind. She finds peace while drawing pictures. It is her favourite hobby. This kid cannot imagine a colourful life without painting. She gets her greatest inspiration from her mother, who always encourages her. She believes painting is a self-discovery and it is a way for her to show her creativity. Unlike many people believe painting requires a lot of devotion as well as practice. Pleasure glitters in her mind like a gem while painting.

The post এক গাঁয়ে appeared first on KolkataFusion.

The cards which I will talk about in this post are a type of Ganjifa playing cards. Before that, let us understand how the Ganjifa cards came into existence. So, the word ‘Ganjifa’ is derived from a Persian word meaning treasure. The Ganjifa Card game was played in Persia and the middle east in the leisure time as an indoor game. Later on, along with Persian traders and rulers, the Ganjifa cards travelled to countries like India, Spain, Italy and a few more where they went. 

Ganjifa cards were a popular indoor game in the courts of the Mughal rulers of India. It was often played in courts of emperor Akbar too. Malla King of Bishnupur of Bankura District of West Bengal, Bir Hambir, visited Akbar’s court often. He took an interest in the Ganjifa Card game and thought about developing a unique card game inspired by the Mughal Ganjifa Cards. He named the cards ‘Dashavatar Taash’ after the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu.

The 10 incarnations (Avatar) of Lord Vishnu are respectively Matsya (fish), Kurma (turtle), Varaha (boar), Nrishingha (half man-half lion), Vaman (dwarf), Parashurama (the warrior with the axe), Rama (prince and king of Ayodhya), Krishna (eighth son of Devaki and Vasudeva, commonly worshipped deity of the hindus), Buddha (founder of Buddhism), Kalki (the warrior atop horse and a brandishing sword in hand).

The Dashavatar Taash is a pack of 120 cards with 10 suites of 12 cards each. 3 or 5 players play it. Rama or Krishna Cards are the lead suites. If played during the day time, Rama is the lead suit, during the night, Krishna becomes the lead suit. The player that holds the lead suit begins the game by playing 2 cards at once. These 2 cards are the lead suit card and another lower card. There are other elaborate rules and regulations which are followed while playing the Dashavatar Ganjifa Cards.

The Dashavatar Cards are completely hand made. Pieces of cloth are folded repeatedly to make a structure. Tamarind seed glue is used to paste the folds so that they held each other together. Chalkdust is rubbed upon both the sides and smoothened. Then they are cut in a circular shape with a 4.5-inch radius. The images of the 10 incarnations are drawn upon these cards using traditional folk-art style and the back sides are sealed using lac and vermillion. Paints made from natural sources are used. The craft of making these cards itself is a dying craft now.

At present, the Fouzdar family of Bishnupur, West Bengal, is striving hard to uphold the family tradition as well as the forgotten cultural heritage of Bengal by making these cards and teaching the interested people the nuances of the forgotten indoor game. 

The post Dashavatar Taash – The heritage Ganjifa Playing Cards of Bengal appeared first on KolkataFusion.

Deb Sahitya Kutir was and still is synonymous with many bookish memories of childhood, – the Shuktara Magazine with the legendary comic strip heroes like Bantul The Great, Handa Bhonda, Nonte Fonte for children. Then there was the Nabakallol Magazine which catered to the adult readers exclusively while the cover stories popped up the curiosities of the teenagers. The smell of the annual pujabarshiki volumes still brings in the fragrance of Durga Puja in many Bengali homes and for the rest where Bengali has become a forbidden language, it is still fighting the lost battle with computer games, television sets and mobile phones.

There was a time in the past when Deb Sahitya Kutir published many books for all kinds of readers. The most famous among them, however, were A.T Deb’s dictionary and Vidyasagar’s Barnaparichay. A. T Deb or Ashutosh Deb was the third son of Barada Prasad Mazumdar who started the legendary publishing house.

According to various sources of History, Baradaprasad Majumdar, came to Kolkata in search of a new life and new identity. He took a new surname ‘Deb’ and started a book publishing house. Ashutosh Deb, with a vision to expand his father’s business, bought copyrights of many books written by Vidyasagar and started to reprint and publish them from Deb Sahitya Kutir. Gradually, the name of the organization gained popularity and became a household name with their popular magazines ‘Shuktara’ and ‘Nabakallol’.

The present years had been gloomy for this organization. With the aggressive use of digital media and a slow decline in the culture of reading Bengali books amongst children, the publishing house had been suffering losses. On the top of that, the land promoters started hovering around the Jhamapukur Office as well as the residential property for acquiring the land area for their selfish interests.

One of the Facebook groups which deal with Kolkata’s heritage restoration affairs, namely Purono Kolkatar Golpo, was contacted by one of the present owners, Rupa Mazumdar. She reported that the Jhamapukur’s office building comprising of ‘Chamatkar Bari’ and ‘Barada Kutir’ were being eyed by the land dealers for the hunger of a big profit haul. The group members condemned this activity and made a move to the West Bengal Heritage Commission for declaring this building as heritage because a heritage status added to the said property would save it from the land promoters. Previously, the commission did not declare the building as a heritage in spite of it being reaching close to 100 years of age.

However, as per the recent news, the WBHC have decided to honour the office building with a heritage status thereby saving many memories attached to it and to the cultural history of Kolkata as well. A time may come when all the events will be forgotten, all the past cultures will be gulped down by new innovations, but what will remain, is the heritage, the heritage which had and will continue to be the roots of the civilizations to come.

Information Source Courtesy:

1. Posts of Purono Kolkatar Golpo, Facebook
2. www.getbengal.in
3. Dev Sahitya Kutir Heritage Foundation

Image Courtesy: Dev Sahitya Kutir Archive, Harano Somoyer Bigyapon’s archive, World Wide Web

Content curated by: Kolkata Fusion

P.S: Talking about the old classic books that make us nostalgic, we bet almost of you will mention Golpogucchho by Rabindranath Tagore. Here’s our review on ‘Streer Patra’, one of the stories of the Golpoguccho anthology.

The post Deb Sahitya Kutir – The legendary Bengali publishers to get heritage status appeared first on KolkataFusion.

Naa jani kon kaalar sathey mon mojeche….

Saanjher belay jomunar jol……..” (An excerpt from the Radha Krishnar Poter Gaan)

The age-old myths and their manifestations do exist in this era of rationality and technical gluttony. Some months ago, I got a chance to walk on the soil where the painters of a forgotten genre are still fighting for their due recognition. They are the humble Patachitrakars (scroll painters) of Naya, Midnapur, who paints the very myths and folklores which are narrated in the Hindu scriptures alongside a few oral versions that were passed down by the clan of storytellers known as ‘Kathaks’ in ancient India.

The Patachitrakars, known in local language as ‘Potuas’ used to bring alive the various mythological stories and folklores with the help of locally sourced natural dyes in the past but nowadays they choose factory made colours. Their bold fingers incessantly go on creating finer details on the canvas of their choice – a simple clothbound “sheets of paper sewn together and sometimes stuck on canvas. Their widths can go from 4 to 14 inches and their length; often 3 feet can exceed 15 feet” just for the sake of the love of art. Their goal at the end of the day is to earn a handful so that they can buy food to fill their stomachs and a bottle of local liquor to forget the atrocities their lives have thrown them into apparently.

Their village, Naya, nested in the corner of West Medinipur district of West Bengal, India can fill you with awe on your first visit. People do sketch and paint in their childhood, draw two triangular mountain peaks and a semi-circular rising sun or maybe a rose with a long stem and leaves, but revering an art form and practicing the form like religion takes a lot of honest dedications. I wouldn’t have known about this form of veneration if I didn’t visit there. The majority being Muslim by faith, have decided to shun the social compartmentalization by taking up stories of the Hindu mythology and paint them accurately. The stories of Ramayana, Mahabharata, Mangalkavyas, the Hindu Gods and Goddesses as well as Hitopodeshas, Panchantantras are colourfully represented in the long scrolls by the diligent hands of the painters. They have also dropped their ancestral surnames and picked up the surname of ‘Chitrakar’ meaning painter in Bengali, their mother tongue.

As Shyamal Chitrakar reminisces, in the past, his ancestors used to roam around villages singing and showing the scrolls simultaneously, being the only audio-visual medium of entertainment of the old era. The Radha-Krishna Leela was the most popularly displayed scroll then. But, nowadays, with the invasions of televisions, radios, web media, this oldest form of entertainment have suffered a setback although the government is trying to revive it by asking them to paint scrolls and compose songs on socially relevant issues like child marriage, women education, saving girl child, awareness for AIDS, environment, gender equality and the likes. They are also being called for displaying these scrolls along the respective songs but the reach still remains a big challenge.

They start their day by decorating the walls of their humble mud houses. Upon enquiring, they would put the brightest of their smiles and say that when there are left-over colours, we use them to paint on the walls. While strolling through the kuccha lanes and observing their exhibits if you look above the azure sky, green trees, red gravelly soil and the colourful paintings strewn around, it would seem that they are smiling in unison to celebrate the victory of inciting a peaceful riot of colours.

They have also started to diversify their painting skill by painting on sarees, stolls, kurtis as well as illustrations in books. These recent diversification aims on reaching diversified patrons. But how far this attempt is successful, only time will see.

My last stop was Bahadur Chitrakar’s house. It is no less than an established, famed art museum. Bahadur himself had painstakingly collected the souvenirs on display in his house by bartering away his own scroll paintings (known as Patachitra in Bengali) to those painters.

His semi-permanent house proudly displayed the papyrus paintings, Egyptian artefacts, palm leaf scrolls known as “tala pattachitra” from the neighbouring painters of Odisha, mirror works from Rajasthan and many more such jewels which are on the verge of getting lost in the sands of time.

The Government wants to buy his collections, repair his house and make a museum near the village to display those collections. This offer has put Bahadur in a fix and indecisive. Now, when I think about that day, I can still feel his agony of parting with his treasured collection.

However, a silver lining is slowly emerging in Naya. The younger generation of the Potuas are embracing this form of art. People are visiting this village, admiring and patronizing the Patachitras. The organization banglanatok.com have been instrumental in unleashing a hope among the potua community of Naya – the hope of salvaging a cultural heritage of Bengal.

The post The scroll painters of Naya – the village of myths and lores appeared first on KolkataFusion.