Gajan- A Folk Cultural of Rural Bengal
21/12/2018
Moumita Ghosh*
Rich folk culture and
traditional heritage have always been the most important part of Indian art and
culture. The state West Bengal is also famous for some of its very indigenous
folk culture, and ‘Gajan’ is one of them. It is a part of 'Charak' festival observed on the occasion of the worship of the lord Shiva; as He is
referred as the prime-mover. 'Gajan-gaan' ('Gajan' songs) originates in the heart
of common people, and this expresses their social, religious and political
status, demonstrating the history of class struggle, social stratification, and
exploitation of marginal class by the upper class and political hegemony.
Lord Shiva is imagined
as a healthy, handsome person with a tiger skinned on, with a trident in the
left hand and ‘damru’ in the right. Preparation for 'Gajan' begins towards
the end of ‘Falgun’ (March). The villagers begin to thrive with life and
vitality as the festival approaches. The rich people are seldom found to
participate in 'Gajan'. The backward sections of the society take up the largest
responsibility.
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| 'Charak' (PC Google) |
'Gajan'- Art and Artists
A survey done on Kulpi
CD Block of 24 Parganas (S), West Bengal which reveals that poets of 'Gajan' songs have very little formal education, they pour the wealth and sweetness of
their life long experience into their songs. These songs contain happiness and
sorrow, good and evil, hope and despair, simplicity and turpitude, piety and
happiness, attachment and stoicism and such other contrasting feelings, emotions,
passion and instincts.
There are people of
different age groups in a 'Gajan' Party, but the youth from the major portion. A
team consists of 30-35 person including music composer, harmony-hand,
table-player, dance, singer, comedian and some assistants helping the smooth
movement of the team. The artists usually use low cost colourful costumes; some
young people are dressed as female artists. It is hardly possible to
distinguish them from women as women artists are not allowed to perform in 'Gajan'.
'Gajan'- As a marginal
culture
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| 'Gajan' Artists |
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| Spectators |
Marginality can be
defined as “the temporary state of having been put aside of living in relative
isolation, at the edge of a system (cultural, social, political or economic),
in mind, when one excludes certain domains or phenomena from one’s thinking
because they do not correspond to the mainstream philosophy” (International
Geographical Union (IGU).
“Socio-economic
marginality is a condition of socio-spatial structure and process in which
components of society and space in a territorial unit are observed to lag
behind an expected level of performance in economic, political and social well-being
compared with average condition in the territory as a whole” (Sommers et al.)
Marginality is
generally used to describe and analyse socio-cultural, political and economic
spheres, where disadvantaged people struggle to gain access (societal and
spatial) to resources, and full participation in social life (Anderson and
Larsen, 1998; Brodwin, 2001). 'Gajan' generally deals with the liberation of
two kinds of marginalized groups: the namasudra (the caste of untouchables) and
women.
The word 'Gajan' is
derived from ‘Garjan’- the soul stirring cry of the mendicants. It is
the roar of the lion- the spine chilling call of mythical Lord Shiva. The temporary
renunciation by the 'Gajan' ‘sannyasi’ (priest) of food, shelter,
clothing, rather than being a repressive device- is pedagogical in that it
allows a more powerful understanding of male and female ethos in a set of
cultural environment. Symbolically 'Gajan' is celebrated during spring; it is called ‘Charak’ which means wheel,
representing the rotation of the earth and the completion of a year, therefore
like a phoenix it is the time to die and be reborn simultaneous. So 'Gajan' is
one of the important marginal cultures of rural Bengal.
Problems
On the basis of survey
done on the two types of 'Gajan Dals', some problems can be identified through
this survey are as follows-
1. Groups are not
performing this art and folk culture in all a pleasant and decent well accepted
manner.
2. There is
unwillingness to take the 'Gajan' performing as a profession as the scope of
earning as well as in case of social status is very much low.
3.
Lack of knowledgeable skilled and strong artist who will prepare the
lyrics/song, so there is a tendency of copying the tune of the song of Hindi films, which decrease value of folk
culture.
Solutions
Some organisations and
NGOs organised workshop for preparing the song of 'Gajan' and trained 'Gajan' artists to develop professional attitude and try to get recognition and
financial aid from Government to rescue this rural folk art form of our state.
Conclusion
The new turn in the
character of 'Gajan' has abandoned the extol of goodness and descends to the
people in the grass root level and their life have become the subject matter of
the songs. They are contending with hard realities for life and its sustenance. 'Gajan-gaan' during the last few days of the year provide them with hopes, dreams
and resource for the next year.
*Student, 2007
moumitagh1985@gmail.com, Part-time
Ph. D. Research Scholar of Geography, University of Calcutta, Assistant teacher
of Geography in Karanjali B.K.Institution
Loved the narration & documentation. Keep in up.
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