Sir,
This has reference to the writeup captioned’Bakkal, A living museum of performing arts of Dogras’ (DE, Dec,11, 2016).It is heartening to read that the residents of Bakkal, a village located in the back hills of District Reasi, have preserved the priceless legacy of our folklores such as Kud, Masaade, Bhaakh, Jagrana, Geetru, Karkaan etc , which are an integral part of our rich culture passed on to us by our forefathers.
Unfortunately, these traditional performing arts of Dogras are dying a slow and painful death thanks to the fast modern life, lack of official patronage and encouragement and apathy of our young generation to such arts.Kud, which is performed by men on the eve of social and religious functions,community celebrations and fairs is surviving the onslaught of western culture only in hilly areas of Chenab Valley and Udhampur district.
Masaade, which are repository of oral history of folk deities have almost vanished from the Dogra region. Bhaakh, which used to be sung in chorus by a group of ten to fifteen singers, who would shut their ears while singing and would not use any instrument,has met the same fate as that of Masaade.With the women joining the groom in baraat these days, Jagrana, an exclusive dance of women,too has become a thing of the past except,perhaps in remote hilly areas.This powerful dance was exclusively performed by womenfolk who would dress themselves as men and dance throughout the night,cracking jokes on the close female relatives of the groom.Geetru, which is a song dance performed by a group of six-seven artists, is still practised in Ramnagar tehsil of District Udhampur due to the tireless efforts of a group of dedicated artists led by Romalo Ram.
Kaarkan used to be sung by Gardis at the time of Jaatar organised on the eve of installation of Kuldevta, celebrating the birth/marriage of son, offering annual sacrifice to kuldevtas etc., which is losing ground these days.They would sing about the glory and heroic deeds of Deities.Similarly, Gasaitens used to be organised, in which the religious discourses were delivered throughout night and the’ bagni’ prepared from’kodra’was stored in earthern pots and served to the participants.The Barans were sung by folk artists who used to be specially invited on eve of marriage and other functions and lavishly appreciated and rewarded, have lost charm with the new generation.
Unfortunately, all these traditional performing arts are losing ground to Hindi, Punjabi and Western music with each passing day.There is need to preserve this priceless culture.
Yours etc…..
Ankita Sharma
Udhampur
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