“sen gi susun kajigi durang”
A saying which means walking is dancing and speaking is singing, reflecting the sentiments of finding joy/ intent/ celebration in the things we think are mundane like walking and speaking held by the indigenous communities of chota nagpur region of India.
Reading is traditionally understood as an act of decoding text, yet it is, at its core, an act of active interpretation. A reader does not merely absorb information but engages with it—assigning meaning, forming connections, and bringing their own experiences into the narrative. Hence forming knowledge. This project seeks to (How GCD can) expand the realm of reading by embracing visual, auditory, and performative elements in storytelling.
As a person of indigenous descent, I grew up with different forms of stories. In indigenous traditions, many stories are expressed and experienced through song, dance, and oral recitation. Indigenous communities, such as the Mundas, have long held and shared knowledge through seasonal festivals, songs, and dance which are acts of storytelling that pass down wisdom about farming, history, and community values.
In munda community,
durang=songs
susun=dance
“Communal dance makes real and physical the values of communality and equality that are central ideals among Mundas. These ideals do not always find expression in political, economic, and social realities of Mundari life today….But these ideals are the reality of communal dance event in the village akhara, a commonly owned arena in the centre of every Mundari village or hamlet.” — Carol Babiracki ( ‘Music and the History of Tribe-Caste interaction in Chotanagpur’ Ethnomusicology and Modern Music History )
Singing and dancing in Munda community,
Songs are connected to festivals and festivals follows the cycle of seasons because their lifestyles depends on and is connected to their environment. In the whole year, as the weather changes, new festivals arrives with changes in rhythm and dances. The songs hold knowledge, knowledge of themselves and their environment. And through singing and dancing they pass on the knowledge.
Historically, “Akhra” was an open space in the village for community meetings and entertainment where knowledge was transferred across generations through storytelling, performance of songs and collective participation in dance. However, due to political and economic changes, such spaces are becoming extinct.
Jharkhand is such a cultural region where people do their work in fields, in jungles and mountains throughout the day and at night, to relieve their fatigue, the people of the entire village, whether brother or sister, son-daughter, all living in that village all together in the akhara of the village, collectively without any discrimination whether young or old. the young go with the elders holding hand and swaying their feet, become adept at dancing. Mothers wraps/ betra their babies on their backs and then take them to the akhra and along with the mother the baby also sways with the group. This is a great pleasure for the baby as well as if in a swing. mother is dancing meanwhile the baby is listening to the song and enjoying the music. These things are being received since childhood and along the way the child learns either one of singing, dancing or playing. this is why in the village akhra there’s no boundary between the audience and the artist – Prof. Girdhari Ram Gaunjhu
A dialogue – Parwati Tirkey
लोक गीतों पर बात करते हुए सबसे महत्त्वपूर्ण बात यह मैंने अपने पुरखों से जैसा कि आपने कहा उस कहावत का जिक्र किया हमारे कुरु परंपरा में कहावत है एकना दिम तोक ना कथा दिम डंडी डंडी ही पंडी पं दुखन खंडी तो चलना ही नृत्य है बोलना ही गीत है और गीतों का जो संग्रह है वह दुख को काटता है यह गीतों के महत्व पर यह दो जो कहावत है दो पंक्तियों की इसको य हम और अच्छे से और गहरे तरीके से सोचे तो गीतों का संग्रह कैसे दुखों को काटता है मनुष्य के जो वर्तमान जीवन में वह दुख के कारण को किस तरह से गीत डिकोड करता है और उस समस्याओं से जूझने के लिए एक उत्तर की ओर हमें एक रास्ता दिखाने जैसा काम भी करता है तो मैं एक गीत का जिक्र करूंगी कोलोनियल पीरियड में गीत गाए गए थे जिसमें एक लड़की कोड़ा यानी शहर की रपलायतम्मान गीत को नाच को जिस तरह से सहज रखा वह सहजता मनुष्य के व्यवहार में कैसे आती है वह गीत द्वारा ही आती है मनुष्य जो गाता है उसके व्यवहार की सहजता वह सहजता को कैसे पारंपरिक तरीके से अखड़ा में प्रैक्टिस करते हुए प्रैक्टिस के तौर पर पाता है आदिवासी समाज में देखेंगे कि समूह में अखड़ा में स्त्री पुरुष दोनों नृत्य कर रहे हैं स्त्रियां गीत गा रही है पुरुष उस गीत को दोहरा रहे हैं तो यह तरह एक तरह की सामाजिक संरचना को गीत बुनता है कि स्त्री और पुरुष के मध्य संबंध होगा तो वह कितना प्राकृतिक और कितना सहज होगा इसको गीत भी कहीं ना कहीं तैयार करती इसकी बुनियाद को और समस्याओं को जिस तरह से वह डिकोड करती है गीत समस्याओं को सही तरीके से लेकर वह प्रश्नों के तौर पर गीत खड़ा करती है तो मनुष्य यदि अपने प्रश्न पर सही तरीके से पहुंचता है तो उसके पास उत्तर भी होता है तो गीतों का यह एक बहुत महत्त्वपूर्ण काम है कि गीत हमेशा एक दिशा दिखलाती है और वर्तमान जो दशा है उसको भी वह प्रदर्शित बहुत अच्छे तरीके से करती हैं और मैं गीत के मामले में ये अनुज लुगुन अनुज लुगुन कवि है उनकी कविता में बागर सुगना मुंडा की बेटी उन्होंने भी उन्होंने भी कहा है व गीत में इस चीज को कहते हैं गीत औषधि है वाकई गीत औषधि है औ ज्ञान विज्ञान औषधि की बात हो यह सारी चीजें गीतों में मिलती है अभी जैसे मैं इस मौसम का जिक्र करूं आड़ का मौसम बादो का मौसम जब खेत में धान रोपे जाते हैं तो आदिवासी पूरी तरह से प्राकृतिक वर्षा पर खेती के लिए डिपेंडेंट है तो वे किस तरह से बारिश होगी मौसम का जो ज्ञान उन्होंने कैसे संग्रहित किया उस चीज को भी उन्होंने गीतों में पिरोया है यह सारी चीजें गीतों में है एक गीत है मुर लागी मुर्रा लागी भंडार कोड़ा मुर्रा लागी भंडार कोड़ा यानी बादल गरज रहे हैं बादल गरज रहे हैं भंडार कोड़ा गरज रहा है भंडार कोड़ा एक दिशा है जिसकी खोज आदिवासियों ने की है कोड़ो क आदिवासियों ने की है कि एक दिशा में यदि बादल खूब गरज रहे हैं तो बारिश खूब अच्छी होगी तो यह ज्ञान उन्हें कहां से मिलता प्रकृति से मिलता उस ज्ञान को व कहां पिरो रहे गीतो में पिरो र गीतों में वे गाते हुए अगली पीढ़ी तक उसको ट्रांसफ ट्रांसफर कर रहे हैं उसको पीढ़ी पीढ़ी गीतों का हस्तांतरण हो रहा है तो यह गीतों का हस्तांतरण मनुष्य की सामाजिक संरचना में किस तरह सहजता रहे सामूहिक का रहे औषधि का ज्ञान कैसे है मौसम का ज्ञान ये सारी चीजें एक उनका जो नेचुरल तरीके से प्राकृतिक तौर पर जो उनकी ज्ञान परंपरा है वह एक तरह से हस्तांतरित हो रहा है तो इसलिए गीत महत्त्वपूर्ण है क्योंकि गीतों की वजह से ही आदिवासी अपने जो व्यक्तित्व की सहजता है समूह की जो सहजता है सामूहिक उसको सकते और अप जल की ज्ञान परंपरा को सुरक्षित रख सकते हैं
While talking about folk songs, the most important thing that I mentioned about my ancestors as you said is that in our Kuru tradition there is a saying Ekna Dim Tok Na Katha Dim Dandi Dandi Hi Pandi Pan Dukhan Khandi Toh walking is dance, speaking is song and the collection of songs removes sorrow. This two-line proverb on the importance of songs, if we think about it better and deeply, then how does the collection of songs remove sorrow, how does the song decode the cause of sorrow in the present life of man and also works to show us a way towards an answer to deal with those problems,
so I will mention a song, songs were sung in the colonial period in which a girl Koda i.e. Rapalayatamman of the city kept the song and dance simple, how that simplicity comes in the behavior of man, it comes only through song, the ease in the behavior of the person who sings, how does that ease get practiced by practicing in the arena in the traditional way,
in the tribal society we will see that groups In the arena, both men and women are dancing, women are singing songs and men are repeating the songs, so in this way, the song weaves a kind of social structure, that how natural and comfortable the relationship between a man and a woman will be,
the song also prepares its foundation somewhere or the other and the way it decodes the problems, the song takes the problems in the right way and creates songs in the form of questions, so if a man reaches his question in the right way, then he also has an answer, so this is a very important work of songs that songs always show a direction and they also display the current condition very well and I am talking about this song,
Anuj Lugun, Anuj Lugun is a poet, in his poem, the daughter of Bagar Sugna Munda, he has also said and this thing is said in the song that song is medicine, really song is medicine and if we talk about knowledge, science and medicine, all these things are found in songs, now like if I mention this season, the season of rain, the season of clouds, when paddy is planted in the field, then the tribals completely depend on natural rain for farming. If they are dependent on others, then how will it rain, how did they collect the knowledge about the weather, they have also woven that thing into songs, all these things are in the songs, one song is Mur Lagi Murra Lagi Bhandar Koda, Murra Lagi Bhandar Koda, which means the clouds are thundering, the clouds are thundering, Bhandar Koda is thundering, Bhandar Koda is a direction which has been discovered by the tribals, the tribals have discovered that if the clouds are thundering a lot in one direction, then there will be good rain, so from where do they get this knowledge, from nature, where are they weaving that knowledge into songs, and while singing in the songs, they are transferring it to the next generation, the songs are being transferred from generation to generation, so how can these songs be transferred in the social structure of humans, how can there be ease of collective knowledge, how is the knowledge of medicine, how is the knowledge of weather, all these things are being transferred in a natural way, their knowledge tradition is being transferred in a way, so that’s why the songs are important because it is because of the songs that the tribals can collectively express the ease of their personality, the ease of the group, We can preserve the tradition of water knowledge
