Festivals of Assam : Bihu

Bihu

Bihu is the greatest festival of Assamese people. It is secular in concept because it is intimately connected with agriculture. There are three bihus that come off at various stages of the cultivation of paddy , the principal crop of Assam. Bahag (Baisakh) Bihu, Kati (Kartika) Bihu, and Magh (bihu). At the first stage, the cultivators start preparing the fields; at the second stage young paddy seedlings, after transplantation, begin to grow; at the third stage; the harvest has been gathered. Bohag Bihu is the most important of the three. It is also popularly called Rangali Bihu (bihu of merriment). The festival begins on the last day of Chaitra. This Sankranti day is meant for cattle, in the early hours of the morning cows are taken out for washing in the nearest ponds and rivers.

On the first day of this Bihu, which is meant for the cows, in the early hours of the morning cows are taken out for washing in the nearest ponds and 'Beels'. With the help of a small three pronged shaped Bamboo implement, brinjals and water gourd are cut into pieces and hurled at the cows. Other vegetables like bitter gourd, turmeric and Thekera (the gamboze fruit) are also used. These implement are interchanged with others to ward off the evil. Later in the evening when the cows return home they are tied to new Pogha (rope for tying cow) and the shed is filled with smoke to prevent any evil. Cows are indispensible for cultivation and thus such treatment on the special day. Another important ritual of this day is that ladies and girls apply henna and mehendi on their hands and feet. Mehendi (localley known as Jetuka) is a way of bringing colour to life, apart form is medicinal properties. Manuh Bihu follows Goru Bihu when people visit relatives and exchange Gamochas (a kind of towel woven in cotton). Bihuwan or this Gamocha is a symbol of dignity in Assamese society. Jalpaan, a special food item, is an important part of Bihu. Chira-Doi (flat rice made out of parched half boiled paddy and curds), Aakhoi (fried paddy or Indian corn etc.) Gur (raw or unrefined sugar; molasses), Sandahguri (wet rice parched and pounded into lumps ) etc. mainly comprise the Jalpaan. Pithas or rice cakes wich are parts of the Assamese delicacy add richness to the feast. Bohag Bihu is the time when people sort out their differences. Hunsari is an integral part of Bohag Bihu. Hunsari constitutes a team which has an elderly member who leads the other members of the team with men and boys, who go and sing Bihu songs at the houses of every person in the village. The team makes a visit first to the most revered person in the village. The Hunsari team is generally presented with Seleng Chadar (this cloth wrapped round the body), flowery Gamochas or flowery, colourful towels and a silver coin or so. This is the householders' way of according them respect. The money collected from Hunsari singing is used for development works like building of a library, a naamghar etc. People also have community feasts with the money collected in this manner. It is a time honoured custom to offer Tamol-Paan or betel nuts to the Hunsari Dol in Bohag Bihu.

Bihu folk dance is a separate item performed by both young men and women. The songs sung are mostly folk tune based and are related to love. Games like bull-fight, cock-fight, arm wrestling are popular. During Ahom rule these games ware held in the fields close to Ranghar taking on the character of Olympiad held in Greece in ancient times. The last day of Bihu is called Chera Bihu. It is a tradition to eat Pita Bhaat (cooked rice soaked in water overnight and consumed the next day) and curds. Hand fans are used for the first time during the year heralding the advent of spring. The Assamese in villages bid farewell to Bihu in a traditional manner. After seven days or eleven days of the Chera Bihu a group of young people go and pay their respects in the Naamghar with a Sarai (tray with a stand) of Tample-Paan and Gamocha to formally wind up the Bihu festival. Then they go to a big tree near the village and put the Bihuwan on one of its branches and then leave an instrument used in the 'Bihu Utsav', thus symbolically bidding farewell to that year's Bihu.

Kaati Bihu

Towards the end of Aahin (sixth month of the Assamese calender) month the farmers' labour brings forth the golden glow on the ripe grain. In the month of Assamese calender) following Aahin, the farmer gets ready to welcome Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. It is done by lighting chakis (earthen lamps) under the Tulsi (black basil) plant. Kaati Bihu is the time when the granary is empty hence lending the name Kangali Bihu. The granary is also adorned with an earthen lamp so as the auger a full granary throughout the coming months. There is another custom of lighting an earthen lamp the departed one's soul to the other world. This earthen lamp is also called Aakash Banti. Parallel to this Bihu, the festival of Deepavali is also celebrated, with the lighted diyas dispelling the darkness.

Maagh Bihu

It is observed to celebrate the harvesting of grain. It is usually held on the 14th and 15th of January (1st and 2nd Maagh, the tenth month of Assamese calender).
The first day is called Uruka, when people build a temporary shed and have feast. Four bamboo rods are placed beside the four post and then a Meji (a pile or column on split fire-wood or straw erected for burning in the early morning of the Maagh Bihu is built in the shape of a temple in a conical shape. In the early hours of the next day people take bath and after the Meji is lighted, the pay their respect and the Bihu is officially started. The ashes of the burnt Meji is scattered over the fields, for it is believed that doing so would increase the fertility of the soil. Delicacies like pithas are served together with Jalpaan. Various kinds of potatoes (Kaath Aloo, Mitha Aloo etc. ) are also eaten on this day. Many games are also played keeping the spirit of the Bihu alive.

Origin of Assamese Language

Assamese is a Magadhan speech coming from the regions of Videha-Magadha, it entered Kamrupa or western Assam, where the speech was first described as Assamese. Sir G. A. Grierson felt that Maghadhi was the common source of all the eastern dialects. according to him, it developed into Northern Bengali and Assamese in the North East, into Oriya in the south and into Bengali in the area between the two. The standard Assamese and especially its dialects preserve a good number of important phonological and morphological points of agreement among the Magadhan languages. The earliest reference to the Assamese language is found in the remarks of the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen-Tsang (7th Century). The copper plate inscriptions of Kamrupa (from between 6/7th and 12th centuries) record the Kamrupa Prakrit and date the antiquity of the Assamese language to a very remote period of History.

It is worthwhile to note that although the Brahmaputra valley from Sadiya to Dhubri and its surroundings is the area where Assamese language flourishes, originally it was also used by the Kachari kings of Cachar who with their people migrated from the Brahmaputra valley. It has a long history of its growth and development as a distinct language of North Eastern India. It is one of the languages recognized by the Constitution. Assamese language has been enriched by loan vocabulary from the innumerable tribal dialects spoken by the tribal folks in and around the Brahmaputra valley. The TAI settlers who established the Ahom kingdom in Assam, assimilated themselves with the local society and people whose language they adopted and Assamese become the language of the Ahom court. Royal patronage and zeal of the religious reformers encouraged and developed written Assamese literature which has a hoary past as compared to the other North eastern languages till the advent of the British, all the migrants to Assam assimilated themselves with the local language and culture of Assam. The language spoken in Jalpaiguri, Koch Bihar and Rangpur was called Northern Bengali by Grierson and had been classified into Bahe and Rajbongshi dialects.These areas once formed a part of ancient Kamrupa or Kamata and these two dialects have more affinity with Assamese and the the dialects of Goalpara, Kamrup amnd Mangaldoi Sub - division than with the Northern and Eastern Bengali dialects of Hoogly and Dacca.

"Folio from Gita Govinda - Assamese rendering of Jayadeva's Sanskrit poem by Kaviraja Chakravarty (c-1696-1714 AD)"

AJAN FAKIR

Jikir is a unique devotional song sung to bring home to common people the simple truths of Islam. The person responsible for creating this new genre, was none other than Azan Fakir alias Shah Miran alias Shah Milan alias Syed Mohiuddin. He had come to Assam, all the way from Baqhdad to spread the teaching of Islam.

In a short span of time he was able to master the Assamese language. This talented and far-sighted saint had a sound knowledge of various religions and Vaishnava in particular. He was highly influenced by the religious teachings of the Vaishnava saint Srimanta Sankardev, specially his use of songs and hymns as a vehicle to spread religion. Jikir has many traces of these influences. On the other hand, like Vaishnava religion, Azan Fakir too, began the tradition of distributing Shirni (sweet meat) after Jikir. This tradition is prevalent even today. Like Vaishnava religion, Jikir too glorifies one God. As Kirtan (devotional song of the Hindus) narrates the deeds of Shri Krishna, so also Jikir stresses the importance of Kalima. Apart from serving as a vehicle to spread Islam, Jikir also served the purpose of forging unity between the Hindus and the Muslims.

Somewhere between 1637 and 1695, the then Ahom king was persuaded by someone to believe that Azan Fakir was a spy. The king ordered to pull both his eyes if proved guilty. Hearing the verdict, Azan Fakir himself pulled out his eyes and floated in the Dikhow river. No sooner he immersed his eyes on the river, there raised a devastating flood much to the astonishment of the onlookers. This miracle was enough for the king to acknowledge Azan Fakir's devine powers. As a mark of respect the king allowed him to settle at Xoraguri Sapori on the bank of Dikhow river and built a pagoda in his honour.

This Dargah has ever since attracted lakhs of Hindus and Muslim devotees who go there to pay homage to this great saint. A Dargah is considered to be a place where people go with the belief that praying to Allah (God) there with pure heart and devotion, may lead to wish fulfillment. People come to a Dargah to seek blessings( though Islam is against the practice commonly followed these days) and pay respect and homage to the saint.

The mystic Brindavani Bastra

According to literary sources during the 1560's Prince Chilarai, the brother of the Naranarayan,the king of Coch Bihar asked Sankardeva to oversee the weaving of a great silk scroll, depicting the early life of Krishna. Sankardeva commissioned the weavers of Barpeta under their leader Gopal to make the great cloth called Brindavani Vastra (cloth of Brindaban) after the village near Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. The cloth is said to be either "forty yards" (40 m), "120 cubits"(60m),or "180 feet"(60 m) long. It's breadth not specified , was presumably a single loom width. It is stated that twelve master weavers took one year to weave the cloth, and it was presented to Prince Chilarai only a little before the expiry of Sankardeva. At Coch Bihar , the Vastra was housed in the Madhupur Satra, but it disappeared at some unknown time after it was presented to Prince Chilarai. Some portion of this mystical cloth is now been preserved in Victoria & Albert Museum , London.