'Karam Puja', a major festival of the Orao -- an indigenous
community living in the northern districts of Bangladesh. Young indigenous
girls observed a dawn to dusk fast on the first day of the festival. In the
evening they prepared special dishes for guests and kinfolk and served them
after offering the food to their deities. Later they fetched branches of the
Karam tree from the nearest point in a colourful procession, while boys and
girls sang and danced to the beats of drums. At sunset they built an altar,
where they planted the branches of the Karam tree. During the ritual, young
indigenous men and women danced around the altar. The priest began the puja by
reciting verses explaining the significance of the festival. According to researchers, the Karam festival
is a way of the indigenous people expressing their affinity with nature. They
also pray for happy conjugal lives through the puja. The festival ended the
next day with offering branches of the Karam tree to the Tangon river. The
festival starts on the last day of Bhadra and ends on the first day of Ashwin,
according to the Bengali calendar.
Dance Tradition in Ancient Bengal
In
order to have precise notion about the advancement of a nation, there is little
scope to pay indifferent look to its culture. If it is so, the acquaintance
will be dim and almost meaningless. To find the answer, how much old the
Bangalees as a nation and since when we have been identified as Bangalees, we
need to study the disciplines of human knowledge-like anthropology, history,
language, literature, culture etc. And needless to say, the scope ofculture is
enormously wide-belief, behaviour, habits, dance, music and what not?
As
in case of numerous branches of ancient Bengali culture, we do not get adequate
information about dance. Hence, we cannot tell about ancient dance culture
following the mathematical account, two and two make four. But if we pay attention
to our classic literature, epigraphs, history of art we can have an idea it and
the present article is based on such information.
Having
information from Ramayana1 Charyagitika, Dohakosh, Ramacaritam, Pavandutam,
Aryasaptasati, ragatarangini, Sangeetamodar,
Brihatdharmapuran, Bramhavaivartapurana, Orders and Psalms of Pala Sena regime
and specially from terracotta and sculptures found during the Pala regime, we
can deduce that the dance culture prevailed in both higher and lower classes of
people in Bengal.
Bararama
and woman belonging to the community of slaves to gods usually participated to
dance performed in temples.
Reference
to dance is also found in Charyagitika and Nathagitika, which are considered
the oldest instances of Bengali literature.
The
bratya dominees (lower class of women) of charyapada were expert in dance and
music. kanhapadanam, one of the authors of Charyapada, writes in a verse:
ek
so padma chosatti pakhuri,
tanhi
chari nach o dombi bapuri.2
It
means that a lotus has sixty-four petals and a dominee dance on them. Dancers
of this dance as described in Charya, belonged to the class of antaja (lower
class) women. They danced to recreate the mind of aristocratic people. Hence,
they could take dance as their profession at the consent of the society they
lived in. At that time, dance was also introduced in dramas. It can be
conjectured from the context of Buddhist drama written in the charya of
Binapadanam:
“nachanti
bajila ga antidevi
buddha
nataka bisma hoie.”3
Dancing
female: Paharpur terracotta (c. 9 century A.D)
It
means that Brajacharya dance the goddess sings and Buddha drama are very
difficult
or hard. Kalhan says in ‘Rajatarangini’, the dance, which was performed in the
Kartikeya temple at Pundravardhana (Now at Mahasthan in Bogra), totally
followed the principles of Indian drama. Kalhan depicts, when Joyapeer, the
king of Kashmir entered into Pundravardhana in disguise, Kamala, a familiar
dancer, was dancing with hymn in the temple of Kartikeya.
parabibesh
kramaynatha
nagarang
Poundravardhanam
lashyang
sha dristam bishat kartikeya-niketanam
bhartalugamalaksma
nityagitadi mantryachit
tatadeva
grihaddara shila mdhyasta saksyanam
nartaki
kamalar nama
kantimantong
dadarshatam4
On
the other hand, in the ‘Brihatdharmapuran’ and Brahmavaibartapurana’s, dancers
are described, and it is said that they belonging to the lower class of people
lived on dancing and singing and they were not allowed to take part in other
social activities.
The
role of aristocratic class in dance culture of ancient Bengal was not
negligible. It is known that Padmawati, wife of Joydeva, a familiar poet,
earned much reputation as dancer in her pre-married life. Another instance in
this connection may be quoted here that Behula as described in the Manasamangala,
was expert in dance and music. She danced in the court of gods to save the life
of her husband.
devata
sobhai giya
kholkaratal
laya
nachey
kanya Behula nachani.5
And
the gods being pleased at the dance, returned the life of Laksmindar, husband
of Behula.
Govardhanacharya,
a court-poet to Laksman Sena, describes the relation of music to dance in
‘Aryasaptasati’ in details. This poetical work reveals cordial feelings as
expressed in gestures and postures of dancers. Lochanpandit, another court poet
of Sena kings, mentions about slaves to gods and barabama in his Ragatarangini.
He also mentions about ‘tambaru’, a drama from which it can be deduced that the
drama was introduced with dance and music. Suvankara was one of the 111 poets
as described in ‘Sangitdamodar’. It was devided in five chapters of which one
chapter was totally dealt with dance.
In
ancient Bengal, temples were simultaneously theater halls, where dance and
music were regularly performanced. It is confirmed from some scenes about dance
and music found in terracotta’s discovered at Paharpur and Mainamati Vihara in
Bangladesh. These scenes of women dancing and singing represent classic dance
and music. Not only that, these scenes
were drawn to present vivid picture of common and simple life. Dancing gods and
goddesses and other dancers are also found in stone sculptures.
It
can be said that dancing Nataraja, Ganesa, Dasavatara, and other gods and
goddesses are glaring instances of the dance culture of Bangalee tradition.
If
we pay deep attention, we can find that there is close relation between classic
dance and traditional dance of ancient Bengal.
While
introducing the complete identity of the Bangalee nationhood, we do not have
the scope of attaching less importance to dance culture as we do it in case of
other fields of ancient culture, otherwise it will remain incomplete.
Reference:
1. Benoykumar Sarkar, ‘The Folk Element in
Hindu Culture’, New Delhi, 1972
2. Charyapada no. 10 (kanhupadanam)
3. Charyapada no. 17 (Visnupadam)
4. Kalhan’s Rajatarangini, vol. v, Bengali
Translation, Calcutta 1317 BS, Ps. 349.
5. Ketakadas khemananda’s Manasamangala, Ed.
Akshay Kayal & Chitra Deva, Calcutta, 1384 BS, P.273.
6. Laksmansena Ragatarangini, Calcutta.
Writer:
Saifuddin Chowdhury, Professor of Folklore, Rajshahi University
http://www.theindependentbd.com/
Marriage culture of Bangladesh
Bangladesh has a long history in its cultures. The
land, the rivers, and the lives of the Bengali people formed a rich heritage
with marked differences from neighbouring regions. It has evolved over the
centuries and encompasses the cultural diversity of several social groups of
Bangladesh. The Bengal Renaissance of the 19th and early 20th centuries, noted
Bengali writers, saints, authors, scientists, researchers, thinkers, music
composers, painters, and film-makers have played a significant role in the
development of Bengali culture. The Bengal Renaissance contained the seeds of a
nascent political Indian nationalism and was the precursor in many ways to
modern Indian artistic and cultural expression. The culture of Bangladesh is
composite and over the centuries has assimilated influences of Hinduism,
Jainism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. It is manifested in various forms,
including music, dance, and drama; art and craft; folklore and folktale;
languages and literature; philosophy and religion; festivals and celebrations;
as well as in a distinct cuisine and culinary tradition.
Wedding / Marriage
Bengali wedding (Bengali: বিয়ে,বিবাহ)
includes many rituals and ceremonies that can span several days. Although
Muslim and Hindu marriages have their distinctive religious rituals, there are
many common Bengali rituals in weddings across both West Bengal and Bangladesh
A traditional wedding is arranged by Ghotoks
(matchmakers), who are generally friends or relatives of the couple. The
matchmakers facilitate the introduction, and also help agree the amount of any
settlement. In Muslim marriages another settlement to make which is called
'Mahr' or 'Kabin' to be paid by the groom to the bride - which is a religious
requirement.
Bengali weddings are traditionally in four parts:
the bride's gaye holud, the groom's gaye holud, the wedding ceremony, and the
reception. These often take place on separate days. The first event in a
wedding is an informal one: the groom presents the bride with a ring marking
the "engagement" which is gaining popularity. This can sometimes be considered
as Ashirwaad.
A Bengali Hindu Marriage can be divided into the
following parts:
Pre-wedding Rituals: Adan Pradan, Patri Patra,
Ashirvad, Aai Budo Bhaat, Vridhi, Dodhi Mangal, Holud Kota, Adhibas Tatva, Kubi
Patta, Snan, Saankha Porano
Wedding Rituals:
Bor Boron, Potto Bastra, Saat Paak, Mala Badal, Subho Drishti, Sampradan,
Yagna, Saat Pak (couple), Anjali, Sindur Daan and Ghomta
Post-Wedding Rituals: Bashar Ghar, Bashi Biye,
Bidaye, Bou Boron, Kaal Ratri, Bou Bhaat, Phool Sajja, Dwira Gaman
The turmeric ceremonies or gaye holud (Bengali: গায়ে হলুদ gaee holud, lit. "yellowing the
body") take place before the wedding ceremony. There is one turmeric
ceremony for the bride and one for the groom. For the bride's gaye holud, the
groom's family - except the groom himself - go in procession to the bride's
home. They carry with them the bride's wedding outfit, wedding decoration
including turmeric paste and henna, sweetmeats and gifts. They also take two
large fish decorated as a groom and bride. There are local variations on this
tradition, such as the number of fish, the party responsible for cooking the
fish and time the fish is taken to the groom's family.
The procession traditionally centers on the
(younger) female relative and friends of bride, and they are traditionally all
in matching clothes, mostly orange in colour. The bride is seated on a dais,
and the henna is used to decorate the bride's hands and feet with elaborate
abstract designs. The turmeric paste is applied by the bride's friends to her
body. This is said to soften the skin, but also colours her with the
distinctive yellow hue that gives its name to this ceremony. The sweets are
then fed to the bride by all involved, piece by piece. There is, of course, a
feast for the guests. The groom's gaye holud comes next, and has the same form
as the bridal ceremony
The wedding ceremony (Bengali: বিবাহ or বিয়ে bibaho/bie) follows the
gaye holud ceremonies. As the wedding ceremony is arranged by the bride's
family, much of the traditions revolve around embarrassing the groom. The
groom, along with his friends and family, traditionally arrive later than the
bride's side. As they arrive, the younger members of the bride's family
barricade the entrance to the venue, demanding money from the groom in return
for allowing him to enter. There is a bargaining between groom and the bride's
family members on the amount of money of the admission. There is typically much
good-natured pushing and shoving involved. Another custom is for the bride's
younger siblings, friends, and cousins to conceal the groom's shoes for money;
to get them back the groom must usually pay off the children. Siblings, friends
and cousins also play many practical jokes on the groom.
For a Hindu wedding, a priest asks the couple to
chant mantras from the holy texts that formalises the following: Kanya
sampradaan (Bengali: কন্যাসম্প্রদান
konnasomprodan lit. "giving the bride"): the ceremonial giving away
of the bride by the father of the bride. Saat Paake Ghora Bengali: সাত পাকে ঘোরা
(The couple walks round the ceremonial fire seven times.)''
For a Muslim wedding, the bride and groom are
seated separately, and a kazi (person authorized by the government to perform
the wedding), accompanied by the parents and a witness (Bengali: ওয়াকিল wakil) from each side
formally asks the bride for her consent to the union, and then the groom for
his.
At this time, for Muslim weddings, the amount of
the dowry or mahr is verified, and if all is well, the formal papers are
signed, and the couple are seated side by side on a dais. The bride's veil
(Bengali: ওরনা or ঘোমটা orna/ghomṭa) is draped
over both the bride and groom, and a mirror is placed in front of them. The
groom is then supposed to say something romantic on what he sees in the
mirror—notionally the first time he has laid eyes on his bride. A traditional
answer is to say that he has seen the moon. The bride and groom then feed each
other sweets, while the bride's family members try to push the groom's face
into the food. All the guests then celebrate the union with a feast.
In Hindu marriages on the day of the marriage
(after wedding ceremony is over), close friends and relatives remain awake for
the entire night. This is called the Basor Raat. Generally the day on which
wedding is held Basor Raat starts after midnight if the wedding ceremony is
over by evening. Most Hindu Bengali marriages happen in the evening. The next
day, preferably before noon, the couple make their way from the venue to the
groom's home, where a bridal room has been prepared.
The reception, also known as the Bou Bhaat
(Bengali: বউ ভাত lit. "bride
feast") or walima (Bengali: ওয়ালিমা)
among Muslims, is a party given by the groom's family in return for the wedding
ceremony. It is generally a much more relaxed affair, with only the second-best
wedding outfit being worn. Unlike in the wedding ceremony, the bride and groom
act as a couple at the reception; the bride and groom arrive together, receive
and see off guests together, and dine together. After the party, the bride and
groom go to the bride's family house for two nights. On the second day, the
groom's family are invited to the bride's family house for a meal, and they
leave with the bride and groom. This meal is called firani.
In the flower bed ceremony (Bengali: ফুল শয্যা ful shôjja, lit. "flower bed"),
the bride wears a lot of floral ornaments and their marriage bed is decorated
with flowers by the groom's family. This is the night of consummation. In
Muslim marriages, this takes place on the night of the wedding. In Hindu
marriages, this takes place on the night of the reception.
Bangladesh: Family, household, kinship and marriage
Family and kinship are the core of social life in
Bangladesh. A family group residing in a bari functions as the basic unit of
economic endeavor, landholding, and social identity. In the eyes of rural
people, the chula defined the effective household—--an extended family
exploiting jointly-held property and being fed from a jointly operated kitchen.
A bari might consist of one or more such functional households, depending on
the circumstances of family relationship. Married sons generally live in their
parents' household during the father's lifetime. Although sons usually build
separate houses for their nuclear families, they remain under their fathers'
authority, and wives under their mothers-in-law's authority. The death of the
father usually precipitates the separation of adult brothers into their own
households. Such a split generally causes little change in the physical layout
of the bari, however. Families at different stages of the cycle display
different configurations of household membership.
Patrilineal ties dominate the ideology of family
life, but in practice matrilineal ties are almost as important. Married women
provide especially important links between their husbands' brothers' families.
Brothers and sisters often visit their brothers' households, which are in fact
the households of their deceased fathers. By Islamic law, women inherit a share
of their fathers' property and thus retain a claim on the often scanty fields
worked by their brothers. By not exercising this claim, however, they do their
brothers the important service of keeping the family lands in the patrilineal
line and thus ensure themselves a warm welcome and permanent place in their
brothers' homes.
A woman begins to gain respect and security in her
husband's or father-in-law's household only after giving birth to a son.
Mothers therefore cherish and indulge their sons, while daughters are
frequently more strictly disciplined and are assigned heavy household chores
from an early age. In many families the closest, most intimate, and most
enduring emotional relationship is that between mother and son. The father is a
more distant figure, worthy of formal respect, and the son's wife may remain a
virtual stranger for a long time after marriage.
Marriage is a civil contract rather than a
religious sacrament in Islam (see Islamic marriage contract), and the parties
to the contract represent the interests of families rather than the direct
personal interests of the prospective spouses. In Bangladesh, parents
ordinarily select spouses for their children, although men frequently exercise
some influence over the choice of their spouses. In middle-class urban families
men negotiate their own marriages. Only in the most sophisticated elite class
does a woman participate in her own marriage arrangements. Marriage generally
is made between families of similar social standing, although a woman might
properly marry a man of somewhat higher status. Financial standing came to
outweigh family background in the late 20th century in any case. Often a person
with a good job in a Middle Eastern country is preferred over a person of
highly regarded lineage.
Marriages are often preceded by extensive
negotiations between the families of the prospective bride and groom. One of
the functions of the marriage negotiations is to reduce any discrepancy in
status through financial arrangements. The groom's family ordinarily pledges
the traditional cash payment, or bride-price, part or all of which can be
deferred to fall due in case of divorce initiated by the husband or in case the
contract is otherwise broken. As in many Muslim countries, the cash payment
system provides women some protection against the summary divorce permitted by
Islam. Some families also adopt the Hindu custom of providing a dowry for the
bride.
Of the total population in 1981, an estimated 34
million were married. A total of 19 million citizens of marriageable age were
single or had never married, 3 million were widowed, and 322,000 were divorced.
Although the majority of married men (10 million) had only one wife, there were
about 580,000 households, between 6 and 10 percent of all marriages, in which a
man had two or more wives.
Although the age at marriage appeared to be rising
in the 1980s, early marriage remained the rule even among the educated, and
especially among women. The mean age at marriage in 1981 for males was 23.9,
and for females 16.7. Women students frequently married in their late teens and
continued their studies in the households of their fathers-in-law. Divorce,
especially of young couples without children, was becoming increasingly common
in Bangladesh, with approximately one in six marriages ending in this fashion
in the 1980s.
Typical spouses know each other only slightly, if
at all, before marriage. Although marriages between cousins and other more
distant kin occur frequently, segregation of the sexes generally keep young men
and women of different households from knowing each other well. Marriage
functions to ensure the continuity of families rather than to provide
companionship to individuals, and the new bride's relationship with her
mother-in-law is probably more important to her well-being than her frequently
impersonal relationship with her husband.
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