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Salhesh Artists and Their Relegation

When we talk about the folk culture of Bihar, Raja Salhesh comes out as the most prominent and popular figure of Mithila. He is worshipped not just as a diety but as a local hero among the major mass of Mithila.

Salhesh means the king of mountains (we must not miss that a major portion of Mithila is in Nepal and the origin of Salhesh can be found there only). He emerged as the hero of Dalits and the downtrodden and is still treated as a source of pride among the Dalit community of Mithila.

There are many folklores about Salhesh describing various aspects of Salhesh and his life but the first documentation, which is available in print format, was done by British colonial official and scholar George A. Grierson in 1882. He had mentioned Salhesh Gahwars in his book and says, ‘In the villages of Mithila one can see Salhesh shrines under Pipal trees with clay figures representing the characters in the story.

His depiction can also be seen in Mithila paintings but due to the lack of focus of Dalit art and culture, it has lost its presence. His representation can be seen in many other art forms like folk painting, folk theatre, or folk songs and even through many kinds of folk dances performed during Salhesh pooja.

Today, these practices are on the decline because only a few artists are practicing Salhesh theatre and painting and the number is decreasing very rapidly. Even very few terracotta figurines of Salhesh can be seen during festive months.

There are many reasons behind the marginalization of Salhesh artists, and some of them are as follows:

Lack of interest among the general public about theatre art and drama ultimately leads to low enthusiasm and zeal to perform in the artists

Disrespect for those who perform any such dance and drama on occasions can lead to a sense of hilarity among these artists. Even sometimes this leads to abusive behavior toward them.

Due to the seasonal unemployment among people who belong to the lower strata of the varna system, these artists who perform theatres cannot afford to stick with this tradition, as this can give them income in certain festive months of years only. They have to look for some other alternate option for the rest of the times in a year.

Government is also not paying any particular attention to such artists so that they can do something for the betterment of their livelihood and can preserve this age-old tradition. They do politicize these matters sometimes while elections but later on they pay very little attention to them.

There is a huge impact of globalization and mechanization on salhesh traditional art. People are least interested in theatre art or dances and these traditions are replaced by D.J's and recorded music. Due to a lack of knowledge about modern equipment and technology these artists are not able to cope up with the ever-changing world.

Nowadays a very new culture of working on contracts has come up and it has shown its impact on this field too. Those having a strong financial and social background hire some artists on contracts and charge a fair amount for their work. But these values do not reach the real owner of the art and middlemen get a fair and well amount out of it. Here also they get a very little share of the work that they did.

All these factors lead to a decline in the status of these artists which ultimately leads to a lack of interest in artists toward their age-old tradition and low-paid artist are opting out for some other job opportunity, rather than continuing with this. Especially the young generation is moving away from this vibrant tradition. This may someday lead to the extinction of these artists and the culture that comes with Salhesh will be buried within this.

Being a part of society it's our moral and ethical value as well to preserve and promote any such tradition which is a representation of our age-old culture and depicts a clear-cut picture of revolutionary ideas. Especially those ideas that helped to stabilize the whole social structure of society.

~ Yasha Sandilya

Sama Chakeva

Among many festivals of Mithila,Sama Chakeva is one of the most distinctive one.It is celebrated after Diwali and Bhaidooj ,which starts from Kartik Shukla Panchami and continues till Purnima.The root of Indian festivals generally resides in certain mythologies and so has this festival . The story behind this distinguished Festival has different versions in many folk tales but for the locals Sama-Chakeva is the celebration of immense love and affection between brothers and sisters.

As per the folk tales, Sama(Shyama) was the daughter of Sri Krishna( the king of Dwarka) and was married to Rishi Charudatta. She most often visited the Rishis (in Hermitages) to serve them. One of the Mantris(ministers) of Krishna's (Shayama's father) court , Choorak ,was very cunning . He didn't appreciate Shyama's attitude towards the Rishis and slandered Krishna against her , defaming her character . After hearing about the the misleading character of his daughter through the grapevine,Krishna was furious .In grave anger he cursed his daughter Shyama, turning her into a bird . Deeply hurt by this , bird turned Shyama flew far away from his kingdom.When Rishi Charudatta was informed about the whole incident , he pleaded Krishna(his father-in-law) to turn him into a bird as well,so that he can lead a life with his beloved wife. His plea was granted and thus he became a bird. From then itself, that pair of birds came to be known as Sama(Shyama) and Chakeva(Charudatta).

Meanwhile this incident occurred,Sama's brother Sambha(who loved his sister dearly)came to know about this and vowed to set his sister free from the curse of their father at any cost. Sambha underwent penance and summoned Lord vishnu and finally discovered the way to free his sister and his brother in law(behnoi) from the curse of his father.

According to Vishnu, (who showed the path to free Shyama Chakeva), the love birds fly down from Himalayas to the Northern plain during winters. For the time being, if someone makes their idols followed by worshipping and singing songs for them and highlight the sins done by the Choorak( the wicked minister ),then the pair of birds will get back to their original human 'avataar'.

In no time ,Sambha moved to the North in search of his sister and finally in the Mithila region he found the pair of birds , Sama-Chakeva.He asked the ladies there,to help him out in the process of worshipping them and thus with the full fledged support and cooperation of the women of Mithilanchal,finally Sambha was able to free Sama-Chakeva from the unfortunate malediction .

After this event, the women of Mithila started performing those rituals done by Sambha (in order to free his sister )and worshipped Sama and Chakeva during the winters to signify the love between brothers and sisters.

Rituals

In its essence, this festival cum ritual is celebrated among women as they make all the arrangements for it and thus are the main participants.

In the month of November they prepare numerous clay idols as depicted in the tale. Most of the idols are in the form of birds. There are idols of Sama, Chakeva, Sambha, Vrindavan(kingdom) and Chugla (the minister who defamed Sama) . In connotation , one who does ‘Chugli '(bad mouth others). After the idols get dried in sunlight, they are white washed in pithar (rice flour liquid) and then are colored with natural colours. On the auspicious Purnima (full-moon) night young girls and women feed Chura Dahi (curd and dried rice) to their respective brothers and play with the idols in full moon light. Folk songs are sung in the appreciation and honour of Sambha. In these songs Sambha is portrayed as the valiant heroic character for being the redeemer and saviour of his sister. Two rituals are crucial in this idol play of Sama Chakeva. Women burn the moustache of Chugla which is made of jute, signifying the destruction of evil. They also sing in chorus which is sometimes accompanied by dance.

"चुगला के मोछ में आइग लगलै"

(“The moustache of ill willed person is in flames”)

The other important ritual performed in this festival is burning the replica of the Vrindavan for a second or two, and then putting off the fire. Vrindavan , symbolises the collective Vrindavan kingdom and it is adorned with dried grass. While performing this ritual , women sing the following-

"वृन्दावन में आइग लगलै,कोई नई बुतेलकै,

हमरे भैया बुतेलकै.....

(When Vrindavan underwent disaster, nobody saved it, my brother was the saviour of the Vrindavan.)

Besides these rituals women sing folk Maithili songs, which have a pivotal importance in this festival and are basically composed in praise of brothers and chastity of Sama. Homemade sweetmeats are also distributed; This festival lasts on Purnima and brothers have a special role to perform on this day. They destroy all the idols with their knees . Ultimately they immerse the idols in the water or bury them in the fields. This last ritual of idol submerging in water indicates Vidaai (farewell) of Sama.While performing the rituals of the farewell ceremony they sing-

"सामचको-सामचको अबिह हे,

जोतले खेत मे बैसिह हे,

भैया के आशीष दिह है..."

(Hey! Sama-Chakeva please come again the next year and sit in our ploughed field and bless our brothers with all the goods and prosperity.)

A beautiful amalgamation of Nature and Culture ,Sama- Chakeva is celebrated in the winter season when the Himalayan birds migrate from Nepal terrain towards plain areas of Northern India. This festival is also a welcome ceremony for these migratory birds. Following last ritual of discarding idols in water and singing songs women request the birds to come again next year. Most of the clay idols are formed in the shape of vivid colorful birds. There exists a parallelism between the tale of Sama and arrival of these birds. The story of Sama has also tropes of bird morph, animals and forests and thus, this festival is an interesting fusion of nature and culture. This story of Sama Chakeva makes a symbolic nexus where animal kingdom meets with human beings. The cursed miracle of Sama being changed into bird is suggestive of the idea that animals too have emotions. The story and songs sung in this festival comes in tradition of folklores. It is women of society who maintains the tradition of folk literature with continuity from one generation to next generation. Sama Chakeva has hidden concern towards the species of endangered birds. By using clay and natural colours it pays homage to earth and greenery. Our folk culture had a great inherent wisdom. This festival brings man, nature and animal kingdom in a shared sense of harmony.

Today this festival is losing its base and its practice is limited to a very few places and that also within a very few number of families. The tradition, appears to have been hit hard by the onslaught of modern lifestyles, proliferation of nuclear families and outward migration from the Mithila region for employment. We used to listen to folk songs, which were sung in every nook and corner of the streets at dusk in our locality. As of now, it's not quite common.

In a nutshell, we need to pace forth to treasure our rituals, traditions and festivals to preserve the true colours of Mithila