Musical beauty of Ankiya Bhaona

Arup Saikia

(arupsaikia07@gmail.com)

 Music is an energetic expression of the mind. The creation of music is not the result of any process. It is a spontaneous formation of thought. Then what is the foundation of its creation? Emotive thought blended with reality created music. Music and instruments are real; the concept is abstract. In a live show in the USA, one African singer said that Africans were singing songs with the cutting sounds of wood in jungles. The conversation of the Africans in sorrow, joy, or excitement unknowingly resulted in songs mingling with cutting sounds. The classification of music is mode. Mode also emanates from the various stages of synchronisation of the said conversation with sound. Somebody clapping and hugging someone can imply a musical tone. Music is an impulse of the mind. Nobody plans beforehand whether he or she will cry or laugh. When people go catching animals in groups, they usually sing or deliver a fast, encouraging tune. That tune was set to the mode of music. The music has seven modes in the entire world. All seven modes have similar counterparts in their respective regions. The seven western modes are: Lonian (Bilawal), Dorian (Kafi), Phrygian (Bhairavi), Lydian (Yaman), Mixolydian (Khamaj), Aeolian (Ashowari), and Locrian (Todi). (All the Indian ragas are written in brackets.)

BORGEET: Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva developed a new classical form of music for his songs –Borgeet. “Bor” means great, and “Geet” means song. The name of the music is Sankari or Satriya. The two names have disputes. The followers of Xatra claim it as Xatriya, and mostly Namghar-centric Mahapurushiyas call it Sankari. It is true that all the Xatras don’t remain as Sankari organisations because of brahmanical influence. The Borgeets are the musical foundation of Sankari culture. Sankardeva did fusions of two/three ragas together for some specific characters of Bhaona. It is not known how many ragas or talas he has created. Because he wrote a total of two hundred forty-nine Borgeets. But the fire broke out and burned down all the Borgeets. Sankardeva recovered only thirty-four Borgeets from memory. He stopped writing later, out of sorrow. So the level of influence or similarity couldn’t be verified because of the non-availability of all the songs. Notwithstanding, Sankardeva created Borgeets independent of Carnatic or Hindustani music. Ultimately, three varieties of classical music were created. These are Hindustani of North India, Carnatic of South India, and Sankari of North East India. Hindustani music got a lot of influence from Arabic-Indian music. Within the Indian Dhrupad style, a new Persian genre emerged. The Muslim monarchs patronised Indian music, which resulted in minimising Hindu religious and spiritual themes. The king of Hindustani classical music, Ramtanu Pandey, aka Tansen (1500–1589), was a musician at the Mughal court under Emperor Akbar. He joined the Mughal court almost after the period of Sankardeva in 1562. The grammatical development of Hindustani music started in the Tansen era only. So Sankardeva had nothing in his genre.

Sankari music was created among the ethnic tribes of Assam. The Borgeet existed before Sankardeva, either unorganised or verbally, without any grammatical form. The Tibeto-Burman community, mainly Bodo-Kachari, Sonowal Kachari, Mishing, Karbi, etc., has also practiced some pathetic devotional songs. The crying and sorrow of the Assamese tribes are minutely conceptualized by Sankardeva. We can comprehend the similarity with Borgeet in some of their verses. The Borgeet is like a prayer to attain salvation from the sinful, mundane world. A pathetic expression is prevalent. Sankardeva moulded it in written form to give birth to a new musical form in the north-east of India, namely, Sankari. The “Raga” and “Tala” of Borgeet are indebted to the ethnic communities of Assam. The all-oral songs of the said tribes are not sorrowful. But all have the presence of refined words, unlike erotic Bihu songs. Among the available ingredients in Borgeet, Vyas Ojapali and Sonowl Kachari songs are prominent. The spiritual songs in the Vyas-Ojapali tradition are now known as Borgeet, sung at the conclusion of Ojapali without the accompaniment of a musical instrument. So the tradition of Borgeet was running on both poles of Assam. The Sonowal Kachari were practiced inherently on the eastern side and by Vyas-Ojapali in Kamrupa, including adjacent western Assam.

Besides romantic “Bonoriya Geet’’ and jovial agrarian songs before Bihu, many other religious or solemn songs were also prevalent in Assam. The “Charyapada” of Buddhism is one of the ancient Assamese lyrics written in the seventh century, approximately. Besides “Ramayani Geet’’, the Kamrupi folk song ”Deh Bichar Geet “is noteworthy. Sankardeva took one benedictory style from Ahom during praying. The word Joi (victory) Sankardeva used frequently before Naam (recitation of religious verse) and in times of blessings. The Ahom practices this in “Bihu” and “Husori” performances. Another prominent secular universal song is the lullaby or cradle song. This song exists in all societies around the world. It is very soothing and likely to be devotional. The humanistically spiritual children‘s songs gained the status of secular credentials. According to Dr. Bani Kanta Kakati, cattle rearing Lord Krishna-centric Borgeet was written based on this context. Borgeet wasn’t similar to the “Khayal “school of music created by Amir Khusrau (1253–1325). The ragas of Borgeets seem to be similar to those of Hindustani music. But in reality, these are different from Carnatic, Hindustani, or Khayal. Sankardeva and Madhavdeva created twenty-four and seven ragas, respectively. Some of the prominent ragas are Dhanashree, Ashowari, Kalyan, Bhatiyali, Sindhura, Belowar, Sri Gandhara, Mallar, Bhupali, Bhatiyali, etc.

Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva created Ankiya Bhaona based on available Assamese folk traditions. So it is natural that Sankaradeva was inspired by the pre-existing folk songs and composed Bargeets and Ankiya songs. 

“The Assamese Ojapali ritual dates back to before the appearance of Mahapurusha Sankaradeva, for he made the essence of his verses known to the people through the Ojapali ritual at the beginning of his preaching. There seems to be reason to think that the Beula song of Durgabar was composed before Sankardeva. Poet Durgabar also translated the Ramayana into songs. Writing the book in the form of songs was a common custom in those days. There was a poet named Pitambar in the Bhati region of old Kamrupa. He was a contemporary of Sankardeva but had outside influence. He also recited poetry in the form of songs.”

(Old Assamese Literature by 

Dr. Banikant Kakati)

SONGS OF BHAONA: The prime creation of Sankardeva is Ankiya Bhaona. The dialogue of the Ankiya is mostly lyrical, and the drama is song- and dance-based. Ankiya Bhaona can even be performed by the play of songs without any dialogue. So songs occupy a major portion of a drama. The “Raga” and “Tala” of the songs are from Borgeet. There are different kinds of songs sung by Gayan Bayan and Sutradhara. Moreover, the entry songs of the actors—Payar, Bilap (Lament), Bhatima (Panegyric), etc.—are important parts of Ankiya music. The “Payar” is a very submissive/devotional tunes of actors in Ankiya. The bilap is pathetic, lyrical dialogue. There are different kinds of bilap and payar in Bhaona set to specific ragas and talas. These are Madhyawali, Chandra Payar, Pitambari, Lechari, Dulori, Muktawali,Payar Porital,etc. “Sopoy” is a peculiar lyric presented in a light moment to persuade a beautiful lady with wicked character. On the other hand, entry songs vary character-wise. The specific scale, or raga, sets the mood of the music. The ragas are different for the pious and wicked characters. The raag “Sindhura” is fixed for the entry of God, like Lord Krishna or Rama. A proud, powerful character like King Duryodhana or Ravana is entered by the raga “Canada.” The entry song of good and pious characters is set to “Ashowari.”King Yudhishthira, or monkey King Sugriva, is included in this category. The most special character of Bhaona is Sutradhara. He is like the interlocutor of the entire drama. The “Suhai Ektal” is set for the Sutradhara. The meaning of bhatima is worship or glorification. There are different kinds of bhatima, as mentioned below.

(1) Naat (drama) Bhatima

(2) Raj Bhatima (Panegyric to the King)

(3) Guru Bhatima (Panegyric for Teacher)

(4) Deva bhatima (Panegyric to God)

The Naat bhatimas are introductory verses of benediction like “Nandi.” These are descriptive songs about the story of a particular drama, concluding songs, namely “Mukti Mangal bhatima,” etc.

Regarding “Raj Bhatima,” for example, Sankareva praised King Nara Narayan in the drama, namely Ram Vijay. The Guru Bhatima was generally written by Madhavdeva, addressing Sankardeva. The Deva Bhatima is frequently used to praise the supreme deity.

The Ojapali is a living tradition of Assam and is considered the predecessor of Sankari dance. The style and substances of Byah (Vyas) Ojapali later merged in Sankari dance. That’s why it’s similar to the latter. During the Bhakti movement, the semi-dramatic presentation of Sankari Ojapali was based on poetic verses from the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Kirtana Dashama, Bhagawat Purana, etc. The songs were played in various pre-Ankiya episodes, like Raas Leela, The Birth of Lord Krishna, etc. Even on the birth and death anniversary of Mahapurush Sankardeva Ojapali,.

Therefore, the Vyasa-Ojapali singing style is evident in the characteristics of the Sankari songs. In short, the position of Vyasa-Ojapali tunes and ragas can be seen in the singing verses of the main literary creation of Sankardeva and Madhavdeva—Kirtan-Ghosha. These are the Sankari songs that echo the indigenous melodies of Assam. 

There are different types of Ojapali performed in Kamrup and Barpeta districts. The two easily noticeable streams of Hinduism, Sakta and Vaishnava, are evident in all aspects of practice.

The epic-based Ojapali is a product of Vaishnava environmental art. And non-epic Ojapali was molded in Sakta environmental art. While Vyasa Ojapali (Epic-based) sings hymns from the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas, Sukanani Ojapali (non-Epic) is associated with Sakta deity worship like Manasha Devi with hymns from the Padma Purana.

The streams and genres of music cannot be demarcated or separated properly. Sankari music has not remained in its original mode for more than five hundred years. Likewise, Hindustani or Assamese tribal traditional music has also been changing. So complete, genuine verification is not possible. The writings are based on present observation and input.

(The author is a noted cultural enthusiast, writer, and Bhaona artiste from Assam.)