Borgeet: Backbone of Assamese Culture

Arup Saikia

(arupsaikia07@gmail.com)

 Music is the prime foundation of any culture. It may be modern or traditional. Culture can’t sustain itself without music. The evergreen Borgeets of the mediaeval era are regimenting the Assamese music in modern times also. There is substantial research and discussion about Ankiya Bhaona and Jhumura of Sankardeva and Madhavdeva. Both are traditional dramas of Assam. But comparatively less is emphasised on the Borgeets. The songs of the Ankiya and Jhumura, although partially similar, aren’t the Borgeets. But the Borgeets are the pillar of Assamese traditional music and drama.

ORIGIN: The Borgeets are literary motions of Sankardeva. But Sankardeva first created drama, not the Borgeets.  At the age of nineteen in 1468, Sankardeva presented a picture drama—the Chihna Yatra. Nevertheless, the other formalities are observed, including Purva Ranga. But the musical beauty Ankiya Bhaona basically lies in the Borgeets. Therefore, the music of the Chihna Yatra is unofficially the first music of the Borgeets. At that time, the Borgeets had not formally appeared. The first Borgeet Sankardeva wrote at Badarikashrama during his twelve years of pilgrimage started in 1481. It is written almost after twenty years of Chihna Yatra performance in 1468.

FEATURES: The Borgeets have pan-Indian appeal. The first one was created at the backdrop of an Indian panorama in Badarikashrama. As the Bhakti movement of Assam is part of the pan-Indian movement, the Borgeets are also Lord Krishna-centric devotional songs. Lord Krishna isn’t an indigenous character of Assam.

Needless to say, the Borgeets are like a part of the “Nam-Prasanga.” The same raga is used in the “prasanga” and the “patho.”. It’s precedent during singing in Nam Prasanga. The importance of the Borgeets in Nam Prasanga can be assumed from the above description. The ragas are applied two different ways in the Borgeets. Sankardeva invented musical instruments along with songs. When it is sung in the form of complete music to the rhythm of the instruments, it is called “Bandhan Geet.” But the Borgeets are sung on non-religious general occasions also. It’s the most popular solemn Assamese song. Sometimes the Borgeets are performed solo besides group. When only one person sings without an instrument, the song is not bound by any raga, tala, or rhythm. The songs sung in this way are called ‘Melanar songs’. But in practice, the “tala” of the Borgeets is not bound; only the “raga” is fixed.

ADULTERATION: It’s true that the creation of Sankardeva and Madhavdeva is preserved by the xatras (Monasteries).The immediate inheritors of Sankardeva, like Madhavdeva, Gopal Ata, Chaturbhuj Thakur, and others, almost sustained the modes and grammar of the Borgeets. Their disciples, unfortunately, lost their grip and couldn’t resist the Bengali influence as they frequently visited central and upper Assam and tried to preserve the tradition. But gradually they lost their grip and couldn’t resist the Bengali influence. The main reason that cleared the path for Bengali influence is the xatras of Brahma sanghati. Because these xatras project themselves independently, i.e., free from the influence of Sankardeva. Sometimes Damordeva is shown as an admirer or follower of Chaitanya Deva. Therefore, they adopted some Bengali customs, dances, and songs. The style of Nam Prasanga and singing are also radically changed. The Ahom monarchs have close affinity with the sect of Damordeva. Therefore, the Ahom kingdom  also encouraged Bengali ideals in religion, art, and literature during the eighteenth century. It was during this period that a cultural conspiracy was hatched to cleverly introduce Bengali customs into the traditional religious practices of Mahapurusha Sankardeva. From that time onwards, many Bengali artistic ideals also took charge of other xatras in addition to Brahma sanghati xatras. The Kamalabari Satra, one of the strict followers of Nika sanghati, was also not spared or couldn’t protect from Bengali onset. Such influence was also evident at the sub-xatras of the said main one. The Auniati and Dakshinpat are the prominent satras of Brahma sanghati. Some non-indigenous, non-Sankari alien Bengali elements are originality ported through these xatras. These ingredients are adversely blended with the Borgeets. Consequently, the Borgeets lost their originality. Moreover, indigenously, the Borgeets have very complicated tune modulation. So simple Bengali tune got spontaneous practitioner. Now it’s a challenging task to recover genuine art.

It’s not also true that Bengali influence destroyed the originality of Borgeets everywhere. The xatras located in central and lower Assam are less influenced by Bengal.

“The Bengali influence did not destroy the environment of the Borgeets’ practice in the xatras surrounding Bardowa Satra in Central Assam as it did in places like Barpeta.  However, due to a lack of proper practice, the classical aspect of the Borgeets suffered a lot. There is no attention paid to both the instruments and the voice. The practice of singing songs only in devotion continued. As a result, the quality of the Borgeets declined in the eyes of the artists. There’s no singing specimen of the Borgeets of the time of Sankardeva and Madhavdev. Therefore, the true nature of the Borgeets has become a complex subject of research.”

Borgeet, edited by Bap Chandra Mahanta.

LITERARY GENRE: Indian art or drama-poetic creations are based on nine different stages of emotions. These emotions can be termed literary flavours also for easy classification. The Borgeets, being part of the Neo-Vaishnavite revolution, are basically based on devotional flavour. There’s no specific Bhakti rasa (devotional flavour) in Indian literature. The part of “Shanta rasa” (peace flavour) is construed as devotional. The other flavours like laughter, sorrow, heroism, terror, disgust (Bibhatsa), and anger are comparatively inconsequential. Generally, in devotional lyrics, affection or love for humanity or the Almighty and a narrative of astonishment are the prime themes. So these two flavours—wonder and love are dominantly available. Of course, to glorify the Lord, His victories against the demons are shown as deeds of heroism. To frighten or kill for upholding honesty, stealing of milk by child Krishna is part of terror and laughter in literature. The motto of the Borgeets is to persuade people to be spiritualised, abnegating other attachments.

Literature isn’t created in air. Any story or event enlivens its senses. The difference between senses is their flavour. The sensual lyrical appeal of the Gopis of the Vrindavan is literally erotic and should be included in love. But these sensuous songs are philosophically converted into pious affection. The fondness of parents for their children is considered the same with the above mentioned sensuous songs. The adoration of children is also a stream of devotional flavor. That fondness for children is also part of the peace flavor. If we listen to the Borgeets from a non-religious outlook then revolutionary romantic literature will emerge from it. Relevantly eroticism, heroism, wonder etc. will emit from it to complement genuine literary aspects of writing. But the Borgeets are purposeful songs.

It’s deemed to educate people about the superior greatness of the Lord. Therefore, many Lord-centric stories are included in the Borgeets. Besides, the Borgeets are used as prayer songs. The activities of Lord Krishna from the tenth chapter of the Bhagawat are specially elaborated. So, there’s little room for litterateurs to reckon the Borgeets above religion. The general social incident is excluded, leaving the least scope to attain the stature of social lyrics.

LANGUAGE: Sankardeva hasn’t used spoken language for literary writing. He artificially created a language, namely Brajawali. The name is derived from the sanctified Braj region of Uttar Pradesh, which covers Mathura and Brindavan. The Braj means grazing land, the word first mentioned in the Rig Veda. This area was once ruled by ancient king Surasen. The “Sauraseni Prakrit” language that preceded Brajawali is the changed form of Sauraseni. Later, along with Awadhi, it’s merged and developed into modern Hindi. The Braj literature is itself about the mystic deeds of Lord Krishna around that area.

The Brajawali language used in the Borgeets has no direct connection with the language of the Braj region. It’s mainly based on old Assamese, Sanskrit, degenerated Prakrit, and northern Indian languages. Being an Indo-European language, it must have similarities with Maithili, Oriya, Bengali, etc. Moreover, the close connectivity of Sankardeva with the Braja region naturally influenced him. There’s a lot of differences between Brajawali and Brajabuli in eastern India. The Brajawali is a spoken language enriched by literature in Braj, the eastern Brajabuli is a poetic style.  western Uttar Pradesh. But the eastern Brajabuli is Bengal, style. It’s born or prevalent in Bengal,Orissa, Mithila and part of Nepal etc. following the pattern of the Braj’s Brajawali.The Brajabuli is not language of a particular state. The Vaishnavite/Gaudiya literature of Bengal is called Brajabuli. Although there’s no direct connection between Brajawali and Brajabuli, both are influenced by Sauraseni vocabulary. It’s noteworthy to say that the classical literary languages of Assam are not even spoken. For example, the Buddhist Charyapada is the oldest written literature of Assam from the seventh to the eleventh century. It is also available only in written literary form, not as mass language. Sankardeva created Brajawali based on the contemporary spoken and written language of Assam. Therefore, the foremost ingredient of Brajawali is Assamese, as said earlier.

The Brajawali genuinely comprises vernacular languages, north Indian languages, Sanskrit, and the degenerated form of Prakrit. But the degenerated Prakrit has two varieties. One is Sauraseni, and another one is Magadhi. The languages like Brajawali, Bundeli, and Khariboli are products of Sauraseni. These have dominance in western Uttar Pradesh. The Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Bhojpuri, and Maithili are from Magadhi Prakrit. The union of the above two categories produced prominent languages like Awadhi. The newly born sublanguages nearby the Braj region have impacted the pattern of Brajawali a lot. It’s said that Madhavdeva used the term Brajawali in the middle of the sixteenth century to refer to the language. Linguist Dr. Sukumar Sen also supported the above contention. The poets of Assam, Bengal, and Orissa tried to devise a common poetic language to grow harmony among Vaishnavite saints. So the indigenous Brajawali language of Assam is much adulterated for eastern Indian influence in terms of vocabulary and tune. So now it’s difficult to distinguish.

WHAT ARE THE BORGEETS?

“The characteristic of the Borgeets is melodious. These songs are composed by Srimanta Sankardeva and Madhavdeva, according to the theme, purpose, and occasion. The Borgeets are classical or Dhrupadi music of Assam. The Borgeets attain the same stature in Assam as classical or Dhrupadi music in northern India. The Dhrupadi music can be called pure Hindu music. Islamic music is blended in the Kheyal. Since the days of the Mughal emperors, ‘Baragana’ has meant classical music in the pure category, and ‘Chotagana’ or ‘Chutuki’ are tappa, thungri, etc.

By Dr. Moheswar Neog (Asomiya Sahityar Ruprekha)

The development of Hindustani music is in unison with Islamic Turkish and Mughal music. So the Hindustani music couldn’t sustain the classical purity. Therefore, the classical form is more preserved in south Indian Carnatic musical tradition. The classical musical tradition of the Borgeets has the possibility of more similarities with Carnatic music than that of Hindustani.

From the above quotation, we can perceive that the category of the Borgeets is not determined properly from an Indian musical perspective. But according to Dr. Bani Kanta Kakoti, it’s really a noble number of Assam for eternity.