Sarigaan: Male Domain, Female Paradigm
With references to dehototto (esoteric knowledge of the human body), symbols and metaphors of the human body are commonly used in Bangla folk songs. Many folk poets compared the human body with a boat, which was part of beliefs and practices of mysticism and folk wisdom. A popular sarigaan (a sub-genre of Bhatiali song) composed by Shah Abdul Karim goes like this: kon mestury nao banailo ki shundar dekha jai / jhilmil jhilmil korere moyur pankhi nao ['who is the craftsman that constructed this beautiful boat / the boat with a peacock face is glittering.']
Besides this reflection of mystic contemplation, metaphors of other real aspects of socio-cultural events in Bangla folk songs have great significance. Often the metaphors of social relationships in sarigaan (particularly practiced in boat-race) provide a cultural insight and let us understand the psyche of the active bearers of folk tradition. Although sarigaan has several variations it's not my area of interest in this essay. I would rather focus on a few other aspects of this folk genre.
The boat-race is like a sporting event which attracts thousands of spectators including women on boats with their family members. The competition among the boats from different locales or regions may appear as the central theme of this event, but it has references to cultural and social spheres of life of the local populace in many ways. The villagers, specifically the men have significant physical and mental involvements in their boat-race as it is their passion and pride.
When I tried to look at the gender dimension of boat-race in terms of people's participation, my finding was typical and distinctive to the conventional ideas in the beginning, which is, the boat-race is almost a male domain. During my field work in early 90s I found women as passive bearers of the tradition. They took part only in the ritual when the boat began the journey to the festival from their village. However, if someone listens to sarigaan sung by the crew he or she will be surprised to discover that most of the words and narratives refer to women's issues and views. The boat owner and the crew decorate the boat and they describe it as if they are decorating a young woman with ornaments. This notion is reflected in one of the songs collected by Kalidas Gupta many years ago:
"Tore chandra har goraiya dilo ke
chandromukhi lo
Ami tor laiga hoilam deshantori
Are chilai nilo biler mach buk thapraiya
mori chandro mukhi lo
Ami tor laiga hoilam deshantori
Kinna dilam putir mala pachapaira shari
Hopai dilam parjapati hoster oi anguri
Naker o beshor o nilam golai pachlori
Katara petora dilam nanan bastu gari
Kon bideshi nagore tor mon
koirache churi
kire hoi hoi hoya
Amai chaira koi geligo geli pagol
kori lo"
["O moon-faced! Who made this 'moon-faced necklace' for you; I have gone far away because of you. The eagle snatched fish from the lake and I am beating my chest in grief; I have gone far away because of you. I bought you a beaded necklace, a sari with heap border, a butterfly on your braid and a ring for your fingers...it seems that a lover from another place won your heart...where did you go without me, making me mad"]
The narratives do not reflect only the ornamentation process of women. It also indicates that the "victorious team of a boat-race is teasing their opponents saying that they bribed their boat with good clothes and jewelry but she (the boat) deceived them and gave her heart to another man." (http://kalidasgupta.com/kalicd1.html).
The sarigaan is sung by the crew during practice and on the way to the location of the race. The songs focus on many areas of life and there are some astonishing facts mentioned in the song as metaphors, which may also be analogized to real life situations. Some of them would usually have been kept as family secrets. Many years ago the legendary anthropologist Cliford Geertz interpreted symbols and metaphors in Balinese Culture in Indonesia with a focus on cockfights. Many aspects of the narratives of sarigaan reveal the same symbols and metaphors, which resemble ideas and practices of rural people in Bangladesh.
Often the participants from the neighbouring territory not only compete in the boat-race, they also take part in debates through the songs which refer to a quarrel / arguments / blame game between bou (bride) and shashuri (mother-in-law) or bou and nanad (husband's younger sister). A listener would think this is a kind of heated argument between two women. We have been very familiar with one of the sarigaans since our childhood in Brahmanbaria, which describes a new bride's encounter with members of her in-laws' house after she gets married. At an early age, we thought it was funny but eventually we understood the common plight of newlywed women. The lyrics of the song refer to radha-krishno myth:
"Shayam piriter ato jontrona bindaduti go
Ki jalan jalailo amar nande
Ami jaigo jokhon ranna ghore go
Nande jaibo shange sathe loker
kache bole
Ami naki chail chabai
Ami jaigo jokhon bashor ghore go
Nande jaigo sange sathe loker
kache bole
Ami naki panpanai
Ghorer piche boura bash ghono
ghono ghera
Ami bhashur deikhaya dilam dour shari gelo chira
Ami jaigo jokhon chan korite go
Nande jaigo shange sathe loker
kache bole
Ami naki lai khelai"
["My longing for shayam (krishno) is so painful; please see how nanad is making my life hell. When I go to the kitchen, she follows me and tells people I was eating rice in the kitchen. When I go to the bed at the very first night of the wedding (bashor ghor), my nanad follows me and tells people that I complain to my husband. There is a bamboo bush just behind the house where I discover my bhashur (elder brother of husband) and when I run away from him my sari is torn. When I go to take a bath, nanad follows me and describes to people as if I was playing in the water."]
The song symbolises the mismatch of two patriarchal family cultures, which is very common in rural society. In the given situation women are often obsessed with baper bari (father's house). They receive a lot of criticism as they start living with their husband's family. Eventually, she is accepted and she becomes a representative of her husband's culture. Surprisingly, when her son gets married she often replicates all the acts she had experienced in her early life as she is very much protective of her husband's family culture.
Some of the songs also reflect their deep love and affection for their boats:
"Rangila bhashur re
Bhashur tumi keno deur hoilana
Tumi Jodi deur hoita khaitam batar paan
Range rasher kotha koiya juraitam
paran re"
["O charmful bhashur! Why did you not become my deor (husband's younger brother). We could have betel leaf together and it would have been a lot of fun".]
Usually, the relationship between the wife of younger brother and the elder brother of the groom is not warm. The bride is supposed to respect the bhashur. But this was interpreted in the different way in sarigaan by the boat crew. Perhaps they were teasing the members of an old boat expecting them to be much younger.
I was told a story during my field work about twenty five years ago by late Abdul Ali Sarder from the village of Maind-Majlishpur under the Brahmanbaria District. In one of his encounters a boat from another village just appeared on the scene when they were on the way to a boat-race. The opponent boat crew attacked them with a song:
"Shahuri: are kalka khaisli maser matha ajka khaibi ki?
Bou: Khirki ghuchaiya more neogo
nobo nagori
Ek poishar keski mach bilaiye khailo
Er laiga nishottuira amare marilo go"
["Shashuri: yesterday you ate the head of the (big) fish, what are you going to eat today?
Bou: oh new beloved of mine, take me away by removing this door
The kechki (small) fish that cost one paisa was eaten by the cat
For this reason the impotent man has beaten me up"]
It means that the boat won the race last time but there is no way to repeat the success today. However, next line is very interesting as the young bride blames the husband who is physically impotent but beats her up to hide this fact. So she is inviting a new lover to rescue her. Often the shashuri plays the role of 'watch dog' as she is monitoring if her bou is doing anything suspicious.
Abdul Ali Sarder, himself a boat owner and sarigaan singer gave me an account of such confrontation through songs (not like the other genre of folk song e.g. Kabir Larai) between two boats, resembling an argument and counter argument between two in-laws. The song is as follows:
"Shashuri : oti thamake chole bounarigo sadai ranger kotha
Bou nari chul dekhi aul jhaul pristheye keno mati
Bou: Goyail ghore dhuma dite ekta bolode marse lathi
Shashuri : bounari bounari moshuir
keno lare
Bou : Rao koirona sao koirona shashuri go ekta bilai indur mare"
["Shashuri: The bride seems to be in a happy mood and her mouth is full of sweet words. O bride, why is your hair uncombed, and your back full of dust?
Bou: when I tried to make smoke in the cow shed I fell on the muddy floor as the young bull kicked me.
Shashuri: o bride, why does the mosquito net move?
Bou: please keep quiet: a cat is killing the mouse."]
I was very surprised when I first heard this song from Abdul Ali Sarder. Two boats competing with each other using feminine narratives and vocabulary was not the biggest surprise at that time, rather the description of an affair in such a manner seemed significant. How the competition between two boats opens the scope for learning so many aspects of society and culture may remain mostly unnoticed to city people like us.
If the narratives of sarigaan and similar aspects are studied with care and devotion the typical view held by researchers, politicians and foreigners regarding this country would change. Feminisation of sarigaan and metaphors used in this tradition reveal that the rural society of Bangladesh accommodates pluralistic ideas and views through mutual respect.
It also gives us an opportunity to think beyond the proposition that this is a closed society.
The writer is ethnomusicologist, folk-singer and Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Independent University, Bangladesh.
Comments