http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110620/jsp/jharkhand/story_14135136.jsp
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River plight on urban platform
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| PRADUMAN CHOUBEY | ||
Dhanbad, June 19: Social workers, thinkers, writers, academics and artists raised their collective voice against pollution in river Damodar. Damodar Jiwika Bachao Abhiyan organised a daylong meet at Gandhi Seva Sadan today, where participants discussed the restoration of the river that is fast disappearing under the onslaught of industrialisation, urbanisation and pollution, They also raised the issue of livelihood and culture of villagers dependent on it. Renowned Khortha litterateur Shivnath Pramanik, the chief guest on the occasion, said egalitarian society, a hallmark of civilisation, originated on the banks of the Damodar. Pramanik, who is credited with writing more than two-dozen books in Khortha, including Damodarak Korang (In the lap of river Damodar) said: “Unplanned industrialisation has caused the original culture of the people living on its banks to simply disappear. Now, their very existence is at stake.” He held “irresponsible industrialisation” responsible for the loss of rural livelihood and cited instances to prove his point. “Untreated effluents released by industries, including Damodar Valley Corporation, Bharat Coking Coal Limited, Bokaro Steel Limited and Central Coal Fields Limited, contribute to pollution in the river, which in turn is harmful for cattle,” he said. “It is a vicious cycle.” Writers Ramchandra Rawani and Shanti Bharat also expressed their views at the seminar. Many participants said farmers, unlike earlier, couldn’t produce vegetables for their own consumption. Earlier, markets of Jharia, Karkend, Katras and Bhaga bandh were well stocked with vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage, brinjal and tomato. Jivan Jagannath, a participant at the seminar spoke about the effect of pollution on aquatic life. “Villagers can’t fish for a living as Damodar’s aquatic life has dwindled drastically,” he said. He added that unplanned industrialisation ate away into the cultural identity of the area. “Traditional festivals like Karma, Sohrai, Baundi and Sarhul are slowly losing their relevance,” he said. |
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Bermo Bazaar Ka Itihaas Aur Badalta Swarup
By Subodh Singh Pawar
Nijikaran ke Aur Agrasar Hai CCL
By Subodh Singh Pawar
Rashtriyakaran Ke Saath Hi Astitva Mein Aaya Tha CCL
Posted: June 1, 2011 in ArticlesTags: Articles
Rashtriyakaran ki Saath hi Astitva Mein Aaya Tha CCL
By Subodh Singh Pawar
As a part of their intervention strategy the Damodar Bachao Abhiyan has organised the ‘Damodar Mela’ on a regular basis. This mela is with a focus on the environmental concerns around the river, calling members from the village to look closely at the other issues that are impacting the river.
This time the Damodar Mela was organised alongside the Baruni Mela held at Baruni Ghat in Chas, Bokaro. The following is a short write up on the Damodar Mela
Damodar Mela at Baruni Ghat, Jharkhand
At the Damodar Mela organized by Damodar Bachao Abhiyan on the 1st of April at Baruni Ghat, Kumhari village, Jharkhand, 50 people from Kumhari village lit diyas all along the banks of the Damodar to bring to focus the environmental and cultural concerns and the close connection that the world’s most polluted river has on the people and living creatures that live around it.
One of the most important sub systems of the Ganga-Brahmaputra Basin providing water supply for industries and drinking water in Jharkhand and West Bengal, the Damodar is considered a lifeline of the region. It is no wonder therefore that several ritual practices are performed all along the banks of the river. However there are serious risks of the river running dry as precipitation levels have dropped over the years, and increase in temperatures in this hot spot region of industries and mines has created high rate of evaporation and a drought like situation for most villages in and around it.
On the 9th of April a short news story appeared in the Times of India, titled ‘Dry and powerless, Burdwan villages may vote for change’. The water crisis in Kulti Municipality area has reached such heights, that the community complains that marriages are fast becoming taboo in the area. Women have to walk five to seven kilometers to get water from the Damodar, and those villages near the Ajoy river have to dig the river bed for hours to extract water. In spite of large thermal power plants such as Dishergarh Power Supply, Durgapur Thermal Power, DVC Mejia, Durgapur Projects Ltd, DSP-NTPC, IISCO, Maithon hydel and Panchet hydel these villages in Barddhaman (Junut, Saloni, Binodbandh, Bhaladi and Palashdanga villages under Ward no. 11 of Kulti municipality and Darbhanga village of Jamuria) do not receive water or electricity.
Crossing the border onto Jharkhand, the story is the same, though villagers here are under the general misconception that all the power, water and electricity is being enjoyed by and supplied to people in Bengal.
The Damodar mela was attended by members from the neighbouring villages and political and social activists and writers from different parts of Jharkhand and West Bengal, which included Putul Kumari from Uttar Pradesh, Jeb Akhtar and Deepak Sawaal, Satyendra Singh from PUCL and Puran Rai, Ghatwal Adivasi Mahasabha from Jharkhand, Sudipta Paul from Adhikar, West Bengal and Hanzala Bin Haque, and Gulab Chandra from Dhanbad. The site where the mela was organized was at Baruni Ghat also famous for a religious Mela held to mark the 12th day of Lord Rama’s time in exile. It is apparently here that he prayed to Lord Vishnu and several natural shiv lingas on the banks of the river are worshipped. Thousands of people gather at this Mela and come from different parts of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar.
Vanita Devi, Mukhiya of Kumhari Village shared this close cultural significance that the river has along with being a source of water supply and recreation. Teklal Mahto social activist from the area added that in fact the culture of people in Jharkhand is closely linked to nature and if ‘our natural surroundings are destroyed our culture will be destroyed’ he added, by giving an example of how the gotra(ancestry) of families here have been assigned to flowers such as the Mahua flower and Jamun trees and marital relations are decided on the same. Hanzala Bin Haque linked the concerns on the Tsunami in Japan with indiscriminate industrial activity and said this region is also witness to a similar disaster prolonged over a long time period, which necessitates that we must take stock of where we are going.
Speaking to some of the youth and women, revealed that in their perception there are some seasons when the oil slick in the river due to industrial effluents is high making it unfit for bathing. The neighbouring villages also complained of an increasing ground water crisis, where most of them have to survive on an interrupted supply of water from the State or Companies. In villages such as Kumhari in Chas and Nagdah in Dhanbad, people are now facing a serious livelihood crisis as the hot winds blowing from the coal furnaces located further south has created a drought like situation in an erstwhile agriculturally prosperous village. Indiscriminate mining has meant that even surface water cannot be stored, as water immediately seeps into the empty caves left behind by mining activity. Ground water levels have reached an all time low due to water mining activities such as bore wells and pumps and though people have found ingenuous methods of extracting water from the river bed, these contain high fluoride and iron content. Unless something urgent is done about reviving river systems and organizing and planning the use of water and water harvesting, the situation will worsen.
The activists at the Mela raised crucial issues of the need to look at bringing together people’s voices on the various impacts of pollution and water diversion on their daily lives, corruption on development related works, provisioning of clean drinking water and saving the Damodar through fruitful and effective solutions under the Damodar Action Plan, which is currently most ineffective. They called for an increased priority on the Damodar, similar to the importance being given to the Ganga Action Plan and shared that this would only be possible through democratic means and according to the priorities and recognition of local self governing institutions run by people themselves.
Melas on the Banks of the Damodar during Makar Sankranti
Posted: April 11, 2011 in Festivals and cultural practicesTags: Festivals and cultural practices
‘The understanding of the sacred constitutes a particular understanding which has been handed down by tradition over the ages which is deeply linked with human origins’ Bulu Imam, The Antiquarian Remains in North Jharkhand
At Hathia Patthar
Every year on Makar Sankranti a large mela takes place at Hathia Patthar. Here thousands bathe in the river Damodar and make their offerings.
In his research Antiquarian Remains in North Jharkhand, Bulu Imam mentions that ‘Hathia Patthar is a Megalith site located on the left side of the Damodar river off the road to Bokaro, near Phusro. The rock sculpture resembles an elephant and some say a rabbit and a frog. It was perhaps sculpted during the Megalithic Age. The local story says that the elephant while crossing the river turned to stone.’
The Khelai Chandi Mela at Bhandaridah
The Goddess Khelai Chandi, is worshipped in stone form under a Kohi tree. Thousands of people come to this mela on the banks of the Damodar from Ranchi and Dhanbad and neighbouring villages which include Shikaridih, Mango, Paharpur, Karmagorra, Goradih, Parsadih, Jamunia, Badnadih, Shibutaand, Moharpur. Ritual practices such as mundan, dandawat, bakra puja(of both the black and white goats) and murga and kabootar puja(worship and sacrifice of hens and pigeons) are some of the purposes of the Mela. It is believed that all the blessings sought in this Mela are fulfilled. The f rituals are predominantly Hindu rituals but the mela is presided and organised by Hindu, Muslim and Tribal people.The rituals or puja is presided over by a Santhal priest who is the main priest. The Mela takes place in Chas block, Mango Panchayat during 14-15th January, every year.
At Jaridih Bazaar, Bermo.
This Mela was seemingly different from the others. Not only is the water level low in this part of the Damodar, but also polluted and therefore not fit for bathing rituals. The Mela is more of a ‘Bazaar’, since sacred rituals are performed in a Temple near by rather than in the river. The following picture shows ingenuous local methods of locating and digging out chuas on its bank for clean drinking water.
At Ghotia Taand
This spot near Ghotia Taand is along the banks of the river where 7 Devis are worshipped. It is a tree that represents each Devi.
Tushu Parab
Tushu a harvest festival is held in villages which were part of the Manbhum area. Of the different legends associated with Tushu, one such legend is its association with the princess of Manbhum who died an untimely death. The festival is held in her honour. Offerings are made to the river. Along with specific songs and folk dance ‘Sarha’ being performed at this time, a colourful Choudal is made by women and girls in the village for whom the festival has special significance.
Traditional folk dance Sarha being performed during Tushu
Observations and Photographs by Shekhar Sardindu and Shashi
THE MELA
Posted: April 11, 2011 in Festivals and cultural practices, ProcessesTags: Festivals and cultural practices, processes
Many of the members of the group discussing this research exercise have been part of the Damodar Bachaon Abhiyan, a campaign to save the Damodar from harsh environmental impacts of industries in the area. The Damodar Bachaon Abhiyan organizes a Damodar Mela along the banks of the river to raise environmental consciousness among local people. We began to discuss the ‘Mela’ from here onwards. Why ‘Melas’?
There were several concepts that we were attempting to deal with when looking at cultures around the river. The distinctions between religion and culture, was religion the same as culture, was it different? The difference between religious festivals or cultural festivals? Identifying sacred places around the river as distinct from religious places (temples, tombs etc) constructed on river sites. Who do we interview on cultural aspects the priests or the people or both? As we debated we also wondered on whether there were distinct sacred spaces along the river where people gathered irrespective of religion?
Commenting on her studies on traditional governance in the Chhotanagpur region, Alpa Shah writes that the colonial officers while conducting surveys would invariably draw distinctions between the sacred and secular matters. The two domains of the spiritual and the secular remained distinct in most of their writings, not recognising the sacral polity within which the Mundas lived, which was a world where the political and the sacred were one conceptual realm. Embracing the concept of sacral polity, and typical to the situation of Munda villages in the area in Jharkhand, she mentions that the sacral polity embodies democratic principles, represents the values of mutual aid and reciprocity, manages disputes in the villages and the chief priest presides over both sacred and secular roles. Unlike in Western models where the domains of economics, politics and the religious are separate, she sees the sacred and political as completely intertwined and recognizes these systems in the living culture of the Mundas.
Even in modern Indian democracy the success of religious campaigns and cultural gatherings among masses gives some idea of the psychology that predates from earlier times. ‘Melas’ or large congregations or gatherings have come to be one potent medium of reaching out to the masses based on faith, religion, and culture. Through our discussions we found that a number of festivals take place along the banks of the Damodar, and Melas were the most expressive form or gathering where people congregate specifically near the Damodar holding its banks and waters as revered. There were also several stories and legends that were associated with it, some were older and some newer. While these cannot be considered tribal cultures in themselves, we find Shah mentioning the Parha Mela for instance held in respect of the parha(tribal intervillage authority consisting of a number of villages) and there again Melas with animist Hindu folk traditions over which tribal priests preside. Thus these cultural gatherings or ‘melas’ had also over history and time been reinvented by kings, politicians, religious leaders and now even NGOs and the State to suit the purpose of reaching out to people for various purposes. We thus felt that it would be interesting to track Melas all along the river Damodar and find out why and how it came to be held there?
As a group when we set out to look at Melas we realized that each of us had a different understanding of Melas. For instance, some among us felt that Melas along the Damodar were not associated with a single caste or religion, but were cultural. Some among us felt that there was a growing non attendance of people in these Melas. The river running dry in some places and polluted, there were less numbers that used the river water now, and many have stopped attending. Some among us shared that several of the musical instruments such as the gheda and madanbedi were getting extinct and we should hold competitions in the melas, so people begin to show interest on the same. Some of us felt that the Melas were closely associated with the rituals practices and legends around the river. We decided to do a short profiling of Melas on the Damodar during Makar Sankranti.
Makad Sakranti is a festival celebrated during the harvesting season. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makar_Sankranti. On this day new rice is brought home. It is also a more prosperous period of the year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxb8nvURXls
click the link above to listen to the song
Ashok Kumar Mahto who works with Dhara is from village Singpur, Kasmar block, Bokaro. Singpur is a few kilometers off Gowai which is a small tributary which meets the river Damodar. He sings a song in Khorta to give you an example of how the songs are related to daily life and festivals in the village. The song titled ‘Nuni chaal chaal gohumbaari torab humin saag‘ is sung during Karma, Jeetiya and Sorhai festivals in the village. The song is sung to sisters, Nuni, asking them to come along to where the wheat grows in the field and gather the weeds that grow along it. These which are usually mustard, khairka and karthuwa are also sources of nutrition for the community.
Ashok, like his contemporaries in the village, has learnt to sing and play the instruments used in most village festivals.
The Khorta Songwriter from Bhendra
Suresh Kumar Vishwakarma popularly known as Sukumar was born in Bhendra village, Nawadih block, Bokaro, Jharkhand. Bhendra village has been listed as a village of heritage importance for the ancient wisdom on handicrafts resident in the blacksmith community who make up most of the village. The community in Bhendra has been producing iron tools and implements for agriculture, tongs and iron vessels along with other home implements for several generations. In an area where it is difficult to find artists and songwriters who are actively writing on the past and present, meeting Sukumar is a refreshing experience especially in terms of his talent for writing songs in Khorta. When asked how he managed to develop this creative skill, Sukumar replies that it was a small library in his village which incubated these creative instincts during his childhood years.
Sukumar began to work on reviving, researching and collecting information on the Khorta language in 1982. Khorta, is considered to be a language with its roots in Sindhi Ghati Sabhyata (Indus Valley Civilisation). Though there is a debate among some scholars on its origins, Khorta language activists continue to hold that the language belongs to pre Aryan times and is older than Sanskrit, with some scripts matching those found in Mohenjodaro and Harappa. Khorta was also the lingua franca for adivasis and has several Munda and Santhal words in it. The language has increasingly been mixed with influences of other languages from outside, and many say that the old Khorta is almost illegible even to those who use Khorta on a daily basis.
Damodar Koraiye(Damodar Ka God Mein) which literally means ‘in the lap of Damodar’ written by Shivnath Parmanik is an epic poem or ‘kavya’ that discusses the culture and lifestyle of all those living along the banks of the river Damodar.
Sukumar said that one fine day, he felt a sudden jerk of consciousness, almost like an ‘explosion’ inside him, when he realized that his culture and language is older than that of Sanskrit, and that it contains within it such diversity in expression and meaning, which will be lost if it was not cherished. Thus Sukumar decided to begin to write songs in Khorta which for him was the best way to take the message and the language to people.
Click on link below to listen to a song written and performed by Sukumar
bachao123 
