{"id":2363,"date":"2020-07-11T14:26:33","date_gmt":"2020-07-11T14:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/?p=2363"},"modified":"2020-07-11T14:26:35","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T14:26:35","slug":"beyond-the-books-the-diminishing-essence-of-oral-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/2020\/07\/11\/beyond-the-books-the-diminishing-essence-of-oral-traditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Books: The Diminishing Essence of Oral Traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

By Arushi Kapoor<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passing down stories and even knowledge to posterity through oral tradition has been\nin practice since ancient times. The Shruti<\/em> and Smriti<\/em> traditions in Hinduism refer to\n\u201cthat which has been heard or revealed\u201d like Vedas and those \u201cconstructed and evolved\nover the period of time\u201d respectively. However, both traditions involved oral teachings\nand the written records didn\u2019t emerge till thousands of years later. One might wonder\nhow such long and complicated texts were learnt by heart and passed on further. Few\nanswers to such questions could be obtained by analysing some of the surviving oral\npractices in several fascinating pocket cultures across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bengali bards wandering with their picturesque scrolls, going from one village, town to\nthe next wasn\u2019t such a rare sight till a few decades ago. In the absence of cinema,\ntelevision and internet, such storytellers were one of the biggest sources of\nentertainment. One such tradition, known as Pabuji ka Phad<\/em>, still survives in Rajasthan\nnear Bikaner around a small village called Pabusar. The story revolves around a local\nhero Pabuji who was gradually transformed into a deity. Being a folklore which was\nborn in a primarily pastoralist community surviving in arid desert, Pabuji was thus\nhailed to have saved the cattle in battle or from thirst on various occasions. Their local\ndeity was the one who made it a point to look after all their survival needs. Therefore, in\nthis way a local hero who apparently was a historical figure to have lived in the\nfourteenth century was transformed into a local god. This was owing to the kernel of\nhistorical truth of him having fought off the oppression of upper caste Brahmins and\n\nRajput, thus, a figure with whom the community was able to connect on their own level.\nWhile the devotees accepted the importance of overarching Gods like Brahma and\nVishnu, it was Pabuji to whom they appealed first in times of local crises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pabuji ka phad<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Pabuji ka phad<\/em> involves performing for consecutive nights, starting after sunset and\npausing just before dawn. It is performed by a local artist known as bhopa<\/em> along with\nhis wife and might include their children as well. The epic is always performed in front\nof a phad, a long narrative painting made on a strip of cloth which serves as both an\nillustration of the highlights of the story and a portable temple of Pabuji, the God.\nInterestingly, in such a scenario, the picture is elevated to the status of an incarnate\nmurti(idol)<\/em>, equally pious to an image in a temple. If a person wants to pay respect and\nseek blessings from Pabuji, the designated bhopa<\/em> is called upon to perform at the\ndevotee\u2019s house with the sacred phad<\/em>. The art of making the phad is in itself considered\na sacred work and once completed (making eyes of the deity being the last step), it is to\nbe treated with utmost respect and taken care of like a murti<\/em> in a temple, meaning it is\nsupposed to be possessed with the divine spirit and blessings of Pabuji. At the time of\ndisposal too, the phad<\/em> is decommissioned and is offered either to the holy waters of\nGanges<\/em> or the Pushkar Lake. The recitation also involves singing of bhajans in breaks,\ndancing and use of musical instruments like ravanhattha<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides owing to the belief of Pabuji being the protector, the bhopa<\/em> also acts as a\nshaman to cure the diseased cattle or to ward off bad luck and evil spirits. On these\noccasions only the necessary part of the epic is recited according to the need. However,\nwith the onset of improved technology and awareness, some have started to prefer\ndoctors and veterinarians. Despite this, as one of the bhopa<\/em>, Mohan ji, claimed the\nbiggest threat to the tradition is the practice of writing. Once a person becomes literate,\nthe ability to remember is diminished to a large extent. The psychology of always having\nbackup written material to lean on to provides enough leeway to allow him\/her not to\nlearn the epic by heart. Also, with increased awareness, while on the one hand people\nare gaining knowledge about the existence of such pocket traditions, there is also an\nattempt to record the homogenised popular versions ignoring the subtle variations. This\nmay result in only static survival of such cultural practice is some state archives, being\nrevived only for research by scholars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Combined with the above stated facts, the fast-moving materialistic lifestyle along with\neasy entertainment access through TVs, internet, etc. has drained the patience out of the\nnext generation to sit for long consecutive nights and watch recital of a single epic. In\nfew instances where they sit, the bhajans are now being replaced by demands of latest\nBollywood songs. In the lack of historical context and aesthetic understanding,\ntraditions like Pabuji ka Phad<\/em> are one on the verge of being lost in time. While recording\nthem would ensure that they still continue to exist as a part of nostalgic simpler times,\none would never be able to recreate or experience the actual excitement only possible\nwith live audience for whom these recitals are not a source of their entertainment but a\npart of their daily lives. The pride one feels in relating to a deity who was one of them\n\nand thus the validation to their otherwise monotonous life are few aesthetic lively\nexperiences left in a world which is advancing towards a mechanised living.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Documentation of ancient rituals has always been a task of paramount importance. But some people beg to differ. Pocket cultures in the nooks of our country have another story to share.
\nClick on the link below to be intrigued by Pabuji ka Phad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1653,1637,1654,1647,1224,1656,1552,1646,1658,1645,1651,110,402,485,1649,1657,1638,1643,1644,1659,736,1660,1648,1641,1642,1636,1639,1650,1640,1655,744,1652,735,542,1635],"class_list":["post-2363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-quote","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-ancient-texts","tag-bards","tag-bengali-bards","tag-bhopa","tag-brahmins","tag-community","tag-deity","tag-devotees","tag-epic","tag-folklore","tag-hindustani","tag-history","tag-knowledge","tag-lifestyle","tag-mechanised-life","tag-murti","tag-oral-traditions","tag-pabuji-ka-phad","tag-pabusar","tag-pastoralists","tag-rajasthan","tag-rajputs","tag-ravanhattha","tag-recitals","tag-scrolls","tag-shruti","tag-smriti","tag-stories","tag-storytellers","tag-teachings","tag-temple","tag-texts","tag-traditions","tag-vedas","tag-written-traditions","post_format-post-format-quote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2363"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2379,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363\/revisions\/2379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}