There have some
queries about Bhawaiya that how old
the Bhawaiya is, how has it
originated and what course of evolution has it taken. It is very difficult to
get exact replies to such queries. The scholars and musicologists have arrived
at certain decisions on the basis of circumstantial evidences from sociological
and anthropological findings. As such, it is assumed that the beginning of such
songs was intrinsic to various rites, customs, worships of deities prevalent in
the primitive society and the same has spread into various walks of life in
later years. Side by side with Bahwaiya
one finds ‘Chatka’, the brisk form of
Bhawaiya.
It is assumed that Bhawaiya song was evolved in the 15th
or 16th century and the same have been sung and transmitted orally
for centuries together. The written form of lyrics of Bhawaiya was available first in the book Linguistic Survey of India, published by G.A. Grierson in 1904. He collects a
few folk songs of local dialects from the districts of Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri
and Rangpur towards the end of 19th century. Some more examples of
lyrics of these songs are available in printed form from the Rangpur Sahitya Parishad Patrika
published in 1908-1912.But nothing can be known as to when and who composed
these songs.
Most of the popular
and important Bhawaiya – Chatka songs
have been sung and orally transmitted before the 1930’s. Quite a good number of
such songs were rendered into gramophone records in the 1930’s. The initiative
was taken by Harish Chandra Pal, a
devoted folklorist of Cooch Behar. Some other lyricists who composed Bhawaiya – Chatka songs were Abdul Karim, Pyarimohan Das, Gangadhar
Das etc. But the number of their writings was negligible compared to the
number of most popular traditional Bhawaiya
– Chatka songs.
As the popular Bhawaiya – Chatka songs have been orally
transmitted and have not been printed in any books, they have had some variations
in lyrics quite often. For this reason we can notice variations in lyrics of a
particular song. The particular groups of people who sing those songs have
retained them through proper scrutiny and selection process only because they
have found in them the medium of expression of their feelings, happiness and
sorrows, love, affections, their philosophy of life.
An example of a very popular Chatka song will be helpful to explain
such variatons…..
Variation – 1 : Oki
bap re bap mao re mao, kam karibar na paon muin
Ai komorer bise na re.
Hal boyya asilen pati bhale karilen
kam
Chagal bandhilen pati bhale karilen
kam
Urun giant bir kariya dhan pac syar
ban.
Variation – 2 : Chagol
duita bandhi asilen bhale karilen kaj
Ghar chairta samti ela bhara khora maj
Bhara khora majlu pati tui re amar pran
Urun gain joteya ani dhan pac syar ban.
Variation – 3 : Oho bap re bap, oho mao re mao, na paon muin
kamai karibar
Kamai karir na paon pati oi kamarer
bise
Hakkat kariya ki hail kabar na paon
kise
Hal boyya asilu bari jhapi mathat
diya
Hutti tho tor nangol jongal bara
banek asiya.
Variation – 4 : Hal
boyya asilu musa bhale karlu kam
Nangol jongal atti thuiya bara chairta ban.
Bhawaiya – Chatka songs, therefore, have no longer
remained a genre orally transmitted, as it has usually happened to other forms
of folk songs also. It is, however, still a fact that the compositions of
unknown lyrics that have been transmitted and accepted by the people are the
ones that are mostly sung by the traditional singers and as such very popular.
Songs of new and unknown composers, except for a few, have not gained much
popularity.
Reference:
- Bhawaiya __ Dr . Sukhbilas Barma
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