TWO RELICS OF FOLKLORE OF AGHARI DIALECT: A CASE STUDY

Prof. BD MISHRA

      Aghari, main dialect of Banda district of UP, is surrounded by Awadhi ( Allahabad ) in East, Bagheli (Satana, Rewa) in south, Bundeli (Chhatarpur, Hamirpur) in west and Baiswari (Fatehpur of UP) in north. The grammatical structure of the dialect has traits of these surrounding dialects. District Banda is full of forests, hills, rivulets and the old Chedi Ganpad of Shishupal of Mahabharat ruled here ( Madhyadesh of Dhirendra Verma 1955). Like all other dialects, it is also vibrant with folklore unique to it

      The paper attempts to highlight two relics found in folklore of this region. One is contrast of conscious and unconscious mind of masses and second relates to presence of a tense in folk songs there. All the persons speaking Aghari dialect worships Radha & Krishna in various forms as do the rest of Hindus in other parts of India . But while abusing a lady the local folk would unwittingly use Radha as a corrupt woman. I have tried to relate this contradiction in Pauranic history of Mahabharat. The second relic is presence of present indefinite in main verb, apart from auxiliary verb (hai), in folk songs alone. In normal constructions participle form is must for denoting present tense ( 'chalat hai' 3 rd sing. ) but in some folk songs and a most popular folk ballad a form (root+ai) denotes present tense ('khavai' for 3 rd sing.). The same verb construction in normal speech denotes other tense. An attempt has been made to search explanation in history and transitional dialects.

TWO RELICS OF FOLKLORE OF AGHARI DIALECT: A CASE STUDY

Prof. B D Mishra

1 . (a) The paper attempts to study three unique relics, one more than abstract sent, current in masses speaking Aghari dialect largely spoken in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh (=UP). Linguistically, Banda district borders four districts of Madhya Pradesh (=MP). In Rewa (south-east) and Satna Bagheli dialect is spoken. Similarly, Panna and Chhatarpur are Bundeli speaking districts of MP in south. Bundeli is also spoken in Hamirpur district of UP bordering Banda in west. Famous Chitrakut hill, recently created separate district for political reasons, where once lord Ram stayed, is also considered as part of Banda district for this study. Linguistically Banda is a transitional area where traits of bordering dialects are in use and I found alternative forms of stems, roots and their constructions in grammatical structure. For example, Bol/bwal= sound/to speak, khet/khyat=field, mot/mwat=fat, mor/mwar= mine. These alternatives have defined functions (Mishra: 1966). This writer is a native speaker of the dialect.

  (b) Historically and/or mythologically , the district under study is undisputedly linked with lord Ram who stayed in Chitrakut for some times and it is also associated with Chedi Janpad whose king was Shishupal of Mahabharat times (Dhirendra Verma: 1955, p. 69). The enmity of Shishupal and lord Krishna is well known. Krishna chopped off the head of Shishupal with 'Chakrasudarshan 'after Shishupal had abused Krishna in a princely assembly. These warriors are said be relatives belonging to same caste of Yadavas'. After Chedi dynasty, the Haihaya or Vitihotras ruled this region up to 6 th century AD( Zeba Shafiqe: 1992, p. 10). They too were Yadavas.

  (c) Geographically , about two third part of Banda is full of forests and hills of Vindyachal ranges. River like ken and dozen rivulets merge with Great Yamuna River in north. The topography thus forms difficult terrain, a natural sanctuary for unsocial elements, including one Daduwa, considered as a mini Virappan of north. In forests and hills there are several tribes. The climate of the area is extreme, the mercury may often come down to 1 or 2 Celsius in winter and may shoot up to 50.6 Celsius in summer (15.6.1995 recorded). There is no industry worth the name and agriculture is main source of livelihood of majority of masses living in villages. The extreme climatic conditions are parallel to extreme temperament and behavior of people.

  (d) Socially , all castes live in the area but the Yadavas, mostly called 'Ahir'('Abhir' in Sanskrit) are in good number and there have been several rulers of this caste in past. Vitihotras or Haihayas, belonging to Yadavas, ruled on this area. This caste is agriculturist, but occasionally becomes warrior (Mishra BD: 2002 pp. 67-72). Presently, three Chief Ministers, belonging to Yadava caste rule UP, MP & Bihar. This shows the dominant role of this caste in north.

  (e) Educationally , it is below average, mostly centered in cities and towns. Here too we find extremism, a good number of young persons have qualifying for All India Services, judiciary, including becoming High Court Judges. Temperamentally, the society is feudal and generally remains in fighting mood on even pretty matters. Owning and carrying a fire- arm is a status symbol of the society. Almost all the adults of village folk would invariably carry with them a long & strong bamboo stick called 'lathi'. The crime graph of extreme nature has been always high in the region.

  (f) Religiously , the whole district is staunch devotee of lord Ram who stayed several months in Chitrakut while in exile for 14 years. At every Amavasya, dark night of the month, lacs of devotees assemble in Chitrakut with devotion and make Parikrama (circle) of the hill where lord Ram stayed. This is the practice for centuries and the logical presumption should be that the masses were most pious and peaceful. But irony is quite different. The practical devotion to Ram in day-to-day activities is either in contrast to Ram's pettiness to every weaker section of society, or in consonance with Lord Ram's determined fighting spirit. The district is full of crimes of various categories. The people also worship other deities like Krishna , Shiva, Hanuman and Ganesh, including village goddess.

  (g) Politically, the district has been in turmoil, facing numerous attacks, including that of Mahmood Gajnavi(1051 AD) and other Delhi rulers in medieval period. One Chief Minister and one Prime Minister (VP Singh) represented this district in eighties.

The contradictions of folk conscious and unconscious minds are very distinct here and it is explained with interesting examples.

 2 . The term folklore was suggested by William J. Thoms in 1846 to designate the study of traditions, customs and superstitions current in common people in civilized countries. The etymology of the term accurately expressed its scope; it was regarded as an expression of mental process of uncultured but civilized people as opposed to material side of progress. With the process of time the scope and the definition of all branches of study changed. Folklore has been no exception, so that the modern conception of the term includes much more that was excluded in Thoms definition: the culture, art and craft of the people and a great deal what is included under the term material culture. With the advancement of anthropological study the study of folklore got important role and it included material as well as spiritual side of man's development, not only in Europe but through out the world. The scholars have been showing disagreement on definition of this term and this is the reason that Maria Leach quoted twenty-one definitions of the term folklore in Standard Dictionary of Folklore (New York, 1949, 398-408; refereed in Islam: 1980, page 3). At present much latitude is given to scholars who consider their studies either to social anthropology or folklore studies (Chambers Encyclopedia, Vol.5, page 733). Moving ahead the scholars also talk of folk psychology:

      "The term and generalization that ordinary people use to describe the mind (in particular concerning beliefs and desires) constitute a theory, so it is said, because the term purport to denote the studies which are hidden inside the person, and generalizations yield predications and explanation by adverting to interactions among such states. It is folk theory because it is taken for granted by every body in culture and is unreflectively transmitted by one generation to next. From the ordinary person's point of view, it does not seem to be theory at all. Philosophers distancing themselves from the mental language game, have sought to evaluate folk psychology by the same criteria they use to assess the empirical theories in the philosophy of science.' (Chambers Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, page 1706).

      With above brief statement of theoretical aspect, it is useful to present cases of (a) folk mind, mainly unconsciously, (b) one strange folk custom practice and (c) a tense surviving in folk songs only in the dialect of the area.

3. I collected folk literature during my Ph.D. research "Dialect Geography of Banda District" in sixties. One rare ballad ' Gahnai' was published in research journal 'Isuri'in 1985: 36-42). I found that all the songs were compulsorily associated with the specified ritual, practice or the work. One could record them only when they were actually sung. With increased modernization, several of them are being lost. For example, the 'Jant Geet' (sung during making flour with hand-made flour-mill in house). Present indefinite (basic, without participial use) is also available in folk songs. Another practice among illiterate women folk is still often seen when a low caste women touches the feet of higher caste elderly persons, yet giving Ashirvad 'blessings.' In dramas, like Ramlila, the audience is sometimes a part of the drama, not merely spectator.

      For theoretical purpose, the entire folk literature is a part of folk-life deeply tagged with time and space of the folk culture.

4. Case studies:

1. The entire Hindu population is religious minded and worships all sorts of gods and god- lings. These include Ram, Krishna , Shiva, Hanuman and Ganesh and local village goddesses. 'Ram-Ram' and 'Radhe-Krishna' are usual salutations among socially equal ones. Hindus also worship lord Krishna with his beloved Radha. One can see numerous temples exclusively meant for Radha-Krishna. This is conscious state of mind of folk life of the area. But in unconscious state of mind the word 'Radha' is used in a derogatory sense of 'a corrupt woman' in abuses, especially while women folk quarrel.

      The expression ' ari kahin ki Radha' in abuse means 'o! Corrupt (even prostitute) woman!'

       Why this contradiction in conscious and unconscious state of mind of entire folk of the area?

       To answer it I interpret it through historical and/or mythological background. As stated above, the great warrior Shishupal of Mahabharat (great epic) was a relative of lord Krishna and had inborn enmity with him, consequently, he fought several battles with Krishna in association with Jarasandha of Magadh Janpad (kingdom). Shishupal also opposed the marriage of Rukmini who was to be married with him by her father, but Krishna took her away after a brief fighting. He never liked Krishna 's association with Radha who was simply a beloved, not married properly. The Kingdom, called Janpad, 'Chedi' belonged to Shishupal. Dr Dhirendra Verma has given a detailed description of Janpadas since Mahabharat era in 'Madhyadesh', 1955, page 69 for Chedi. The later development was that Krishna chopped off the head of Shishupal with his famous weapon 'Chakrasudarshan', a type of boomerang, when he completed 100 abuses to Krishna in a distinguished gathering.

      It appears that the memories of hatred of Shishupal towards Krishna and Radha remained in subconscious mind of the population and it is surviving in abuses only. The abuse is confined to speakers of dialect, not standard Hindi, belonging to folk culture, in contrast to so-called civilized ones. May be, the open defiance of marriage tradition by Radha was disliked by the masses and it resulted in abuse unwittingly.

      2. The second strange practice is about touching the feet of an elderly person of higher caste by a lower caste woman folk and simultaneously showering blessings on him/her without waiting for blessings to be given by the elderly one. In normal salutations the elderly ones give 'Ashirvad' or blessings to younger/lower ones. Once I was bargaining the rates of vegetable with a middle -aged village woman who was resisting the bargain. I gave up the bargain, she was happy and she touched my feet saying 'jeete raho beta', literally meaning ' long live o son!' Note worthy is the point that her age appeared just half to me. I felt that it was a respectful wish, as we normally wish the great god in a temple 'Bhagwan teri jay ho' meaning 'o God! Be conqueror '. The All- mighty is not dependent to mortal's blessings.

      My historical interpretation is that it is a part of folk culture inherited through centuries . Tulsidas, the great poet of epic 'Ramcharit Manas'(written between 1584-1586 AD), who belongs to Banda district by birth, narrates the similar story of Ram when he enters this area after Prayagraj( Allahabad ) while in way to Chitrakut. Ram, Lakshman & Sita were on foot. The village- women folk confronted Sita asking her to disclose her relationship with blue-eyed elderly one (Ram). Sita was full of shyness in narrating openly the name of her husband, as it is forbidden in Hindu tradition. She tried to give successive & sufficient hints through gestures. Pleased with highly suggestive gestures of Sita, the women folk touched the feet of Sita and showered blessings on her. I quote the portion that is highly poetic and contains cultural values:

" Koti Manoj lajawan hare, sumukhi kahau ko anhi tumhare 1

Suni sanehmay manjul bani, sakuchi Siya man mahun musukani 1

Tinahin biloki bilokati dharni, duhu sakoch sakuchati barbarni 1

Sakuchi saprem bal mrig nayani, boli madhur bachan pick bayani 1

Sahaj subhay subhag tan gore, nam lakhan laghu devar more 1

Bahuri badnu bidhu anchal dhanki, piy tan chitay bhaunh kari banki

Khanjan manju tirichhe naynanhini, nij pati kahev tinhani Siy saynanhani 1

Bhain mudit sab grambadhutin, rankanh rai rasi janu luti 1

Ati saprem Siy pany pari bahubidhi denhi asis 1

Sada suhagin hohu tumh jab lagi mahi ahi sis 11

 - Ramcharit Manas, cant 2, Ayodhya, 117

     Here the women folk touched the feet of Sita and also give blessings. How strange it appears, but the narration is on the border of present Banda and the custom is still live in that area among the women folk. This is a unique relic prevalent and attested at least for over 520 years.

3. The third relic relates to use of present indefinite as basic tense in finite verbs in folk songs alone. In Hindi the auxiliary /hai/ denotes present indefinite tense: ' Vah hai' means ' he is'. For 'he goes' the Hindi tense would be a participial compound tense / Vah chalta hai/. Exactly in Aghari dialect too participial compound tense is used in normal utterances as / Va chalat hai (hawai)/ and auxiliary verb would be /hai, a:y/. Here 'chalta' or 'chalat' can be used as adjective too but auxiliary verb /hai, hawai, a:y/ cannot be used so.

      Contrary to above position, the Aghari dialect retained the other form of verb for denoting present indefinite that is exactly equal to auxiliary verb in function. But the presence of this relic is confined to folk songs only. In folk songs construction / chalai / would mean Hindi 'chalta hai' and it cannot be used as participial form. For example, the following portions of different songs are quoted:

(a ) "Jab thade te bwalai Kanhaiya sun sainthi bwal

hanki gay birichh ka sidha kari tayar 1 "

•  From a published ballad 'Gahnai' by BD Mishra, 1985-86 p.36.

•  Literal meaning of (a) above would be: "When after standing Kanhaiya speaks to Sainthi and ordered cows to move towards the forest side strate" 

(b) "Lachhman tori ot Rama hiraniya ma:rai

talo bich khari hiraniya, dhobi tori ot Rama hiraniya ma:rai"

-A folk song sung in marriage.

      The literal meaning of first line of (b) above would be: " O Lachhman! Ram kills deer hiding himself under you".

(c) "Jehike bairi sukh se swa:vain tehike jive ko dhikkar".

- From famous folk ballad song of Alha

      The literal meaning would be: " He is condemned whose enemies sleep peacefully".

      In above underlined verbs 'bwa:lai' & 'ma:rai' are in present indefinite, 3 rd singular while 'swa:vain' is 3 rd plural in present tense. In normal speech of Aghari, such forms would have different functions as following:

•  Past tense in narrating an event. For example, " ek ra:ja: rahai aur ra:j karai" = 'there was a king and was ruling'.

•  Present tense in negations only. For example, " na wa kha:y aur na ka:m karai" = ' neither he eats nor does he work

•  Indefinite future showing wish or possibility. For example, " wa karai"= ' he should do'. The form 'kari' in 3 rd singular would denote definite future there. " wa kari"= he will do.

      Explanation to above is that Ramcharit manas of Tulsi has such forms for present indefinite and the influence of this epic in day-to-day life of masses is immense A few examples would suffice:

•  ' chalai bahut so bir na hoi' = who walk more is not called brave. Cant 6: 23 (k) :

•  'Dekhan mis mrig bihang taru phirai bahori bahori

Nirakhi nirakhi Raghubir chhabi ba:dhai priti na thori'

= She( Sita) moves again and again just to see Ram in pretext of seeing deer and trees. Cant 1: 234

      The form of negation in Ramcharit Manas is exactly as in Aghari negation at present.

      Thus we find that the folklore of area under consideration has unique relics. It is rightly said that the folklore is pulse of the people.

References:

Islam, Majharul 1980 Folklore: the pulse of the people LP Vidyarthi(Ed.),

Concept Pub. ND

Mishra, BD 1966 (a) Dialect Geography of Banda District Ph.D. thesis, Lucknow University

1985 (b) 'Gahnai: Ek aprakashit Lokgatha' in ISURI (Annua), 36-42, Sagar

2000 (c) Banda Ki Ugrata: Parivesh Aur Gunsutriya Aine Men, AKSHRA(Q), Bhopal

Singh, Suraj Bhan 1988 Hindi Ka Vakyatmak Vyakaran

1955 Madhyadesh,

1995 Banda Janpad Ka Puratatvak(up to 13 th century AD) Ph.D. thesis approved by University of Saugar (MP)