Folk ragni, saang as moral educator

Satyawan Malik

The Haryana Government has proposed to set up Pt Lakhmi Chand Cultural University at Aterna village in Sonepat district. Pt Lakhmi Chand (1903-1948), known as 'Surya Kavi' of Haryana, is much adored for Haryanvi musical genres ragni and saang or swang and is regarded as the “Shakespeare of Haryana”. 

Saangs were performed in the open at night on the stage made up of wooden beds. As then there was no radio, television, mobile phone or internet, saangs were the only source of public entertainment and an effective way of moral education. People contributed money (chamola) or grains and food (rasoi) to the saang mandli—the group of performers. A certain amount of the collection raised thereupon was earmarked for social welfare activities such as digging wells, cleaning ponds or building rooms for dharamshalas or schools etc. The man who used to play a woman's role in ragni and saang was always the centre of attention and attraction during the day time. The saangs were in vogue before the Ramanand Sagar’s “Ramayan” serial began to be telecast on Doordarshan in mid 80s. True, the advent of television, mobile phone and now social media has made saangs and other outdoor modes of social bonhomie a thing of the past. 

Admittedly, for their pithy humour, ragni and saang have always been integral of the Haryanvi rural setup. The ragnis of yore sing of human nature, its predicaments and social relations. Pt. Lakhmi Chand sings: “Lena ek na dene do dildar bane hande se...mann mein ghundi rahe paap ki yaar banne haande se” (People who are absolutely unconcerned tend to behave kind-hearted and the treacherous and sinners pretend to be friendly). “Ek chidiya ke do bachhe the, duji chidi ne maar diye” is about a woman's concern for her children if her husband remarries after her death (Roop Basant). “Duji chidi” is allegorically used for the second wife, who mistreats and kills the kids born of the first wife. 

Pt. Lakhmi Chand's famous ragni sings about social give-and-take relationship: “Le ke dede kar ke khale, us tae kon jabar ho se; Nugra manas aankh badal ja, samajhdar ki maer ho se” (If you work hard and honestly, pay back what you borrow from others, no one can be stronger than you. If an ungrateful liar turns hostile, it will be a tough time for the sane). It is a bitter satire on the present day infamous bank loan defaulters such as Vijay Mallya or Nirav Modi, who have become fugitives.

In “Bija Sorath”, Raja Rod falls in love with Sorath, who was bought from a potter by his fast friend, Tasvi Banjaara, for marriage. Raja Rod confides in his mantri: “Ishk bura janjaal jagat mein tudva de se yaari ne, chaalan ki na aasang chhodi mar diya banjaari ne” (Infatuation is a gyre in the world...it makes even fast friendship break off. I am so entangled in love for banjaari that I can’t even walk, stand or breathe). Rod invites Tasvi and Bija to feast and forcibly keeps Bija. The saang unravels the plight of women and the issues of beauty and power politics that remind one of the Shakespearean visualisation of their struggle during Renaissance in the 16th century Europe.

In “Pingla Bharthari”, a king happens to find an elixir that will keep one ever youthful, and he gives it to his queen. The queen gives it to her lover, a courtier, who further gives it to a prostitute, who hands it over back to the king. The perversity shocked the king to the extent that he denounced kingship and retired to forest.

In Pt. Lakhmi Chand’s “Kissa Chaap Singh”, Chap Singh is intrigued, in the Othello style, by his colleague soldier, Sher Khan. According to a bet passed between the two before the king, Chap Singh will be hanged if his wife, Somvati, is proved disloyal. Sher Khan gets to know about her secret body marks, especially a mole on her thigh, through a woman spy. Sore-hearted Chap Singh sings in the Hamlet’s manner of “frailty, thy name is women”: “Bin aayi me marva de, nirbhag lugai ho se...apne jaame  ne aape kha le, ya to saanp lugai ho se”. Later Somvati comes to his rescue, unfolding the conspiracy.

“Satyawan Savitri” reveals the saga of a devoted wife’s struggle and fight with Yam (god of death) for her husband’s protection and bringing him back to life even after his death. Savitri, a king’s daughter, marries a woodcutter, Satyawan, whose life was predicted to be short. The ragni “Savitri mera ji ghabrava sar ghodya mein dharle” sings of a husband's desire to be near his wife and certain ceremonies she should perform after his death for peace to his soul.  

Interestingly, “Jaani Chor”, “Pooran Mal”, “Jaimal Fatta”, “Seth Tara Chand”, “Veer Vikarma Jeet”, “Narsi ka Bhaat”, “Chand Kiran”, “Leelo Chaman”, “Heer Ranjha”, “Sohni Mahiwal”, “Nal Damyanti”, “Meera Bai”, “Padmavat”, “Raja Bhoj” and “Roopkala” all call attention to diverse forms of life from birth to death, from love to lust and from devotion to deceitfulness. Though not entirely free from patriarchal nuances, these saangs are cathartic, entertaining and reformatory in nature, besides being timeless and unsurpassable in truth and wisdom. 

Unfortunately, the gamut of life-songs as ragnis, kissa and saangs by Pt Lakhmi Chand, Baje Bhagat, Mange Ram, Dhanpat Saangi, Mehar Singh et al, are being fast replaced by seemingly vulgar pop songs that are far removed from the fundamental issues concerning life’s complexities about which Dada Lakhmi Chand always dispassionately sang.

Kurukshetra University gives an incentive of Rs 2 lakh each to four selected saang teams on Haryana Day every year to promote this traditional musical art form. The selected teams give eight performances in different regions. An amount of Rs 25,000 is given for every saang performance, says Dr Maha Singh Poonia, Director Youth and Cultural Affairs, Kurukshetra University. 

(The writer is Associate Professor of English, Government College, Jind)