READ MY BLOG IN

ENGLISH রাজবংশী/কামতাপুরী বাংলা
Bhawaiya 
 Whenever we discuss on Bhawaiya, two associated pictures; one the natural beauty of North Bengal and second its pervasive influence among the residents. Through no other medium of expression, the hearts of the people is contented except Bhawaiya. This song is of love, pangs of separation or happiness. Bhawaiya is inseparable from every aspects, every segment of life. That's why while ploughing the farmer or bullock cart driver driving his cart, spontaneously sing this song. We can say, with the tunes, emotion and language the inhabitants of this region has built a concrete bond with this song. Obviously, nourished by the Rajbanshi mainly, this prime culture of North Bengal has transcended the boundary of regionalism and been applauded globally. Rajbanshi is the largest community of North Bengal. Bhawaiya song is dominant in the regions where they live. Actually root of any literary form lies in its language and any language is nourished by it's own linguistic group. Thus in this case, wherever the linguistic group of Kamtapuri or Rajbanshi exists, there Rajbanshi people act as prior preserver and spreader of Bhawaiya song. Rajbanshis live in Jhapa, Morang and Biratnagar of Nepal to Dinajpur and Malda to the south, from Bihar's Purniya to Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Goalpara, Kamrup of Assam to Eastwards. Except this, they reside in Rangpur, Rajsahi, Dinajpur etc districts of Bangladesh. Thus Bhawaiya has already gained an international recognition. But for some friendly environments Kochbihar, Rangpur and Goalpara and few parts of Jalpaiguri district has been the main region of Bhawaiya's practice and development. But in thus age of globalization Bhawaiya is rapidly spreading beyond the boundary of time and geography. No proven history is available on when and how Bhawaiya song was originated. Various experts have their own viewpoints and opinions. Late Shibendra Narayan Mandal of Gouripur opines that Bhawaiya song was originated in the Age of Charjapada(700 to 1200 AD). Though this view is not supported by any historical evidence, but it is assumed that he said this because the Kamtapuri or Rajbanshi language was at its excellence at that time. If we further move forward to 18th century, we can see the beautiful literary works of Rajbanshi poet Ratiram Das which tells of greatness of the language. Pandit Jadaveswar Tarkaratna collected this exellent pieces of Jag Gaan and published the same from 1908AD to 1912AD from Rangpur Sahitya Parisad. Radhar Shak Tola Khuriya batuya shake get geichhe bhori Radha jay shak tulite naya dali dhori. Saru kapra porche Radha kemun naya pop, Nachpocha shak dekhiya Radhar hoilo nobh. Bachher bachh tole Radha kheter bhitor jaya, Kocha bhoriya tuli shakh thoy dali bhoriya. Deoaniya bhalobashe khuriya shaker bhaja, Shak tulte tulte nok koille bhaja bhaja. Naj nai noijja nai gabur bouri, Shak tulte emon bouke dey kemun kori. Oi je aise Nander beta juan jawan Kanu, Kene aise aile aile bujhire na panu. Kemon kori chouke chay giliya jemon thoy, Juan bouri dekhi ei bhiti chay. Chitul chauni tar mukhe muchki hasi, Rastay ghatay paile aage anchal dhore asi. Sir George Abraham Grierson in his 'Linguistic Survey of India'(1898-1928) published few Bhawaiya songs collected from Kochbihar, Jalpaiguri and Rangpur divisions. These were perhaps the first written Bhawaiya songs in any book. Long ago Bhawaiya song would be memorized and sung and it followed the age old tradition of 'Sruti'. Thus numerous of songs had gone into oblivion. We can't even know the lyricist of the songs which sustained to exist throughout the ages and became eternal. Some experts are of the view that Bhawaiya song was originated from 'Khosa Gaan'. 'Khosa deoa' in Rajbanshi/Kamtapuri language means filling up a gap between two things. In Pala Gaan( folk drama) this Khosa gaan is nothing but a comic relief. Various folks dramas of North Bengal based on social and historical topics like- Kushan, Dotora,Bishahara, Saitol, Chor-chunni etc were performed for one or two weeks and for a long hours everyday. To minimize the monotony of the spectators the Doyari or Dohar used to bring the comical things out of script or related to pala. At the same time comic songs would be sung accordingly and most of the time these songs were Bhawaiya song. For this reason, some experts believe that Bhawaiya song was originated from the Khosa Gaan. But this hypothesis based on assumption is not reliable enough. As these 'pouranik' folk dramas are very old and Bhawaiya songs are being performed side by side from time immemorial. Thus it is assumed that Bhawaiya song are very old, according to some people. Others believe that Bhawaiya songs were incorporated later into these folk dramas. Because for a long period, even at the beginning of twentieth century it was not widely accepted by the society. Public performance was prohibited. A famous proverbs supports this prohibition and reflects the negative notions of the society. Byana bajay tyana pindha, bashi bajay chor, Sarinda bajay Saud sadagor dotora haramkhor. Byana player is one who wears torn and dirty clothes, bashi player is none but a thieve, Sarinda player is Indifferent one, and dotora player is not a trustworthy person. The summary of the proverbs is the persons associated with, specifically the dotora player or the baudiya had been treated aa people who are not respectable. Thus this view supports the belated association of Bhawaiya with folk dramas of religious myths. But undoubtedly it is said that when in the middle ages Bengali literature was creeping in barren dark age, this Bhawaiya song, numerous proverbs, these folk dramas has already gifted the Kamtapuri/Rajbanshi language its excellence and boosted the language and culture with liveliness till date. The naming of Bhawaiya is burdened with complexity of opposing views. It is assumed that Bhawaiya had been derived from the words 'Bhawa', 'Bao' and 'Bhao'. Let's begin the analysis with first word 'Bhawa'. 'Bhawa' is the grazing land of buffaloes. The caretakers are the moishal who is one of the greatest heroes of Bhawaiya. In this grazing land, Bhawaiya songs were created by the moishals in the moments of their leisure, sorrow or happiness. But it is a matter of suspicion whether the grazing land of buffaloes is called Bhawa. Because there are still few 'Bathan' in Tufanganj and Kumargram area. To the caretakers of the buffaloes the words like dhura bathan etc are colloquial but the word 'bhawa' is unknown. Even the word 'bhawa' where the keepers used to graze the buffaloes singing the songs is not heared once in Bhawaiya. Except this, moishals are not the only heroes of Bhawaiya. In some regions the influence garials or mahuts are more prominent than the moishals. Thus the hypothesis that the word 'Bhawaiya' has come from the word Bhawa is totally imaginative. Rather Shibendra Narayan Mandal of Gouripur suggested to rely upon 'authentic regional' words. These authentic words in Rajbanshi/Kamtapuri language are 'Bhaoiya' and Bhabaiya'. All the audiences and rural singers generally pronunciate the same. 'Bhao' means emotion, love, understanding, part, pattern etc. 'Are o mor bhaber deora' in this song, 'bhaber deora' means Boudi or 'wife of elder brother' loves the 'deor' or younger brother or the 'deor' understands the desire of 'boudi'. There are numerous of songs of this kind in Bhawaiya. Actually Bhawaiya songs are emotional love songs; the main subject of which is the pangs of separation . If we focus on the pronunciation pattern of Kamtapuri/Rajbanshi language, then we see letter 'ব'(b) turns into a vowel sound 'o', like deb>deo, bhab>bhao etc. So Surendranath Roy Basuniya, a Bhawaiya legend, has analysed Bhawaiya as Bhab>Bhao+Iya= Bhawaiya. Again the song which are the songs of thoughtful or baudiya( eccentric/vagrant) people and makes people emotional is called Bhawaiya. Another legendary Bhawaiya singer, Murham Abbas Uddin Ahmed has put the emphasis on the tune in naming the Bhawaiya song. He has argued that as the tune of Bhawaiya song are prolonged and has a movement like 'bao' or wind thus it is called Bhawaiya. The naming of Bhawaiya song has been extremely confusing and complicated for several contrary views. But universally accepted view is that Bhawaiya has been derived from 'bhao' and as 'bhab' or emotion prevails in bhawaiya songs thus this song is called Bhawaiya.