Abstract

Bhadu is a folk festival which is led by women. The deity is a female deity. All rituals of the festival are celebrated by women. Joy, sorrow, wish, love and the glimpses of the entire lives of women are expressed in the Bhadu songs. Though this festival is mainly celebrated by women of sub-castes and outcastes of Rarh Bengal, it has reached the household of upper-caste family also. The difference between other female deities and Bhadu is that women cannot think of other female deities below their divinity, but Bhadu is sometimes their daughter, sometimes she becomes their mother. There is no difference between a common woman and Devi Bhadu. She is the bosom friend of women of Rarh Bengal with whom they can share every thought and they express their thoughts through Bhadu songs.

Keywords: Bhadu, folk festival, women, sati, Panchkot royal family, struggle of women

Introduction:

Bhadu is a folk festival of Rarh Bengal. This festival is popular in Bankura, Purulia, south Birbhum, western Burdwan of West Bengal, Dhanbad, Ranchi, Singbhum and some other parts of Jharkhand and Orissa state of India. This festival is for the women and done by the women and the deity of the festival is a female deity. Though the sub-caste and outcaste people of Rarh Bengal started worshipping Devi Bhadu earlier, later the festival was also spread in the upper section of the society. The Bhadu festival continues for the whole month of Bhadra of the Bengali calendar when women worship Bhadu with singing various Bhadu songs which through ages have become a vivid document of lives of women in rarh Bengal.

Analysis:

Who is Bhadu? Generally there are many stories on the identity of Bhadu. But every story indicates that Bhadu was associated with the Royal family of Panchakot or Kashipur royal family. To know the lives of women in royal families of the area, we can look into the stories of Bhadu, popular in this area. Generally it is said that there was a princess in Panchakot raj family whose name was Bhadreswari Devi¹. Perhaps she was born in Bengali Bhadu month, so her name was Bhadreswari or Bhadu. Almost every story tells about beauty of Bhadu. Till today women are judged according to their beauty. This event is also reflected in the stories of Bhadu. From a story we learn that after Bhadu became an adult her father arranged for her marriage. But before her marriage, her suitor met a premature death². Bhadreswari became sati with her suitor in pyre. In this time Sati was prevalent in Bengal. There might be a try to glorify Sati system in glorifying Bhadu as a deity. It is important to note that Bhadu festival is popular among the sub-caste and outcaste people of Rarh Bengal. Perhaps people of upper-caste tried to introduce the Sati system in the lives of sub-caste and outcaste people, glorifying Bhadu as a deity.

One of the other stories told that Bhadu loved to worship the God and she did not want to marry a man. One day she was in the temple and a male voice came from inside. The king suspected his daughter of having a love affair. Perhaps the king then tortured his daughter and killed her or she committed suicide. What happened to Bhadu is not clear. But this story suggests that women of royal family and upper section of the society were entirely under their male associates like their father, brother, husband or any other male members of the family. They in fact had no hand to choose their life partners also. If they tried to choose their life partners, they were killed or they had to commit suicide³.

Another story tells that Bhadreswari loves to help the poor people of the kingdom. When she had a premature death, the common people of the kingdom started commemorating her as their deity. In the Bhadra month of Bengali year, she is worshipped as a deity. Generally women of the family worship her. In this month, they invite their friends to come to their house.

Unmarried women of the family generally worshipped them to get a good husband and a good family of their future husbands. As the women had no option to choose their future husband, God became their last hope. But the people of lower castes had no right to worship the deities of the upper caste people for a very long period of time. If they had got the right also, women could not go to the temples frequently as they wanted. To go out of the house they had to take permission from their husbands and the other elder people of the family. So they wanted a deity with whom they could have an informal relation, who would listen to their heart’s content and to whom they could tell their sorrows and joys.

In this time, a wife in his father in law’s house had to obey all orders of her husband and other members of the family. If she obeys all of their orders, she becomes popular as a loyal wife. Polygamy and child marriage were popular in the society. A husband could marry as many as he could and his wife could not protest him. A woman would get married before her puberty. They had no place to express their anguish to anyone. So they made Bhadu as their deity. But she was both a deity and the daughter of the family. She was above these worldly thoughts. The unmarried women would worship her to get a husband who would love her only and would not marry any other woman. They also worship Bhadu to get a father in law’s family where the members especially the mother and the sisters of her husband would be very kind. A Bhadu song tells their grief: 

[Bhadu, a married woman, who loves to make up herself, cannot make up due to fear of her mother in law and her sisters in law.]

In this time, except in some progressive branches of the upper section of the society, women could not get the chance to read or write. She could never go out as per her own wish. In fact she could not make herself up in her father in law’s house. Her mother in law and her sisters in law would scold her if she made up herself. A wife had to obey all duties in her father in law’s house. This was the life of a wife in those days. We will see this fear of a wife to her mother in law and her sisters in law in the Mangalkavyas also.

Some verses of a Bhadu song tells about the torture in a husband’s family on a wife and her family. Here is an example below:

[It means that Bhadu, a married woman will go to her father in law’s house. Her parents will give her sweets, clothes and money to take to her in-laws’ house.]

Do these verses only indicate a wish of parents to give a few things as gifts for their pleasure? Here it also indicates that if she would not take these things to her father in law’s house, she would be scolded there.

In most of the cases women after marriage were hardly allowed to go to their parent’s house. In some verses of a Bhadu song a mother’s joy to see her daughter after a long time has been expressed:

[ It means that Bhadu is being asked about her coming after a long time]

Bhadu songs also tell about the wish of parents of a woman to take their son in law in their house and their fear of his getting embarrassed in their house. Verses of a Bhadu song tell about this:

[It means that in spite of sending letters and horses again and again to invite their son in law, he does not come to visit his mother in law and his father in law’s house. If he comes to their house, he does not stay there for more than three days.]

We can just draw the picture in our mind. A wife had to obey her husband and other members of his family and she always stayed scared of her mother in law and her sisters in law. On the other hand a husband would not want to go to his father in law and mother in law’s house in spite of requests from his father in law and mother in law. If he went to their house his father in law and mother in law were in fear that any moment their son in law would feel embarrassed at their behaviour. If he would get any pain, this would affect their daughter’s life. What a pitiful condition of the women was at that time! 

Generally, the parents of a daughter have to give a large amount as dowry to groom’s family and it was a burning problem in the poor families and as women got married in a very young age, so it also became a shameful matter if a girl did not get married before her puberty. The anxiety of a girl and her parents are expressed in some verses of a Bhadu song:

[It means that if crops are grown well, the parents of Bhadu would take a handsome groom for Bhadu in exchange of dowry.]

These Bhadu songs also tell about the rituals of a marriage. There is an example:

[It means that Sarola, a woman is asked to arrange for a ‘baran dala’ (a plate with grains, a lamp and some other things to welcome a person who comes in a house for the first time. Especially, a new bride or a new groom was welcomed by their mother in laws with this baran dala. She was also expected to arrange another plate of sweets with the leaves of jackfruit tree. The ‘chhadnatala’ (It is the place where a Hindu marriage ceremony takes place) is to be decorated. With all married women of the locality, the instructor woman will go to a pond named “Shyam Sayar” to jol soite, a Hindu ritual where some married women of the area would go to a nearby pond or a river to take water and with this water the bride or the groom would take bath on the day of his or her marriage. She also instructs Bhadu, the bride, to wear a Bombai saree which will glare in sunlight and dazzle the eyes of everyone.]

So it is clear from above Bhadu song that the Hindu marriage ceremony was totally controlled by the women in those days. Even today some rituals are performed by women only and we see the age old tradition. It is a ceremony where they could enjoy their freedom though the bride was in fear about her future.

Before departure of the newly married couple from the bride’s house, bride’s friends made her up again so the people of her husband’s house could not taunt her about her look. Some verses of a Bhadu song tells it:

[ The people are asked to see the beauty of Bhadu whose beauty is like the beauty of the full Moon.]

Though women of upper sections of the society had to be confined in the household, women of lower sections could go out of their home to earn daily wages to feed their children, her husband and other members of the family including her. In these families both men and women had to work to earn livelihood. Here are some verses of a Bhadu song which indicate the labour of a woman of a poor and sub-caste family to feed their family members¹⁰:

[It means that the daughter of the king of Kashipur i.e. Bhadu is a wife of a Bagdi (a sub-caste in Hindu society whose work is fishing) family. She is catching fishes with a net in a pond named “Shyamsayar”.]

Slowly with changing times, Bhadu songs become updated as well¹¹. A Bhadu song of modern days tells about grief of a woman on control system (ration shops) and its misery:

[These verses express a condition of food shortage when a woman expresses her anger after getting no rice in control.]

Problem of a wife, whose husband is out of station, to lead her family is also reflected in some Bhadu songs. Here is an example of some verses of a Bhadu song:

[It means that a wife has to mortgage her jewelleries to give chanda of Bhadu festival every year. So she urges her brother in law to write a letter to her husband to send money immediately.]

This was the common picture in most of the middle class families in Rarh Bengal during second half of twentieth century when the eldest son of the family, who was the only service holder of the family, would stay away from his family. In his absence his wife had to control the whole family. Sometimes he could not send money in every month and his wife had to lead the family in any way, sometimes selling or making her jewelleries mortgaged¹³.

During the time of the World wars, it became severe and it is seen that a woman who had got married to a rich family had to lead a very ordinary life with bringing rice from the ration shop standing in the line. A Bhadu song expresses the condition of these women who despite of their uneasy feeling to stand in the line near the ration shop in public:

[It means that Bhadu who had once worn costly saree had to use a torn sheet to save her honour and she had to take food from the control shop by standing in the queue which she calls as begging. If she could not get rice in the ration shop, she had to face torture in her house.]

What a terrific condition of women was then? In one side they had not sufficient clothe to save their honour, in other side they had to go out to collect food for their families and if they were unable to collect food they had to face torture. During the time of the Great Depression of 1930, in America women had to face same problem. They went out of the home to lead their family as their males were then jobless. But in spite of their labour, they had to face torture if they could not collect food. Here India and America become same.

Bhadu songs also raised its voice against some evil practices and social injustice to women like child marriage, taking many off-springs and others. Here are some verses of a Bhadu song which make the people aware of the problems of taking many off-springs¹⁴:

[Bhadu is asked to see family planning. If there are many off-springs in a family, the family will be in distress as the earning members will have to arrange food, clothes and house for all of them.]

Bhadu festival is entirely a festival of women. The priests of the festival are also women. There is no scope for men of enter into this festival. In this men-led society, Bhadu works as the empty paper through which women expresses their voice. In fact, prostitutes also celebrate this festival. This festival again and again gives blow to modern society. That is why so called educated men tell this festival to be just a folk festival. In fact, men of sub-castes and outcastes also try to look down upon the festival by celebrating the “Bhada”, opposite to “Bhadu”, on the eve of the Bhadra sankranti (last day of Bhadra month according to Bengali calendar) by singing songs in very vulgar language. But these blows cannot end the importance of Bhadu festival. Common women have expressed their views on anything of the society through Bhadu songs. In fact some men also accept Devi Bhadu and help women of their family to compose new Bhadu songs.

Result:

So, in this way, Bhadu festival has worked more than its existence as a folk festival. Women became conscious about their lifestyles through this festival. It needs to show the condition of the depressed class of society in front of their eyes. Philosophers and ballads did the same thing in the French revolution of 1789 A.D. Bhadu song composers have also played the same role here. This Bhadu literature awakened common people with perspectives that helped them to realise the situation in a better and effective way. Women enjoy their freedom of voice and work through this festival as their voice remained suppressed through the ages. Through Bhadu songs they tend to realise and express their pains and problems. In this way Bhadu songs became the life stories of women in rarh Bengal.