Kapilas Bhuyan
A few years ago I had an exciting trip to South Odisha. I had accompanied my artist friend Ramahari Jena to his village Ghatakuri in Ganjam district.
Ghatakuri, a small village is located at the outskirt of Aska town, famous for its Sugar factory. By the time we reached in his village it was a bit earlier than the lunch time. My friend got engaged in exchanging family topics with his relatives, and I, falling short of what to do, went out for a stroll in the village to kill my time. While doing so; on the bending of the road at a corner of the village, I came across the drawings of colourful figures being drawn on a wide wall of a house. The drawings were of very raw quality and the use of colour was crude. However, the overall look of wall-painting had a magnetic pull inherent in it. It was characteristically a rural mural painting.
The figures were of religious nature; like the Kali, Durga, Shiva and Parvati etc., and were drawn on separate well-defined sections amidst figures of people, animals and various familiar objects being used or associated with in our daily life. And a boat was being drawn at the base of the whole painting as if holding all of it. As I enquired what it was, Ramahari informed me that it was Oshakothi, being worshiped upon a vow to fulfill a personal desire by the dalit community of the village.
After my return, when I wanted to know more about it there was virtually nothing available on the internet. As I had gathered, the famous Painter, Art Historian and Litterateur Dr. Dinanath Pathy had co-authored the only book on the Oshakothi painting tradition, titled ‘Murals of Goddesses and Gods’ with Dr. Eberhard Fischer which was published by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi and Museum Rietberg, Zurich, and the book was largely not available in Odisha.
What is Oshakothi in a nutshell?
As I got to know from Dr. Dinanath Pathy, who was then alive that, Oshakothi is an alternative worshiping of Devi by the dalit community in rural Ganjam, and being held for five days following the Dushara puja of Devi Durga up to the full-moon.
But why do the dalits seek an alternative worshipping tradition at all?
As per Dr. Pathy’s view it could be due to the prevailing tradition of keeping away the dalits from Hindu worshiping rituals by the brahmins and general cast people, and secondly, Oshakothi tradition is considered as a fertility festival as people those who keep the vow to organize it, they normally had it in their mind to be blessed with offspring.
How do the dalits observe the five-day ritual?
“Each evening the villagers gather before the mural, and worship with incense and camphor. There suddenly appears a person very dramatically, and after bowing before the central deity gets into a trance – gradually when he gets to the peak, he dances to the tune of Dhana-Koila (an improvised earthen drum) and the rhythm of the singing of the Gauni (village singer) – at this juncture people in the gathering asks him various questions to which he goes on answering”, Dr. Pathy had informed for my enlightenment.
With a close look at the murals, I could observe that there was a lair of mud defacing the figures on the Oshakothi murals of Ghatkuri village – why was it so?
Dr. Pathy had his explanation to this that, it could be symbolically immersing the deities of Oshakothi mural by smearing mud on it.
This process from creation to immersion of a rural practice, today, apart from being an enriched painting tradition, no doubt, looks very modern to me.
(The author is a Senior Journalist & National Award winning Filmmaker)
