Prakash Bhuyan

Swadesha Sharma

Editor

Binaifer Bharucha

Photo Editor

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“I
don’t have much patience for studying,” Partha Pratim Baruah tells me as we stroll down
the road in Garamur,
a small town in Majuli, on a pleasant afternoon in November. “I know I will
never be able to get a job by studying,” he adds. The 16-year-old is one of the
young gayan-bayans from the district’s Garamur Saru
Satra.

An
important aspect of sattriya culture,
Gayan-Bayan is a religious folk performance primarily practiced in the satras (Vaishnavite monasteries) of Assam. The singers
performing are called gayans who also
play the taal (cymbals) whereas the instrument players,
who play khol drums and the flute, are termed bayan. In Majuli, being a gayan or bayan is not a profession but a tradition people take pride in and
consider part of their identity.

“If
I cannot secure a job after school, if it is not in my fate, then what will I
do?” asks Partha in a matter-of-fact tone. He wants to pursue music
professionally after his Class 12 exam. His older sister is already a music
teacher in a village in Uttar Pradesh.

“My
parents have also supported the idea [of enrolling in a music school in
Guwahati],” he says. “That support is main. Without it, how will I be able to
pursue music?” His father, the owner of a small business selling rice and
firewood, has agreed to the idea but his mother is not quite happy about it.
She doesn’t like the idea of Partha going far from home for his studies.

When
it’s performance time, the artiste Partha dresses in pristine white kurtas, dhotis and headgear called paag, and ties a cloth called seleng
across the body. The performers also wear a string of motamoni beads
and a tilak of sandalwood paste
adorns their foreheads.

Partha is just one of
the many young artists I’m interviewing during the run-up to one of their
performances. Backstage, they appear confident as they help one another in
tying the paag and fixing the seleng using pins.

Ten
years older, Manash Dutta
is a bayan in the group and recently
started working for a television network in Guwahati in the position of a
junior editor.

At
the age of nine he had begun learning with his uncle and other elders. “Since we are born in a sattriya environment, we learn from a young age by observing,” and
so he passed his Sangeet Visharad exam in khol
drums even before appearing for his matriculation exams. 

Gayan-Bayan
runs in his family and his uncle Indraneel Dutta is an important figure in the
cultural life of the Garamur Saru Satra. “He is about 85 now. Even now, when
someone plays the khol, he can’t stop
himself from dancing.&quot;

The
style of performing Gayan-Bayan differs across satras on the basis of the number and types of taal, maan, raga and mudra. One such variant – the Dhura – is unique to the Garamur Saru Satra and
the Garamur Bor Satra where it is performed only once a year on the day of the borxobaah, the annual community festival taking place in the
Assamese month of Ahar, usually coinciding with the
months of June-July. Other two common
variants are Barpetiya
from the Barpeta Satra and Kamalabariya
from the Kamalabari Satra in Majuli. Most of the satras in Majuli follow the Kamalabariya style. Performers come
from all walks of life.

Gayan-Bayan, followed by
the sutradhari nritya, is also performed before
beginning a Bhaona (traditional folk play). “Without these a Bhaona can never
be complete,” Manash tells me. “The sutradhar
describes the context of the Bhaona and narrates the gist of the story. These
days sutradhari is performed in our
mother tongue Assamese also. But the original language is Brajavali.”

In
the satra, the young start their
foray into the art from around the age of three. One such initiation happens
during Raas, one of the major festivals in Majuli, when children accompany
parents to the practice halls. Read:<a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/raas-mahotsav-and-the-satras-of-majuli/"> </a><a id="22746" linktype="page">Raas Mahotsav and the satras
of Majuli</a>

For
19-year-old Subhashish
Borah, a bayan and another
member of the group, the journey started when he was in Class 4. Subhashish, a
relative of Manash, also learned by observing his uncles one of whom – Khirod Dutta – is a borbayan. The title is awarded by the satra to expert bayans.

Although
he had danced in the Raas festival and even performed the role of a young Lord
Krishna as a kid, Subhashish learned khol
at the music school with around 10 other young boys and girls. The school, Sri Sri Pitambardev Xangskritik
Mahavidyalaya, established in 1979 goes through periods of closure and being
active. It shut down again due to a lack of teachers in 2015.

Subhashish,
along with 19-year-old Priyabrat Hazarika and 27 other students started
attending Manash and Khirod Dutta’s Gayan-Bayan classes begun in 2021. Priyabrat had studied khol in the Mahavidyalaya for three years until it closed down.

“If I had the chance to
learn for one more year, I would have reached the last stage, the Visharad,” he
says. “I thought the school would still be there.”

He
goes on to explain what a traditional curriculum for learning to be a gayan or a bayan entails. The students are first taught the different taals which they learn to play on their
palms. Basics of nrityo and khol playing are also taught in this initial stage. Students also
learn Mati Akhora.

“Mati
Akhora is our way of physical
culture. It’s like exercise,” Manash explains. “If one does it, all 206 bones
of their body will be fit and fine.” There are several different types of
Akhoras named after the gestures made by birds and animals – morai pani khowa, kachai pani khowa, teltupi,
among others.

In
the next stage students are grouped according to the discipline they want to
learn. Some learn Nrityo, some take
up khol and others learn borgeet. Those planning on becoming gayans learn to play taal at
this stage.

“If
some other people have to learn and grasp these teachings, they will take a
long time,” says Manash. “Since we are born in this environment, we grew up
here and have observed [the art] since a very young age, we are bound to learn.
But those who are not from this environment will take years to learn properly.”

The
popularity of Gayan-Bayan has risen in recent years. The art, earlier practised
only in the satras, is also performed
in the villages of Assam today. Still, the number of people learning to be gayans and bayans continues to dwindle. The younger generation is migrating
out of Majuli looking for better livelihoods.

“The
fear that all of this will be lost does come,” Priyabrat tells me.

Most
of Sankaradeva’s musical compositions were destroyed during his lifetime. What
was inherited formed only a small part of the whole, passed on by one
generation teaching the next. Manash has strong feelings about this legacy.

“Generation after
generation will perish but the creations of Sankaradeva will remain immortal.
That is how he will continue to live within us,” he says. “It is a significant
thing to me that I was born in Majuli. [This tradition] is alive in Majuli and
will continue to live on. That, I can say with certainty.”

This story is supported by a fellowship from Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation (MMF).

The young gayans and bayans of Garamur

گرمور کے نوجوان گاین اور واین

கராமுரின் இளம் கயான்களும் பயான்களும்

ਗਰਮੂਰ ਦੇ ਨੌਜਵਾਨ ਗਾਯਨ ਤੇ ਵਾਯਨ

ଗଡ଼ମୁରର ତରୁଣ ଗାୟନ ଓ ବାୟନ ବୃନ୍ଦ

ഗരമൊറിലെ ചെറുപ്പക്കാരായ ഗായനുകളും ബായനുകളും

ಗರಮೂರ್‌ನ ಯುವ ಗಾಯನ್‌ ಮತ್ತು ಬಯಾನ್‌ಗಳು

गरमूर के युवा गायन व वायन

આસામના ગરમુરના યુવાન ગાયન બાયનો

गरमूर के नवा पीढ़ी के गायन अऊ वायन

माजुली रंगमंच के ‘आस के किरण’

গারামুরের তরুণ গায়েন-বায়েনদের কাঁধে লোকনাট্যের উত্তরাধিকার

গড়মূৰৰ নতুন প্ৰজন্মৰ গায়ন-বায়নসকল

Majuli

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The young gayans and bayans of Garamur

A religious folk performance practised in the satras of Majuli, Assam

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