 I would like to welcome you all to another online video class on journalism and mass communication. In today's class, we are going to talk about the popular forms of traditional communications lesson. This is the Unit 9 of the paper, Traditional Folk Media Belowing to Third Semester, Being in Journalism and Mass Communication, under the Krishna Kandahandic State of the University. In this particular class, we are trying to, we will try to understand the different popular forms of traditional communication lesson, like Bihu, Leng, Ayanam, Lullabies, Ujjapale, Hortria, Bhawna and Gaget. These are eight different forms that we are trying to focus on, most specifically. And after going to this Unit, you will be able to appreciate the role of folk media in preserving the cultural identity of a son. Let us understand the development of the different folk forms in the Assam. Now, let me talk about the traditional folk forms in Assam. It is not only Assam, the traditional folk forms have been there for the past couple of years in the entire country. Assam too can boast of its very rich cultural heritage. It has its own distinctive folk forms, its distinctive religious discourses, its distinctive religious folk songs, folk dance and also as well and other narrative forms as well. Now, the first important or the most popular folk song that comes to our mind when we talk about the most common popular communication, folk media communication tools is the Bihu songs. Now, Bihu is said to be the most important festival of Assam, because it is related to the seasonal change, it is related to the cultivation as it is raising the livestock. Generally speaking, there are three types of Bihu. One is to celebrate it in the particular year. And each coinciding with a distinctive phase in the farm calendar. We have the Ranganya, the Bahag Bihu, which is celebrated in the mid-epid at the onset of spring. It actually marks the beginning of the Assamese New Year and also the beginning of the agricultural system. And the Bahag Bihu is actually celebrated with so much fanfare, there is so much fun, there is so much frolic, you know, people and it cut across a different generation, it cut across all the different age groups, you know, and celebrated by the young and the old. It's not only that, only a certain category of people like to enjoy the different festivities, but different aspects associated with Bihu. Kongali or Kati Bihu, that's actually observed the month of October. And there is not much merriment, as far as Kati Bihu is concerned, because the crops are always in a growing stage and the farmers actually pray for a very rich harvest during this particular period. Then there is a Bhogali or a Mag Bihu, which is actually celebrated in mid-general and this marks the end of the harvesting season. So what actually people, since it's the end of the harvest, assistance, people, they gather together, people try to have a community feast and they try to enjoy the different festivities associated with this particular Bihu. Now Bihu has also many variations to it, it types many variations. We are very much aware of the term Jang Bihu. Jang Bihu is an ancient form of Bihu dance form, from Appasam. And this form of Bihu dance is mostly performed by the women folk and typically it is performed in a monolate night, in a place where they cannot be seen or accessed easily. So the word Jang Bihu is believed to have been inspired from the Asamu Swarajini, which means an obstructive barrier indicating a barrier between the performance and the audience. Then we have the Mokoli Bihu. Now Mokoli Bihu is, from the term itself, you can make out it's actually performed in open fields, open areas and the young boys, they actually sing the Bihu song accompanied by the beating of the drums, there is a playing of the horn pipe and the girls join them in the field, they also dance together. At most phase there are very much merriment, very much fun, there's much frolic in there. So then we have the Moran Bihu. The Moran Bihu is also a typical form of Bihu dance, which is actually practiced by the Moran tribe of Asamu and it's actually in some place, which is very far away from the hustle and bustle of the city life. The Moran boys, they make a bamboo house, which is known as the Bihu Khan. It's divided into two sections, one is for the boys and the other is for the girls. So they even sing and dance from the entire night and most of the songs are woven around the teams of love and longing. Then we have the Missing Bihu. The Missing Bihu is also a form which is associated with the Aliyah Lekan festival of the Missing tribe, which is this particular festival, it's a siege-soul festival and the dance is actually structured in such a way that it depicts the stages in the process of cultivation beginning from sowing to ripping. And the spirit then gets reflected in the Missing Bihu instead of spraying or fertility of the Oppo flower, of love, of longing and romance. Then we have the Diori Bihu. Now this particular Bihu is celebrated by the Dioris of Asamu, who are a tribe, a river and tribe who actually belong to the Lohid district of Auruchar Pradesh. And the Diori Bihu is very much different or distinctly different from other different forms of Bihu. Okay, now let me talk about different Bihu songs. Now the songs are the expression of youthfulness, of freshness, of spirit, of love and coaching. And actually the expression of the carnival of life, they describe a season because most of the different types of Bihu songs and different Bihu performance are, they coincidentally are related to different seasons of life. And since it also describes a season which is a stimulus held by refreshing to the different flora and fauna on a particular season. So that actually brings out a very, you know, a very authentic description of the social life, of the environment and other religious belief in the essence. Then also we have the Aynam. The Aynam is a popular form of devotional song or song. Aynam is actually sung only by the women of folks and the man folk are not part of the performance. Aynam, the term Aynam, Aynam refers to Goddess Shitala, the Divine Mother. Along with her seven sisters, they are considered as the Goddess of Box. So what happens is that, it is very much common practice in Aslamist households that the people or the children who are affected by the Box, they need to hold a prayer session in which the women of the same Aynam with a sense of submission and deep humility to the Divine Mother that please leave the house and just go somewhere else. So it's just like a kind of Divine intervention to actually, you know, refer their own concerns to the Goddess Shitala then, you know, ask her to leave the street and household and proceed to somewhere else. And this Aynam, these songs are very much simple and yet they were highly devotional in nature. Then we have the Lullabies. Now, let me talk about Lullabies or the cradle songs. They are very commonly known as the Nisupani Gita. The Nisupani Gita basically, they are sung to lull the small babies or the small people who know how to make them sleep in a proper way. And they are also known by different names, like the Neen Daligate in Guarbara district. Then there is the Solid Guarbara Gita in Albari district. And there are the Futuni Thai among the boroughs. So Lullabies, they may use up simple, crisp and repetitive words that are borrowed from the daily lives of Lullabies that have an essence of the land and the sweetness of the songs, the sweet melody of the songs. It helps the children to develop the imaginative skills by carrying them to a whole new imagination. Then we have the Ujjapali. Ujjapali is a classical dance form. Basically it's considered to be one of the oldest art forms of song. And the epics, we have the Hindu epics like Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Puranas, they are the main source for the story of Ujjapali. Recitation, singing, dancing, gestures, other dramatic dialogues, they play a pivotal role in Ujjapali performance. Now let me talk about Ujjapali. Basically it consists of a band of four, there are actually four or five people are there, man for color. And the chief of which is called Ujja and the rest of the associates are called pali, meaning assistants. And among the palis, the Dainapali who stands in the right hand side of the Ujja is the chief aid. He makes a performance more interesting but providing a common meaning. And usually Ujjapali has been categorized into major forms. One is the epic-based Ujjapali and the other is the non-epic-based Ujjapali. Let me talk about epic-based Ujjapali. Now it's basically known as the Vaishna-Ujjapali. And it's usually used in the Vaishna-Ujjapali rituals. And the teams are drawn from the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata-Ujjapali. Then we have the non-epic-based Ujjapali. In this particular form, this is associated with the worshiping of the Serpent Goddess, Goddess Manashana. Also referred to as Vishayana, Vodma or Brahmani. And as such a content the structure and the context varies from the epic-based Ujjapali. Of course among the epic-based and non-epic-based Ujjapali, there are also other different forms which you will be able to get a better overview after you go through your respective SLMs. Then we have the hotriya, the sattriya. The hotriya dance form is introduced in the 15th century AD by the great Vaishna-Ujjapali saint, Mohakura Khan, Hong Kong. He has a very powerful medium for propagation of the Vaishna-Ujjapali fate. And the hotriya dance form actually evolved and expanded as a distinctive style of dance later on. The new Vaishna-Ujjapali treasure of Samus, dance and drama has been for centuries nurtured and preserved with great commitment by the hotriyas, that is Vaishna-Ujjapali or the monasteries. She went to Hong Kong to actually introduce this dance form by incorporating the different elements from various fetuses, from local folk dances, his own rararao. So there are actually two dance forms prevalent in Assam, even the newer Vaishna-Ujjapali movement because the Ujjapali and the Devatas. There are many other classical elements as well. And the hotriya dance tradition actually governed by strictly late-done principles. As far as the music is concerned, as far as the dance movement is concerned, as far as the food work is concerned, there are very strict principles that have been laid for them. And this particular tradition has two distinctly separate streams. One is the Bhavna-related repertoire, starting from the Gaya to the Karma and Arnachala. Secondly, the dance numbers, which are independent such as the Chali, Aja Gauri and Shalesha, are different in so and so food. Then we have the Bhavna. Now Bhavna is a presentation of Omkia Nat, which is the one act play of Assam. It has been introduced by Hong Kong diga himself to actually preach Vaishnava religion to the masses. And before it was introduced, before it was introduced by Hong Kong diga, there was no such evidence of theater in Assam. Of course, there were certain other dramatic elements present in the form of Ujjapali and Puttolanas. But apart from that, there were no such other evidence of theater in Assam. So, Bhavna actually was something that actually represented the Vaishnava religion at a wider scale. And in the simplest form, Bhavna actually depicts a victory of good power evil, generally drawing its teams from the Ramayana and the Bhangavat Purali. And usually in the Bhavna group, there are the singers are there, there are the instrumentalists at the good bhayan, gaya and bhayan actors. Puttolhar is also there, but the narrator, who narrates the story. So, the performers, they enter to an art way of light, which is known as the Ogni Gala. And Puttolhar actually starts to play by narrating the story accompanied by the gaya and bhayan. It has been traditionally performed in the precinct of the Naangas. The Naangas are basically the congregational hall, camp, cultural spaces, usually in open spaces. So, in Bhavna, the cultural glimpse of Assam, Bengal, Orissa, Mathura, Brindavan, etc. can be seen. Then, we have the Vargit, another important media form of Assam. Vargit are known as the noble numbers or celestine songs. They are basically Vaishnava devotional songs, the first composed by Hongkong. And they are yet another noble contribution of the great Vaishnava and celestine to the cultural landscape of Assam. And Hongkong is the first Bargit composition. It is believed to be something which actually penned somewhere between 1914 and 1990. And from this first Bargit composition, he later went to compose around 240 Bargits, only around 30 of them exist today. The rest of them actually were lost in a fire after which he actually stopped writing for them. And these Bargits actually represent the very much the cultural ethnicity of Assam. The way it focuses on the cultural dimension of the state of Assam. It gives a brief overview of how the state has evolved. How the different traditional folk forms are interwoven together. So those areas have been portrayed to such kind of folk songs. Now, we have the Lukavit. Now, Assam's Lukavit can actually be classified into three types. We have the ceremonial songs, like the ming songs, aina, biana, etc. We have the ballads, like Moni Kauravgit, Kauravkauravgit. Okay, they are the ballads. Then we have also other miscellaneous theme songs, Sange Lulebis. Okay, and so on and so forth. So Lukavgit oversees a wide range of themes, like devotional, social, philosophical, utility, something like to boat ships, something like to longings, love, and so on and so forth. We have the manifestation of the collective hope, desire, needs and activities of the people at large. So with this, we come to the end of today's class. In today's session, we have tried to analyze the popular forms of traditional communications. Now, most specifically, we have tried to understand Bihu, Aina, there were Lulebis, Ujjapali, Hotriya, Bhavna, Vargit as well as Lukavgit. Apart from this, there are also other traditional folk forms, but we are trying to just concentrate only on a few important ones. And I am sure after going to this particular unit, you will be actually able to understand how these different folk forms have been preserving the cultural identity of the city. How these different folk forms have been working around over the past few decades to unite the people and bring about a development in the society of the state of Assam. And of course, after going to this unit, you will be able to appreciate and understand the popular traditional folk forms. Now, how these different folk forms have had a massive impact on the people of Assam in bringing about the rural development in this particular region. So, with this, we have completed end of today's discussion. And if you would like to understand the different traditional folk forms of Assam in a much better way, we have enlisted a number of other important books in the order of respective study material. There are other books by Bandar Padhyay, Jyotar Badanati, Sagar. We have a very important book by S.N. Bhakotavji. It's about the tribal folk tales of Assam. Then on the very important book is the Hormor-Hongsmiti. This has been brought up by Arunabin Swamdhanath. So, you can get hold of these books. If you would like, you can just search for such kind of resources and online resources for your benefit. So, with this, we have completed end of today's discussion. Thank you so much.