Gajurmukhi: A Kind Goddess

Afno waripari

Bhir, pakha ra kanlabhari

Thumka-thumka chiya ra

Jhumka-jhumka Elaichi umarera

Santoshle ekkasi susmit utheko jhain

Hariyo Bhariyo Ilam lai dekhda malai

Nepal bhari ali-ali Ilam charna mana lagyo

            Bhupi Sherchan, a renowned poet, while writing these lines under the title "Ilam," must have been influenced by the religio-cultural heritage of Ilam together with the greenery formed by the bushes of tea and cardamom; otherwise he might not have wished for scattering Ilam throughout Nepal. In fact, Ilam seen by Bhupi is a beautiful place because of its natural beauty and this beauty has been multiplied by the dwelling places of Gods and Goddesses. Among many other such places Gajurmukhi Dham is one, from where Goddess Gajurmukhi has been kindly blessing her offspring from the ancient time.

            Situated in the western part of Ilam, nearby the confluence of rivers Deumai and Phewa, this temple lies in Gajurmukhi VDC ward no 5, Tovang which is approximately 20 miles away from district headquarter Ilam bazaar. At the foot of Tovang, there is a cave of about 5-6 meters having some stones inside and the same stones are being worshipped as the images of Goddess Gajurmukhi.

 Goddess Gajurmukhi equally receives all of her offspring, i. e. it is the inclusive temple for all the communities, be it Brahmin, Khsetri, Limbu, or Rai. The history of the priests of this temple also proves the aforementioned fact because early priests of this temple were Limbus beginning from Bajbir Yonghang who also gets the credit of establishing the temple (it has been renovated many times after the earthquake of 2045) in 23rd of Kartik 1836 and the priests are from Brahmin community in recent years.

            There are different myths associated with the naming of the Dham. Following a myth, atop of the hill where the temple is situated seems like steeple (gajur), she is named as Gajurmukhi. According to another myth, in ancient time, inside the cave, there lived three maidens who used to appear and disappear very recurrently. These maidens' braid of the hair was like steeple, so the name was given as Gajurmukhi.

            Some people express their tribute to her regarding the Goddess as the sister of Barahakhsetra, a popular religious place of eastern Nepal and some others take her as the sister of Kamakhsya Devi, a Goddess of Eastern India; while some others view her as the facsimile of Dhole Devi, a Goddess supposed to be living at a temple situated in the confluence of Mangalbare, Jeetpur and Sangrumba VDC and a few others take her as the sister of Pathivara.

            Some fairy tales and hearsay are associated with the origin of the Goddess. According to a tale, the Goddess currently living at Gajurmukhi once used to live at Dholedevi temple. She couldn’t get proper respect by the people there, so she shifted to Gajurmukhi. Another belief is that once there had been a big python at the foot of Tovang. The cattlemen started to worship it to protect their cattle. After some time when the cattlemen looked into the cave to check about the python's whereabouts, they saw a maiden who disappeared very soon. People in the locality named the maiden as Gajurmukhi and started to worship her.

              According to another tale, a dumb boy belonging to Limbu community while grazing his cattle was chased by a python. While running, the boy happened to enter into a cave together with the python. No sooner had they entered into the cave, the python metamorphosed as a maiden and introducing herself as Goddess suggested him to worship her and also assured him to bless him for speech.

            Whatever the myth is, Gajurmukhi has been considered as a kind Goddess. People' unchanged faith for her is as the Goddess who gives speech to speechless and child to childless. Pilgrims from different part of the country visit her including the pilgrims from West Bengal believing that they can get desired result if they worship her.

Every year in the full moon of Kartik, people visit Gajurmukhi to observe a fair. People gather in the bank of Deumai River, have bath, worship Goddess Gajurmukhi, sacrifice cocks and goats, expect for a blessing and observe palam, a performance by Limbu people. Dancing with Dhol, Chyabrung and madal, people are not only celebrating the occasion but also conserving our traditional cultural heritage. Though only cocks and goats are sacrificed for the Goddess, the meat of buffalo is not scarce in the small hotels around.

Relatively less developed western Ilam is not easily accessible though some development activities are taking place in recent years. Gajurmukhi too, remaining in the same part, can only be reached after 7-8 hours long trekking from headquarter or 3-4 hours drive from Ilam Bazaar through Mangalbare-Dhuseni-Gajurmukhi. But when reached at the destination, the overpowering beauty of the place surrounded by green forest, the chirping sound of birds, the sweet sound of the flowing river and the spiritual lap of Goddess Gajurmukhi really make anyone spellbound making the tired feeling forget if travelled on foot. In fact the nature around the temple is invested with an almost divine radiance.

This temple, though, being a center of cultural and religious significance, the level of development around this temple is below satisfaction. Lack of the satisfactory development of the infrastructures like communication and transportation, lack of the information about the temple, has shadowed the touristic potentiality of this temple. At the same time, inadequacy of hotels and lodges is another area that we have to think on time if we really wish to develop the place as a touristic center and to enhance the life-standard of the people living around. To lament on the lost past is not its solution, therefore, the concerned authority should think on time to cash the potentiality and to carve the place really making it worthy to scatter throughout the country.

                                                                       

Dhan Naach: A Cultural Heritage of the Limbus

                             

Culturally rich Limbu people, residing mainly in the eastern part of our country covering Mechi and Koshi zone, perform different cultural practices, rituals, rites and ceremonies in different occasions.  Dhan naach (Yalangma), one of such cultural practices, performed with the singing of Palam, not only reflects the history of the communal way of the life and mythical aspects of Limbu community, but also bestows the glorious history of the clan to the new generations helping for promoting their culture and identity with different texture.

Origin

As many other cultural ceremonies of Limbu people, dhan naach is also associated with nature. Dor Bahadur Bista, a pioneering indigenous anthropologist of Nepal, in his book People of Nepal approves the same when he writes "Yalangma is said to have originated as a dance song for the harvest of paddy and has been called the dhan nach, 'the rice dance.'"  Though history doesn’t pinpoint its exact beginning, available myths date us back to ancient time when human beings had just begun engaging in farming activities, tired only running after animals as hunters.

According to a myth associated with its beginning, a bird, nyauli, (fellere fembuna pusha), came to the earth.  Hunter-like instinct of human beings, at that time, was still active; as a result they got ready to kill him. Seeing their preparedness to kill him, the bird requested them to hear him--since he was going to share a skill; a skill that, according to him, benefits both the parties in the long run--before killing him.  Getting permission from them, firstly, he appreciated human beings for being intellectual /rational and expressed his discontent on their merciless killings of innocent birds. Also reminding them the limited number of birds, he suggested them to cultivate land and harvest crops, which they both, humans and birds, will enjoy equally later. He also assured them of bringing the seed of paddy (marimba) and in return he conditioned them that they wouldn’t kill his generations as their food in the days to come. Persuaded by the bird they approved the conditions and readied for the debenture of truth, satya dharma muchulka (ingdanihup)­­.

Later the bird returned with ghaiyadhan (tamyaroya). Human beings did as suggested by the bird. The birds as well as human beings gathered to enjoy the dhan (paddy) when it was harvested, as per their agreement. The agreement worked properly for some years but when the number of birds increased, human beings, breaking the agreement with the bird, decided to make a heap of paddy but it too didn’t work; birds ate almost all of it. Exhausted human beings decided to protect the dumped paddy by encircling the heap of it by joining hands to hands. While doing so they also uttered the expressions like ha . . . ha… ha….he…he…he… hui… hui… hui, which later became the part of dhan naach. Still to survive, the birds had to eat and they did it when people are tired and sometimes fell asleep. When those awaken farmers shouted ha … ha… hui … hui to the birds, those slept woke up and asked about the whereabouts of the birds. Sometimes those awaken showed to the birds living in the trees.  Whatsoever, the myth justifies that it began with the promise of farming between the bird and human beings.

Dance

There are certain rules and parameters of dancing dhan naach. Since this dance is performed mainly in the happy occasions like festival, feast, marriage ceremony, mela bazaar (fair) etc., it is not danced during the time of mourning in the house and in the neighborhood.

Khamar (yasummaden), the place of its performance, gets its relevance in the presence of both boys and girls (nalingben thangben). Before singing palam, they worship all of their gods including nature gods like sime bhume, sikar deu and their tribal gods. Then the boys and girls scrutinize their relations and if found too close relatives, they beg excuse with each other and don’t dance together but if the dance is only of old people relation doesn’t matter.  Sometimes, very interestingly, the newly introduced boy and girl's relation turns into husband and wife. Age can't be a barrier for dhan naach; people belonging to various age groups--be senior people as well as young-- can be the participants.

Doing/observing all these, participants dance dhan naach enjoying with palam. It is like a duet song; asking questions by one side and responding by the next. In intervals, collectively they utter he…ha….ee… by stepping few steps front and back repeatedly --following rules-- holding hands with each other. To watch the rhythmic dance is really a spell bounding one as Dor Bahadur Bista rightly claims, "This harvest song [dhan naach] has a catchy tune and the dance is fascinating to watch. The rhythm and dance steps, some people believe, were developed as people trampled paddy for threshing."   

Exchanging of the 'token of love', known as miksenna, is an important part of dhan naach. With this they promise to meet again in the next life if not possible in this life. Murchunga, Dhaka topi, ascot, maflar, khandi's plain for daura suruwal are some things that girls give to boys and in return they get comb, thunche, namlo, ring, gunyu choli etc.  They also exchange bottles of whisky.

If felt tired of dancing, participants can take rest for a while and can continue later. They declare of its end through palam itself and with the greeting of sewaro, dance comes to an end.

This dance is mainly performed by the Limbus of Limbuwan area but others too who have knowledge of it can take part in it making it as an example of socio-cultural harmony.  The performance of such an important cultural heritage is the way to preserve the saga of Limbu culture amidst the growing influence of alien cultures and modernization. So it is a high time to save its originality and fame and to sustain socio-cultural identity of Limbus in the globalized world of 21st century.