Baromashi or baromaishya are songs sung by rural women narrating their agony of being away from their loved ones. The songs usually describe the state of a woman in different seasons while her loved one is missing. As the song mentions, baromashi means 'of twelve months.'
Even though there are many baromashi songs which have become famous and are often sung by renowned artists, there are very few books on baromashi. Some writers have collected and compiled them in the form of research works. Prof Razia Sultana is one of them. In her slim volume, Shahitya Bikkon, published by Bangla Academy in June 1998, she has dedicated a chapter to Baromashi literature.
Purbanga Geetika or East Bengal Ballad by Dinesh Chandra Sen has compiled over fifty ballads which were carried on verbally from generation to generation in different parts of Bangladesh. The ballads were composed by illiterate people of the villages with their collective wisdom as early as the 14th century. Chandra Kumar Dey collected the ballads and published some of them in 1913. Later Dinesh Chandra Sen helped him to increase his collection and published Purbo Banga Geetika in 1923 from Calcutta University. Dinesh Chandra Sen noted that a record of Baromashis from the ninth century had also been found.
The Bangla calendar was introduced during Emperor Akbar's reign. Farmers had to give taxes and harvest at different times according to the Higri or the Islamic calendar. Akbar reformed the system by making a Bangla calendar which was compatible with the agricultural events of the country. A scholar named Amir Fateullah Shiraji introduced the Bangla shon or foshol shon from Akbar's accession to the throne in 1556.
According to Dr Razia Sultana, a scholar of Bangla literature, there are two types of baromashi --- one which is part of a long book and the other which is independent and can be sung like a song. Then again baromashi can be divided into different kinds according to their subjects:
a. Religious baromashi (they are also known as event-specific baromashi). This kind of baromashi is based on religious and social events of middle and ancient times. There are very few of them available now. Most of the baromashi that were collected by Bangla Academy were composed for wedding purposes. One such baromashi was collected from Sylhet by Chowdhury Golam Akbar. It narrates the result of marriage taking place in the different Bangla months.
The month of Shawon is not for marriage,
If one gets married in this month
The results will not be good.
According to the scriptures it is forbidden to get married
In the month of Bhadra. (abridged)
b. Agricultural baromashi: ancient Bengal was formed across many areas and most people living in Bengal were agriculture based. Rural people's lives were ruled by the land at that time. This kind of baromasi described how the farmers grew different crops at different times of the year.
c. Descriptive baromashi: Mainly stories were narrated in these kinds of baromashi.
How the beloved missed his or her lover in each Bangla month is the main subject of this kind of baromashi.
d. Baromashi on the anguish of separation: This is the most common kind of baromashi. The anguish could be for the husband who lives in a foreign land or a girl's parents whom she has left behind. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were the time of composition of these baromashi which can be found in Alaol and Shah Muhammod Sagir. They were mostly baromashi by female composers.
e. Philosophical Baromashi or offerings: many baromashi were composed as offerings to the creator.
f. Baromashi to test: These were descriptions of the husband's testing of his young bride by leaving her for years and then returning as someone else and offering his love. Mymensingh Geetika and some other geetikas of the middle ages include this kind of baromashi.
g. Personal Baromashi or health related baromasi are those that describe their personal feelings or the food habit of the Bengalis. They believed that different fruits or vegetables were the cure for many different diseases. As a poet says:
Twelve fruits in twelve months.
In Chaitra, the bitter Gima.
In Baishakh Nalita fried in Ghee.
Puffed corn in Jaisthya
Curd in Ashar
Panta and Ghol in Shaown
Taler Pitha in Bhadra
Cucumber in Aswin
Arum vegetables in Kartick
Small fish curry in Agrahayan
Oil in Magh
Gur, ginger and wood apple in Falgun
Kazi Nazrul Islam mentions the pain a woman goes through during the months of Baishakh and Jaisthya, the first two months of the Bangla calendar. In his novel Badhon Hara, Mahbuba writes to her friend Shahoshika:
“Baishakh, Jaisthya have come and gone and with it so many storms and cyclones have swept through my life! The downpour, however, has not ceased. Today is the first day of Ashar. Pray for me, Didi that this Ashar may never end.”
With the advent of satellite culture, Bengalis appear to be forgetting their age old customs and rituals. Niaz Zaman's Baromashi Tapes tries to awaken the concept of baromashi among the younger generation. It is a modern baromashi, where a village woman whose husband has emigrated to a foreign land in order to support his family describes her anguish and records them. She sends the tapes to her beloved, who only manages to give her a brief reply. Prof Niaz Zaman acknowledges “The migrant worker, who suffers hard conditions, deprivation and loneliness to make a living for himself and his family --- and provides foreign exchange much needed in his country.”
Sakina misses her husband Khokon, who has gone to Kuala Lumpur, and records all her feelings on tape which she sends to her husband every month of the year. What makes the book interesting is that there is a recipe of a meal or pitha on each of the tapes. The first tape is from Khokon, who describes his journey to Malaysia in terms of all the hurdles Bangladeshi immigrant workers face during their journey. The reader can see how the Bangladeshi workers who have never been on a plane see the airport and inside of a plane for the first time in their lives.
In Baishakh, Sakina expresses her anxiety at her husband's leaving home and reminisces on some incidents that take place at home. She talks about some workers who have gone abroad and who only come back once or twice in years. The environment of a steamy summer village with a Kalbaishakhi Jhor is also described in this tape.
The subsequent chapters are on the other eleven months and the rituals that village folks go through in these times. What is interesting about the book is that every month there is a recipe or food item found specifically for that month. For example, aam, dudh bhaat for Jaisthya, khichuri for Ashar, firni for Srabon, taler pitha for Bhadra, shada polao for Aswin, in the way the baromashi songs and poems mention them. Aswin is also the season of Durga Puja. Durga's visit to earth is compared to a village woman's visit to her parents' home. A village jatra, which is becoming a rarity these days, is also depicted through Sakina's eyes. In olden times female characters were played by males since women were not allowed to work on stage. That still is the case in the village jatra. The legend of Behula Lakhindhor is worthy of note. Female characters who are depicted are strong women who can be compared with rural women who work hard in the fields and at home and also take care of the family. They have resilience which can only be compared with that in the mythical Behula or Meena.
Komolar Baromashi, the famous baromashi, is cited in numerous chapters as part of the monthly tapes of Sakina. Baromasi Tapes can be treated as a record of the rituals of rural life in Bangladesh.
Jackie Kabir writes fiction, composes poetry and is a literary critic. published on Saturday, July 21, 2012 star book review page.
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