Rural Tourism

KUSHMANDI- Here a number of local song and dance forms have originated and thrived.

Some important folk cultural expressions of the region are:-

    

    A)   KHWAN, mainly performed by the rural communities and the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes is a kind of folk opera songs interwined with the dialogues.

B)   GAMBHIRA dance and Gambhira songs are quite popular in Kushmundi. Lord Shiva also known as Gambhir and Gambhir is originally celebrated as a puja worship. The dance is a combination of narrative song and music which resembles a folk play. The theme of the dance is based on social, political, economic and moral problems of the contemporary society.

C)    Mask dance locally known as MOKHA NACH is the common festival among the people of the rural areas which represent various ethnic groups.  

D)     NATUA is a kind of opera mainly based on the divine tales of Radha and Krishna.

E)      HALNA HALNANI  is a folk-opera type performance. Main characteristics are two fictious persons – Male Halna and Female Halnanai.

F)    CHOR CHUNNI is a popular folk art of the region depicting the rise and fall of various mythological characters.

G)  JALMANGA GAAN  is basically a prayer song sung by the females for the hope of rain in the drought season.        

    Besides these Manasamangal Pala , Ba-Khela   etc are also the important traditional folk cultures of Kushmundi.      

                     
                                         Star KHWON Performers - Akul Bala Sarkar with her Husband

                   
                                     Craftsmen at work in Mahisbathan, Kushmandi, D Dinajpur

From the diary of a Rural Tourist

Destination:- Kushmandi Rural Tourism Circuit                                                  Date: 25th May 2013

12.15 pm: Boarding a car with a co-traveller, we start from Balurghat. Have our lunchpacks ready with adequate supply of water, and a camera. The car slides over black pitch like air over silk and after about 55 kms of journey we turn towards Mahipal.

We are on our way to see the Royal waterbody of the Mahipal Dighi which had been  named after the King Mahi Pal who dug it about a thousand years ago for the sake of meeting the drinking water requirements of his subjects.

Any visitor entering this stretch of road would feel like a much adored King returning back to his Capital being welcomed by his subjects thronging both sides of the path with a shower of petals of flowers and leaves for wishing long life and prosperity. Only the subjects here are Akashmoni, Jarul and other varieties of trees.

                                     Remains of Neelkuthi of John Thomas

01.20 pm: Just before reaching the Dighi of Mahipal on the left side of the road we have come upon the remains of Neelkuthi or Indigo factory of the early British period of Dr. John Thomas, a friend, philosopher and mentor of William Carey. It is said that William Carey had his first experience of rural Bengal while working as a manager in the Indigo factory in the vicinity, somewhere in Khidirpur near Balurghat, before settling down as a missionary in Seerampore, Hooghly. It was here that he first experimented with his printing press and Bengali lettering. He often visited the Neelkuthi of John Thomas for discussing on various issues and sharing the experiences of his mentor.

The degradation of the remains of the Neelkuthi is heart rending and whatever remains may annihilate into thin air at any time unless preserved by the local body with immediate effect.

(LIFE OF WILLIAM CAREY-Shoemaker & Missionary BY GEORGE SMITH C.I.E., LL.D. FIRST ISSUE OF THIS EDITION 1909- “John Thomas, four years older than Carey, had the merit of being the first medical missionary, at a time when no other Englishman cared for either the bodies or souls of our recently acquired subjects in North India, …. He has more; he was used by God to direct Carey to the dense Hindoo population of Bengal--to the people and to the centre, that is, where Brahmanism had its seat, and whence Buddhism had been carried by thousands of missionaries all over Southern, Eastern, and Central Asia. …”
“Carey landed in Bengal in his 33^rd year of life and spent  six years in North Bengal from 1794 to 1799. He prepared to go up country to Malda to till the ground among the natives of the rich district around the ruined capital of Gour. He engaged as his pundit and interpreter Ram Basu, one of the professing inquirers whom Thomas had attracted in former days. Experience soon taught him that, however correct his principle, Malda is not a land where the white man can be a farmer. So he became, in the different stages of his career, a captain of labour as an indigo planter, a teacher of Bengali, and professor of Sanskrit and Marathi, and the Government translator of Bengali…..”)

                                                    Mahipaldighi and the Camping site                                      
                                            
01.25 pm: The Royal Dighi lay stretched in front of our eyes. We can see many varieties of tills, cormorants and ducks in the water hiding behind lotus leaves. The egrets we find meditating in varied postures giving the impression that time has frozen there. As we approach them to get a closer look the illusion fritters away as they rise in a lazy flutter to deposit themselves again at a safer distance.

We talk to the local people and learn that cottages are being planned by the Department of tourism by the side of the Dighi.

                                                 Ayra forest Beat

02.20 pm: A couple of kilometres away we reach the Ayra forest beat office.

02.25 pm: We start for Mahisbathan and Ushaharan Villages, the seat of bamboo crafts and mask making and various local dance drama forms, with the Khwon, Helua- Heluani, etc. as song formats and Gambhira, Mokha nach, etc. as dance formats.

Mahisbathan Gramin Hostosilpa Samabay Samity

02.50 pm: We reach Mahisbathan. We see the crafts making at the building of the “Mahisbathan Gramin Hostosilpa Samabay Samity”. The first storey of the building is being constructed so as to accommodate visiting tourists as home stay facility from where they can experience crafts being made.

From there we reach the crafts village of the Dhocra craftsmen and see the making of the Dhocra.

Dhocra material on display

We reach the nearby village housing the Khwon artists and are invited to a khown performance in the evening. After resting there for a while and learning that several home stay facilities are developing in the area, we attend the mesmerizing show of may be a thousand year old art-form. The poignant stories from the social lives of the rural folks, the peasant (Helua) and his wife (Heluani) render us speechless.

06.30 pm: We start for Balurghat after collecting several souvenirs from the local craftsmen.

Reach Balurghat, Dakshin Dinajpur at 20 hrs. It was a very special day.

Anirban

Note: Some videos of Khwan Gaan, Dhocra making, etc. may be seen in the link given in the link list of this blog:: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tourism-Destinations-Dakshin-Dinajpur-District/217544468387721