Bharigan And Kushan Gan: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Folk culture is the mirror of a community. The scope of folk culture is enormous. Folk culture includes the traditional works created by primitive and civilized people. Therefore, to know a nation better, it is very important to know about the folk culture of that nation. Assam is an ancient state of India full of various folk cultures. Assam plays a major role in the field of performing arts with its rich cultural resources of various ethnic communities. There are many different types of folk cultures in Assam. Among the North Eastern states, Assam is very rich in terms of folk arts. Folk drama is one of the performing arts of folk culture. Folk drama is a combination of song, dance, instruments, dialogue and acting. These folk dramas contain stories of joys and sorrows, religious and heroic stories of a society or nation. Folk drama has been a source of joy to all ethnic groups since ancient times. There are many different types of folk dances in Assam, including Putlanach, Ojapali, Dhulia, Khulia, Bhawaria, Bhaona, Kherai dance and Baisagu dance of the Boros, Kamrupia Dhulia of Nalbari region, Bharigan, Kushangan, Kharatal, Satyapir, Baul Yatra, Banshi Purana gaan, Gowalini Yatra, Hudum Pujar geet etc. of Goalpara district. Folk drama occupies a prominent place in the folk culture of West Assam. This region has its own characteristics of the folk drama tradition. The Bharigan and Kushan gaan are two distinctive folk dramas of Western Assam. Our proposed paper attempts a detailed discussion on the comparative study of Bharigan and Kushangan.