DHUNKEL- The Divine Tune

 DHUNKEL - THE DIVINE TUNE

Owing to India's vastness and diversity, Indian Music encompass numerous genres, multiple varieties and forms which include classical music, folk music, filmi (Bollywood), rock, and pop. It has a history spanning several millennia and developed over several geo-locations spanning the sub-continent.

 Musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates to the beginnings of human culture. Early musical instruments may have been used for ritual, such as a horn to signal success on the hunt, or a drum in a religious ceremony. Cultures eventually developed composition and performance of melodies for entertainment. Musical instruments evolved in step with changing applications and technologies.

The date and origin of the first device considered a musical instrument is disputed. The oldest object that some scholars refer to as a musical instrument, a simple flute, dates back as far as 67,000 years. Some consensus dates early flutes to about 37,000 years ago. However, most historians believe that determining a specific time of musical instrument invention is impossible, as many early musical instruments were made from animal skins, bone, wood and other non-durable materials.

 Instruments can be classified by their effective range, their material composition, their size, role, etc. However, the most common academic method. The academic study of musical instruments is called organology.

 A typical instrument unique in its kind called DHUNKEL is prevalent in western part of Odisha.This is basically considered as a ritualistic instrument played during Dusshera. To start the BAEL (a spirit possession ritual) ritual during Dussehra, the DHUNKEL instrument is played by the DHUNKELIYA (the DHUNKEL player) at the alter of the DHUNKEL, called the DHUNKEL KUTHI, DURGA KUTHI or SULHA KUTHI.the alter is a separate square room with mud walls, located inside the house of village landlord. Here the DHUNKEL instrument is being kept. the DHUNKELIYA begins the ritual with a sung medication accompanied by the DHUNKEL to call the goddesses and gods into the alter. This is known as the ABAHANA.

 The DHUNKEL is placed on a straw crown(ahenra) and topped by a straw mat(kula). It is rubbed with an iron rod (jhumka badi) fixed on a bamboo bow(dhanu). A straw string, which is fixed on the bow, is simultaneously plucked in order to create a dull , low sound. The sound of the DHUNKEL is considered to be the sound of the goddess Durga and Laxmi. The DHUNKEL player who is also known as the DHUNKEL GAYAK sings mythical stories(kathani) about the seven sisters(sat bahani). The names of the mythical sisters may vary from village to village. During this ritual prelude for the boil ritual, the DHUNKEL player sings the story of the origin of the DHUNKEL instrument. With this song together with the sound of DHUNKEL instrument., the microcosmic character of the instrument is put in relation with the macrocosm of the local worldview.

The 7 sisters took the Khond gauni to their kingdom. Brahma then told the 7 sisters about the making and playing of the DHUNKEL. Brahma told the sisters to take a straw mat (kula) from the Mahar (bamboo maker) and then he told them to take a pot (handi) from the khumbar (potter). Brahma himself gave a bamboo, for the bow (dhunu) to the 7 sisters. For the bow the 7 sisters make the string (sitalpot) and the straw crown (ahenra) by themselves. From the blacksmith (luhura) the 7 sisters took the iron for making the iron rod (dhunbari).

 

    

 According to the accounts of DHUNKEL artists, the DHUNKEL is made for meditation as well as for the worship of all gods and goddesses. No kind of trance or goddess spirit possession occurs during the DHUNKEL performance. Singing accompanied by the DHUNKEL (DHUNKEL gana) has merely the function of narrative story-telling, ritual preparation and ritual accompaniment. The sound of the DHUNKEL only calls and attracts the goddesses and gods, but it does not transform the musician itself.

 

                 

When the persistent, monotonous sound of the DHUNKEL is heard by the villager, people start to gather in the DHUNKEL kuthii. The local priest (pujhari), who some moments later will transform to bael, the trance medium of the local goddesses, is a middle aged man with long hair who belongs to the Mali community. Some years ago, after an apparition of Goddess Durga in a dream , he became her priest.

While the DHUNKEL is played, he performs the worship (puja) for the goddess Durga. Coconuts, flowers, and incense-sticks (agarbatti) are sacrificed in the sulha kuthi or Durga kuthi to please the goddess. Finally, the priest meditates without moving. For this part of the ceremony, he is wearing white clothes. After the end of his "white puja" (dhola puja) and his meditation, the music of the ganda baja village orchestra starts outside the Durga/dhunkel kuthi but it can clearly be heard inside. While the monotonous sounds of the DHUNKEL instrument are held to recall the divine local narratives, the wild sound of the borua paar, the holy rhythms of ganda baja, leads to an escalation of the ritual atmosphere and incites the following eruption of the divine power embodied by bael, the trance-medium. Inside the small and crowded altar the tension rises. The rhythm and the volume of the ganda baja orchestra rise and fuel the nervousness and excitement of the crowd.

 

I owe my sincere thanks to :

Mr. Bharat Gaurab Dash

(Founder Director,

Folk Traditions & Academia)

Ms. Lidia Guzy

(Author of Marginalised Music-Music,Religion and Politics from Western Odisha)

Video courtesy :

Mr. Gayanan Suna

Compiled by :
SUPRITEE MISHRA
Lecturer (Sambalpuri Dance)
School Of Performing Arts 
Sambalpur University
Odisha.

E-mail - supriteem@gmail.com