Exploring feminist themes in Indian Angika folk songs · Global Voices

“Documenting my culture was also a journey to a better understanding of this culture…”

English translation of the text in the image: “I will not leave Mohna’s company.” Illustration by the author, used with permission.

When I was about four years old, my family moved from our village in Bihar to a town in Jharkhand in eastern India. Whenever I was having problems at school, my parents would mention the possibility of returning to the village. While this prospect was meant to motivate me, it also opened my eyes to the limitations women face there. I witnessed underage marriages, limited mobility for women, and irregular access to basic resources like electricity and water. I wondered how the women who live there permanently and have no option to move elsewhere manage to cope in such a difficult environment.

For me personally, my journey to document my culture has also been a journey to better understand it, especially in terms of my curiosity about women’s responses to their conditions. To contribute to the preservation of Angika culture and language, my mother tongue, I record their oral folk literature and upload it to open knowledge platforms such as Wikimedia Commons (media archive) and Wikisource (free digital library and transcription platform). After recording the folk singers and uploading the videos, I also transcribe the material for potential use in research and to increase the Angika’s digital presence on the internet. Finally, cultural heritage such as folk songs, stories, oral traditions and sayings embody the unique lifestyle, preferences, struggles and values ​​of its practitioners.

In 2023–24, I received support from the Language Revitalization Accelerator-Wikitongues and was able to document 75 more pieces of folk literature. In this article, I discuss some of the Angika folk songs practiced by the women of Banka district in Bihar, India. As I documented more of my culture, I noticed some recurring themes that provide insight into the daily lives of its practitioners—particularly how songs and stories are used as a medium to express dissatisfaction with the status quo and to assert their individuality.

Screenshot from Angika Folklore Wikitongues Accelerator. Fair use.

Lack of choice in the marriage agreement

“Papa Jeth Besakh Sadiya Mat Kariho” is a conversation song between a daughter and her father in which the daughter finds excuses for not getting married. She asks her father not to marry her while Jeth Besach (the hottest months in Bihar) as the weather is unbearable during these months. He replies that he will plant a sandalwood tree and arrange a table fan for her madap (temporary canopy for the wedding). She is aware that she has to get married but tries her best to delay it by appealing to her father’s caring side. Another example of a song from the perspective of an unwilling bride is “Nadiya Kinare Ge Beti Kekar ​​Baja Baje Che”, in which a father tells his daughter that the baraatthat is, the groom’s train, has arrived. She asks him to build a golden cage for her to hide in. Usually, a woman marries to avoid the burden of her security to the family, so she offers to give up her freedom within her home rather than marry a stranger. The text goes as follows:

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The riverside band plays for you, my daughter
You propose to me
Father, build me a golden cage
I will remain hidden in it

These songs describe the everyday lives of women and folk artists who have little say in marriage decisions and matchmaking.

In addition to wedding songs, there are also numerous songs that are sung during festivals and agricultural cycles.

Songs about the subordinate position of women after marriage

After a woman gets married, she has even less authority in her in-laws’ house. For example, the song “Losing Soap in Canal and Impending Beating by Husband” is a monologue intended for a sister-in-law. The singer (wife) tells the sister-in-law that she has lost her soap in the water and is afraid that her husband will beat her for it; she may need her parents’ intervention. This song highlights the lack of agency a married woman has in her husband’s house and the looming threat of violence.

Demands for a dowry, although unlawful, are still made during marriage negotiations and often the bride is harassed even after the wedding. The song “Rijhi rijhi maange che daheja” begins by describing the visual background, describing heavy rains during a wedding. Rain can disrupt wedding plans by soaking tents, seating arrangements and the mood. The song then metaphorically uses rain to describe how the demand for dahej (Dowry – goods, money, property, etc. given by the bride’s family to the groom’s family as a condition of marriage) has swept the lives of the bride’s parents like a thunderstorm. Since most Indian women have only recently been granted an equal share of inheritance, but are socially expected to give up their share of their father’s property after marriage, their dowry in the form of “gifts” or jewellery remains their only possession. In this cycle of dependency – first in her natal home and then in her in-laws – the woman is usually subordinate.

Insult songs for materialistic in-laws

Gaari Songs are sung for the new in-laws, usually by women during the wedding feast at the bride’s house. When the older, presumably respectable men begin to get up from their dinner table, the women sing songs with mildly offensive terms like “thief” and “deserter” and call on others to beat them up:

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If the other parent-in-law distances himself,
Tie his hands and beat him,
Catch him, the thief runs away.

The timing of the song is important: it is only sung when the men get up from their dinner table. Eating can be interpreted as a symbol of the consumption of other means of subsistence or resources, such as the dowry of the bride’s family, and therefore invites mockery.

In several other songs, the prospective husband who wants a dowry is verbally abused. “Ghara Pichuwariya” contains explicit abuse of the groom who has taken a lavish dowry but is disrespectful to his mother-in-law, perhaps hoping for more dowry. “Pahiroon Pahiroon” is about a mother who has nothing of value left after the dowry, and yet the mother-in-law wants a golden tray.

Right to rebellion

The idea that one can violently rebel by fighting for the right to choose who one loves is God Song. As the singers get comfortable, clapping and laughing, their tone becomes solemn while mocking authority. The song tells of a young woman’s resistance to the restriction of her right to choose her lover. It is a conversation between an adviser (perhaps the mother or a friend) and Liliya, the girl in love. Liliya is admired for her beauty, which is enhanced by the traditional form of tattoo. God. I was able to document two versions of this song, the first version was sung by a folk artist who used to perform on the radio. The second version was sung by women who sang the song regularly. The additional lyrics are about Liliya’s vehement resistance. She defies the subtle warning to give up Mohna, the boy she loves, and declares that she is ready to face anyone who challenges her, be it the village chief or the lawyer of the local court.

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I will not leave Mohna
Let’s see what the village head and the panchayat chairman will do
Let’s see what the policeman and the police can do

This song falls into the category of songs that are sung during Subscribe to or Subscribe toa folk dance in which women dance together while singing. These songs are performed on joyous occasions such as weddings, where women enthusiastically dance in groups, clapping and singing rhythmically. Angika speaking women who sing this song express their rebellion against the restriction of their freedom.

Even outside of these special occasions, for example when they are recorded for documentation purposes, they prefer raag uthawo (an Angika term for “starting a song”) and sing together, rarely alone. As a group, women sing these songs to share their experiences and expectations. These folk songs show the creative power that feminism has in this particular part of rural India.