Agomoni Songs: A Mark of Bengal's Distinct Cultural Identity 

 Amitava Purakayastha 

           Folk lore have unique attraction that transcends the barrier of age, class and social milieu. The rich cultural arena of Bengal is no exception. It nurses a rich storehouse of stories that often breaks free from its religious connotation and takes a form of commentary on contemporary social affairs. In this article we take a look at one such folk music form called 'Agomoni' - the song of invocation or welcome.

        In the mythological story, Uma, the daughter of Mighty Himalaya is married off to Lord Shiva. Her in-laws place is extremely impoverished and making ends meet is a daily issue for the girl, especially in comparison to the house of her well to do parents. Her mother, Menoka, harbours constant anguish about her well being. She is also concerned about the care of her grandchildren, especially Ganesh and Kartik who is not maintained well by the careless father.
        Menoka coaxes her husband to bring Uma back home for 4 days every year. This home coming of Uma is celebrated as the festival of Durga Puja in Bengal and other Bengali inhabited areas. 
      While marriage of Shiva with Uma is narrated in many mythological scriptures, the element of paying a yearly visit to parental home by Uma is essentially unique in Bengal folklore. This element lends a typical personal touch to an essentially religious festival that helps it to turn it into a social event or annual family get-together.
       The mother yearns for the full year to hold her dear daughter to her bossom and this yearning is translated into a form of folk song composed by poets and musicians of Bengal. This typical nature of songs are called 'Agomoni Songs'.
    Till the late decades of 19th century, it was a common social practice among respectable Bengali families to marry off their daughters art an early age of around 8 to 9 years, keeping in tune with the guidelines mentioned in Smriti Shastra - "Ashta varsha bhaved Gauri Nava varsha cha Rohini). During selection, the parents often laid more emphasis on the social status of the prospective groom, which was again controlled by another system called the 'Kaulinya Prath' or system of social hierarchy among Hindus that was introduced by King Ballal Sen in the middle ages. In trying to focus on the social status, parents neglected other more essential practical qualities like financial stability, character, integrity of the groom along with issues like parity in age and looks of the prospective pair. Young girls were married to aged men - making odd pairs and stressful marriages. Moreover these highly sought after 'kulin' grooms were addicts (to a plethora of intoxicants) and rarely had a stable income. They were oblivious about the needs and requirements of the family, leaving the poor child bride to ensure the smooth running of family affairs.
           In those days, mothers (and even fathers) often had to comply to the existing social norms in deciding about the groom and thus there was perpetual anguish in the parental home, especially in the mother's mind about the well being of the daughter. 

         Menoka, the mother of Uma, personified this anguish present in the mind of almost all mothers who had married off their daughters at the young age and this state of mind was exquisitely brought out by the 'Agomoni Songs' which were sung by the itinerant minstrels and beggars seeking alms while singing songs before the advent of the yearly autumn festival of Durga Puja. 

        The songs were composed by powerful poets of the time who took inspirations from the mythological event, but always tried to project a social angle through the compositions. Thus 'Agomoni' developed a brilliant specimen of Bengal's musical heritage, essentially projecting the viewpoint of yearning of the mother - Menoka and touching a note of pathos. 

        Bengali Hindu have always considered religion to be a matter of practice that is closely associated with their day to day lives. Cultural historian Sri Dineshchandra Sen noted that "Bengalis have never been satisfied with formal religion. They discovered strains of heavenly discourse within the mundane chatters of daily life. They achieved satisfaction in worship only when God left the sanctum of temple and entered their hearts"

     In this process, Bengalis have converted the Goddess Devi, to their daughter and Agomoni songs have played the role of a catalyst in this process. Uma has been married off to an elderly Lord Shiva, who according to the local traditions, is oblivious about his responsibilities and thus the mother Menoka is always under distress, thinking about her daughter's well being. She begs her husband to bring Uma for a few days so that she can nurse and take care of her. In one of the 'Agomoni songs, she beseeches her husband:

 "Oh Giri,

 Mighty Mountain,

 Fetch Uma for me

 I have seen in a dream 

Have heard her scream 

 Repeatedly calling me" 

 Bengali Original: 

"যাও যাও গিরি আনিতে গৌরি, 

 উমা কেমনে রয়েছে! 

 আমি দেখেছি স্বপন, নারদ বচন 

 উমা - 'মা-মা' বলে কেঁদেছে। " 

         This home coming of Uma is the essence of Bengal's Durga Puja which differentiates this worship of Mother Goddess from the austere conduct of 'Navaratri' celebrated in other parts of the country during the same time.

      Every major Shakta (devotees of the Mother Goddess - Shakti) poet of Bengal have composed 'Agomoni songs'. Even important secular composers of the19th century like like Nidu Babu (Ramnidhi Gupta) and Dasharathi Ray have tried their hands in composing 'Agomoni' and breathed life into the spirit of anticipation or expectancy of the festive season. 

         The impact of Durga Puja on Bengali psyche is huge. The event has been used in modern art forms like cinema to convey different ideas and themes. However, 'Agomoni' has been used by Ritwik Ghatak in the devastating social drama 'Meghe Dhaka Tara' to portray a different theme altogether. - post independence partition of India and its tragedy. 

                The song "Ay lo Uma kole loi" (Oh Uma! Come to my lap) is used as a background score in one of the dramatic sequences in this film. Ghatak metaphorically uses the image of girl leaving his parental abode after marriage as the journey of displaced refugees who are forced to leave the comfort and security of their forefather's land and chart on voyage to the unknown life where misery, poverty and neglect awaits them - just like Uma at her husband's place.

        At this point, I would draw the attention of my readers to another subtle point. In 'Meghe Dhaka Tara', In the film, the female lead character Neeta despite being the daughter, takes upon herself the to be the bread winner for the family. She assumes the role of 'sustianer' and 'protector' of the family just like a mother. Ritwik Ghatak spoke on this to Chandi Mukhopadhyay. He said: 

           "The symbology of Uma is very clear here. Neeta is one of the most favourite character sketched by me. I imagined her as the daughter given as gauridan/kanyadan (giving away the bride in marriage, who was once the beloved daughter of the house) in hte traditional Bengali household. She takes birth on the auspicious day of the Jagatdhatri puja. Her end in the mountains might suggest her union with Mahakal".

          In Bengal, the mother is welcomed home as daughter, a philosophical point of view that has been propagated by Shakta poets of this land. This common thread bridges the gap between a declared egalitarian idealist like Ghatak and religiously oriented poets, more that century older than him. This bridge, as we perceive it, is the heirloom of Bengal's folk philosophy that has been running deep inside us for centuries and silently sustaining our distinct cultural identity.