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The Ecological Basis of the Bihu Festivalof Assam

Maan Barua

Abstract

Bihu is one of the most important festivals in the northeast Indian state of Assam.Published accounts of the festival mainly deal with its rituals, texts andperformance, and its ecological setting is often overlooked. This essay seeks toexplore the ecological basis of Bihu and tries to understand how it has assumed itsform through an interaction of culture and ecology.

Introduction: The Origin and Etymology of Bihu

Most pan-Indian festivals observed by people in Assam are regarded as beingreligious in their function and setting, and the manner in which they are celebratedserves largely to evoke and fulfil religious sentiment (Goswami 1995, 10). However,the festival to which utmost social importance is assigned by the people is Bihu, afestival that is neither pan-Indian in character nor observed with any religiousfervour. The tradition of Bihu deals with practices related to cultivating the land andraising livestock. Thus the rituals and customs associated with it are seen byscholars as being closely linked to ideas about the promotion of agriculturalprosperity, the transition of the seasons, and the mode of living in a rice growingsociety in a tropical, flood plain ecosystem (Barua 1966, 338).The festival associated with the beginnings of both the New Year and the

crop-planting season is the Bohag, or springtime Bihu, which is held in the firstmonth of Bohag (mid-April). [1] Two other Bihus complete the annual cycle of Bihufestivals (Gogoi 1994, 15–18; Goswami 1995, 10): one, called Kati Bihu, is held inOctober at a time when crops are growing and is of little festive significance; theother is the Magh or winter Bihu, and is linked with the end of the planting season.Bohag Bihu is associated with the vernal equinox, and in Vedic times certain ritualsseem to have been performed at this time of the year for the purpose of influencingthe movement of the sun and securing agricultural reproduction (Goswami 1995,10). A connection between the sun, seasonality and agricultural reproductionwould appear to have still permeated Bihu festivals in modern times. Althoughprimarily identified with the dominant, Sanskritised Assamese society, parallelforms of Bihu are also found among the various ethnic communities living

Folklore 120 (August 2009): 213–223

ISSN 0015-587X print; 1469-8315 online/09/020213-11; Routledge Journals; Taylor & Francisq 2009 The Folklore SocietyDOI: 10.1080/00155870902969400

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in Assam, and social groups including the Bodos, Mishings, Rabha and Lalungscelebrate Bihu in a similar cultural and ecological setting.In the course of the past one hundred and fifty years, this agrarian festival has

undergone a number of changes, mainly arising from the social and politicalthought of the period in question. In the second half of the nineteenth century itbegan to be regarded as a vulgar peasant festival by the newly formed Assameseurban elite under British colonial rule. [2] More liberal interpretations of thefestival began in the first part of the twentieth century but, after the post-warindependence of India in 1947, it gradually began to assume the role of a symbolof Assamese pride and nationalism—a role that it continues to fulfil to date(P. Goswami 1996, 5–6).Despite ongoing interest in the Bihu festival among Assamese writers and

others, it was only in the mid-twentieth century that academic interpretationand discourse on the subject began to emerge. The seminal scholarly works onthe subject are no doubt P. D. Goswami’s classic studies, including The BihuSongs of Assam (Goswami 1957) and Festivals of Assam (Goswami 1995), whichconsider the subject within a socio-anthropological framework. My aim in thispaper is not to unearth new facts about Bihu, but rather to explore itsecological basis; that is, to see how the ecological setting in which the festivalis embedded, and into which it unfolds, influences the festival itself.The following questions will be asked: Is it the case that changes in thefestival’s cultural form reflect changes in the landscape and the manner inwhich people inhabit and adapt to that setting? If the festival is deeply rootedin certain ecological conditions, is a particular state of the landscape, or theperformance or fulfilment of certain ecological functions, necessary for itscontinuance? Furthermore, how does the language of Bihu recreate and definethe landscape with which it is so inextricably linked?Most explanations of the origins of Bihu have stemmed from etymological

investigations. In the sacred Hindu texts Atharva-veda (900 BCE) and the AitareyaBrahmana (c.600 BCE), the Sanskrit word Bisuvan occurs, referring to a day onwhich a fire sacrifice was performed in the hope of obtaining a better crop. Thisword, together with the practices it involved, is believed by various scholars to bethe root of the present-day word Bihu and the festival’s attendant customs(P. Goswami 1996, 1–6). Other texts, such as the Visnu Purana (c.400 CE), state thata festival called Bisuva took place between winter and spring, when the sunchanged its position from one particular sign of the zodiac to the next (P. Goswami1996, 1). Twentieth-century etymological studies that search for Sanskrit sources ofwords are also reflective of approaches intended to reinforce the view of Assameseculture as part of an Indo-Aryan lineage and its form as a result of theSanskritisation of local cultures. Relatively recent interpretations looking at the Taiorigin of the word relate it to a form of cattle worship, construed from boi, “therules of worship,” and hu, “cow” (Sarmah 1996, 61). This, however, does notexplain the presence of festivals of similar name and origin in other parts of India.As mentioned earlier, the tradition of Bihu is not solely restricted to the

Assamese community, but is prevalent among various tribes living in Assam.The Mising community in Assam celebrates a festival called Ali-ai-lrigang, aparallel form of the Bohag Bihu. The term stems from ali-ai or the seed of a potato-like tuberous root vegetable, and lrigang refers to the sowing of the first seeds in the

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paddy fields (Patir 1996, 41). Goswami and other scholars believe that Ali-ai-lrigang was previously held earlier in the year, during the months of Phalgun or Sot(February–March), but has now been adapted to the Sankranti in Bohag, [3]presumably under the influence of an effort already under way to assimilatemarginal cultures into the dominant food-producing society.

Seasonality of Festivals and Ecological Landscapes

In the Bihu folk songs, there are constant references to, and extensive descriptionsof, the season in which the festival is held. The temporal aspects of the festivalconsist of a specific period of time indicated by changes in the host landscape thatcan be clearly observed. Bihu is often identified as the time of year when the “nahor(Mesua ferrea) flowers” (“nahor phul phula batar”). Rather than referring to theflower in terms of its use or as a potential gift, the songs use it as a signifier of theseason, and through this symbolism it is linked to a broader range of ecologicalphenomena than utilitarian notions alone would indicate. Besides the nahor,several other plants that flower in spring find regular mention in the Bihu songs—keteki (Pandanus odoratissimus), bhebeli lota (Paederia foetida), madhoimaloti (Hiptagemadablota), and bokul (Mimusops elengi)—and it is their fragrance rather than theircolour or form that is accentuated, for the fragrance is what is believed tocontribute to the festive atmosphere (Gogoi 2002, 20). This process of identifyingBihu with ecological change finds mention in Medieval texts, notably theDeoburanji, where it is said that the season of Bihu begins in the month of Sotwhen “all sorts of flowers, wild orchids . . . begin to bloom” (Phukan 1996, 44).The Gita-Govinda, an illustrated manuscript dating from between the lateseventeenth century and the early eighteenth century CE, clearly depicts spring asa seasonwhen several varieties of flowers are in bloom (Vatsyayan andNeog 1986,229–31).The Brahmaputra valley in Assam, with its characteristic tropical, wet,

mesothermal climate, undergoes a seasonal change almost every two months.The month of Bohag in which the springtime Bihu is held, is the pre-monsoonperiod and marks a gradual transition from a relatively dry winter to a hot, wetsummer. It is thus an appropriate time for festivity, not only because thereproductive cycles of most plants are renewed, but also because the tropicallandscape is still penetrable and conducive to human activity. Songs sung duringthe festival directly refer to Bihu as the time of year when “the progeny of trailsradiate” (“Bate puwali mele”; Neog 1996, 7), meaning that the dense evergreenforest and grassland habitat become more open and accessible at that time. Thislyrical description of the landscape has a deeper meaning in terms of theenvironment as it reflects a lived cultural experience of people in the landscapethat plays host to the Bihu festival. It must also be borne in mind that a wet,tropical landscape is not necessarily the easiest of environments in which to live,and some scholars have argued that it is debatable whether tropical climatesthemselves create a love for nature (Guha and Martinez-Alier 2000, xi–xii).The monsoon that follows the Bohag Bihu, for example, is certainly not anappropriate moment for festive activity. Thus the factors determining, or—whenviewed from another perspective—limiting, the season of Bihu, may be seen aslargely influenced by the ecology of the region in question.

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The Bihu that follows the Bohag Bihu is the Kati Bihu, which is held in the middleof the agricultural cycle (October–November), and is associated with the JalabayubSankranti, the Sankranti (“cusp”) between themonths ofAhin andKati (Neog 1996, 7).It is not celebrated with the festive spirit of Bohag Bihu, for it is held at a time of theyear when food resources are running low and the current crop is not yet ripe forharvesting. There is a general belief amongst the Assamese people that, at thistime of year, plants, birds and animals—the natural world, in other words—become lifeless, in stark contrast to the vigour of Bohag Bihu (Sarmah 1996, 64).The main activities undertaken during Kati Bihu are to plant tulsi (basil, Ocimumsanctum) and to light lamps in the field. This practice of planting basil has beenassociated by certain historians with altar sacrifices of earlier times (Kosambi 1962,57). People in the villages of Assam light lamps as an act of reverence in order toobtain a good crop of rice, and this is at a time of the year when supplies of rice arelow. Information on the everyday life of people in Medieval and pre-Medievalperiods in Assam is scanty (Barua 1969), but it is likely that there were certain foodtaboos in place in order to enable people to tide themselves over this lean season.Present-day interpretations of the lighting of lamps in the fields, especially

among those who have had a basic level of government-approved education,favour “scientific explanations” and thus view this practice as a method of pestcontrol. Whatever truth there may be in this interpretation, if any, pseudo-scientific explanations of cultural phenomena by the “educated,” or rather the“schooled,” section of Assamese society are typical of the uneven fusion ofwestern rationalist worldviews and traditional cultural practice that is prevalentin much of the discourse on traditional culture in present-day Assamese society.The third of the triad of Bihu festivals is the Magh Bihu, during the Uttarayon

Sankranti (the cusp between the months of Puh and Magh), and it coincides withthe post-harvest season that begins sometime in December. A fire ceremony isclosely associated with Magh Bihu and this consists of burning temple-likestructures made of bamboo, straw and dried banana leaves in the empty,harvested paddy fields. Offerings of food are made to the god of fire, Agni(Goswami 1995, 18). The activity of burning becomes possible only at this time ofthe year when the habitat is slightly drier. This practice is considered by certainscholars to be a surviving form of fire worship (Gogoi 2002, 38), but Magh Bihu isitself an important time marking the end of the agricultural cycle.The celebration of each of the three Bihu festivals at specific moments of the

agricultural cycle indicates a link between these festivals and ecological functions.It also points to an understanding of the cyclical nature of the seasons. This isimportant when related to broader philosophies of resource use: a cyclic approachpresupposes a notion that practices relating to the utilisation of resources areaimed at the replenishment of stock so that the cycle may repeat itself. For certaincommunities, such as the Tai-Ahoms, homage is paid to ancestors at the beginningof Bohag Bihu, and hence it relates to a sense of family history. There is a renewal ofties with previous generations, and, at the same time, the commencement of afuture one (Phukan 1996, 40–4). This is distinct and very different from a linearnotion, where there is a telos, a desired destination or end point.

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The Natural World and Cultural Form

In a settled agrarian society, additional draught power obtained from cattle is asignificant energy source for agricultural activity. Thus the Bohag Bihu includes animportant ritual of bathing and tending to the cattle. This is carried out on the Sot-Sankranti (the cusp between the months of Sot and Bohag) of Bihu and is known asGaru-Bihu or “The Day of the Cattle.” This practice is seen by scholars as a remnantof a once vigorous form of cattle worship: in the Atharva-veda there is reference to afestival named Gowamayan (“cattle worship”), during which cattle were washedand a special form of fire sacrifice (Jagya) was held for them (Sharma 1996, 27). Thesacrifice indicates the importance given to cattle in the society in question at thatperiod. Moreover, for communities like the Bodos of western Assam, each day ofBihu was devoted to honouring a specific domestic animal, thus stressing theimportant role these animals played in the everyday life of the community. Thedomestication process itself involves interaction with animals on a prolongedbasis, and not only reveals relationships between people and animals, but affectsbroader social relationships in society (Anderson 1997, 463–85).In the contemporary observance of Garu-Bihu, cattle are dealt with in a ritualistic

manner almost akin to that of worship: within the confines of the ritual space,cattle are given an elevated position and are viewed as auspicious. It should benoted that it is only the community’s dependence on cattle for cultivation thatsustains such customs. Thus, the ecological mode of existence has a direct bearingon the maintenance of cultural values and traditions, and an alteration in thatmode is likely to lead to the gradual abandonment of those traditions. The use ofcertain plants, notably dıghlati (Litsea polyantha) and makhiati (Flemingia strobilifera),with which to beat the cattle on the day of Garu-Bihu may, perhaps, owe asmuch totheir ready availability in the habitat as to their insecticidal properties. However,contemporary reference to these two plants as “an integral part of the culturalheritage” (Gogoi 1994, 15–18) survives in a fashion that is both semantically andfunctionally dislodged from their ecological and operational contexts. Theybecome frozen symbols rather than something that is part of the lived experiencein the local ecological setting.Birds and wild animals commonly found in the surrounding environment are

often described in the Bihu songs. Many of the songs illustrate observations ofnatural history in a startlingly lyrical and intense manner: a fine example is thedescription of the frugivorous green imperial pigeon (Ducula badia) as “thephantom of the fig tree” (“Gujari barare deo”; Gogoi 2002, 85). Not only is this anindication of its feeding habit, but also an elliptical allusion to its deep, boomingcall, an attribute that is likely to have inspired its “phantom” label. Descriptions ofbirds in the everyday landscape of the Brahmaputra flood plain are also found inthe festival songs. The phrase “Up flew the woolly-necked stork and the crane,and with them flew the egrets” is typical of an evening sky over the Assamlandscape, when these birds are seen flying away to roost.A host of other birds are also mentioned in the Bihu songs. These include the

river tern (Sterna aurantia), shikra (Accipiter badius), barbet (Megalaima spp.),spotted dove (Streptopelia chinensis), ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea), Kalijpheasant (Lophura leucomelanos), Asian koel (Eudynamys scolopacea), Indian cuckoo(Cuculus micropterus), purple swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio), blue whistling

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thrush (Myophonus caeruleus), munia (Lonchura spp.), crow (Corvus splendens/C. macrorhynchos), myna (Acridotheres spp.), magpie-robin (Copsychus saularis),sunbird (Aethopygia spp.) and black-necked stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus).Several types of fish (xal, xol, xingi, senga, bami, borali, balisonda, eleng, dorikona, naro,bato, rou, cital) are also referred to in the songs, thus emphasising the influence thatthe landscape has on the particular cultural form. Unlike flowers, descriptions offish and birds are not related to any particular season (barring the Indian cuckooand Asian koel that are seen as harbingers of spring). Rather, they help in definingthe landscape that influences the culture and the space from, and into which, thecultural phenomena unfold. Similarly, references in the songs to various plants,especially to plantain and grasses khagori (Phragmites karka), birina (Vetiveriazizanoides), keya-bon (Kyllingia brevifolia), and to their uses in daily life, furtherevoke the characteristics of the habitat, the ecological landscape, in an almostconsciously analytical manner (Barua 1966, 350). Thus, it could possibly be arguedthat the recreation of landscape and its flora and fauna in the words of the songshas its basis in ecology, as well as in history and geography.

Cultural Life, Modes of Production and Ecology

The Idea of Fertility

Academic opinion on the social functions of the fertility rites that permeate Bihuregards such rituals as originating from a demographic need to increase thepopulation when factors of the host ecosystem induced a very high rate of humanmortality. The tropical monsoon climate and extensive, wet, evergreen forests,with their wide range of diseases and wild animals, were not always ideal forhuman settlement. The demand for population was high not only because of thedeath rate, but also for the manpower required to colonise and settle in suchregions (Gogoi 1994, 178).The Bihu dances and other ritualised activities are regarded as important by the

people in order to increase the fertility of the land. Religious attributes are given totrees and plants associated with high reproductive capacity, which is inferredfrom external manifestations, including the bearing of abundant fruit or theproduction of several saplings, as the fig tree does (see below) (Gogoi 1994, 179).Plants or shrubs such as tora (Alpinia allughus), patidoi (Clinogyne dichotoma) and

kachu (Colocasia esculenta) are regarded as auspicious. The climate and habitat areconducive to the growth of such species and it is due to their hardy nature andcapacity to spread that these plants are given this value (Gogoi 1994, 179). Here is adirect link between ecological attributes and cultural forms, and the influence ofthe former upon the latter cannot be underestimated.Furthermore, there is a belief amongst the Assamese that in the first week of the

month of Ahar (late June) the earth conceives and then becomes pregnant. Peoplebelieve that it is due to this conception by the earth that grain is produced on thestalks of the rice plant later on in the crop cycle (Sarmah 1996, 61). During thisperiod when the earth is thought to be gestating, any activity that deals with theearth is taboo, be it cultivation, construction, digging, or, for that matter, anyreligious ceremony. This creates a very organic view of the earth, looking on italmost as if it were an organism that undergoes the cyclic function of life just as allthe crops and plants growing on it do. Such beliefs may also be linked to

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agricultural prudence in a region where a certain amount of restraint fromexploitative activity needs to be exercised (Gadgil and Guha 1992, 30–9).Included among the practices of the dominant Sakta cult are the sacrifice of pigs

and chickens and the sprinkling of their blood in the fields in order to increase thefertility of the soil (Gogoi 1994, 179). Hence the agricultural landscape becomes aspace that draws in religious activity, and links religious practice to ecologicalconcerns.With gradual change and less demand for fertility rites, these beliefs assume the

form of “cultural practice”: beliefs that cease to perform their original function butare held on to as a result of continuance of tradition. Although cultural notions ofBihu are based on ecological requirements, they are now isolated from theircontext and have become a reified form of cultural practice rather than having adeeper relationship with their environment.

Reference to Daily Life

People’s daily lives and activities are repeatedly mentioned in all of the Bihusongs. Although the content of the songs stresses aspects of courtship andcommunity, the songs set these into a context, or space, that is strongly delineatedby everyday life and people’s experience of the environment. There are referencesto the natural landscape and geography, thus actually describing the physicalsetting of the cultural paradigm.The regular naming of local plants, vegetables and fruit within the lyrical

expression is another striking example of the link between the cultural form anddaily life. Many of these plants are not necessarily cultivated, but grow wild, andthe consumption of such plants shows that although the society is largely based onsettled agriculture, dietary variety is endorsed by the region’s ecology. Otheractivities that people engaged in, including fishing and hunting, are aspects ofdaily life that find expression in the Bihu songs. There is also mention of huntingwild boar and even rhinoceros in the flood plain: “Parbatat marilo nodoka gahori,bhoiyamot marilo Garh” (“In the hills I hunted the stockywild boar, and in the plainsI hunted rhino”) (Barua 1966, 350).Such references to daily life in the Bihu folk songs may seem insignificant, but

the entire culture and identity of a people is linked to them (Barua 1966, 353).A society, at any given stage of development, creates certain cultural forms closelyrelated to the way it is organised, and such forms in turn begin to describe howthat society is oriented and organised. These cultural practices are closely linkedwith the ecological context in which they are performed and in which societydevelops.

Performance of the Cultural Tradition

It is by now apparent how closely linked the Bihu festivals are to the regionalecology of Assam. However, it is worth asking whether, and how, the festivals areaffected by alterations in the ecological setting where both the context andperformance space of the tradition are changing. At a time when Assamese societyis undergoing rapid change, not least in terms of globalisation, various voices haveemerged that want to preserve the tradition, partly as nostalgia, and partly as a bidto retain or assert identity and gain political power. But ecological issues are never

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discussed in this context, although they are just as important as social andeconomic factors of change. It has to be borne in mind that when cultural practicesare linked to ecological factors, as the Bihu festivals are, any attempt to fix them inan anthropological “freeze-frame” is unlikely to succeed as ecological changeseems to be an inevitable and ongoing process.

Context and Space

In earlier times the Bihu dance, a major symbol of Assamese identity, wasperformed under fig trees (Ficus) [4] and occasionally under other trees, notablythe mango (Mangifera indica) and jamu (Eugenia jambolana). The seed of the fig fruitis very small, but in that seed lies the enormous tree of the future. Hence, thechoice of site for the Bihu dance was linked to the fertility rites associated with it.Such spaces are rarely used nowadays to perform Bihu, and, although common invillages until twenty years ago, dancing under fig trees has disappeared frommost villages today. Similarly, in the names of flowers that abound in Bihu songs, itis the ecological context rather than their functional or utilitarian value that isstressed. The traditional view was to look at them, not in isolation, but as part of abroader environmental framework. On the eve of Magh Bihu, straw is tied to thebase of economically important trees and plants and, at the time of tying, a coupletis uttered expressing the wish that it will bear fruit in abundance (Gogoi 2002, 44).This tradition is prevalent in Assam even today, although the reasons or culturaltradition behind the practice are not known to most people. In certain cases aphrase with a wish for intense growth is written on the leaf of a nahor (M. ferrea)tree, and then placed on the roof or other parts of the house.The gradual disappearance of such practices is largely because the ecological

setting in which they were prevalent is slowly changing. Many of the villages thathad extensive rice cultivation and bordering wilderness areas are now semi-urbanised spaces with very few accessible wild places. Hence a lot of thereferences to the regional landscape and fauna in the Bihu songs are no longerrealistic as the landscape as described is greatly modified in most places, andalmost non-existent in others.

Ritual

Several rituals and customs that are followed at the time of Bihu are linked to thelandscape and ecology of the region. On the day of Magh Bihu, it is customary toeat a slice of a particular tuber called muwakuwori alu (Dioscorea spinosa andDioscorea esculenta), and it is believed that one will become a pig in the next life ifthis custom is not followed. This tradition elliptically refers to the rooting habit ofa pig or boar, and several types of tubers are eaten on this day. [5] In the Paora TolaUtsav held during Satbihu, a local variant of the Bohag Bihu in the Kamrup region ofLower Assam, there is a tradition of women going out to collect various plants(sak) at this time. It is said that these green plants give strength to people and thateating the plants collected during Satbihu can make existing illnesses disappearand also ward off new ones (J. Goswami 1996, 33–4). Although this belief may beeasily dismissed as superstition, it is necessary to realise the role it plays increating a mental notion of good health, as it can be regarded as a means by whichthe society deals with illness.

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Community fishing was an integral part of society and it was a regular featurein rural Assam during the month of Sot or on the eve of Magh Bihu. Communalactivities of this kind also have a role in establishing and maintaining socialstructure. Here, the stress is not so much on the product of fishing but on thefishing activity itself. Modern relationships to nature, on the other hand, do not laystress upon the activity of fishing, but rather isolate the product instead; there isthus an emphasis on the commodity rather than on relationships within thecommunity.

Contemporary Space

As we have seen above, the notion of seasonality is strongly ingrained in Bihu,both in terms of rituals and other cultural forms, thus bridging the divide betweenthe regional environment and cultural tradition. In earlier times it is quite possiblethat Bihu was celebrated in other parts of India, and the manner in which it iscelebrated in society today establishes the fact that it is a festival lacking strongreligious fervour. In fact, the two most obvious aspects of Bihu have broadecological connotations: the change of seasons or the function of seasons; andpractices relating to agriculture and cattle worship.On the day of Garu-Bihu, cattle are beaten with sticks made from two plants,

dighlati and makhiati, both found in the local woodlands. Nowadays, in severalurbanised regions where this is no longer practiced, due to either a lack of plantswithin easy access for the local communities or a lack of knowledge to identifythem, these plant names have become nostalgic symbols associated with Bihu.Thus, they have become both semantically and functionally dislodged from theirecological context. The plants constantly mentioned in the Bihu songs not onlyrefer to the characteristics of the setting in which Bihu takes place, but they alsolinguistically recreate that environment. When there is a shift in the nature of thesetting, these features of the environment begin to assume an imaginary, symbolicmeaning as “frozen” objects signifying the festival, rather than a part of the livedexperience of the environment that shaped the festival’s texts and performance.Hardliners who are bent on preserving traditionmust wake up to this reality. This

does not imply that one has to revert to some sort of atavism, but it is important torealise the ecological dimension of cultural change. Furthermore, the current trendof holding Bihu on staged spaces in the vicinity of a rural village, and organisingdance competitions in a manner that emulates modern beauty pageants is, itself, anindication of how far removed it has become from its original setting and meaning.Goswami has rightly pointed out that “our very dear Bohag Bihu” (“atikar senehar

bohagor bihu,” a phrase commonly used in the Bihu songs of Assam) has become aninstrument of regionalism (P. Goswami 1996, 5–6). What was once a broader socialand cultural phenomenon has now become a vehicle for politics revolving aroundthe notion of identity. To this we may add that it has become alienated from thevery ecological environment that it grew out of and continuously redefined.

Notes

[1] According to the Hindu lunar calendar, the first month of the year is Bohag (Vaisakha) and beginssometime in mid-April.

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[2] Gunabhiram Baruah and other Assamese writers of the period wrote of it as a vulgar festival(see Goswami 1957; Saikia 1996, 29).

[3] Editorial footnote in P. Goswami (1996, 41). Sankranti is the last day of a month and in the lunarcalendar, a time when the sun moves from one sign of the zodiac to the next.

[4] The most common species of Ficus under which the dance was performed are: bor (Ficusbengalensis), ahot (Ficus religiosa) and jori (Ficus hispida).

[5] Several species of tubers include kath alu (Dioscorea alata), gothia alu (Dioscorea bulbifera) and moaalu (D. spinosa); see Gogoi (2002, 45).

References Cited

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Barua, Birinchi Kumar. “Bihugitot Axamiya Jivanar Chitra.” In Asamiya Sanskriti, ed. HariprasadNeog and Lila Gogoi. 338–53. Guwahati: Assam Sahitya Sabha, 1966.

Barua, Birinchi Kumar. A Cultural History of Assam (Early Period). Guwahati: Lawyer’s Book Stall,1969.

Gadgil, Madhav, and Ramachandra Guha. This Fissured Land: An Ecological History of India.New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Gogoi, Lila. Axomor Sanskriti. Guwahati: Banalata, 1994.

Gogoi, Lila. Bihu–Eti Samiksha. Guwahati: Banalata, 2002.

Goswami, Jatin. “Kamrupot Satbihur Utsav.” In Bohag Bihur Barebaraniya Chabi, ed. PrafulladuttaGoswami. 32–6. Guwahati: Chandra Prakash, 1996.

Goswami, Prafulladutta. The Bihu Songs of Assam. Guwahati: Lawyer’s Book Stall, 1957.

Goswami, Prafulladutta. Festivals of Assam. Guwahati: Anundoram Borooah Institute of Language,Art and Culture, 1995.

Goswami, Prafulladutta. “Bohag Bihur Parampara.” In Bohag Bihur Barebaraniya Chabi,ed. Prafulladutta Goswami. 1–6. Guwahati: Chandra Prakash, 1996.

Guha, Ramchandra, and Juan Martinez-Alier. Varieties of Environmentalism: Essays North and South.New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Kosambi, Damodar Dharmanand. Myth and Reality. Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1962.

Neog, Maheswar. “Chatar Bihu Rongali.” In Bohag Bihur Barebaraniya Chabi, ed. PrafulladuttaGoswami. 7–11. Guwahati: Chandra Prakash, 1996.

Patir, Ramakanta. “Aliai Lrigang.” In Bohag Bihur Barebaraniya Chabi, ed. Prafulladutta Goswami.40–1. Guwahati: Chandra Prakash, 1996.

Phukan, Tirtha. “Bihur Udbhawak Kon?” In Bihur Rup-Ras aru Tattwa, ed. A. C. Sarmah. 40–52.Guwahati: B. R. Kalita Book Depot, 1996.

Saikia, Purnananda. “Phat Bihu.” In Bihur Rup-Ras aru Tattwa, ed. A. C. Sarmah. 28–32. Guwahati:B. R. Kalita Book Depot, 1996.

Sarmah, Achyut Chandra. “Bihur Utpatti aru Kramabikas.” In Bihur Rup-Ras aru Tattwa,ed. A. C. Sarmah. 56–66. Guwahati: B.R. Kalita Book Depot, 1996.

Sharma, Hemanta Kumar. “Kamrupot Bohag Bihu.” In Bohag Bihur Barebaraniya Chabi,ed. Prafulladutta Goswami. 25–31. Guwahati: Chandra Prakash, 1996.

Vatsyayan, Kapila, and Maheswar Neog. Gita-Govinda in the Assam School of Painting. Guwahati:Publication Board, Assam, 1986.

Maan Barua222

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Biographical Note

Maan Barua is a Clarendon scholar at the School of Geography and Environment,University of Oxford. His current research seeks to integrate cultural geography andecology in order to develop a biocultural approach to understanding issues of resource useand conservation.

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