Assam has a rich cultural heritate. Geographically this state is covered by hills and plains. There are numerous rural ethnic groups which have their own unique customs and traditions. The original inhabitants of the state are the various groups of tribals belonging to different categories. They prefer to live in rural areas. They have their individual identity. The appearance, dress, dialogue and living conditions differ from one tribe to another. Depending on their socio-economic conditions and ethical obligations, they lead their distinct and unique cultural life. One can easily identify them as to whether they are Bodo, Mising, Karbi, Tiwa, Manipuri, Hajong, Garo, Dimasha or belong to any other tribe as may be. Though these tribal groups mainly hail from the peasant community, they set aside their leisure time for enjoying their traditional festivals or ritual ceremonies with great enthusiasm.

The Rabhas are one of the above mentioned tribal communities who mostly reside in the plains of the districts of Kamrup and Goalpara. The Rabha tribe consists of Pati Rabha, Mitory Rabha, Rangdani Rabha, Hana Rabha, Totola Rabha, Modehi Rabha, Kocha Rabha and they are so called on the basis of their division of labour in carrying out religious rituals and other activities.

The topic of discussion in this write-up is the Bharigaan. The Bharigaan is one of the most attractive folk cultural items found in the districts of Goalpara and Kamrup. This item of folk culture has neither been discussed widely nor been made known to the other parts of Assam. One does not find much reading material on it. The scholars who write about Ojapali, Putala Nach, Kushan gaan etc merely mention the word Bharigaan only. No clear picture is available from the written documents.

The Bharigaan is exclusively a folk cultural institution of the extreme west part of Assam. It is performed only in certain parts of Kamrup and Goalpara. The tribal community of the Pati Rabhas have preserved it in much of its orginal form and continued to perform it whenever they are contacted for any occasion. None of the leaders of this community can give details about the origin and development of Bharigaan. They are merely involved performing this art on certain occasions. The people involved with Bharigaan (Pati Rabha) have the impression that this item has come from their forefathers. It is a Guru Mukhi Vidya (an education received from the demonstration of the teacher). In course of time some changes have been noticed due to lack of initiative for preservation of documents permanently. The troupes that are available at present perform the Bharigaan from memory as no set of system has been formulated for guidance. The Bharigaan troupe is divided into three groups. The first group consists of five or six persons. There is one Oja and four or five Palis. They jointly perform musical chorus with song and gestures. The Oja leads the selected song and the Palis accompany him and repeat the song. This part of Bharigaan could be compared with the Ojapali of undivided Kamrup (Nalbari area) and Darrang (Sipajhar of Mangaldai area) and Kushan gaan of erstwhile Goalpara district. The songs of Bharigaan have no relation with Indian classical music. The troupe of singers of Bharigaan tie white bands on their waists and don blue shirts. The songs are mostly based on the Ramayana.

The second group consists of four persons. Two of them beat the khol (a long drum) while the other accompany with the paritala. They begin the Bharigaan with their unique khola bandana. This music of khola and tala is of twelve types. This item is performed to draw the attention of the audience. This portion can be treated as the prelude of the Bharigaan.

The third and prime group is the drama troupe. The number of actors and actresses depend on the characters of the drama selected for the show. The plots of the drama are taken from mythology. The Kabya, Purana etc are the main source of dramas choosenfor Bharigaan.The drama group takes the story of Badha Kabyas so that the rural audience can be interested in the war between good and evil. Asurs are either killed or pushed back by the Devatas in the war field. This action of Bharigaan imparts moral lessons among the illiterate villagers.

The Bharigaan was earlier performed in different Puja pandals, religious functions and other public and private occasions. Now, with improvised style of folk cultural programmes and theatrical performances, this art form is not so popular. However, the Bharigaan troupe is still continuing this programme with its traditional nature. Mahi Badh and Ravan Badh are the two dramas they have performed regularly to suit the occasion. In the play Ravan badh they have two types of characters. The Rakshyasas such as Ravana, Kumbha Karna, Indrajeet, Nal, Neel, Sugrib, Hanuman, Doot and some minor characters are ranged on one side and on the other side there are gods such as Siva, Rama, Indra etc. The dramatic sequences develop in different scenes and come to a climax in the battlefield. The end brings calm and peace in the minds of the audience.

One of the important features of Bharigaan is the use of masks. The actors and actresses playing the role of Rakshyasas use masks while the characters of the gods are in their original form of appearance. The use of masks in the characters of Rakshyasas may have been devised to create the feeling of fear in the minds of the audience. The masks are decorated with red, blue, yellow or black colour so as to identify the characters. The use of masks can be seen in Kamrupia dhulia and also in ‘Ankiya Bhaona’. This may have been adapted from ‘Ankiya Bhaona’ in Bharigaan as the Bhaona culture is the oldest form of performing art. From the language point of view, it may be mentioned that the dialogue used in the Bharigaan of South Kamrup is not a local one spoken by the people of the locality. This has certain similarities with the language spoken in the neighbouring areas of East Bengal and a part of Goalpara. So, this folk culture might have come from those areas.

Judging all aspects, the origin and development of Bharigaan needs extensive field work and research. There is sufficient scope to bring into light unknown facts about Bharigaan, which will further enrich Assamese folk culture.