“Tihar oozes mood of glee and merry. And what adds to the whole splendor is the marvelous musical side of the festival,” says Ayush Pradhanang who has started rehearsing for deusi that he and his friends will perform in their neighborhood in Kuleshwor. Deusi always excites him as a means to get along with friends, sing and dance, and share the joys.[break]
Tapas thapa
Deusi and Bhailo are special songs sung from door to door by groups of males or females that give blessings to families in exchange for money, refreshment and homemade delicacies. They have various myths and legends surrounding their origin and significance. Religious scriptures date them back to the prehistoric times when a generous ruler Bali Raja set the trend of donating exuberantly on this particular day in exchange for blessings from God Vishnu, hence initiating the culture of playing deusi bhailo.
Sociological and anthropological perspectives, on the other hand, share different stories.According to Padma Lal Devkota, Professor of Anthropology, “One, among many, legends relates that deusi was observed for the first time in Mugu District where the Khas king Bali Raja, on being attacked by the Mughals, designated a troop to visit each household and collect donation from them to feed soldiers participating in the war.”
Myths and stories surrounding the origin and meaning of deusi-bhailo vary, and so do the trends of performing and practicing them. The socio-cultural motive behind performing this rite may have uniformly remained acquiring entertainment through celebration in groups of social kin, but the modes and forms of observing it, nonetheless, have been prone to change over time.
For Sadhana Bajagain, an inhabitant of Khumaltar, playing deusi-bhailo, besides being a pursuit of entertainment, has also taken on a form of an enjoyable corporate practice. She has plans to perform bhailo in group with her partners of a financial cooperative. “We’ve decided on particular spots to perform where our invitees are requested to participate in the program of an hour or two,” Sadhana says, briefing her schedule.
Needless to say, bhailo for Sadhana still retains the essential sense of a cultural act performed for entertainment and for strengthening social ties. But her styles and modes of observing it have been adapted to the current ways. Instead of visiting door to door, the cooperative plans to perform it in a venue common to many households, and to dance to the tunes of some other folk songs besides the customary Bhailini aain aangana.
Sadhana is not alone in this sweep of change. Ayush from Khumaltar is also observant of the changes that have appeared over recent years in the modes of performing deusi-bhailo, including his own. The greatest shift, Ayush believes, stems from the use of technology in deusi-bhailo. “I’ve been playing deusi since I was a child. We used to take madal back then, now drum sets and electronic guitars are our allies in performing deusi,” he explains.
Technical support apparently has become a popular choice, if not a must, during deusi-bhailo. The verbal recitation of Deusire! is increasingly being assisted by mikes and loudspeakers, if not completely replaced by audio records.
The choice of songs is yet another highlight in the discussion over changing deusi trends. The customary Deusire and Bhailini sung in lead-chorus pattern is gradually being sidetracked by the in-style contemporary songs gaining wide popularity in deusi performance.
“We tend to select songs to cater the interest and likings of the host. To please and satisfy them is the primary motto while playing deusi,” says Ayush. Sadhana is also rehearsing her dance number to popular Nepali and Hindi songs, and has already thought of her costumes that go well with her dance sequences.
Besides the style and mode of performance, Deusi-bhailo has also undergone shift in its monetary value. Ayush admits those changes.
“We used to be paid in fiftys and hundreds a few years ago, now we get paid in five hundreds and thousands,” he smiles. In Sadhana’s case, the collected money, instead of being instantly and evenly divided, goes into a collective fund to be used later for banking or refreshment purpose.
Apart from these, deusi-bhailo is also gradually evolving out of being solely a cultural act and has gained extended meanings: it is being played lately for causes – all social, political and environmental. “Sisno Pani Nepal” is reckoned for its highly popular deusi song infused with political message, the political satire in particular. The slogans it devised target the concerns of the Constituent Assembly and the unstable political context of the country.
Similarly, forums like the Nepalese Youth for Climate Action, and Create Vision, Raise Voice and Take Action Now have conducted deusi campaigns in the past to inform people of the hazards of environmental damages. In this sense, deusi-bhailos have also been adopted as a well-liked and entertaining medium for raising awareness.
In this light, the culture of deusi-bhailo has largely become a culture in flux. But despite all these apparent changes, Prof. Devkota stresses upon the functional aspects of such rites and rituals that, he believes, are enduring.
“Notwithstanding the diversity in ways deusi-bhailo is played across the cultures and locations, they contribute as a source of entertainment, and a means to strengthen collective participation in social festivities,” opines Prof. Devkota.
Arriving upto the present time, deusi and bhailo have certainly evolved through innumerable changes in their original forms and roots. While myths relate them to the culture of charity and/or donation, deusi-bhailos today take on a more of a social meaning and significance; they have become a source of entertainment and a means of social celebration and participation. Accordingly, the styles and modes of observing this rite have also been accommodated to serve the changing times and purposes. But regardless of the traits that may have faded or, in that case, emerged with time, deusi-bhailos have remained consistently over time as a source of exuberance and joy during Tihar.
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