Musical Culture of the Munda Tribe

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One of the important areas of study in anthropology, so far neglected, is tribal music. This book on musical culture of the Munda tribe of Chhotanagpur plateau of middle eastern India is a step in this direction. Music is composed from real life situation and experiences of either sex of the individuals and depicts the total life as well as cultural history of the people of that period. How a Munda perceives, conceptualises and articulates his life experiences ideas and emotions and how he formulates philosophy of life out of his experiences, is a representative example of the pattern and process in music making and its value in tribal society. Musical life of the tribals is full of behavioural activities and interactions with men, on the one hand, and with nature and spirit world, on the other. Human ideas, attitudes and emotions in general, find its best expression through the medium of song and dance and the best example of it can be seen in Munda music. In the book, original song texts have been retained with English translation so as to facilitate further research in this area.

Sem Topno, himself a tribal and by training an anthropologist, has a long years of association and experience of working among communities of various tribes and castes of India. He keeps deep interest in the study of traditional cultures and problems of the weaker sections of the societies. He has contributed a number of articles on the subjects and has published few books. He was associated with the Anthropological Survey of India, and the University Grants Commission in service life.

The Mundas are one of the widely studied tribes in India. There is an array of literature on this tribe which throw sufficient light on all aspects of the people's lives, that is, history, politics, society, economics, language and culture in general. Almost all the works, however, carry the outsiders view as the people and their culture was observed through the lance of other cultures. The views expressed in some of these works are laden with value judgement and suffer from attitudinal biases. It is natural that such study suffers from misconceptions and misrepresentation of people's culture. But there are also good works on the people and their culture which throw some light on their rich cultural heritage.

The present treatise is in the direction of presentation of self by the tribe themselves through the music of their own creation which is so clear and transparent that it reveals the whole society and culture in totality as well as its process and functions. The most important thing in any tribal society is that it is embedded in the eco-environment so deeply that conceptualization of their society and culture without it, is impossible. Music has an important role in human society and this has been perceived by the human beings since primordial times. But unlike the music of the developed society, tribal music has myriad functions. It is a feast not only for the eyes, ears and mind of the people but it is also a heritage of knowledge and wisdom of the tribal people. The theme of the music is derived from the eco- environment of the tribe, their society, economy, history and politics including their philosophy and world-views.

Change and development is the law of the nature and the tribal society and culture is no exception. The change from within the society is always for sound growth and development but change from outside which is thrust upon the people and particularly on the tribals, is not always healthy. Prof. Sachchidananda while studying the Munda tribe identified some basic factors responsible fe unhealthy change in their society and culture. He has stated this these words:

"Munda culture is fast changing because of contact with an alien people and alien ways of life. The process has been continuing for a very long time and as facilities for communication have increased the isolation of the tribal villages has been broken. Constant livin with non-tribal castes in villages, growth of education, the growt of townships in the interior of the tribal regions, the increasing industrialization of the area due to its wealth of mineral resources and the growth of new industries, the work of various missionaric as well as the growth of political consciousness have brought abou a great deal of change in the life of the tribes in this area Administrative agencies, forest officials, businessmen, contractors, and moneylenders have given further stimulus to culture changemi (1979: 14).

The study of musical culture and culture history of the Munda was made among the autochthonous group who still uphold the. traditional forms of culture though greatly reduced in number. Unde great stress of change and strain of modernity and laden with psychological pressure of practising the outdated customs an practices, they may not be able to carry it over to the twenty-first century. A sure death is awaiting this great culture of unwritten tradition. Culture is an index of quality of life of the people and heritage of the mankind as traditions. It is the sum-total of achievement in excellence of the people over an unrecorded perio of time. And so, the music in particular is taken as the common heritage of mankind.

The data on music and songs were collected from the Konkpat Mundas of the Naguri country who inhabit the south-western and southern parts of Ranchi district in Chhotanagpur plateau and areas covered by the police stations of Khunti, Torpa, Kamdara, Karraj Bero, Lapung, Sisai, Basia, Palkot, Bano, Kolebira, Rania Manoharpur, Bandgaon, Murhu, etc. The Mundas of this area socially linguistically and politically are well integrated people.

Sem Topno's work Musical Culture of the Munda Tribe is a welcome addition to the critical literature on the Mundas. This is an insider's view, who is both participant and observer.

While anthropologists and linguists have given considerable attention to this very important group, no enough attention has been paid to the interface of the Munda cosmogony, cosmology, world- view, life-function and the artistic expressions. One group of anthropologists have laid stress on the material culture and others to the value culture, and yet others only to the Mundari language, few have attempted to view the life of a cohesive group as a totality where there is an intrinsic inter-relationship between the cosmology. world-view, the life cycle and function and the seemingly simple and attractive music and dance traditions.

Dr. Sem Topno's monograph attempts to do precisely this. Painstakingly he contextualises the music and dance within the physical landscape, its flora and fauna, the life-cycle, life-style, daily function and the cosmology and mythology.

The book is neatly divided into six parts, viz. the Munda tradition of music and dance, journey through the stages of life, the environment and views on the cosmic universe, the philosophy of life and social world, and finally economic and political history. This undoubtedly is a comprehensive coverage of almost all facets of the group.

Most revealing is the perception of the universe, the myths of creation and the hierarchy of powers as reflected in the songs of the Mundas. Through them one learns of the awareness of a unified vision which conceives of the Sing Bonga and the consequent creation of the universe through a series of complimentary principles. Equally illuminating is the presence and communication with the flora and the fauna and all aspects of nature.. This dialogue of Man-Nature is the great contemporary relevance as: it points to a world view where there is no sense of a violent confrontation with nature.

Equally pertinent is the world view and the philosophy of life and the social organisation. A balance is made between the individual and the collective group. Often in our anxiety to assert the identity of only the individual, we forget that group cohesiveness is a source of emotional security and confidence rather than individual fear and aggression.

The life-cycle from birth to death is punctuated with a series of rites, which facilitate transition from one stage to the other, music and dance are essential markers of this journey. Each song and dance acquires special significance as it is intrinsically linked to life experience.

Music and dance and other artistic expressions, thus become an essential and indispensable part of everyday life and are not leisure time activities of entertainment and filling up vacuum. The compositions of the music and dance reflect both social structure as also gender relationships. Indeed they are indicators of under- standing inter-relationships as also phases and stages of life. Dr. Sem Topno gives us a detailed account of the vast repertoire of the musical compositions of the songs and dances. The section on the musical instruments is informative and valuable. Students of Indian folk music and dance will have much to learn from this account.

Dr. Sem Topno does well to bring his account in the two concluding chapters on the recent economic and political history. These chapters make his readers aware of the multiple identities of the Mundas. As a cohesive group committed to a cosmology and world view they have one identity. As individuals and a group within a large democracy, they have the need to assert another identity. The question is, can they contain both, or must there be inner conflict and outer dissent? These chapters bring to fore the whole question of empowerment and disempowerment, the so called majority and minority questions and those of the debate of main stream and subsidiary streams. Dr. Sem Topno handles them with sensitivity and gentleness.

**Contents and Sample Pages**