KEONJHAR: Sankirtan - a vibrant form of devotional art - holds crowds together in rural Odisha even today. The art form, though, is no longer confined to devotion alone. Because, the artistes have been using it as a medium to address issues that are crucialtorural livelihood. One such performer is Pramila Pradhan of Murgapahadi village in Ghatagaon block of Keonjhar district who runs Radhakrushna Sankirtan Mandali.
This year, she and her troupe moved across all villages in h e r p a n c h a y a t throughout the summer season, performing Sankirtan and raising awareness against the hazards of forest fire. Her kirtans struck a chord with the people and resulted in voluntary action in many parts too. Five years back, Pramila revived a Sankirtan Mandali that was formed by her fatherin- law three decades back.
While he could not sustain it due to lack of funds, Pramila decided to revive the Sankirtan Mandali in 2021 by roping in members from her village and nearby villages. Her motive was to supplement her family income and also help a few others in the area in doing so. Today, the 20-member troupe has 10 women of Murgapahadi village including adolescent girls. While the women sing, the men play the musical instruments.
“In the last five years, we must have performed in at least 40 places in the district to mark many religious occasions, be it festivals, birth and thread ceremonies or weddings. And people have appreciated our performance time and again,” she said.
Considering their popularity, the local forest officials who regularly face the challenge of forest fires, especially during the summer season, approached them to perform Sankirtan on the theme. With forest fires impacting them too, the Sankirtan singers and musicians agreed. Pramila, who is in her 30s, said forest fires in the region are an annual occurrence and dent their livelihood too. Most of the women in the troupe including Pramila are either farmers or sharecroppers with agriculture being their mainstay. But their dependance on forests for non-timber forest produce (NTFP) is also high.
“During summer, most of us depend on the forest for collecting NTFP like firewood, Sal seeds, Kendu leaf, Mahua flowers, amla, etc. If one person lights a fire, mostly for the purpose of hunting, it spreads to the entire forest and everything is ruined,” said Pramila, a mother of two.
Since March, the troupe moved across all villages located in the vicinity of Atei reserve forest located within Ghatagaon forest range under Badajamuposi panchayat by foot, and performed Sankirtan, creating awareness among people about forest fires and their impact, poaching and other environmental issues.
“As villagers here are religious, they tend to listen to Sankirtan. And there has been an impact. This year, no one from these villages have lit any fire in the forest and hunting has also come down,” she said with a smile. Pramila is also training the young girls in her troupe to continue the Sankirtan tradition and use it for the benefit of the local community, environment protection and wildlife conservation.