BHOPAL: Alha, a folk music genre and heroic ballad narrating the tales of two legendary warriors, Alha and Udal, is playing a new role in Madhya Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region — educating villagers on how to prevent and treat snake bites promptly to save human lives.
As heavy rains cause snakes to slither into human settlements, making people vulnerable to snake bites, the South Panna division of the MP Forest Department is harnessing the popular appeal of Alha folk music to prevent snakebite fatalities. Annually, the Panna district reports over 60 deaths due to snake bites.
The song composed and sung in the traditional Bundelkhandi narrative style of ‘Alha’ has been penned by noted poet Dr Suresh Srivastava ‘Saurabh.’
It conveys the risks of snakebite, preventive measures, timely and appropriate anti-venom medical treatment (within three golden hours from the snakebite), and not approaching ‘tantriks’ and quacks.
The song’s audio version will be disseminated widely through village forest committees and social media platforms.
“Our campaign stands as a model of how traditional art forms can be harnessed for awareness and public health communication in rural India,” DFO, South Panna Forest Division Anupam Sharma told this newspaper on Tuesday.
It’s not just the Alha tradition that the forest division (spread across 1.80-lakh-hectare dense forest) is employing to educate people about snakebites.World Snake Day on Wednesday will be marked by distribution of two specially-designed snakes-and-ladders games in schools of the region.
“The games creatively present important DOs and DON’Ts related to snakebite incidents using symbolic cartoon illustrations on ladders (positive actions) and snakes (incorrect actions). The snakes featured in the game represent India’s most venomous species — the cobra, Russell’s Viper, and Common Krait, which are responsible for majority of human deaths due to snakebites in MP. The design also incorporates Gond tribal art motifs, adding a local cultural touch to the games,” Sharma added.