Odia Medium Class 8 Sahitya Surabhi Chapter 4 Notes: Damkach

Class 8 Odia Sahitya Surabhi Chapter 4 Notes – Damkach

This text is written in the style of a conversation between the author and one of his colleagues. The author realizes that, based on the qualities of nature and seasons, and by embracing the mood of the time, various dances and songs have been integrated into the year-round life of the tribal people.

The author witnessed the Domkach dance performed by a fourteen-to-fifteen-year-old boy. Along with the dance, he also heard songs about Rama and Sita sung in the Sadri language. The extraordinary gestures of the dance, combined with the rhythm and melody of the music, melted the author’s heart and mind with absolute purity.

Rituals of Karma Puja

The rituals of Karma Puja are performed as follows: A branch of the Karma tree is brought from the forest and planted. Next to it, the “Jawa” is established.

• The Jawa: Seven to eight days before the festival, seeds of barley, paddy, wheat, horse gram, and other grains are sprouted in wet sand. These sprouts are placed in a bamboo basket (Changudi) and beautifully decorated with garlands made of cucumber, ridge gourd, and wild flowers. This arrangement is known as the Jawa.

Unmarried girls and childless women arrive holding individual cucumbers wrapped in turmeric-stained cloth. The Karma Puja then takes place. A Brahmin priest reads aloud a story or myth regarding the significance of the Karma Puja. Holding the ritual cucumbers, the girls and women circumambulate the Karma worship site seven times. After returning from there, they finish their meals at home. Following this, young men and women dance together all night long to the beats of the Madal (traditional drum).

Jitia Festival and Cultural Significance

• Jitia Festival: This is celebrated in the month of Ashwina. Mothers observe this festival for the well-being of their sons. In this festival, instead of a branch of the Karma tree, a branch of the Peepal tree (Ashwatha) is worshipped, and dancing is performed all around it.

At the author’s request, his colleague sings a verse from an ‘Anganai’ song. The meaning of the song is:

“Yadupati Natabara Krishna is blocking the path, how can I go to fetch water? Holding my garland of Kaincha seeds, Natabara is pulling and stopping me; my garland will break, how can I go to fetch water?”

The author profoundly realizes that India continues to thrive by keeping the two names—Rama and Krishna—as its chanting beads (Japamali). All songs, dances, Handia (rice beer), and Mahula (local liquor) are entirely surrendered at the feet of these two divine names. This very surrender defines the civilization and culture of India.

On the day of Bhadrava Shukla Ekadashi, the author personally witnessed the Karma festival being celebrated in a village in Mayurbhanj. It is not celebrated exclusively by tribal groups like the Ho, Munda, and Oraon; the Mahanta community celebrates it as well. They choose not to make life a storehouse of sorrow, but rather consider it a source of joy.