Brahmin, Kshatriya women in Dolakha play Panche Baja

By Our Correspondent,Charikot, Mar. 6: Women from the Brahmin and Kshatriya communities have come up with encouraging programmes to conserve the traditional musical instruments used to play 'Panche Baja', which are gradually disappearing with the emergence of modern musical instruments.     

 The women belonging  to the high castes like Brahmin and   Kshatriya of   Bhimeshwor Municipality -5 in Dolakah have themselves started playing the 'Panche Baja'.

 As the male population of the community that has been playing the traditional musical instruments has started declining or they stopped giving continuity to their traditional occupation,   women from the Brahmin, Kshatriya and even Dalit communities have begun a campaign to preserve the Panche Baja.

The women associated with the Panche Baja Aama Group of Bhimeshwor Municipality -5 have started playing the Panche Baja with the aim of preserving the traditional musical instruments.

For some time now, women have been playing 'Panche baja' in various events, gatherings and conferences organised in the district, wearing similar outfit. 

The 'Panche Baja' group is invited to play the musical instruments in most of the programmes organised in the district.  

 Women recently played the 'Panche Baja' in the opening ceremony of Dholakha Festival organsied by Dolakha Chamber of Commerce.

 Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Physical Planning and Transport had inaugurated the festival. 

Asmita Thapa, one of the Panche Baja players, said that there was extreme shortage of Panche Baja players in the functions like weddings, sacred thread wearing ceremony, Chaurasi (84th birthday) Puja and other festivals and she started learning to play the instruments to fulfill the shortage.

 She said that she went to learn to play the instrument after finishing her household chores and her family fully supported her. 

Along with the preservation of 'Panche Baja', the new job has been helping the women generate income as well. 

 "I knew to play 'Madal' and now, I am also learning to play 'Dholak' as well," she said. 

As the women from the upper castes have started  playing the 'Panche Baja' its impact  in the society is high, she added.  A total of 16 women have learned to play 'Panche Baja' under Panche Baja Ama Group. 

The women now play various nine types of musical instruments including Shehnai, Dholak, Tyamko, Jhyali, Karnal and Damaha.

They have been receiving regular training for a long time. On the proposal of the ward office, Bhimeshwor Municipality allocated Rs. 50,000 to train the women to play the Panche Baja'. 

According to Baja coach Ram Kumar Nepali, although it was difficult to teach women to play the Panche Baja, their enthusiasm and learning passion were envying. 

"It was easy to teach them as they had  interest and enthusiasm," he said, adding that it was a good thing for mothers who had never touched an instrument before to learn to play the instrument. 

"We have taught them to play 10 types of instruments," he said. 

Basu Shrestha, chairman of ward  no. 5 of Bhimeshwor Municipality, said that he was excited by the enthusiasm and activism of women and that the Baja group would be encouraged. 

He said that there was a shortage of manpower to play the instruments in auspicious works after skilled youths began to go abroad as migrant workers. “We conducted the training to fill up the gap,” he added.

 He said that they have a plan to advance the programme by allocating more budget  in the coming days.