Friends,
What's ur opinion on it?(Thogh it's an old news.) Especially Xena, what's ur opinion?
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http://www.nepalnews.com/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2001/jan/jan03/local.htm Deuda dance faces threat from insurgency
By Raghunath Lamichhane
MARTADI, Bajura, Jan 2 - Tan ghumya mero man ghumchha, na ghumyai Karnali. Roughly translated it means - if thou move so sharply, so does my soul. So, don?t swirl, Karnali.
This is a piece of Deuda song, which has an emotional attachment with the serpentine snow-fed mighty Karnali River. The Karnali curves and twists through its course and the people feel disgusted.
The Deuda dance, popular in the far-western hill region, is on the verge of extinction due to the Maoist insurgency.
The folk dance, usually done at night, is facing hard times these days after the Maoists warned the locals not to hold such functions especially at night.
The Deuda is played between the participants from different villages at a secluded place - like a sheep-shed. It is an appropriate occasion to fall in love between a chhoratta (boy) and chhoratti (girl), possibly ending in tying a nuptial knot.
The Deuda dance is also equally popular even among the married couples, as this is a part of the culture.
"If it is only for the boys and girls to fall in love, why to play Deuda at night?" a Maoist cadre told The Kathmandu Post, "What?s wrong to have a love marriage?" However, the Maoist cadre claimed that his party has not imposed a ban on playing Deuda among the same sex and married couples.
So much so, people at Jagannath VDC have stopped organizing the dance since last year when a chhoratta was killed after he fell-off a steep rock on being chased by people from the Chhoratti side.
A businessman at Kolti said that, in June, the Maoists forced a chhoratta and chhoratti of a Deuda group to get married within three days. They got married within the period as the rebels warned them of breaking their hands and legs.
Although Deuda is played during the festival, people can be seen playing it all the time in Martadi and its neighbouring villages.
The dance is performed standing in a circle with hands held together. The group that fails to reply in the Deuda tune is defeated. During the Maghe Sankranti ( which usually falls in the second week of January), Deuda is played even at day-time.
A teacher at Bahrabis, Chandra Bahadur Saud, says that it is automatically understood as an invitation to the dance if a person offers some gifts such as a hanky or a ring.
The Deuda dance has a dark side, too. Prem Bahadur Karki from Kolti says, "It is in no way good for boys and girls to be together at night." So much so, the growing participation of the married men has added a polygamous problem in society, Karki added.
Mane Majhi from Gujada, however, seems quite happy with the Maoist ban on playing Deuda at night at a time when locals are also worried about the "perverted" Deuda tradition. He says that even the school children have no habit of studying due to the Deuda. Local teachers say there are some students who attend classes after playing Deuda throughout the whole night.
Nari Thapa from Martadi says, "We told them not to waste their time playing Deuda, but nobody obeys us". Thapa is of the view that teachers can play a leading role to correct the bad habit of the children.
There are examples of a number of couples, who never knew each other before, got married after attending Deuda. The couples, who get married without properly acquainting with each other, will have to face social ostracism if such marriage takes place between the touchable and untouchable castes, Dipak Bogati from Thanti bazaar says.
A local Shyam Fadera recalls an event from Kalika VDC in Humla, a neighbouring VDC of Bajura, how the villagers forced a couple to leave the village.
An untouchable boy got married with a Brahmin girl while playing the Deuda last year. They were forced to leave the village as the marriage was against the social norms and values.
Deputy Superintendent of Police in Bajura, Shiva Lamichhane, says he has so far received no information of violence related with Deuda. DSP Lamichhane says that since Deuda has a deep rooted culture in the region, nobody feels otherwise to participate in the play.
However, the locals are of the view that the play should be preserved after removing the existing anomalies in the tradition rather than impose a total ban on it.
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