Songs of peace

Bhajan melodies are a beautiful part of our cultural heritage. A bhajan song is soothing and takes one to a different world. For years tales and episodes from scriptures and the teachings of saints have all been the subject of bhajans. For those who don’t know, bhajan is a kind of worship where worshipers adore their God through singing and dancing during the rituals. The best part about bhajans is that they have no fixed format and the singers can perform on different occasions. Like other ragas, a bhajan is also considered to have healing powers. Bhajans also help in calming and soothing the human body and mind. In this ethos, music enriches both the listener and the performer through a combination of aesthetic and spiritual experience. prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Umerkot, Sindh, is flooded with shrines of Sufi saints and Hindu temples. Currently, the population of Umerkot is estimated to be equally divided between Hindus and Muslims. These shrines and temples attract bhajan singers from all over the region. These singers frequently travel to Umerkot to perform there and connect to the listeners and worshipers through their soulful voices. Also bhajan singers are invited to perform privately at homes so the families can pay homage to their loved ones. The people receive these singers warmly, showering them with rose petals and treating them as if they are spiritual leaders; that is how influential their melodies are. These exceptional bhajan performers belong to socially and economically marginalised schedule caste communities like Bheel, Meghwar, Kolhi, Oad etc. residing in the desert area.

Amongst these singers, one bhajan singer who has won many hearts in Umerkot with her melodious voice is Jeia Bhagtan and has been given the title of ‘koel’. She often performs at the famous Shiv Temple in the outskirts of Umerkot City as well as festivals or family functions in the Thar Desert and adjoining areas.

Jeia is a part of a singing group that has four male-members from her community. They play traditional instruments while Jeia sings. She herself has a five-string Damboro, which supports in maintaining her rhythm while signing. Despite being illiterate, she has memorised bhajans of Meera Bai, Kabir and Tulsidas. She usually sings in Hindi and local Dhatki languages. She depends economically on the donations which she receives while performing the holy songs. This is her only source of generating income. According to her, “I don’t have any fixed charges for a particular occasion and I don’t take an advance for the performance. It is up to organizers or listeners to pay me as much as they like. I take any amount as a blessing. Whatever I earn is enough for a decent and simple living.”

The temple where Jeia usually performs was built by her mother Gulaban, inside their residential premises some years ago in the honour of Rama Pir, whose actual temple is located in Tando Allahyar city. Rama Pir Temple is a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity and a peaceful co-existence for centuries in this part. Hundreds of people travel long distance by foot to reach Rama Pir on the occasion of three-day annual festivals held in September every year.

For Jeia, bhajans are Sat Sang (gathering for truth) and she devotedly performs them on such occasions. People invite her to perform at temples, ritual ceremonies and festivals all around the wide desert zone, mostly Tharparkar, Umerkot, Mirpukhas and Tando Allahyar.

However, it was not a piece of cake for Jeia to earn a name and she needed the backing of Radha Bheel, a community activist of Mirpurkhas. Radha endorses Jeia and has also introduced another singer Seeta Bheel to the desert area. Seeta is a blind singer from Jamesabad, Mirpurkhas district. Regarding the talent of these singers Radha states, “These singers have beautiful and melodious voices that no one can compete with. We need such singers because their voices provide relief to the people, who otherwise, are experiencing stress due to acute poverty.”

Even though listening to bhajans is not common in big cities the truth is that the peace and tranquillity that such devotional songs provide is exactly what we need. So, the next time you head out to towns like Umerkot and Mirpurkhas, do make an effort to experience sounds of the soulful bhajans.