Nagpuri culture refers to the culture of the

Nagpuria people The Nagpuria people, also Nagpuri or Sadan, are an Indo-Aryan speaking ethnolinguistic group who are the native speakers of the Nagpuri language and natives of the western Chota Nagpur Plateau region of Indian states of Jharkhand, Bihar, C ...

, the native speakers of the

Nagpuri language Nagpuri (also known as Sadri) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Indian states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Bihar. It is primarily spoken in the west and central Chota Nagpur plateau region. It is sometimes considered a dialec ...

, which includes literature, festivals, folk song and dance. It is also referred to as the culture related to the Nagpuri language.

Language

Nagpuri is the native language of Sadan, the Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Chotanagpur. It is spoken in the western and central Chota Nagpur plateau region. It is spoken by around 12 million people, 5 million as a native language and 7 million as a second language. The evidence of poetry writing in the language is from the 17th century. The Nagvanshi king Raghunath Shah and Dalel Singh, the king of

Ramgarh Ramgarh may refer to: Bangladesh * Ramgarh Upazila, a sub-district of Khagrachari District India * Ramgarh, Bihar, a village near Munger, Bihar * Ramgarh, Kaimur, a town in Kaimur district, Bihar * Ramgarh, Uttarakhand, a hill station in Nainital ...

were poet. Some prominent poets were Hanuman Singh, Jaigovind Mishra, Barju Ram Pathak, Ghasiram Mahli and Das Mahli. Some prominent writers in modern the period are Praful Kumar Rai, Lal Ranvijay Nath Shahdeo,

Bisheshwar Prasad Keshari Bisheshwar Prasad Keshari, popularly known as Dr BP Keshari, was an educationist and writer. He was a prominent leader in the movement for a separate state, Jharkhand. Life Early life Bisheshwar Prasad Keshari was born in Pithoria in Ranchi dist ...

Girdhari Ram Gonjhu Girdhari Ram Gonjhu (5 December 1949 – 15 April 2021) was a prominent scholar of the Nagpuri language. He was former chairman of the Tribal-Regional Language Department at Ranchi University in state of Jharkhand. He was awarded Padma Shri for ...

and Sahani Upendra Pal Singh.

Festivals

Several festivals are observed by Sadans including Ashadhi Puja, Karam,

Jitiya Jitiya (also called Jivitputrika) is a three-day-long Hindu festival which is celebrated from the seventh to ninth lunar day of Krishna-Paksha in Ashwin month. It is celebrated mainly in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand ...

Nawakhani Nawakhani is harvest festival of of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. In this festival people eat new grain of rice after harvesting. Etymology Nawakhani means ''eating new''. Nawa means ''New'' and Khani means ''eat''. It signify eating new g ...

Sohrai Sohrai is a harvest festival of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and West Bengal. It also called cattle festival. It is celebrated after harvest and coincide with Govardhan Puja of Diwali festival. It is celebr ...

/ Diwali, Surjahi Puja, Makar Sankranti, Fagun, Bad Pahari and

Sarhul Sarhul is a spring festival in the Indian state of Jharkhand. The festival is celebrated for three days, from the 3rd day of Chaitra month in Sukla Paksh to Chaitra Purnima. In the festival, the village priest ''Pahan'' offers sacrifice of flowers, ...

Folk music and dance

Folk dance

Some Nagpuri folk dances are , , , , , , , , . Paiki is ceremonial martial folk dance performed in marriage and functions of Sadan community. The musical instruments used are

dhol Dhol (IPA: ) can refer to any one of a number of similar types of double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent. Its range of distribution in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan primarily includes nort ...

, mandar,

bansi Bansi is a town and a municipal board in Siddharthnagar district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India Bansi is situated on the bank of the Rapti River in Siddharthnagar District. Geography Bansi was located at the bank of the river Rapti at ...

, nagara, dhak,

shehnai The ''shehnai'' is a musical instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is made of wood, with a double reed at one end and a metal or wooden flared bell at the other end.khartal Khartal is an ancient instrument mainly used in devotional / folk songs. It has derived its name from Sanskrit words ‘kara’ meaning hand and ‘tala’ meaning clapping. This wooden clapper is a Ghana Vadya which has discs or plates that pro ...

, and singa. These musical instruments are traditionally made by Ghasi and

Mahli The Mahli are a community in the Indian states of Jharkhand, Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th ...

community. Akhra is important part of Nagpuri culture which where people dance in village. Ghasi community have played important role in preservation of folk music. They have been playing musical instruments in marriage ceremony.

Folk song

Folk songs are songs sung by people since time immemorial. These songs are composed by different people during different periods. Nagpuri folk songs can be divided into four categories, such as seasonal, festival, Sanskar and dance songs. Seasonal songs are sung according to season such as Udasi, Pawas, Fagua. Festival songs are sung during festivals such as Karam,

Teej Teej ( ne, तीज, Tīja, translit-std=ISO) is the generic name for a number of Hindu festivals that are celebrated by women and girls. and welcome the monsoon season and are celebrated primarily by girls and women, with singing, dancing, ...

etc. Sanskar songs are sung during from major rites such as child birth and weddings. Dance songs are dance oriented such as Mardani Jhumar,

Janani Jhumar Janani Jhumar also Janani Jhumair is a Nagpuri folk dance of the Chota Nagpur Plateau region of Jharkhand. It is a women centric dance. The music of instruments used, such as mandar, dhol and bansi. The women hold each others hand, form a linear ...

Domkach Domkach or Damkach is a folk dance of Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand. In Bihar, Domkach dance is performed in Mithila and Bhojpur regions. In Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. Wi ...

and Khemta. Theth Nagpuri is a genre of typical Nagpuri music which is based on traditional ragas of folk songs such as Jhumar, Pawas, Udasi and Fagua. It is connected to Nagpuri tradition. Notable exponent of Nagpuri folk music and dance are

Govind Sharan Lohra Govind Sharan Lohra is an Indian folk artist. He is a Nagpuri folk singer, songwriter and dancer. He had performed in many national events. He is recipient of several awards including Akruti Samman, Peter Naurangi Sahitya Samman and Jharkhand Bibhu ...

Mahavir Nayak Mahavir Nayak (born 26 March 1942), is a nagpuri singer and songwriter. He is an exponent of Theth Nagpuri music, which is a genre of typical Nagpuri music, based on traditional Nagpuri folk music. He is the recipient of Sangeet Natak Akade ...

and

Mukund Nayak Mukund Nayak (born 15 October 1949), is an Indian artist. He is a folk singer, songwriter and dancer. Nayak is an exponent of Nagpuri folk dance Jhumar. He is recipient of the Padma Shri and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. Early life and family H ...

Cuisine

The Staple food of the region is rice. People also eat forest products such as wild flowers and fruits. Some traditional dishes are Chhilka Roti, Arsa roti,

Malpua Malpua, or sometimes shortened to pua, is an Indian sweet served as a dessert or a snack originating from the Indian subcontinent, popular in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. History Barley was the most prolific grain eaten by the ''arya'' of ...

Dhooska ''Dhooska'' or ''Dhuska'' is a popular deep-fried snack eaten all over Jharkhand, India. The dish is one of the delicacy of Jharkhandi cuisine. The main ingredients in this savoury fried bread dish are powdered rice, powdered chana dal and sometim ...

, Til laddu, Dudhauri etc. Some traditional leafy vegetables or

Saag Saag (), also spelled sag or saga, is an Indian leaf vegetable dish eaten with bread such as roti or naan, or in some regions with rice. Saag can be made from spinach, mustard greens, collard greens, basella, finely chopped broccoli or other ...

are Khesari, Kohnda, Koinar, Methi, Munga, Poi, Putkal and Sarla saag. Some wild edible wild flowers are as Jilhur phool and Sanai phool (

Crotalaria juncea ''Crotalaria juncea'', known as brown hemp, Indian hemp, Madras hemp, or sunn hemp, is a tropical Asian plant of the legume family (Fabaceae). It is generally considered to have originated in India.Heuzé V., Thiollet H., Tran G., Lebas F., 201 ...

). Gunda is a traditional dish which is a powder of leafy vegetables which are dried and grinded and made into soup with rice water. Some Gunda are ''Chakod gunda'', ''Munga Gunda'' and ''Sarla gunda'' etc. Karil, the new bamboo shoots are edible. Some edible mushrooms are khukdi, especially the white mushroom, Putu (white puffball) and rugda (puffball), which grow during the rainy season in field and forest.

Mahua Mahua Acharya Mahua or Mahuaa may refer to: Botany * '' Madhuca longifolia'' or mahua, a tree in the family Sapotaceae * ''Mahua'' (moss), a genus of mosses in family Hypnaceae Culture and entertainment * Mahua (snack), a Chinese fried dough twi ...

flower is edible and its seed used for preparation of oil. The traditional alcoholic beverage are

Handi A handi (Hindi: हांड़ी) is a cooking basin made from copper or clay (pot) originating in the Indian subcontinent. It is utilised primarily in Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi cooking. This vessel is deep and has a broad mouth ...

, a rice bear and Mahua daru, a wine prepared by Mahua flowers. People drink it during festivals and marriage feasts. Chilka Roti

Clothes

The traditional clothes of Sadan are

Dhoti The dhoti, also known as veshti, vetti, dhuti, mardani, chaadra, dhotar, jaiñboh, panchey, is a type of sarong, tied in a manner that outwardly resembles "loose trousers". It is a lower garment forming part of the ethnic costume for men in the ...

Sari A sari (sometimes also saree or shari)The name of the garment in various regional languages include: * as, শাৰী, xārī, translit-std=ISO * bn, শাড়ি, śāṛi, translit-std=ISO * gu, સાડી, sāḍī, translit-std ...

Kurta A ''kurta'' is a loose collarless shirt or tunic worn in many regions of South Asia, (subscription required) Quote: "A loose shirt or tunic worn by men and women." Quote: "Kurta: a loose shirt without a collar, worn by women and men from South ...

and Chadar. But in the modern age, shirts, pants, coats are also worn. Traditional clothes, ''Laal Paad'', made by Chik Baraik in Chotanagpur. People wear them at traditional festivals and functions.

Religion

Sadan people observe festivals such as

Asari Asari may refer to: The Asari are a caste of artisans and craftsmen who do metal working and make jewelry. They are also involved in the construction trades of carpentry and masonry. They are followers of Vishvakarman, the Hindu god of craftsmen an ...

, Karam,

, Fagun and Bad Pahari. In these festivals elder of family member propitates Sun, Moon, ancestors and other deities by offering sacrifices and liquor. In the village festival, the rituals are performed by the village priest "Pahan" and his assistant "Pujar", who offer sacrifice to village deity. According to scholars, the deities which are not found in hindu scriptures are deities of

folk tradition Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging fro ...

which is a non-vedic tradition. According to June McDaniel, folk hinduism is based on local traditions and cults of local deities and is the oldest, non-literate system. It is a pre-vedic tradition extending back to prehistoric times, or before the writting of the

Vedas upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...

.June McDaniel "Hinduism", in John Corrigan, ''The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Emotion'', (2007) Oxford University Press, 544 pages, pp. 52–53 The influence of Vedic religion reached in the region during the reign of the Nagvanshi. The Nagvanshi kings constructed several temples during their reign and invited Brahmins from different parts of the country for priestly duties. But rituals in the village are carried out by village priest Pahan.

Megasthenes Megasthenes ( ; grc, Μεγασθένης, c. 350 BCE– c. 290 BCE) was an ancient Greek historian, diplomat and Indian ethnographer and explorer in the Hellenistic period. He described India in his book '' Indica'', which is now lost, but ha ...

, the Greek Ambassador to Maurya, Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, mentioned India in his book Indica. According to him, Indians make wine from rice, drink rice bear in sacrifice and mainly eat rice pottage. In 1989, the Jharkhand Co-ordination committee (JCC), who was instrumental in the demand for a separate Jharkhand state in front of the central government, also stated in their paper that Sadan may be the earliest Aryan population and could be the subcategoriable as

Naga Naga or NAGA may refer to: Mythology * Nāga, a serpentine deity or race in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions * Naga Kingdom, in the epic ''Mahabharata'' * Phaya Naga, mythical creatures believed to live in the Laotian stretch of the Mekong Riv ...

people as they differ from dominant Aryan group and did't strictly follow Brahmanical religion.

Marriage tradition

Nagpuri weddings are held for several days. Prior to marriage, the groom's relatives go bride's home to see and negotiate for marriage and a token amount (bride price) is paid by the groom's family to the family of the bride. Some wedding rituals are madwa, baraat, parghani, sindoordan, bidai etc.

folk dance is performed during the wedding. The musical instruments used in the nagpuri wedding are nagara, dhak and

Kaikeyi Kaikeyi (Sanskrit: कैकेयी, IAST: Kaikeyī) is the second consort of King Dasharatha, and a queen of Ayodhya in the Hindu epic Ramayana. Out of Dasharatha's three wives, Kaikeyi exerts the most influence. Formerly the princess of Kek ...

, Gandhari and

Madri In the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata'', Madri is the princess of Madra Kingdom and the second wife of the king Pandu. She is the mother of the youngest Pandavas - the twin brothers Nakula and Sahadeva. The word ''Mādrī'' means 'woman of Madra'. ...

, bride price was given. The practice of giving bride price was considered

Asura Asuras (Sanskrit: असुर) are a class of beings in Indic religions. They are described as power-seeking clans related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context, the word is sometimes translated ...

Vivah in

Smriti ''Smriti'' ( sa, स्मृति, IAST: '), literally "that which is remembered" are a body of Hindu texts usually attributed to an author, traditionally written down, in contrast to Śrutis (the Vedic literature) considered authorless, that ...

texts such as Grihas Sutra and Dharma Sutra.

Traditional administrative System

In Chotoanagpur, there was a traditional administrative system to govern villages known as to the Parha system. In the Parha system, there were the posts of Mahto (village chief), Pahan (village priest), Pujar or Pani bharwa (assistant of Pahan), Bhandari (treasurer), Chowkidar (watchman), Diwan (minister) and

Raja ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...

(king). During the reign of Nagvanshi, the landowners were known as Bhuinhar. Bhuinhar refers to the first people who cleared forest, built farmland and houses in a village. Sadans were in the post of Diwan, Thakur,

Pandey Pandey, Pande, or Panday (Hindi: पाण्डेय/पाण्डे/पाँडे/पाण्डेय) ( Nepali: पाण्डे/पाँडे/पाण्डेय) is a surname found among the communities of Brahmins in India an ...

, Karta (executive), Lal, Mahato, Pahan and Raja. The owner of lands known as Bhuinhars. Mahto made assessments and settlement of all land not held by hereditary cultivators. He collects rent. Pahan, the village priest, does all the rituals for village deities. Bhandari assists with the of rents and summoning ryots who work for farmers or Zamindars. There was Gorait, who was a messenger to Zamindar, and Kotwar, who was a police officer in each village. The village has a blacksmith and a Gowala who rear the cattle of the village.

Cinema

Nagpuri language films have been produced since 1992. ''Sona Kar Nagpur'' (1992) was the first nagpuri film produced and directed by Dhananjay Nath Tiwari. The Nagpuri cinema faces several challenges, such as lack of funds and lack of infrastructure, as the majority of the audience reside in villages. Despite all these, several films are produced per year and few get released.

References

{{Reflist Culture of Jharkhand Indian culture Nagpuri culture Nagpuria people