5 - Flutes, Sprites and Mountainous Geographies

Summary

As demonstrated in Chapter 3, references to musical scenes and musical instruments – huṙkīs, nagāṙās, flutes – are a regular feature of many pawāṙās in Uttarakhand. The analysis presented in Chapter 4 highlights the possibility that performance practices associated with oral tradition may well account for the recurrent references to such scenes. Perhaps the most ubiquitous of all such scenes are those with the muralī (flute). The iconic nature of the flute and its sound within a mountainous geography deserves closer attention. This chapter therefore focuses closely on these scenes in order to more fully explore the nature of oral tradition and also to more closely examine the role of the flute within the musical practice of the region.

The story of Jitu Bagadwal is the most well-known pawāṙā in Garhwal that is focused on the flute. In the central episode of the story, Jitu plays his muralī on a high mountain pasture and thereby attracts the mountain sprites that ultimately cause his downfall. The sound of the flute is thereby linked to the dangerous supernatural world of sprites and to the sonic realm of a mountainous geography.

A number of recording artists have released commercially available audio tapes of the story, including Uma Shankar Satish (1987) and Hukam Singh Yadav (n.d.). Though it is primarily a Garhwali story, Jitu Bagadwal is known in parts of Kumaun. The story has become somewhat iconic for the hill regions of Uttarakhand and is frequently interpreted through various artistic mediums including shorter songs, drama and dance.