Understanding an Indigenous Indian Himalayan Folklore: Jagar as Emotion Discourse

Modern approach in urban world is more towards outside development and lesser we are concerned to the emotions inside. In the present scenario, jagar, a ritual performed in rural Uttarakhand attempts to awake and release the deep rooted psyche of human beings. The present paper examines how jagar is performed as emotion discourse in indigenous set-up of central Himalayan, India. Jagar is a popular folklore of central Himalayas in India which is co-existed with mainstream Hinduism for ages. Traditionally in its classical form, it is performed as ritual to awaken supernatural powers of God, local deities and dead sprits (ghosts). The word Jagar is originated from ancient Indian Sanskrit language, ‘jaga’ which means to awake. The narrator of jagar is called jagariya who through indigenous musical instruments narrates/ sings ballads of God or dead spirits with allusions to Indian epics: Mahabharat/ Ramayana. In rural Uttarakhand, India, Jagar is an organized ritual to seek divine intervention to the problems or to receive blessings of God. In recent years, jagar has also been diversified as popular music in urban Uttarakhand. The credit of its popularity goes to jagariya as well as folk artist who came forward to exhibit jagar by using various medium of entertainment. In today’s context, Stefan Fiol in his book, Recasting Folk in the Himalayas writes about the significance of jagar as “an important marker of regional belonging and devotional expression for many migrants living far from home”(24). The findings of the study are based on the performance of Jagar in Nerul village in Pauri district, Uttarakhand. The residents of the village and migrants from various states of India have gathered to participate in a five days yajana ceremony from 6 June to 10 June 2019. In the present paper, the jagar and its response among the masses as attendees & participants has been noted and analyzed as emotional discourse.