Assam’s calendar of festivals is a mosaic of picturesque settings, vibrant performances, and colourful attire. The Baikho Puja is celebrated during May-June (Assamese ‘Jeth’ month) at the different Rabha inhabited areas of Assam. It is a grand celebration in Gamerimura, about 25 km from Boko and a total of 95 km approximately from Guwahati. Not only does Baikho offer a glimpse of the rich cultural heritage of the Rabhas—a community indigenous to Assam and a few villages in Meghalaya and West Bengal—this pre-harvest event is fabulously vibrant and utterly captivating.
The day-long occasion begins early, with the offering of prayers to female and male deities and the ceremonial offering of a pig—a ritual unique to Baikho. As the sun descends, spiritual activities move into merriment. The opening ritual is a ceremonial tug of war with men and women baibras forming teams to pull rigorously at a thick tree-vine instead of a rope. A symbolic battle then follows, honouring the battles the Rabhas fought in the past to protect their land and heritage.
According to oral tradition, in ancient times, fearing that their warriors might have committed sin while away from home during war, Rabhas would ask those returning to walk on burning charcoal. It was believed that if innocent, they would walk the fiery path unscathed.
Today, baibras enact the role of these warriors—receiving the blessings of deities and then charging, with fierce war cries, at a few trees set up as symbolic foes. The trees are then felled to the ground, symbolising victory.
Finally, comes the pinnacle—a fire dance performed on a large round barricaded section of a field. Men in long white cotton skirts, white vests, and headgear made of leaves first apply a concoction of local brew and rice powder to their bare hands and faces before receiving blessings from the head priest and entering the arena. As soothing music plays on local instruments, the crowd falls silent. A 10×1 feet wood and bamboo wall erected at the centre is then set on fire, as male baibras perform around it.
In the silence of the packed space, the inferno illuminates the entire area and the hauntingly beautiful tune of the music transports visitors to another realm. After the pyre is burnt to charcoal, baibras run barefoot over it in long strides, each one repeating this a couple of times. Sparks fly and create mesmerising scenes that are lens-worthy and remain etched in memory.
As the walk-on-the-fire ends and female baibras pour water over the men’s feet and soothe them with the local brew blessed by the deities, one is left enraptured by the community’s spirit, the songs, the dances, and the unique musical instruments—the bamboo gugumel, the reed buburenga the kham, and the bamboo tube badungduppa, whose music, the community believes, possesses the power to stir the soul.
Photo Credits: Mr Surajit Sharma