Sanjhi: The folk art of young girls

By Rajbala Phaugat

SANJHI is the mother goddess to all girls throughout Haryana. To make the image of Sanjhi, the versatile and malleable mud is moulded into various shapes. The star-studded collage is fixed on the wall of a dwelling, preferably facing south, in the later half of the Ashwin month i.e., late September. Adolescent girls worship the many-faceted, charming image of Sanjhi. Old women of the house encourage them to do so. Girls, as young as five years, make images of the goddess in the second half of the Ashwin when pond mud is available in plenty. The sight of village lasses making parts of Sanjhi and shaping stars for her long skirt in mud is fascinating. Their creative devotion is admirable too.

Within the ambit of this activity, one discovers subtle individual tastes and expressions, as no two images are alike. Despite the much hyped cultural invasion of our homes by the foreign TV channels, the image-making art of Sanjhi has survived. This art may not be sophisticated, but it has a unique native expression and flavour.

This art form, based on philosophy of leading a good life, is now becoming popular and finds place in Surajkund crafts mela or craft festivals at Dilli Haat. The image of Sanjhi, suggestive of Durga, Uma or Katyayani, is extremely appealing and communicative. While the girls enjoy creating the picture of Sanjhi, scholars continue to do research on this practice. For the past couple of years, intellectuals and scholars with a rural background, have been making efforts to keep this custom alive. The presence of intellectuals amongst them has encouraged the rural folk. Their art, which was till recently a backyard activity, has suddenly gained recognition. Prof Bheem Singh Malik, former Head of the Department of Hindi and Haryanvi Culture at Kurukshetra University, and his wife Sarla, Dr Sudhir Sharma of Prayas, a cultural voluntary society in Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar, and photo artist Rajkishan Nain are some of the people, who have been encouraging Sanjhi creation. Last year the Intellectuals Forum of Prof Bheem Singh Malik asked women of Bohar and Bhalaut villages, near Rohtak, to put up as many Sanjhi images as possible on their respective walls. The outcome was astoundingly pleasant.

This folk art of yore has attracted attention of art lovers and conservators who, through studio workshops or other promotional techniques, are trying to popularise it. Voluntary agencies too try to make a quick buck by selling these art works to people in metropolises and to exhibition organisers.

Apart from the breath-taking forms of Sanjhi which the virgin hands create on the first day of the moon in Kartika, there are some captivating rituals observed by the girls during the navaratras. Devotional songs are sung just after dusk. A few lighted earthen lamps are held by the adolescent girls who assemble around Sanjhi. They sing in a chorus songs, that are centuries old, to please the goddess.

The girls believe that by appeasing Sanjhi they will get a suitable life partner. In one of the songs, Sanjhi is asked about her basic needs — what would she like to wear or eat. In another song, the girls promise to appease her by offering presents. This low key group activity is held every evening for nine days in front of innumerable images the girls have put up on walls. On the tenth day falls Dasehra. On this day, the images from the walls, along with the cowdung used as an adhesive, are scratched and removed. Only the head of the figure is securely contained inside a small earthen vessel whose belly has been ridden with several holes. In the evening, the girls with their respective earthen vessels march towards the village pond to perform the last ritual.

Meanwhile, village lads, with lathis in their hands, eagerly wait to complete this ritual. After the girls float their lighted pots on the water , the lads dive into the pond. With quick strokes, they reach the pots and hit them hard to break them in one blow, lest the bowls reach the other end. A legend says that none of the bowls should float across the waterbody and touch the other end, otherwise misfortune would fall on the entire village. Sanjhi is thus a symbiosis between expressions of nature and human beings.