Sarhul and Jadur songsKurukh, Mundari, Sadri
The sal blossom, the marriage of earth and sun, and the petition for rain. Sung in procession between the sarna grove and the village dancing ground.
Sung at: Sarhul, in Chaitra.
Chota Nagpur Plateau · Central Highlands & Forest Belt
Folk songs
Baha songsSantali
The first sal and mahua flowers of the year, which may not be used or worn until the naeke has offered them. Sung with the tamak' and tumdak' pair setting the pattern.
Sung at: Baha, in Phalgun.
Sohrai songsSantali, Khortha, Kurmali
Cattle — their washing, oiling, garlanding and driving over a threshold. The songs are addressed to the animals as much as about them, and are sung by the same women who paint the walls that week.
Sung at: Sohrai, after the harvest.
Karam songsSadri, Khortha, Kurmali, Santali
The Karam brother-and-sister narrative, sung all night around a planted karam branch by two answering groups of unmarried women.
Sung at: Karam, in Bhado.
Tusu gaanKurmali, Khortha, Bangla
Tusu, addressed as a daughter of the household who is looked after for a month and then set adrift on the river with her decorated chaudal. Composed fresh each year, and the verses regularly comment on the year just passed.
Sung at: The month of Poush, ending at Makar Sankranti. Shared across the plateau's eastern rim with Purulia and Bankura, and the single most productive living song-composition tradition in the region.
JhumairSadri, Khortha, Kurmali
Work, courtship, absence and return, in short verses set to the mandar. Mardana and janani jhumair are distinguished by who dances rather than by subject.
Sung at: Any gathering at the akhra.
DomkachNagpuri, Khortha
Parody and licensed obscenity, performed by the women of the household for each other with roles taken across gender. Shared with Magadh and Bhojpur.
Sung at: Weddings, after the baraat has left.
Jadopatia chakshudan songSantali
The journey of the departed, sung by the scroll painter as he unrolls the painting, with the eye of the figure left unfinished until the family pays. A ritual, a performance and a transaction at once.
Sung at: After a death.
The folk songs of Chota Nagpur Plateau — what they are about, who sings them and when. (8)