Jammu Duggar · Western Himalaya & Trans-Himalaya
Lineage history, local battles and the origin of a village deity, narrated in a slow ballad metre over a drone for several hours at a stretch.
Sung at: Night gatherings, deity fairs. The oldest attested Dogri form, transmitted orally for centuries before the language was printed.
Baba Jitto's refusal to give up a share of his crop and the death of his daughter Bua Kouri — a martyrdom story about land, not about religion.
Sung at: The Jhiri fair and village shrines. Sung by Jogi singers to a fiddle; the fair at Jhiri near Jammu is built around it.
Separation from the parental house, sung by the women of the bride's own family.
Sung at: The night before the bride's departure.
Blessing and admonition, sung to keep the household awake until dawn.
Sung at: The all-night pre-wedding vigil.
Improvised exchange between two groups of women, often teasing and often about people present.
Sung at: Fairs, sowing and harvest.
Collection songs sung while the decorated chhajja is carried from door to door, asking for jaggery, sesame and coins.
Sung at: The days before Lohri.
The twelve months of the year read as the twelve months of a woman's waiting. The eighteenth-century poet Kavi Dattu of Raja Ranjit Dev's court wrote the version that made the form literary in Dogri.
Sung at: Recitation and song.
Pasture, weather, lost animals and the passes — the working repertoire of the Gujjar and Bakerwal households whose year is organised around two long walks.
Sung at: The spring and autumn moves.
The folk songs of Jammu Duggar — what they are about, who sings them and when. (8)