Brief History of Garhwali Folk Plays/Traditional Dramas

Review of Characteristics of Garhwali Folk Drama, Folk Rituals and Traditional Plays part -4

                                        Bhishma Kukreti

                        Prehistoric Music and Folk Drama in Himalaya

                  Human beings reached to Himalaya when man did not learn speaking. However, the human being started creating drama in that preliminary age too. Those dramas might be clapping, music by leave pipes or through many other means.  

           Watching other person pain or happiness would have also created dramas among human beings.

         The signs or symbols for attracting opposite sex might have created many drams in human societies. To calm down the children would have taught many dramas to human beings.

  The first music of human beings was human being’s own voice. This voice might have created many dramatic situation, today, beyond our imagination. Who knows that till date we are continuing creating those dramas?

                    First Music of Human being as drama medium

             The first dramatic music of human beings was array sounds, coughing, whistling, yawning, humming etc.  The cry for pain and pleasure would have also been the drama creating medium for early human beings.

Clapping. Clapping stones were initial musical instruments for human beings or medium of dramas for human beings.

A 35000 years old flute made by vulture bone or bear bone flute etc found in archeological sites suggest that human beings developed dramas in each stage of his development.

Dance is inherent in   human beings and dance would be first stage of drama in the human life.

                          Stone Age and Human Dramas

           At Stone Age, the human being might have learnt and started teaching new generation to carry many cultural dramas too.  

 The human beings invented stone flutes in Stone for creating Dramas.

Bow and arrow are other musical instruments of Stone Age that suggest development of dramas in human civilization.

Animal horns were used for creating music by human beings in Stone Age.

Human beings also invented simplest version of deafner  in Stone Age.

The curved animal bones were used for making music in Stone Age.

             The human beings might have learnt various music creations from stone and wood instruments. The human beings might have played many unimaginable dramas for domesticating the animals.      The fire would have been medium of playing dramas for human beings not only at initial stage of using fire by human but still today fire is used in many folk dramas all over world.

        Creating drawing on walls from Stone Age or before this Age was also base of initial dramas. The wall drawings at Tal in Uttarakhand are proof that dramas was there in Uttarakhand at Stone Age.

               Stone Age is also Age of hunting development and when there would be hunting development it is certain that dramas would have developed or new types of dramas would have merged among human societies.

                              Dramas/Plays in Mesolithic Age

  The human beings started to believe on new world after death in Mesolithic Age.  The people started keeping flint stones, meat, red or Geru color materials with dead bodies in burials in caves (Gufa me Samadh( . Imagination of Pitra or dead soul might have created many folk dramas among human beings including human beings in Uttarakhand.

 The appliances in ruins forms of Mesolithic Age at Bahdarabad near Haridwar, Uttarakhand suggest that human beings started playing religious dramas or ritualistic dramas.  

 Agriculture Development in Uttarakhand in Neolithic Age

 When zootechy started there would have been always chances of new dramas in the human history.

                   There are hundred percent chances that at the beginning of agriculture, human beings used to play indigenous old or new dramas.

  In Neolithic Age, human beings started believing on deities etc and new types of drams would have certainly developed.  

 Ornamentation brought new types of dramas in the life of human beings in Neolithic Age including humans in Uttarakhand.

                         The organized ways of war or battle and emerging of rich and poor classes definitely would have brought changes in old pattern of dramas and new drams would have merged in human life.

 The emergence of fertility cult and phallic cult is another example for emerging of new types of dramas in the life of human beings.

## Drams in prehistoric time to be continued in part --5

Copyright @ Bhishma Kukreti, bckukreti@gmail.com 30/9/2013

Review of Characteristics of Garhwali Folk Drama, Folk Rituals and Traditional Plays part to be continued…5

                    References

1-Bharat Natyam

2-Steve Tillis, 1999, Rethinking Folk Drama

3-Roger Abrahams, 1972, Folk Dramas in Folklore and Folklife 

4-Tekla Domotor , Folk drama as defined in Folklore and Theatrical Research

5-Kathyrn Hansen, 1991, Grounds for Play: The Nautanki Theater of North India

6-Devi Lal Samar, Lokdharmi Pradarshankari Kalayen  

7=Dr Shiv Prasad Dabral, Uttarakhand ka Itihas part 1-12

8-Dr Shiva Nand Nautiyal, Garhwal ke Loknritya geet

9-Jeremy Montagu, 2007, Origins and Development of Musical Instruments

Notes on History of Folk Dramas/Traditional Plays in Prehistoric Age in Uttarakhand; History of Folk Dramas/Traditional Plays in Stone Age in Uttarakhand; History of Folk Dramas/Traditional Plays in Mesolithic Age in Uttarakhand; History of Folk Dramas/Traditional Plays in Neolithic  Age in Uttarakhand;