Jeypore: Modified folk songs laced with profanities known as ‘Dahuka boli’, traditionally sung by charioteers to entice the crowd during Rath Yatra, would not be heard again starting this year in Jeypore.
A decision on this context has been taken at the car festival preparatory meeting here to stop the usage of vulgar language from atop the chariots during Rath Yatra.
Koraput sub-collector Lokanath Dalabehera confirmed that Dahuka Boli has been stopped from this year according to the decision taken at the preparatory meeting, saying the step is to bring a change for good. Jeypore MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati also seconded the decision, said a source.
According to local scholars, there were no good roads in past. That apart, the chariots in distant past used to be heavier than the ones pulled down the badadanda here these days. These two things would make it a difficult task for devotees to pull the chariot. To make the car pulling lighter, there used to be elephants deployed to push the chariot from the opposite side. And to encourage devotees to pull the heavy chariot, the charioteers used to sing Dahuka boli.
A number of scholars including Jagannath cult researchers Geeta Prakash Mishra and Gangadhar Nanda along with local residents had been demanding for a ban on this practice that is often embarrassing to those visiting with their families.
“The situation has changed a lot over the years. The roads have been better now and the chariot has become lighter too. So there is hardly any need of vulgar words,” they observed.
They had been demanding the endowment department to take steps to ban this tradition which has already been stopped in many places including Puri and Koraput among others.
PNN