Amruta: The Age of Forgetting
By Sadaf Habib and Maham Chirag
An audio-visual performance project that explores the relationship between Amruta (the immortal plant that never dies, and never lets the landscape die) and Kalyug, the age of forgetting. Emerging from the rich tapestry of stories nestled within the landscape of the Karoonjhar mountains, this project explores Amruta’s embodiment of remembrance.
For the archive, we are sharing two audio visual pieces, along with some of the process behind this project, in the form of soundscapes, translations and collaborations.
The trailer is a glimpse of the larger narrative that we have been imagining, an ongoing work that weaves together the different sonic, visual, poetic encounters that we had. And Hiran Kund, the story of a sacred well nestled in Sadharo, that continues to be a source of healing relationship to the land, and is one particular story that Amruta tends to.
Collective Artist Statement - Artists: Maham Chiragh and Sadaf Habib
Amruta and Kalyug offer reflections around what is forgotten and what lives, and mirror what we encountered in conversations with communities and witnessed in the landscape in Karoonjhar. The reality of socio political issues within Karoonjhar - the exploitative development and literal cutting of the mountain, artificial state borders - coexist alongside the meeting of worlds, the manifestation of a sacred relationship to the land, and the presence of medicine in the form of folk stories, bhakti music/poetry, practices of reverence. Drawing upon and emulating the abundant mythical imagination associated with the communities, we interpret the myth of this ‘immortal’ plant and the remembrance that it awakens in this time of ‘forgetting’.
The narrative for this audio visual piece begins with Amruta awakening to a raag, emphasizing the reciprocity that exists within the mountains. One thing cannot exist without the others; Amruta, the land, and practices of reverence are intimately linked. In this imagination Amruta does not exist without the invocations of bhakti, and bhakti is given life through Amruta’s yearning for remembrance. As she ‘touches’ the landscape, walks, dances through it, she meets the different custodians of stories. Each interaction speaks to those who keep memories of the land, those who listen for its teachings, those who continue to care for it, those who protect it in this age of forgetting/disillusionment. The immortality that Amruta represents is perhaps not one contained within any one particular being but it is the relationship that is immortal, the act of tending to one another.
Our encounter with the stories of Amruta and Kalyug in Karoonjhar:
Our narrative is rooted in two stories that we were really moved by. On a walk through the mountain in Sadharo, Suresh bhai offered the story of the vine called Amruta falling to the earth as nectar (Amrit), to Karoonjhar at the beginning of time. The immortal plant grew wherever the nectar touched the land, slowly spreading across the mountain.
During the baithak with the Thakur community, we were swept into a heroic story of their ancestors and it was the opium plant that brought forth another kind of weaving. As they moved between the mythical and material reality of their story, they seemed to be associating more deeply with the mythical and seeing the material as crippled by Kalyug. Kalyug, a story coming from Hindu mythology, describes a long cycle of time characterised by darkness, cloudiness, forgetfulness and inversion of sacred balance.
These questions that Amruta and Kalyug offer, around what is forgotten and what lives, mirror what we encountered in conversations with communities and witnessed in the landscape in Karoonjhar. The reality of socio political issues within Karoonjhar - the exploitative development and literal cutting of the mountain, artificial state borders - coexist alongside the meeting of worlds, the manifestation of a sacred relationship to the land, and the presence of medicine in the form of folk stories, bhakti poetry, practices of reverence. Drawing upon and emulating the abundant mythical imagination associated with the communities, we will be interpreting the myth of this ‘immortal’ plant and the remembrance that it awakens in this time of ‘forgetting’.
Hiran Kund
The people of purana (old) Parkar remember the origin of this sacred well nestled deep in the mountains in Sadharo. Many moons ago, two hunters descend as shadows in this valley. Trapped in the pain of her tragic death at their hands, a mada’s body is caught between worlds.
The spirit of the mada calls to a young woman across time, in the village of Vikasar. Unaware that this spirit resides in her, the young woman leaves her village to live beyond the border, in Gujrat.
Soon after, she begins to suffer from a relentless pain in her forehead. Stricken with worry, her husband accompanies her to see a rishi. When he hears the woman’s story, the rishi recognises her and shows her her past life as a mada. In the eye of her heart she hears the mada’s cry. She knows she must embrace her sorrow and return her body to the sacred waters of the mountain.
With the mada’s cry as her guide, she begins her journey on foot, crossing the border, and weaving through the familiar mountain, reaching Sadhoro. Gazing upon the Jarr tree above the well, she beholds the mada’s severed head tangled in its branches. She gently removes the head, and immerses it in the waters below, feeling it soothe their shared pain. To this day, the water remembers this loving act and continues to listen to those who bring their pain.
Hiran Kund - Sindhi
هرڻ ڪُند
پُراڻي پارڪر جي ماڻهن کي ھن مقدس کوه جو تصور ھو، جيڪوساڌاري جي جبلن منجھ سمايل آھي. ھڪ ڀيري ائين ٿيو جو ٻه شڪاري گھنگھور پاڇُولن وانگر ھن واديءَ تي لٿا.ھُنن جي ھٿان ھڪڙو ڏکوئيندڙ قتل ٿيو، ھڪ اھڙو ناسور جنھن جي ڪري مادا جو بُت ٻن جھانن جي وچ ۾ ڦاسي پيو۔ وقت جي سيما پار ڪري، وڪاسر جي ڳوٺ ۾ مادا جو روح ھڪڙي ٻالڪ مائيءَ کي سڏ ٿو ڪري۔ ھو اڻ ڄاڻ آھي ته مادا جو روح سندس منجھ رھي ٿو، اِنھي ئي اڻ ڄاڻائي ۾ ھو پنھنجو ڳوٺ ڇڏي، بارڊر پار گُجرات ٿي وڃي نڪري۔
ڪُجھ عرصي کان پوءِ ھِن کي مٿي ۾ ڏاڍو سور ٿيڻ لڳو۔ جام ڳڻتين کان پوءِ ھي پنھنجي مُڙس ڀيڙي ھڪڙي رشي ڏانھن وئي۔ جيئن ھي هن رشي کي پنھنجي آکاڻي ٻُڌائي
ٿي ته رشي ھن کي سڃاڻي وڃي ٿي ۽ کيس ٻڌائيس ٿو ته پوئين جنم ۾ ھو ھڪ مادا ھُئي۔ پنھنجي دل جي اک ۾ ھُن مادا جي رڙ ٿي ٻُڌي۔ ھِن کي ھاڻي احساس ٿيڻ لڳو ته
هِن کي پنھنجو سمورو گوندر اپڻائڻو پوندو ۽ پنھنجو بُت اُنھن جبلن جي مقدس پاڻي ڏانھن موٽائيڻو پوندو۔
مادا جي رڙ ئي ھن جي اڳواڻي ڪئي، نيٺ ھُو پنھنجو سفر پيرين پنڌ شروع ڪيو، بارڊر پار ڪندي، سُڃاتل جبل وچان ھي سڌورو ٿي پھچي۔ جئين ھو مٿي ٿي نھاري ته ڏسي ٿي ته ھڪ ڄار جي وڻ جي ٽارين منجھ مادا جي ڪُٺل سِسيءَ ٽنگيل آھي۔ ھو ھوريان ھوريان انھي سسيءَ کي ٽاري تان لاھي ٿي ۽ ھيٺ وھندڙ پاڻي ۾ ٻوڙي ٿي ڇڏي۔ اھيو اُپڪار ڪرڻ سان ئي ھِن کي اھيو اهساس ٿي ٿو ته ھِنهن جي ڳنڍيل ڏُک کي نيٺ شانتي ملي وئي آھي۔ اڄ ڏينھن تائين، ھن وھندڙ پاڻي کي ھي قربائيتو ڪم ياد آھي ۽ اھيو پاڻي اڃا تائين ھر اُن ماڻھو جو ڏک ٻڌي ٿو جيڪو اِن کي پيڙا جا سڏ ڏي ٿو
Translation: Nirmal Riaz
**The english translation is an interpretation of the folktale we heard in Karoonjhar. There are different versions of this story, and details differ, in some the deer is pregnant, and in multiple versions, the young woman connects to her past life when she tastes a daal/food from her village.
Community collaborators
Suresh Kumar, Dileep Kumar, Bhagat Jawarlal, Khurram bhai, Yusuf Faqir, Faqir Zulfiqar, Bhagat Bhugro Mal, Raiya, Sita, Bhagat Oparam, Lekh Raaj, Sita, Khushi, Chamana, Kajal, Nisha, Khushbu, Karoonjhar Hills, Kaddam tree, Jarh Tree, Thuarh / cactus, Kasbo, Ramapir Mor, Chaand Bayl