It has become a festival of sound. Right now, I await a sound from Jammu. A phone call. My grandmother will declare that the pooja is over and that dinner can be had. The festival begins. ‘The’ festival. Right now, I see people searching for audio of ‘Vatak Pooja’. They search for a sound. Instructions. I know the sound. Now too familiar. they search of unfamiliar instructions. I know how the scene will play: one controls the tape, one serves the gods, one manages the family, one plays the funny guy. No ordinary marriage this. The Ashen Mad god gets married. I pick this book, by someone who thinks he probably saved something. I read this ditty, explaining 15 days of Shivratri. Something survived. I know these sounds. Okdoh, Mavas, Herath, Vagur…
Akh tI akh Kho’daya,
One and One is God
ZItI zin gyaDIra
Two is bundle of firewood
Trayshkal Duna
Three faced perfect Walnut
Tsor kunj alam
Four cornered world
PAntsh gAyi PanDav
Five were Pandavs
She’tI’she Re’shi
Six were Reshis
Sath ZalI satam
Seven are Jwala’s flames
ATh Huri ATham
Eight, Her day. Ragnya’s day.
Nav tsitIr navam
Nine, we meditate (rest)
Dah dya’rl aAhAm
Ten, money flows
Kah gaDi Kah
Eleven, let’s eat fish
VagIri bah
Twelfth, god’s messenger Vagur is here
He’rItsI truvah
Thirteenth, Herath is on thirteen
KralI tso’dah
Fourteenth, pay the potters
Duni mavas
Fifteenth, let’s eat those walnuts
SozIni okdoh
One, send out those walnuts
Wah BAli Wah ti wah Bali wah
Dance, little girl! Dance!
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And this is how it actually goes. Made this recording a couple of years ago at home. It is delightful madness. If it is Herath and you are missing the sound. Do tune in. Play around with the play button. And Herath Mubarak.
Is there any way i can download that audio file, i dont always have internet connection, so want to save it on my computer.
Kamal Pandita
kamal0094[at]gmail.com
You can Download here (.zip file)but i must remind you (and anyone else interested) this is not vatak pooza instead it is what goes around while the tape is being played-stopped-played.
thankx a lot vinayak razdan for the link.
The actual Vatak Pooza can be found on Youtube here (from famous Ravimech Studio, a recording from 1986 uploaded this year in 2012):
Part 1
Part 2
Besides this there is something technologically interesting happening in Jammu. Community Radio is happening. Radio Sharda, 90.4FM – the Kashmiri station inaugurated in late 2011 is broadcasting the entire pooza on the station. My family in Jammu, like a lot of other Kashmiri families in Jammu and possibly other families around the world thanks to live streaming on internet (I am listening to it now), this year is relying on radio for performing the ancient ceremony. Interesting use of technology.
no long waits for gor anymore. The technology priest can attend to multiple families at the same time 🙂