Dhyangro
Dhyangro ( Nepali ढ्याङ्ग्रो , dhyāngro ) is a double-skinned stem drum with a long handle that is beaten for rituals by shamans from the Tibetan cultural region in the Himalayas . The dhyangro , which is widespread among various ethnic groups in eastern Nepal , is counted among the shaman's drums because of its use for therapeutic purposes ( spiritual healing ) and for divination . During the sessions, which usually take place at night, the shamans ( jhankri ) beat the drum, speak mantras and put themselves in a state of obsession with certain spirits in order to make a diagnosis and to treat their patients with the help of a broom ( chamer ) by those recognized as causing the disease Free spirits.
Origin and Distribution
In the Nepalese musical culture, elements of a local tradition overlap with influences from Indian music from the south and Tibetan music in the highlands north of the main Himalayan ridge. Religious and mythological ideas from animism , Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism come together accordingly . In Buddhism, which from the 7th / 8th Century established a foothold in the mountain region, magical ideas of the old folk religion Bon have been preserved. According to legend, famous Buddhist authorities practiced miraculous healing, exorcism and magical flight. Numerous ethnic groups, societies segmented into caste and regions isolated by poor transport connections have contributed to the preservation of regional independent cultural traditions.
Most of the Nepalese drum types belong to a certain caste or ethnic group, only a few drums, including the two - skin barrel drum madal ( also generally means "drum" in Nepali ) are not assigned to any group. Widely used are more or less bulbous barrel drums ( dholak , dhimay , pashchima , dha ) and most ritually used Sanduhrtrommeln as the hudka (see. Hurka ) in western Nepal and the smaller hourglass-rattling drum damaru who came from the Indian to the Tibetan cult music. Kettle drums such as damaha , tamar and the nagara played in pairs are less common, frame drums are rare . The latter includes a frame drum called jhyali with bells, which occurs with the Jyapu, a Newar caste . Another frame drum with bells is called by the Tamang and the Bothia damphu ( damfu ).
The damphu is a single-headed, mostly wooden frame drum that is held by the edge with the left hand and struck with the right hand. It is played as a soloist and is used to accompany singing and dancing. The membrane with a diameter of about 30 centimeters is clamped to the frame with long wooden pins. Even if the damphu is connected with the Tibetan culture, it could be related to frame drums of the Islamic area ( daff ) due to its construction .
In the Himalayan region, the ceremonial drums used for healing and in cults are of two different types. Mainly in the western Nepalese region of Dhaulagiri (mountain regions of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna ), circular single-headed frame drums are common, which have two diagonal wooden struts on the underside, which serve as a handle. They correspond to North Asian types. In this restricted area of distribution, the frame drums are called nah by the Gurung , rnga by the Thakali, re by the Kham-Magar and ring by the Chepang. The aforementioned ethnic groups speak the Tibetan Burman languages . Some frame drums are hung with chains and bells that are attached to rings around the edge. The membrane of the ring is glued to the frame. The Bhujel call their frame drum covered with goat skin dhyangro , although it corresponds to the single-headed type.
In a much larger area of Nepal east of Dhaulagiri, the Tibetan shaman drum type with an external handle is common, which is called dhyangro here . The "East Nepalese shaman drum" dhyangro occurs from the valley of Kali Gandaki in the west to Kalimpong in the Indian district of Darjeeling and in Sikkim on the other side of the eastern border of Nepal.
In Ladakh and neighboring regions, the corresponding double-skinned drumstick is called gna . Your frame is lavishly painted with meaningful motifs in bright lacquer colors. The small version of the gna is held by a stick and hit with a thin curved stick. It is used to accompany dances (especially the dance gna cham ), for divination and spiritual healing. In addition, there is the larger gna chen ( gna chung ), which is hung in a wooden frame and is used in tantric-Buddhist rituals.
Already in the Rigveda , one in the 2nd millennium BC The names of ancient Indian drums are mentioned. In addition to double-headed drums, the name dundubhi can be found for a kettle drum ( preserved as dhamsa ) and in the word compound bhumidundhubi for "earth drum" ( Sanskrit bhumi , "earth"). This simplest form of a ritual drum was a pit dug at sacrificial sites with a bull's skin stretched over it, which was beaten with a stick. Cauldron-shaped drums, which are also called dundubhi in post-Christian sources , are on reliefs in Gandhara from the 1st / 2nd centuries . Century AD known. In the Graeco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, the depiction of a small stem drum on a relief shows the serpent king Aravala, who is surrounded by two dancers and four musicians. The image of the musician beating the stem drum in Gandhara, which is associated with Tibetan culture, shows the old age of this type of instrument. The Gandhara stem drum is about half the size, but similar in shape to a modern day dhyangro . The origin of the Tibetan stem drums can be found in India.
Design
The circular wooden frame of the dhyangro is about 20 centimeters high and has a diameter of 30 to 50 centimeters. Both sides are covered with goat skins and fixed to wooden rings that are tied together in an X-shape with strips of skin. Inside there are seeds of the tree Elaeocarpus ganitrus , called rudraksha (Sanskrit, " Rudra's eyes") , which make a crackling noise when the drum is beating and are otherwise used to make prayer beads ( mala ). The wooden handle (Nepali murra, Tibetan rnga-yu ) is carved in the shape of a dagger ( phurba ) and lavishly decorated with symbolic motifs.
According to ethnological research at the end of the 1950s, the membranes were made of deer or monkey skin. Alain Fournier observed the shaman cult among the Sunwar from 1969-70. According to his description, a dhyangro consists of a 10 centimeter high frame with a diameter of 42 centimeters and which is covered with the skin of a three-year-old roe deer or a two-year-old goat. According to Fournier, the Sunwar membranes are braced against each other with leather straps or rattan . The frame is made from hazelnut wood ( Sunwar tsegi ) or from Rhododendron arboreum (Sunwar thingre ). The approximately 30 centimeter long handle ( goedaki ) is made of the same wood. The dhyangro is made according to the instructions of a healer or shaman. The rattle body inside can be broken down among the Limbu as Philippe Sagant described in 1976, seven grains of rice, seven stones, three pieces of incense and a copper coin.
A specimen, presumably made by the Tamang before 1979, measures 38 centimeters in diameter and has a 12 centimeter high rim. The two membranes are sewn to rings and these are braced against each other in a V-shape with a thin strip of bamboo. Various rattle bodies made of stones or grains can be filled in through an opening cut into the frame. The filling opening is closed by the wooden handle tied over it. The handle of this drum is 35 centimeters long and at the transition to the frame consists of a section with three fully sculpted heads, which are bordered by a pearl ribbon pattern. The middle part is reminiscent of either a Buddhist thunderbolt (Sanskrit vajra , Tibetan rdo rje ) or a double row of lotus leaves, which are connected via a coil-shaped intermediate piece - interpreted as a lotus blossom ( padma ). This part is framed on both sides by an auspicious "endless knot" (Tibetan dpal be'u ). The end forms a triangular shape that tapers like a dagger edge and is decorated with a bird's head on each side. A naga (snake) emerges from the beak and head of every bird . The bodies of the two snakes belonging to a bird's head wrap around each other and thus form a caduceus that fills the space between the cutting edges of the dagger. The motif is understood as the mythical conflict between the snake and the god-bird Garuda or as the snake-shaped dragon Makara (Tibetan chu srin ) of Indian mythology.
Even if the symbolism of the individual ornaments and representational shapes, which comes from the Buddhist and Hindu tradition, can be interpreted differently, the handle as a whole represents a dagger (Nepali kila , Tibetan phurba ). If the three heads are supposed to represent, walk over it the views differ: the divine trinity Brahma , Vishnu and Maheswar ( Shiva ) or three named Tibetan lamas or Vajrapani , Hayagriva and the angry Buddhist god Amritakundali or it is the three faces of the deified Phurba (Vajrakila).
Of the two membranes, one is considered male and the other is female. This is expressed in different but related drawings. According to Alain Fournier (1974), on the "female" (also "peaceful") side of the Sunwar drum, a star is shown in the middle above the mountain peaks and on the "male" (also "violent") side a trishula (trident) , flanked by the sun on the left and the moon on the right.
The edge of the female Sunwar drum is formed by a circumferential chain of rhombuses, which are divided in the middle by a circular line, thus forming pairs of triangles. For the Sunwar, the triangles pointing towards the center represent mountains and the triangles pointing towards the edge represent valleys. The line separating them corresponds to the rivers. Together there is an image of the Himalayas on the edge. From a dotted line in a circle above the mountain peaks, which is supposed to represent the stars of the Milky Way , four lines, each made up of four points, lead to the center. There is an octagonal star, four of which are colored red and the four diamonds between them are painted white. The central star represents the planet Venus in its attribution as morning star (white) and evening star (red); the points of the axbox correspond to the other stars. Such a mythical world map with the sun, moon, stars, human figures and animals is used on many North Asian shaman's drums as a guide for the shaman on his journey to the hereafter. The otherwise seldom depicted on a drum as morning and evening star at the same time is Venus also known by the Teleuts .
On the male side, a simple zigzag line can be seen at the edge, with every second inward-pointing tip connected by a slightly inwardly curved line in a circle. The zigzag line represents the mountains at the edge of the world (corresponding to the mythical ring mountains, Qaf ), the curved line stands for the rainbow . A dotted circle in turn refers to the Milky Way. The trident in the middle, standing on a square pedestal (altar), is one of the attributes of Shiva, who is considered the patron god of shamans in eastern Nepal. The sun on the left of the trident can be seen as a circle with rays, on the right the moon is shown as a waning crescent moon. The shaman draws the white lines with a finger and lime paste.
The drum, held by the handle in the left hand, is struck on both sides with an S-shaped tube ( nagading ) in the right hand. The male side is held outward when playing. According to its ritual meaning, the drum can be hung with colorful cords, strips of fabric, peacock feathers, porcupine bristles and leaves of magical plants.
Use and meaning
Jhankri
The Nepali word for shaman is Jhankri (or Jhakri ). The Jhankri feels connected to spirits of the other world, from whom he receives messages through trance and in an obsession ritual. An opportunity to pay homage to ancestral spirits , snake spirits ( Nagas ) and other spirits ( Bhutas ) is offered by the annual festival for the clan deity, for which a sacred area is demarcated on the edge of the village and a hut is built as a place to stay. The members of the clan make offerings to the spirits in the form of food and flowers. The high god Mahadeo (Shiva), the shaman spirit Banjhankri ("wilderness shaman") and various forest spirits are also worshiped there. Banjhankri is presented as a half-human and half-animal creature, three feet tall, thickly haired and the feet turned back. In his left hand he carries a vessel filled with milk and a drum and in his right hand a curved drumstick. In this form, which he only takes occasionally, he abducts boys and girls from the villages and brings them into a cave hidden behind a waterfall. In a kind of mythical initiation he teaches them a shamanic knowledge - sacred mantras and the making of the dhyangro - and brings his students back to their villages when he thinks they have learned enough. This procrastination is believed to be the one possible explanation why a person has become a shaman. In the other case, it turns out that a person is possessed by a ghost, such as when his whole body is shaking or showing other unusual symptoms. Such behavior can be caused by the soul of a deceased Jhankri, which after death does not simply disappear in the hereafter, but settles in another person. When the soul has gone through many jhankris after 100 years, it attains a divine status.
As a follow-up for the psychic spirit experience in the forest, which is understood as a vocation experience, an experienced shaman is required to show the student the way and to give him the ability to travel to the hereafter and to be possessed by a spirit unscathed. The aspiring shaman also receives his drum from the shaman teacher, which is usually given to him in a ritual. Hereafter journeys are carried out along the central world tree into the upper or lower of the three worlds of shamanic cosmogony in Nepal. Here the shamans act as mediators for an individual or for the community. The tasks of the shamans, who are highly respected in traditional society, include, among other things, healing with herbal medicine, the averting of dangers and marriage brokerage .
The shaman holds the dhyangro across in front of him at head level and begins to drum with regular beats. For him, this means that his body is preparing to absorb the spirits called on from all directions. If he feels hot and cold flashes - as a sign that the spirits are getting closer - he immediately changes to a quarter of a clock. Once this has happened, he sings about the helpful spirits present and relives the moment when he first came into contact with the spirits during his initiation. When the shaman moves wildly or dances in circles, the drum beats become less. Depending on the purpose of the ritual, he embarks on the appropriate journey to the hereafter. The drum is an indispensable tool here. The copper coin or a rudraksha seed inside embody the highest of the summoned spirits. According to those involved, the drum contains the shaman's soul and occasionally that of the person to be treated by the ritual. Mostly the shaman hits the male, outward-facing side. If he uses both sides, he calls in the spirits at the beginning of a ritual with the “male” side and drives them away towards the end by beating the “female” side in a 3/4 time. The session then goes over to a 2/4 time and ends with a uniform, monotonous drum beat. It shouldn't matter to the spirits whether they are summoned by a male or female shaman. Both sexes use the drum for the same purposes. In addition to the drum, the shaman produces noises with chains of bells and is hung with other ritual objects. To cleanse the patient's body from the spirits, he uses a broom ( chamer ). Chickens, geese or goats can be sacrificed to reconcile the spirits.
Fundamental to the work of the shaman is the idea that a malevolent spirit, an ancestral spirit, a personal disturbance or some kind of emotional imbalance in the village community is responsible for the cause of an illness. Putting oneself into a state of obsession to heal the sick is a common traditional treatment method in Tibet and India as well as in Nepal. The Tibetan shaman brings himself into a state of trance through the rhythm of the hourglass drum damaru (Tibetan gcod-dar ). A north Indian healer ( ojha, belonging to the Brahmins ) calls on the disease goddess Shitala , through which he can make direct contact with the sick spirits and direct them to the healing of the patient. Drum beats and singing are used for this. Healing rituals associated with obsession in the temple, such as the annual Siri jatre festival, also belong in this area .
Shamans are considered traditional healers in Nepal, and their share in the treatment of diseases in the villages is still high, despite basic medical care based on the western model that has spread since the 1990s. In addition to the drum-beating shaman, other methods are used to treat the sick: trance state by murmuring mantras (tantra mantra), blowing out the malicious spirit ( phuknu ) and plant medicine ( jadibuti ), occasionally accompanied by animal sacrifices . For 1980, the traditional healers in the whole of Nepal were estimated at 400,000 to 800,000, well over a hundred times the number of existing modern doctors, most of whom, however, practice in the few cities. Scientific studies have confirmed a certain effectiveness of such traditional methods.
Puimbo
The Sunwar male shaman is called Puimbo and his female counterpart is Ngiami . Of particular importance is the priest, Naso , whose profession, unlike the shaman, is inheritable. The naso is entrusted with invoking the deities (Devatas), but does not fall into a trance himself and cannot summon the deities without the help of a shaman. During public ceremonies, which usually take place during the day, the naso practices animal sacrifice. The shamans, on the other hand, usually perform their rituals at night.
Phombo
The Jirel are an ethnically related group of the Sunwar in the Dolakha district . They call their traditional healers and shamans Phombo , which is translated as “priest” or “spiritual healer”. The word phombo is reminiscent of the name given to the Tibetan fortune teller, healer and priest bon po (the Bon / Bön tradition), who also uses a drum ( bon po'i rnga , "drum des bon po") for his activities . The Jirel distinguish the Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist priest, from the Phombo. Even though some lamas practice healers with mantra sayings and with herbal medicine, they are not possessed by spirits like phombos. Llamas are integrated into the hierarchy of their religious community, while Phombos are only in contact with their spiritual master, from whom they have received their introduction, and otherwise act independently without any higher authority.
In addition to the drum, the phombo's equipment includes cymbals ( jhaurta ) with which the spirits are to be made aware of the phombo's presence, a magic spear ( barsa ) and a sickle ( hashiya ). The spear and sickle are magical weapons against malevolent spirits. The healing ceremony, which lasts several hours or all night, takes place in the house of Phombo. As a token of sympathy, family members and neighbors have gathered around the patient in the treatment room. While the Phombo begins preparations, an assistant heats the drum's membranes over a fire to set the correct pitch. The Phombo is dressed in an ankle-length white robe and hung with a necklace and bells. He wears a headdress with five images of Buddhist deities, whereby the porcupine bristles and peacock feathers that are common in a Jhankri are missing. The preparatory equipment includes burning incense sticks, the weapons spread out on the floor and an altar containing human bones , minerals, statues of gods, some uncooked rice, chang (Nepalese millet beer) and a vessel ( bumbo ) with holy water and flowers. After the phombo has offered chang to the gods , he starts beating the drum and singing in a high voice, accompanied by his assistant playing cymbals. The faster drum beats and trembling movements are a sign of the incipient obsession of the Phombo. He now speaks to the summoned spirits, asks why they have attacked the patient and passes on their messages in his own voice. Dancing, beating the drums and conveying the ghost statements takes about an hour with small interruptions. He then turns to the patient directly to tell him the cause of his illness. The patient has to drink some holy water from the bumbo , which the phombo now places on his head and dances with it for another hour in the room and speaks mantras. The mantras are designed to prevent the bumbo from falling off its head while dancing. The supernatural forces enter the vessel and thus make the contents effective.
In western Nepal there is a shaman called Dhami who does not use drums when trying to heal his ghost-possessed patients by letting these ghosts invade his own body. He uses the help of a drum-playing Damai (member of a music-making caste of tailors on the lowest social level).
literature
- Mireille Helffer, Gert-Matthias Wegner, Simonne Bailey: Dhyāngro . In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 2, Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2014, p. 42
- Mireille Helffer: The Drums of Nepalese Mediums . In: European Bulletin of Himalayan Research, 1997, pp. 176-195
- Michael Oppitz : Drawings on Shamanic Drums. In: RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, No. 22, Fall 1992, pp. 62-81
Web links
- Frame Drum (Dhyāngro), Nepal, Early 20th Century . National Music Museum, The University of South Dakota
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mircea Eliade : Shamanism and archaic ecstasy technique . Suhrkamp, Frankfurt / Main 1980, p. 406
- ↑ Pirkko Moisala: Nepal . In: Alison Arnold (Ed.): Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Volume 5: South Asia: The Indian Subcontinent. Routledge, London 1999, p. 696
- ^ Felix Hoerburger: Studies on Music in Nepal . (Regensburg Contributions to Musical Folklore and Ethnology, Volume 2) Gustav Bosse, Regensburg 1975, pp. 13, 20
- ^ Thomas O. Ballinger, Purna Harsha Bajracharya: Nepalese Musical Instruments . In: Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 16, No. 4, Winter 1960, pp. 398-416, here pp. 413f
- ↑ Mireille Helffer, 1997, p. 188
- ↑ Mireille Helffer, 1997, pp. 185f
- ↑ Michael Oppitz: Drawings on Shamanic Drums , 1992, p. 65
- ↑ Mingma Thundu Sherpa, Abhishek Mathur, Sayak Das: Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine System of Sikkim: A Review. In: World Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2015, pp. 161-184, here p. 166
- ↑ Bigamudre Chaitanya Deva: Musical Instruments . National Book Trust, New Delhi 1977, pp. 33f
- ↑ Walter Kaufmann : Old India. Music history in pictures, Vol. 2. Music of antiquity, delivery 8. VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1981, p. 32
- ↑ Maximilian Hendler: Oboe - metal tuba - drum: Organological-onomasiological investigations into the history of paraphernalia instruments. Part 2: drums . Peter Lang, Frankfurt 2001, p. 172
- ^ Ter Ellingson: Indian Influences in Tibetan Music. In: The World of Music, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Sacred Music) 1982, pp. 85-93
- ↑ Mireille Helffer, 1997, pp. 177-183
- ↑ Michael Oppitz: Drawings on Shamanic Drums, 1992, pp. 65f
- ↑ Moham Bikram Gewali: Aspects of Traditional Medicine in Nepal . Institute of National Medicine, University of Toyama, 2008, p. 22
- ^ Stacy Leigh Pigg: The Credible and the Credulous: The Question of "Villagers' Beliefs" in Nepal. In: Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 11, No. 2, May 1996, pp. 160-201, here p. 166
- ↑ Bhola nath Banstola: Jhankri. The Shamans of Nepal.
- ↑ Moham Bikram Gewali: Aspects of Traditional Medicine in Nepal. Institute of National Medicine, University of Toyama, 2008, p. 22
- ↑ Regina Gelfo: Indigenous Music Healers' Techniques: Entrainment as Bridge Between Traditional and Contemporary Music Healing. ( Memento from December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Cross-Cultural Music and the Tomatis Method and other Auditory Stimulation Programs. California Institute of Integral Studies, around 2013, p. 6f
- ↑ Masamine Jimba: First aid kit: a challenging new tool for traditional healers in Nepal . (Working Copy) Takemi Program in International Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 2001-2002, pp. 3f
- ^ A b Alain Fournier: The Role of the Priest in Sunuwar Society. In: Kailash, 2/3, 1974, pp. 153-166, here pp. 155-157
- ↑ Cf. Mircea Eliade: Shamanism and archaic ecstasy technique . Suhrkamp, Frankfurt / Main 1980, p. 405
- ^ H. Sidky, Ronald H. Spielbauer, Janardan Subedi, James Hamill, Robin Singh, J. Blangero, S. Williams Blangero: Phombos: A Look at Traditional Healers Among the Jirels of Eastern Nepal . In: Nepalese Studies (The Jirel Issue) . January 2000, pp. 39-52, here pp. 40-42
- ↑ H. Sidky, Ronald H. Spielbauer, Janardan Subedi, James Hamill, Robin Singh, J. Blangero, S. Williams Blangero: Phombos, 2000, p. 48f
- ↑ Dhami refers to different shamanic healers in Nepal depending on the region. See András Höfer, Bishnu P. Shrestha: Ghost Exorcism Among the Brahmans of Central Nepal . In: Central Asiatic Journal , Vol. 17, No. 1, 1973, pp. 51-77
- ^ Carol Tingey: Digging up Data in a Nepalese Field. In: The Musical Times , Vol. 133, No. 1790, April 1992, pp. 170-173