A clean sweep of history
For most city-dwellers, the broom is an essential but ignored household item. In rural India, however, brooms have cultural, mythological and sociological significance. They’re prized as symbols of wealth, hidden from guests, and are even part of birth and death rituals.
At Arna Jharna: The Thar Desert Museum, 15 km from Jodhpur city, a gallery forms what is possibly the world’s most extensive collection of brooms. Some 180 varieties have been sourced from across Rajasthan. They may look similar at first glance, but give them a closer look and they’ll tell stories of their place in the world, and the world of their makers. The museum’s founder, the late folklorist, ethnomusicologist and Padma Bhushan recipient Komal Kothari, divided the collection according to geography when he set up Arna Jharna in 2010. “Brooms are typically made from locally available grasses, shrubs and bushes,” says Kuldeep Kothari, Komal Kothari’s son, and secretary of Rupayan Sansthan, which runs the museum.
So specimens from the drier bajra zone are typically short-bristled and brushy, those from the jowar zone are a little less so, while brooms from corn-growing areas, which gets more rain, show softness and flexibility.
There are brooms made from sturdy shrubs and twigs to clean compounds and yards, and artistically woven ones made of daab grass and only used in kitchens and areas of worship. Some are short-handled, designed for use only when the person (invariably a woman) is sitting on her haunches.
Brooms are gendered too. The bungra, said to be masculine, does the heavy outdoor work. Its mate, the bungri, is made from delicate grass, and is used to clean areas inside the house. Both need protection in a village household. The bungra is typically stored atop a tree, away from animals that might damage it. Bungris are stored indoors, also at a height, so children can’t damage its delicate bristles. And so it isn’t seen by visitors. “Locals believe that a broom is Lakshmi. Just as you wouldn’t display your wealth to others, you don’t show your broom to others either,” says Kothari.
Many social and cultural beliefs around brooms stem from the scarcity of the materials they’re made from, Kothari says. Rajasthan is prone to drought and famine. When it doesn’t rain, it’s hard to find the right grass or bushes from which to make brooms. Most women stockpile these materials, to prepare for these seasons of scarcity.
Brooms have pride of place in rural domestic life. During Govardhan puja, usually held during Diwali, a specially woven broom is worshipped. And when a daughter of the house is married, she is given all kinds of gifts: ornaments, utensils, clothes. But never a broom. “Families will give away their daughter but not their broom,” says Kothari, laughing. They believe, if you part with the broom, you part with your wealth.
The Arna Jharna museum also houses musical instruments and crafts items. Sections on local pottery and puppetry will be set up soon. The brooms, however, make a clean sweep of the most unusual stories.