Mugdar’s barat kick starts Holi revelries
After Mugdar’s (a heavy block of wood used by traditional wrestlers) marriage procession, the people are now waiting for ‘Hathoda (hammer) Barat’ on the eve of Holika Dahan (March 16)
PRAYAGRAJ: It’s the different moods and customs of celebrating the festival of colours that make the Holi celebrations of Sangam city an endearing spectacle. Besides the famous Kapdaphad or “tear-the-clothes” Holi, there is the tradition of celebrating the annual festival for two consecutive days instead of just one. Besides, the city also sees two special annual processions taken out in the runup to the festival to add to the unique colour and fervour making Holi revelry stand out in Prayagraj.
Kickstarting the Holi celebrations, the revellers of the Daraganj locality took out a marriage procession called ‘Mugdar Ki Barat’ wherein Mugdar — (a heavy block made of wood and used by traditional Indian wrestlers for exercise) — is the groom. Amidst this strange and unique marriage procession, bands play blaring music, baratis dance and the groom (Mugdar) is decked up in all his finery as the procession passes through various lanes and by-lanes of the area. This year the ceremony took place at Daraganj, the home of famous Hindi poet Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nirala’, on Sunday night.
The procession was taken out with the adorned ‘Mugdar’ kept in a beautifully decorated wagon accompanied by colourful road lights, a sight in most Indian wedding processions.
The tradition of taking out the wedding procession of ‘Mugdar’ started in 1936 during British rule. Dharamraj Pandey, the chief patron of the Mugdar Barat, says, “During the British rule, there was a ban on playing with Holi colours openly, and people were afraid to leave their houses. To increase the confidence of the people my grandfather Sitaram Pandey started stepping out of his house to play Holi. Since he was a wrestler, he used to walk with a mugdar in his hand, singing Fagua, the folk song sung during Holi.
Watching him, a group of people started accompanying him. They used to play Holi with homemade colours made by Tesu flowers, he added.
“When my baba died in 1945, my father Ram Avtar Pandey carried forward the tradition till his death in 1965. It was given a grand makeover in 2007, and since then, the procession of Mugdar is being taken out on behalf of Prayagraj Seva Samiti with grandeur”, says Pandey.
Tirthraj Pandey, alias Bachcha Bhaiya, the convener of Mugdar Baraat, says that half-adozen mugdars attended the procession this time. They were brought from different akhadas or wrestling houses of the city. The 200-year-old five-feet Madrasi Mudgar, made by Krishna Rao was the groom.
Similar to Mugdar Barat of Daraganj, the Holi festival of Sangam city will also witness another interesting festivity called ‘Hathoda Barat’.
Similar to Mugdar, a huge hammer is a groom, and the procession roams the streets in search of a bride. On the eve of Holika Dahan, the traditional ‘Hathoda Barat’ will be taken out in Meerganj locality.
The tradition dates back to 1993. Ajit Tiwari alias Neta Ji, Baba Abhay Awasthi, Arun Pathak, Sudhir Kumar Tiwari have been long associated with the tradition. An interesting pattern observed in both the tradition is the fact that be it Mugdar or hammer, both are made of wood, and at the culmination point, a huge pumpkin is smashed by the ‘grooms’.
“The pumpkin symbolises the evil, and this is a practice followed in South India too. In South India, people break it like coconut, ” said Abhay Awasthi who has been associated with the festivity for a long-time.