The Consequences Of Bihu Songs

Being a spring festival, love is one of the chief essences of bihu songs. The love depicted in the bihu songs are not the spiritually exhilarated and sublime love rather they are motivated by the spontaneous reactions to the seasonal changes. The Bihu songs have an erotic essence in them and are traditionally associated with the fertility cult. Praphulladatta Goswami observes, “Bihu is, in fact, symbolic of youthfulness with its songs and dances and the occasion for love. Youthfulness is justified in various ways: it is going downstream and therefore has to be enjoyed while it lasts…” (1988:54) The bihu songs clearly delineate the multifarious colour of love. In some songs the beauty of the beloved that a man desires is presented in a very overt way. The lover expresses his sweetheart’s beauty as: “With your broad bosom and thin waist None is your equal in beauty, So frail is your waist It sways as you walk” (Goswami, 1988:60)

Thus the bihu songs portray the woman’s beauty as desired by her lover. Women, too take part in these bihus and dance with their lovers. This is one aspect of the bihus that is very often presented in the bihu songs. The bihu songs of the men folk portray the multiple dimensions of the socio-cultural life of the Assamese society. The women too are stakeholders in these songs. They too describe the physical charm of their lovers: I look up the bamboo clump To see which one is the longest, I look at my lover, He shines like the moon in