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Changing
Agricultural Technology and its Impact on Agro-based Rituals and
Folk Songs in Rural Orissa
Kamal K. Misra
Niharranjan Mishra
Against the background of many pioneering studies on economic
gains and social costs of Green Revolution in technologically
savvy states of Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, etc., this study is
a modest attempt to re-assess the impact of new agricultural
technology on rural social institutions, particularly rituals
and folk songs, in an agricultura, technologically not so
advanced state of Orissa, where agriculture is conventionally
not merely construed as a means of livelihood, but also a way of
life. The analysis of primary data collected from a multi-jati
irrigated village, Jagdalpur, in Bhadrak district of the state
clearly reveals how the introduction of new agricultural
technology has raised the level of confidence of the farmers in
handling many uncertainties with which traditional agricultural
practice was fraught, thus heralding changes in traditional
agricultural rituals and folk songs. While some of the rituals
are on the verge of extinction due to mechanization of
agriculture, some others have largely lost their significance
and reduced to mere symbolic performances devoid of the fun,
frolic and gaiety once attached to them. The study also shows,
how the historic linkage between agriculture and the rituals
associated with it still exists, and how the culture of
agriculture has adapted itself to new technological innovations
in rural Orissa.
Keywords: Agricultural Technology, Rituals, Folk Songs,
Orissa. |
