The Budhatalab area of Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, is known for its “Baja Market”. “Baja” refers to musical instruments of five categories: dhol, nisan, tasa/timkidi (membranophones), muhuri (aerophone) and jhumka (idiophone). The musicians are from the Ganda community—a large Scheduled Caste community from the western part of Odisha and bordering districts of Chhattisgarh. This folk musical tradition is thus known as “Ganda Baja”. Its practitioners earn their livelihood by drum beating during marriages, festivals, births, deaths, political processions, etc. Some of them also work as agricultural or daily wage labourers.
“Baja Market” is an annual event held during Diwali, attracting thousands of such drum beaters. The Raut community (Yadav community) from rural Chhattisgarh are the main patrons of such troupes. They typically need their services for a minimum of four to five days to a maximum period of nine days, during the festival. Accordingly, the charges range from Rs. 20,000 to Rs 1,00,000. Earlier, a particular rate was imposed on these drum beaters but nowadays they participate in each stage of the negotiation process. Many a times they reject an offer which is not economically viable for them. Often a skilled group demands higher rates than others; however, the weaker groups have to compromise. The clientele prefers the groups featuring “Pari”—a male crossdresser or a transgender.
Typically, this market period coincides with the lean season for the Ganda people. Therefore, they can migrate for the short-term from Odisha to Chhattisgarh. Covid-19 impacted their livelihood negatively. In the post-Covid-19 period, a notable trend of their oversupply has been observed. This has heightened the vulnerability of groups with weaker bargaining power. Many troupes return to their villages empty handed, without acquiring suitable clients, resulting in a double loss—of time and dashed hopes.
Dr. Sujit Kumar Mishra is Professor and Regional Director, Council for Social Development (An ICSSR Research Institute supported by Government of Telangana and RBI), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-500030, Telangana. He can be reached at, sujitkumar72@gmail.com