Representation of Nature-born Chakma Folk Culture: An Ecocritical Study of Radhamohan Dhanapudi

Abstract

Chakma is a Mongoloid tribal community having a rich cultural heritage (but linguistically Indo-Aryan). The famous folk-ballads like Radhamohan Dhanapudi, Lorbut Midungi Pala, Lakshmi Pala, Chadigang Chhari Pala, Langya-Langani Pala, etc., are the concrete evidence of the Chakmas’ rich oral literary tradition which focuses on the primeval sweetness of literature affecting everybody. These are still sung in their different religious and socio-cultural festivals or functions according to the relevance and local needs. Radhamohan Dhanapudi, considered as the oldest and widely accepted folk-ballad of this community, centers round the romantic love story of iconic legendary couple Radhamohan and Dhanapudi. It artistically depicts the socio-cultural, religious and economic aspects of the agrarian Chakma tribal life strongly founded on ecocentric tradition and beliefs. Even this ballad has gained the status of myth among the natives who are endowed with the consciousness of conserving natural resources. The oral performance of this ballad by the genghulis (Chakma minstrels) attracts one and all of this tribal community even in the present day of globalization as it provides them with the literary means to seek and trace their own identity and folk culture based on ecocentric imagination. The present paper proposes to make an ecocritical study of the oral discourse of Radhamohan Dhanapudi and trace in it the reflection of the multidimensional intimately integrated relationship between the humans and Nature / ecology as (un)consciously cherished and maintained by the Chakmas.