Dhamnagar: “Please don’t ask me about my traditional profession. If I sit to narrate about its heyday, words will fail me,” says ‘Lautumba’ (snake charming music) player, Sukuta Das about his family profession, which is on the verge of extinction.
Sukuta, a snake charmer of Nuapada village of Dobal panchayat under this block in Bhadrak district, says he has been performing ‘Lautumba’ for 42 years. There was a time, when huge crowds would gather around him to hear the soulful tune.
People of his community, in a special getup, would go from village to village with snake baskets. They would make snakes, particularly cobras, dance to the tunes of this instrument. This attracted a huge number of people, including children and the elderly, and the snake charmers used to make a good amount of money.
However, with the passage of time, people have forgotten the kind of amusement snake charmers used to provide. “It has been two decades since I stopped using snakes in the performance due to the government’s restrictions, and without snakes our profession is meaningless,” he rues.
“Without snakes, the backbone of the performance, the income is zero. Now I am moving around villages playing the instrument only,” he added saying that now, the snake charmer community people only go around with the ‘Lautumba’ and try to attract people, but to no avail.
Being an expert in playing ‘Lautumba’, his expertise saw him through difficult times. With the earning, he has married off his five daughters and his two sons are working as migrant workers.
With no experience in other profession, he continues playing the instrument and has listeners even today. Whenever he passes through a village, people call him, make him sit on the veranda and ask him to play the music.
The ‘Lautumba’ is maximum one to two feet in length. It consists of two reeds or bamboo tubes. These are attached to a large dried gourd shell. Some pieces of bell metal are also used on it to produce pleasant music.
However, it hurts him as no one is coming forward to take up the age-old tradition as it hardly gives any income. The old performers have also changed their profession. Some are even working as bonded labourers. Those who had been begging for alms playing the instrument are also seen nowhere.
It’s time the government takes steps to keep this rural art form alive. But for any initiative, the day is not too far when there will be only the instrument without its player, he says.
PNN
