Stone wars a Kumauni way of remembering ancestors

Pithoragarh, August 29, The Tribune

The tradition of Bagwal, celebrated in the Kumaon region in the memory of old wars, has passed on from the time when local feudal lords used to fight by hurling stones at enemies.

Cultural experts of the region say Bagwal literary means preparing for the war. As stones were the only weapons Kumaunis used in old days, the preparation for the war used to begin with collection of a large number of stones. “These stones were used in various ways. Heavy stones used to be pushed from atop hilltops on the enemies climbing it while small stones were thrown at enemies in direct confrontation,” said Charu Tiwari, an expert on the cultural history of the region.

Tiwari said there were several instances in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata where people from the hill region reached the battlefield with stones in the one hand and iron tridents in the other. They were experts in hurling stones on the enemy from a distance through a rocketing technique— tying a stone with a rope and revolving it before releasing it. “Till the end of the last century, there were 20 places in the Kumaon region where Bagwal was played before and after Divali,” said Tiwari.

Experts say the preparation for Bagwal began immediately after Divali as the festival itself was known as Bagwali Parv in the region.

“People take part in the stone war at Devidhura, Someshwar, Bagwali Pokhar, Syalde and other places in the memory of their ancestors who played with stones with all intensity and religiously,” said Tiwari.

Tiwari cited the example of the Syaldey Bikhauti fair, which is celebrated at Dwarahat every year on Bishuwat Sankranti. During the fair, four clans of villagers perform a mock struggle to touch a stone that is a symbol of a centuries-old stone war between two warring feudal lords of that era. “The tradition of Oda Pherana was itself a symbol of the stone war in the ancient time,” said Tiwari.