Culture
Dharchula’s culture is a mixed one. And each community that has made this town its home has contributed to the places’ unique culture. For centuries, Dharchula has played host to a vast floating population – the devotees, sages and saints making their way to the sacred Kailash-Mansarovar or the semi-nomadic Bhotias.
Dharchula was a traditional trading town, and when trade with Tibet was at its zenith, this town saw a large number of Bhotias sell their wares here and buy necessities to take back to Tibet. The Bhotia tribes also used this as their summer base when their homes higher in the mountains were snowed under. The Indo-Chinese war in1962, however, put an end to commercial activity, and many Bhotias have since chosen to settle down in Dharchula and the surrounding areas. Apart from the Rang Bhotia tribes, Dharchula is also home to a substantial population of Kumaoni Brahmins and Rajputs.
Major festivals such as Dhhyoula and Kangdali are celebrated as well as minor ones such as Syangthangapujan, Syeemithhumo (atma pujan), Maati (soil) puja, and Nabu Samo and the annual Kanda-Utsav.
The legend behind the Kangdali festival tells of a boy who died upon applying the paste of the root from a shrub known as Kangdali on his boil. Enraged, his widowed mother cursed the shrub and ordered the Rang women to pull out the root of the Kangdali plant when it reached full bloom, which happens once in 12 years. According to another story, the Kangdali festival commemorates the brave women who repelled Zorawar’s army that attacked from Ladhakh in 1841. The women destroyed the Kangdali bushes in which the enemy was hidden, who retreated.
The festival begins with the worship of a Shivling made of barley and buck wheat flour mixture. Every household performs this puja, which eventually culminates in a community feast. Women and men, dressed in traditional attire, assemble around a designated tree in every village and raise a flag.
A procession is formed behind the flag bearer and the crowd heads towards the Kangdali plants. The women lead the procession, each armed with a ril, a tool used in carpet making, attack the blooming plant viciously. Children and men armed with swords and shields follow closely. After the victory dance and the extermination of the shrub, the festival concludes with a feast.
The last year that the Kangdali bloomed was in 1999 and the next festival will be held in 2011.
Music and Dance
The remoteness of the mountains in which they live has ensured that the people of the area have preserved their distinctive culture traditions through dance and music. Most songs and dances are religious or pertain to the people’s traditional lifestyle.
Folk songs and dances are performed on every ceremony. Devotional songs or Jagars are sung to invite various gods to be present on the occasion. Apart from this, both men and women take part in recreational dances such as the Chanchari which are group songs and dances.
The Hurkiya Bol is associated with agriculture, mainly with the collective planting and weeding of paddy fields. A Hurkiya plays the Hurka and sings devotional songs in praise of local gods and seeks blessings for a good harvest, while the women working in the fields join in the singing.
The Choliya is a martial art form of dance which is performed on the occasion of marriages and fairs. Two or more persons holdings a shield in one hand and a sword in the other performs various attack and defence tactics and acrobatics to the tune of Dhol, Damau, Ransingh and Turahi.
The area has a very rich tradition of folk literature, which deals with local/national myths, heroes, heroines, deeds of bravery and various aspects of nature. The songs deal with the creation of earth, the deeds of gods-goddesses, especially Nanda Devi, and local dynasties/heroes as well as characters from the Ramayan and the Mahabharat. Usually, these songs are based on events from local history and the bharau (ballads) are usually sung during collective agricultural activities (Hurkiya Bol) and other songs in different social and cultural festivals. Similarly, Bhotia tribes also have their own folk songs and dances. These are used mainly during festivals and social cultural ceremonies.
Languages spoken
Indo-Nepalese (Kumaoni-Nepalese) and Hindi. The Rang Bhotias have their own language which is distinct from Tibetan languages and is an oral dialect with no written script.
Architecture
The older homes in Dharchula – a few of which have survived -- are two-storey structures, not much taller than a single-storey house in the plains. Made of 10 to 25 mm thick stone walls and slate roofs, their living areas are accessed by a narrow wooden ladder-type staircase. The lower rooms once housed cattle, but now are mostly used for storage. Very few of these traditional houses remain as brick-and-cement structures with marble floors and indoor toilet replace them.