From the CD
Sanjhi is a folk aesthetic tradition of 15 day ritual, stretching from the full moon day to
the dark moonless night, with paintings on the walls of houses. It is done by unmarried
girls to pay tribute to the departed ancestors during Pitri Paksha and is in vogue in many
places in north and central India. IGNCA has documented this tradition in Udaipur of
Rajasthan and Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. Young girls with the help of their mother create
this Sanjhi on walls with cow-dung and a variety of flowers. This is created and recreated
with new motifs every evening at the twilight hour and undone in the early down. Sandhya or
Sanjhya devi is the central myth of this functional tradition.
The film shows the sanjha-ka-kot filled with objects familiar to the beloved dead.
It highlights the objects drawn on certain days like the dice game, tower, sweets, handfan,
swastika, old men and women, kagla-kagli, sage etc. Through these, girls are taught various
nuances of life, reverence for bonds of society and for elders. They create these sanjhi so
that they can be blessed with good husbands. The fascinating shades of this ritualistic play
are revealed through this film.
veces desde el 10th Jan, 2012
