HT Correspondent
BOKO, Jan 3: The five-day-long Chandubi Festival, which started from the first of January and continued until the fifth of January this year, celebrated its 14th anniversary with colorful folk dances, ethnic food, and locally produced wines and beers.
The festival was inaugurated by Palashbari constituency MLA Hemanga Thakuria in the presence of RHAC chief executive member (CEM) Tankeswar Rabha, vice chairman Ramakanta Rabha, executive member Sumit Rabha, Nagarmal Swargiyary, Rashmi Bala Rabha, members of the All Rabha Students Union (ARSU), along with many other invited dignitaries and people from the area. The opening of the festival also saw the release of the souvenir ‘Lokeia’ by Gaurikanta Bhauyan, a teacher and creator of the Kuhipath, along with other invited guests.
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Throughout the festival, the Festival Celebration Committee organised various ethnic sports competitions, including Baghbol Competition, Chagalchari competition, Khutikhel, Lewatana, and many other Rabha tribe’s ethnic sports competitions. Meanwhile, tourists enjoyed daily performances of different tribes’ folk dances, including Garo, Boro, Hajpong, Bihu, Rabha, and many others.
“We invite cultural groups from different states every year in an effort to blend the civilisation and culture of other states with the culture of our Rabha people. Therefore, it is important to consider that the Rabha people can learn about the civilisation and culture of other states and the teams from other states can learn about the Rabha tribes. We believe that this will help our Rabha tribes to move forward,” emphasised Ashok Nongbag, the founder secretary of the Chandubi Festival and general secretary of Kamrup District ARSU.
It is worth mentioning that there are many folktales about Chandubi Lake. The lake is surrounded by hills in both Assam and Meghalaya states. According to one folktale, five hills in the surrounding area drowned during the earthquake in the year 1897. ‘San’ means five in Khasi language, and ‘dubi’ means drowned, hence the name Chandubi Lake.
Ashok expressed regret, stating, “The number of participants in the festival will be slightly reduced this year due to the ‘Gunotsav’ organised by the Education Department of the Government of Assam. However, we expected that around 10,000 to 20,000 people will attend the festival every day.”
“The festival has strengthened the people of the area financially. Around five thousand people live in the area surrounding Chandubi Lake, including Rajapara, Senimari, Kothalguri, Joromkhuriya, Ranikhamar, Bherbheri, Harigarh, Jupanbari, and many other villages,” said Dhananjay Rabha, finance secretary of the festival committee.
Rabha also mentioned, “During the festival, people in the area sell various items like locally produced vegetables, bamboo ornaments, indigenous local food items, rice beer and wines, local fruits, Rabha traditional dresses including Kangbang, Kemlet, Pajar, Patani, gamocha, etc.”
Dhananjay Rabha regretted that the festival is held every year with the financial assistance of the people in the area, adding, “However, despite being only 65 km from Dispur, the state government has not taken any special steps to preserve and develop Chandubi Lake as a tourist destination”.
“Every year, the state government spends on various programs and festivals, but they never show any interest in saving and making the lake attractive. However, according to the state tourism minister Jayanta Mallabaruah, Chandubi is one of the nine lakes recognised by the Government of Assam, including Chalchala, Bildara, Kapla, Deepar, Chandubi, and four others.”
Rabha also mentioned that from last year, Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council (RHAC) has slightly financially assisted in the festival.
Ashok Nongbag, the founder secretary of the Chandubi Festival, said, “ ‘Save Chandubi, Save Heritage’ is our main motto of our festival, which started in the year 2010. The main objective of organising the festival is to motivate and create awareness to save the nature of the Chandudi Lake cum wetland.”
“During those days, ARSU members observed that smugglers cut many rare trees and killed wild animals and birds. From 2010 to 2023, we now feel very proud that the villagers surrounding Chandubi Lake saved and secured the area from smugglers on their own and tried to improve the nature and its diversity to attract tourists. However, the Lake is a reserve forest area under the West Kamrup Forest Division,” added Ashok Nongbag.
