Agra: With the government enforcing a strict ban on trapping snakes and possessing them in the past decade, the snake charmers have been done out of their traditional business. In a unique display of adaptability and flexibility, a good number of the erstwhile charmers have now taken to playing their wind instruments, the ‘been’ at wedding processions. Young people at weddings are only too glad to make the sinuous moves that go with the sounds of the ‘been’ to which snakes would dance earlier.
At Mania village, about 25 km from Agra, also known as “sapera basti” there are several wedding bands that use the ‘been’. These bands have been in big demand through the wedding season. This is a village with a population of 800 people. Of the 400 people eligible to vote here, all are traditionally snake charmers.
The ‘been’, the rounded flutes of these snake charmers, still hypnotise. The men wear their traditional orange turban-dhoti-kurtas; at the wedding bands too, they appear in their traditional gear. What has changed is only that instead of charming snakes these days, they charm wedding guests.
Chabram Singh, a former snake charmer, now runs his wedding band – The Nagin Band. He says he is full up with bookings – 12 this wedding season. He was still being inundated with requests for performance, he said. And the band is taking him places: “We performed at Agra’s JP Hotel. I haven’t seen such a big place in my life.”
His 24-member band charges between Rs15,000 and Rs30,000 for a single performance. It is not just the traditional snake charming tunes that they play – they also turn jokers and enact female dancers to entertain audiences. That is what gets them custom, in times of stiff competition.
picture: chiffon wedding dressAnother band, this time owned by Sindhi Pradhan – the village headman – has been hard at rehearsals, ahead of a December 4 performance at Sikandra in Agra. Besides the ‘been’ this band has acquired some other instruments too, and there is work needed to properly synchronise the different instruments.
“I bought three new brass drums and two different flutes. We have a horse buggy and a chandelier too that we can take around in procession, so my band stand does not look like any other. I charge up to Rs40,000 for a performance,” says Sindhi Pradhan.
Babban Baba, an old former snake charmer in Mania village, though, recalls how hard life has become since he has had to give up thesnakes. “We were suddenly told we could no longer keep our snakes. What else were we supposed to do? Snake charming is an art, and not one to be sneezed it. It was our means of making ends meet. These bands are large – so the money they earn has to be divided, and each member could end up with a paltry Rs1,000 or so after a performance. Besides, the work is limited to the wedding season. For the rest of the year, we are reduced to unskilled labourers.”
Originally from Rajasthan, these snake charmers settled in Mania about seven generations ago. Music and snakes have been part of their lives for generations. Their traditional business would boom ahead of Nagpanchmai and Shivratri.
Sukhveer Singh, who has just earned a graduate degree in science, has been practising snake charming with his father. “We have had to give up the snakes, but the habit of playing the ‘been’ will stay. These days, we play at weddings and parties. The wedding bands give us stiff competition.”
Having lived with snakes for generations, the people of this village are also called for help in case of snakebites. “We have liquids that are antidotes for snake bites. We still do the old snake charming in the festive season, only not openly,” one villager admitted, unwilling to be quoted.
In 2003, the government amended the 1972 Wildlife (Protection) Act that banned ownership of snakes. Keeping snakes in captivity and their display in public was earlier prohibited, and any breach of this prohibition was more stringently punished. In 1991, the practice ofsnake charming was banned.\
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