The dhol-maker of Muktapur

The sound of Bohag Bihu is the sound of the dhol, and every dhol has a maker. In April 2024, the Assam Tribune visited one of them: Haren Badyakar, who works in Muktapur, about 11 km from Baihata Chariali in Assam. His father began making dhols there in the late 1980s, and the family has kept the craft going since.

The visit came just after the Ministry of Commerce and Industry granted a Geographical Indication tag to the Assamese dhol on 30 March 2024. A GI tag identifies a product with a place and a tradition, and supporters hope it will protect makers from imitation and open better markets for them.

For Badyakar, the picture is more complicated. The paper reports that he sold about 40 dhols the previous year, mostly around Bohag Bihu, and that the family has no other income. A dhol is a wooden barrel covered with cow or goat skin, and making one takes at least three to four days. He told the reporter that the family had approached the state government several times for assistance without a response, and that he hoped the new tag would prompt some official support for small-scale makers.

This is how traditions are often kept alive: not by a festival's big stage, but by households whose income depends on a few busy weeks each year. For a traveller, the lesson is practical. If you want to bring home a dhol or a small replica, ask where it was made and buy from the maker or a cooperative rather than from a reseller. Be prepared to pay fairly, and listen when a maker tells you what goes into the instrument.

We have not spoken to Haren Badyakar and we are not suggesting he or his family endorse any travel plan. The report is two years old, and prices and circumstances will have changed.