While ploughing a field, Bhutanese farmers often sing langkor (གླང་བསྐོར་), or exhortations to the oxen, which are sweet songs of encouragement. Today, as ploughing with bullocks is declining and fast being replaced by tractors and power tillers, it is all too rare to find a ploughman singing the song. In the past, the soothing poetic tunes of the langkor would be heard while farmers tilled their land with oxen.
Bhutanese traditionally tilled their land using a pair of bulls, the type of which often varied according to the location of the fields. In northern parts of Bhutan, people generally used zo (མཛོ་) bulls, which are crossbreeds between a yak cow and an ordinary bull. In many areas, people used ordinary bulls known as seri (སིབ་རི་) bulls. In the warmer regions, farmers used a pair of jatsha (རྒྱ་ཚ་) bulls, which are crossbreeds between a mithun (བ་མེན་) bull and regular cow. As tilling the land is a difficult task, the farmers relied upon the strength of the animals. The animals are yoked and the yoke connected to the plough, which is often made from wood with a metal tip. The ploughman presses the metal tip into the ground as the oxen pull the plough. Sometimes a helper is positioned between the bulls to direct and regulate them. Tilling the land without the help of the animals was so hard that some village elders would say that they would be willing to offer gold, even the size of papa’s head, if anybody showed a quicker and easier way of tilling the hard, impregnable, dry lands without requiring back-breaking labour.
The ploughman's song is perhaps the most widely known of all farm songs and one exclusively sung in the field. The songs not only made the work of the ploughman more enjoyable and relaxing, they are also thought to help coax the animals to work harder. After they are yoked, the ploughman utters some words to signal the bulls to commence ploughing. In many of these songs, the words praise the bulls, the yoke and ploughs. They encourage the oxen to work hard but smoothly and cautiously so that the tools are not broken. If a plough or yoke is broken at the time of ploughing, the ploughman observes a fast for the whole day and leaves the broken implements in the field.
The lyrics and the language vary from place to place but they generally are beautiful words of exhortation. The following two cases are good examples:
དབའི་གླང་བོ་ག་གཅིག་དང་གཉའ་རྒོད་གཉིས། །ང་གློང་རྨོཔ་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་རང་ཨིན། །
གླང་འདི་ཚུ་ཡོད་ན་གླང་རྨོ་ནི། ། དབའི། གཉའ་ཤིང་གསེར་གྱི་འདྲ་མིད་ཡོད། ། ་་་
གླང་ཅུང་ལེགས་པའི་བོ་ག་གིས། །རལ་ཁ་ཕྱེ་བ་ཡེབ་ད་ཅི། །གླང་ཅུང་ལེགས་པའི་གཉའ་རྒོད་གིས། །རལ་ཁ་མཇུག་ལུ་ཡེབ་ད་ཅི། །དབའི་ ང་བཅས་མཉམ་རོགས་གསུམ་པོ་གིས། །རལ་ཁ་སྦུག་ལས་འཕྲང་ད་གེ །
O Boga and Nyagö, my two bulls.
I am the bodhisattva ploughman.
I will plough if I have these bulls.
The yoke is a golden yoke. ….
O my dear Boga, push to open the furrows.
O my dear Nyagö, push to finish the furrows.
O three of us friends, straighten the furrows from the centre.
ཤོག་ལོ་ང་རའི་ནོར་བུ། །ངེད་གླང་ཅུང་གདོང་དཀར་གཉིས། །
རྐང་ཅུང་རླུང་གི་འཁོར་ལོ་འདྲ། །མཇུག་མ་དར་གྱི་མདུད་པ་འདི།།
གཡས་སྐོར་གཡོན་བཙུགས་ཤོག་མས། །
Come on, my precious ones,
My two young white faced bulls
Your feet are like a wheel of wind
Your tails like knot of silk.
Come on! Turn right and push left.
Today, although mechanical tractors and power tillers have relieved the ploughman and oxen of the pain of hard work, ploughing no longer has the natural charm of connecting to the land and the animals. The songs for ploughing and exhorting the bulls to work hard and turn around at the edge of the fields are a dying genre of Bhutan’s musical heritage.
Sonam Chophel and Karma Phuntsho. Sonam Chophel was a researcher working at Shejun Agency for Bhutan’s Cultural Documentation and Research and Karma Phuntsho is a social thinker and worker, the President of the Loden Foundation and the author of many books and articles including The History of Bhutan.