Ghoru- The Big Game Hunter’s Song

Ghoru is one of the oldest and most popular folk songs in the Khowar language of Chitral. The song has come down from hunting tradition, a source of subsistence in the hard and mountainous region. Ritualistically, the song was supposed to be sung while returning from a successful ibex hunt. However, interestingly (intentionally?) the pathos in the story strongly evokes antihunting sentiments through arousing sentiments of deep pity for the ibex family.

The song dramatizes the tragedy of a hunted ibex. The painful drama of the tragedy manifests itself in every line of every verse.

By genre, the song is a perfect example of a folk ballad, as it tells a story; moves on in dialogue form; concentrates on a single episode; includes incremental repetitions and refrain; moves on in a dramatic manner; dramatizes a tragic story, and ends abruptly.
The song is composed of unrhyming verses of even length. The first line of every verse is the dialogue of the kid, whereas the second line of every verse is the dialogue of the mother-ibex.

The imminent tragedy of the hunt of the mother by a hunter is heralded in the deep worry and sense of insecurity of the kid.

The situation of the song is that while grazing on a high mountain pasture, the kid senses the looming tragedy, but is not able to figure out how it is going to happen and how to avert it. Overwhelmed by a deep worry, she looks all around and downhill at the nomad settlement—a hamlet.

Lo, she sees a human figure (hunter?) down at the bottom of the terrain, steadily walking uphill towards the high pasture. A deep worry grips her heart. She keeps inquiring her mother about this usual, but somehow unusual, the sight of a human being walking up towards the pasture from the downhill village. The mother takes the sight very usual: that of a shepherd treading uphill to drive her herd. She takes the sight for granted and pays no special heed. How could she know that the ‘shepherd’ is carrying along with her tragedy?