Most of us must have seen a beautiful wooden barrel either in real life or in the movies. The wooden barrel is a part of Ladakh’s rich cultural heritage. It is known as a Dzem. One look at the Dzem is a trip down the historical memory lane. Earlier, it was a must-have in every Ladakhi household. However, nowadays, it has become a thing of the past. Very few households use the Dzem presently. The Dzem, once used for various purposes, has now been rendered useless. The strength and multipurpose utility of these Dzems made it an integral part of a home. Their sizes varied as per their utility. The durability of these wooden barrels is exemplary. One who has seen a Dzem in use would clearly remember its importance and how they were used. A simple wooden barrel with a variety of uses. One of the main uses of these barrels was to store the local beer (chang) of Ladakh. The stronger version of chang, which is known as arag, was stored primarily in these wooden barrels. It is believed that the wooden barrels enhance the taste of the beer with time. In many places, it was used to store water. The dzem used to be so strong and durable that using them to store water for long periods of time didn’t affect the quality of the barrel. The water stored in wooden barrels is supposed to have many benefits.
This multi-utility dzem was also used to make buttermilk in many places. The varying size of these dzems gave people the leverage to use them according to their needs. The non-reactive nature of wood ensured the purity of whatever was stored in it. The two districts of Ladakh, Leh and Kargil, have two different usage stories. It shows the beauty of Ladakh, how a small place has many cultural traditions in it and how people coexist in harmony. Let me take you on the journey of two different districts concerning the dzem.
Beginning with Leh, we got a chance to talk to Meymey Sonam Ley. Meymey Ley says that during their time, dzems were used to store chang and the decline in the usage of dzem is due to the decline in the consumption of chang. He expresses his feelings as, “Drinks from outside are a trend now which is why people don’t make chang like they used to make earlier. Chang is made from barley which also has health benefits. The beauty of the dzem was that it always had something in it. First, it is the machu, that is strong and the best one, then water is added into it, this chang is called ngispa, and then again water is added into it to make it the sumpa, and finally, water is added to the last leftover residue in the dzem and call it uksing. People drink it post their daily work at fields in place of water and also as changrul (chang mixed with roasted barley flour).”
Talking to Suhail Ahmad from Pankihar, Kargil, who has seen and used these dzems till recently, I realized how sad it is that he is the last generation in his family who has seen the dzem in use. Reminiscing about his memories of life back home, he said, “We had one particular local shingkan (wooden work artist), Ghulam Mohammad, a professional artist who passed away recently. He used to make the dzem in our locality. We still have dzems at our home; however, no one uses them these days, which is why no one makes them. I clearly remember how the big dzems were used to churn butter and buttermilk.
Along with the dzem, we used to have a srukshing (wooden handle with wooden shafts which works as a motor). The cream of milk or curd was stored and put into the dzem. When making butter, this was tied with a rope to the kaa (wooden pillar), and then, with the help of a rope, the wooden shaft was rotated. Both the shaft and dzem being wooden, the friction between the materials doesn’t generate heat like metals, and wood doesn’t let the temperature rise, which are the basic requirements while churning butter.” When asked about the reasons behind the decline in the use of dzem, Suhail thinks that earlier, agriculture was the main source of income for people and people were self-sufficient to some extent. Every family had 20-30 domesticated animals, including cows, sheep, and goats. His own family used to get 4-5 liters of milk every day from their cows. So large quantities of butter were churned. These days, only a few people have cows, and no one has milk in large quantities. Those who have milk use a simple machine grinder that is portable and effective for small quantity butter. Suhail thinks that replacing drinking water storage tanks or hand wash water storage tanks with locally made dzem can preserve the cultural importance of the dzem. With time, the dzem got replaced in Ladakh like many other things.
One cannot stop time or travel back to the past to bring back traditions. The traditional way of storing chang or making butter is difficult to revive as we are a technology-driven generation, and we need things to be done in more efficient and convenient ways. The dzem can still be a beautiful and useful commodity in our houses. If not for chang or butter, we can still use these for many other purposes like water barrels to store water for washing hands, laundry bags, or dustbins, thus replacing some plastic items from our lifestyle. Dolkhar, being an initiative to use local materials and local modes of construction, is trying to use these barrels which in turn will help the people living in Tsogti, a village in Ladakh where people still make these dzems, thus giving hope for their art’s continued existence. Tsogti is a place in Ladakh devoid of technology like cellular phone networks or the internet. Going an extra mile for the people of Tsogti consciously will help elevate the space and create an ecosystem of support.
