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Folk Dances of Rajasthan
| Content Provider | Internet Archive: Cultural Resources of India |
|---|---|
| Description | Kalbelias are a part of larger group known as “Jogi”. Jogis are mostly nomad people and move on their own beat. After the independence of country they have been settling in villages and on the periphery of towns Jogis provide technical services to village people.It is due to services that they are nomads. Kalbelia Jogis used to make very sophisticated part of pitloom i.e. cloth-weaving traditional set-up. Due to new textile industry their main economic work was snatched from them. Yet wherever pit -looms for weaving are operating, the Kalbelias provide the same service.Kalbelia are also know as snake charmers. They play on ground-pipe and it is believed that snake gets charmed by its mellows sound. They are mainly worshippers of snake and they take it to families for invocation. Their bamboo snake box is actually a mobile temple with live snakes. People offer money to the snake god.Kalbelia families also moved in villages and used to sing and dance before the family group. They dance with great joy during their life-cycle-events. Kalbelia girls sing wonderful songs. There continues tradition of such songs. The subjects are related to life-cycle, nature and benevolent robbers. The male members play on Pungi or Veen. Others play membranophones like Dholah with two reeds and Khanjari as frame drum. Folk dances play an important part in the village life of Rajasthan. Snake charmersʼ community of the state are famous for snake dances. Snake dancers are usually dressed in black outfit. Their movements are remarkably swift and flexible. They dance to the tune of Pungi- a erophonic instrument having two tunes-one for the notes and the other for the drone. Another lady singer sings traditional songs and play ‘dafliʼ. This dance has its roots in tribal life and is essentially a community dance. Chakri Dance: A customary dance of ethnic Gujjar community from Northern Rajasthan, chari/charu means water pot made by metal. Women of gujjar community keep the vessel on their head; often these vessel pots are blazed with cotton seeds dipped in oil. The main skill is balancing these flaming pots on head while dancing. A well choreographed and a great music coming out from bankia (musical instrument) generates a electrifying waves in the audiences.Teratali is a devotional dance form related to the phenomena of Ramdev’s worship. Ramdev lived in 16th century and emerged as God for down-trodden and hierarchically low castes. He is worshipped in vast regions of Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Teratali is a dance form in women tie good number of Manjiras on their body and play them with dexterity with hands. They sing in praise of Ramdev and his miracles. The group of Teratali dancers is known as Kamad. They mainly live in Pali, Udaipur and Nagore districts of Rajasthan. Their patron castes are Meghwal and Nath. They presently work as priests of Ramdev shrines and temples in the villages. They use Tandura or Chautaro as drone and rhythm instrument Manjira and Tal are their main dance instruments. Dholak provides them with rhythm. The songs are always of devotional nature.Bhavai Dance: This art form is inspired by the daily chore of filling water in pots by village maidens who are required to carry a couple of earthen water pitchers atop their head. Later on the daily practice was developed into a type of dance and was performed in temples. Over the years the dance has developed into a spectacle. Both women and men of the Jat, Bheel, Raigar, Meena, Charmer and Kumhar tribes perform this dance while accompanied by male perfomers who sing and play numerous instruments which include Pakhawaj, Dholak, Jhanjhar, Sarangi, Manjeera, Bhungal and Harmonium. The Bhavai performers skilfully balance earthen pots or brass pitchers on top of their heads while they dance elegantly to melodious music. |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Rights License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
| Subject Keyword | Folk Dance |
| Content Type | Video |
