Rajasthan Folk Dances and Folk Theatre: Exam Notes

No part of Rajasthan general knowledge is asked as often as its folk dances and folk theatre, and the questions are always of one kind: a dance or a drama form is named, and the candidate must supply the region, the community or the occasion. The subject is easy to score in if the dances are grouped. Some belong to a caste or a community and are performed as its livelihood or its worship. Some belong to a region and are danced by everyone there at a particular festival. A third group are theatre rather than dance, with a stage, a story and a troupe that travels. Learn each name with three tags - who, where and when - and this chapter answers itself.

Ghoomar and Gair

Ghoomar is the dance by which Rajasthan is known everywhere, and it is treated as the state dance. Women dance it in a circle, swinging the ghaghra so that it opens out, the hands moving in wide claps as the circle turns; the name comes from ghoomna, to turn. It is danced above all at Gangaur and Teej and at weddings, and it is associated with the Rajput households of Marwar and Mewar as well as with the Bhils. Gair is its male counterpart. Men of the Bhil and other communities of Mewar and Marwar dance Gair at Holi in a large circle, striking long sticks in time with the dhol and the thali, and where men and women dance together the form is called Gair Ghoomar, best known in Mewar. Shekhawati has its own Holi dance with sticks, the Gindad, and Alwar and Bharatpur have the Bam dance, named after the large bam drum that sets its beat.

The community dances

Four dances of particular communities make up most of the examination questions. Kalbelia is the dance of the Kalbelia community of snake charmers, whose women wear a black swirling skirt worked with silver ribbon and move to the been and the khanjari; in 2010 Kalbelia songs and dances were inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which is the single most asked fact in this chapter. Terah Taali is performed by women of the Kamad community in devotion to Baba Ramdev, seated on the ground with thirteen manjiras tied to the body, which they strike in rhythm while the men play the tandoora. Chari is the dance of Gujjar women of the Kishangarh and Ajmer area, who balance on the head a brass chari in which cotton seeds soaked in oil are set alight, so the dance is performed with a flame above the dancer. Bhavai is the dance of acrobatic skill, in which a woman balances a column of earthen or brass pots on her head and dances on the rim of a brass thali or on the edge of a sword.

The tribal and regional dances

Gavari, also called Rai, is the dance-drama of the Bhils of Mewar, performed for about forty days after Rakshabandhan in honour of the goddess, and it is the most elaborate folk performance of the state. The Jasnathi sect of Bikaner and Churu performs the fire dance, the Agni nritya, in which the performers step on a bed of burning embers to the beat of the dhol. The Kanjar community of the Hadoti region dances the Chakri, a whirling dance of young women. Kachhi Ghodi is danced by men of the Shekhawati region on a dummy horse of bamboo and cloth strapped at the waist, and it is a standard performance at weddings. The Garasia people of Sirohi dance the Walar and, at Holi, the Lur. The Dhol dance belongs to Jalore and the peacock dance to the Baran area.

Folk theatre of Rajasthan

Khyal is the principal folk drama of Rajasthan, sung and acted on an open stage through the night, and it is asked about by its schools. Kuchamani Khyal, the best known, is associated with Lachhiram of Kuchaman. Shekhawati Khyal is associated with Nanuram, and Alibaksh Khyal with Mundawar in Alwar, where Alibaksh built plays on the Ramayana. Turra Kalangi Khyal is the oldest school, named from the turra, the crest standing for Shiva, and the kalangi, standing for Shakti, and the two parties sing in contest. Rammat is the folk theatre of Bikaner and Jaisalmer, performed in the open at Holi, and Tamasha is the theatre of Jaipur, associated with the Bhatt family brought there in the time of the Kachhwaha court. Swang and Nautanki came in from the Braj side in the east. Kathputli, the string puppetry of the Nat and Bhat communities, carries the same tales on a small stage, the most famous being the story of Amar Singh Rathore, and the painted scroll of Devnarayan unrolled by a Bhopa, the phad, is the narrative cousin of all these forms.

Dances and theatre at a glance

How to revise this chapter

Make three lists. In the first put the dances that carry a community name, since the question usually gives the dance and asks the community: Kalbelia, Terah Taali with the Kamads, Chari with the Gujjars, Chakri with the Kanjars and the fire dance with the Jasnathis. In the second put the festival dances, where Holi takes Gair, Gindad, Bam and Rammat, and Gangaur and Teej take Ghoomar. In the third put the theatre forms with one name or place each: Kuchamani Khyal with Lachhiram, Alibaksh Khyal with Mundawar, Rammat with Bikaner, Tamasha with Jaipur and Kathputli with the tale of Amar Singh Rathore.