A History of Pahari dances
One of the most central tenets of Pahari culture after the gods, are the dances which are dear to our people. Since, the ancient times they has served as a great past time to people and also a form of social interactions, Throguh which our community has united.
Across the Himalayas, from Afghanistan to Nepal, people typically dance in groups and mostly moving in anti-clockwise circles. This style is deeply rooted, as seen in rock art from Uttarakhand dating back 10,000 years.
# Origins of Dance as a form of Human expression
In early human societies, dancing had a spiritual and magical significance. Free-flowing, rhythmic movements could made the primitive humans to experience their altered states of mind, leading them to believe that it held special powers. This belief made dance an important part of rituals to please gods and drive away evil spirits.
# Dance in Prehistoric Himalaya
As said above, the earliest form of dances were practiced by the primitive people of Himalaya, Uttarakhand's earliest artwork the Lakhu Udiyar also depicts males dancing and these dances were most probably of Shamanic nature.
Most of the representations in the Lakhu udiyar caves are of dancing humans.
The significance of dance grew in ancient India, particularly in the classical period. Panini Ashtadhyayi mentions Nata, storytellers who used poetic language and hand gestures to recount tales of gods. The Rigveda refers to dancers (nr̥tu) and the term is also associated with Indra, Maruts, Ashvins, and Apsaras. The Samaveda classifies dance into two types: Margi (sacred dance for the gods) and Desi (dance for enjoyment)
# Classical Dance and Religion
During the classical period, This storytelling tradition also gave rise to Kathak. Ancient texts mentions about Kathakaras i.e. storytellers who traveled villages narrating Hindu mythological stories in a simple way that people could understand.
Over time, these performances evolved into dance forms and were later sponsored by Indian and Persian kings. Hinduism used these staged dramas to share their philosophies with common people who were illiterate and can't comprehend their complex texts. Hindu epics like the Mahabharata and Ramayana were performed by Natas to convey their teachings.
Observing these dramatic performances, the sage Bharata wrote Natyashastra , a standardized treatise on the art of Nata activity. It is also known as the "fifth Veda,"as it was accessible to all, including the lower classes.
Performing Artists in Ancient India by Iravati
In conclusion, the Classical dances of India emerged from the storytelling traditions of India which used to propogate religion. One of the central objective of these dances, was to narrate Hindu mythologies. These dances are typically stable in their form and are not subject to major changes
# Folk Dances of Himalaya
While some part of Indian society, were developing standardized texts to preserve their cultural traditions, Pahari people did not think about writing down specific texts for the dancing traditions, one reason for that these dances were taught from generation to generation by the family.
Classification of Folk dances of India
Folk dances means the dance of commoners, as unlike the classical dances which were practiced or patronized by elites and are "Standardized".
Lets see some typical Folk dances of Uttarakhand ::-
Martial Dances
These dances are originally linked to the warrior classes (Rajputs) of Uttarakhanda. Originally, these were practiced at the times of war, to boost morale of the armies. Later, they also become the part of celebrations. One particular example is the Chholoya dance where men typically engages in mock fights.
Another aspect of Chholiya history is the widespread tradition of Kidnapping marriaages in the Himalayan region, where the rajput wedding processions used to fought a war in order to take away the girl, if her family resists(??).
Seasonal or Agricultural dances
With the introduction of agriculture, much of the Pahari population transitioned to cultivation. This brought major social changes, and agricultural dances became central to their culture.
- These dances are performed during the transition from one season to the other. e.g. Jhumeila , Chaunfla, Hurkia Baul.
- Jhumeila is danced from Basant Panchami to Baisakha Sanskranti
- Chaunfla dance is belongs to Garhwal, it is more complicated than that of Jhumeila
- Hurka Baul is performed in Savan during Paddy cultivation and in Bhadon during Maize cultivation. In this dance form, the story narration of battles and heroid deeds takes place, and participants enact those snarrations. These dances are performed in the fields, and the raise the working tempo.
Community Gathering dances
To my understanding, most of these dances were at one times would be performed only in fields or in specific seasons, but then people even started performing them in every ocassions like marriage, social gatherings.
Hurka nritya, along with Jhora and Chancheri are the popular community dances of kumaon.
- Hurka Bol becomes Hurka Nritya when performed outside fields.
- Jhora dance is associated with Jhora fair.
- Chancheri was associated with the worship of god and goddess, today it is secular,
- Chappeli duets ; Chappeli is typical of amorous playful duets of couples in fairs ; these are what you can call Couple dances. As soon as the chorus begins, the daners started moving in semi circule, with half and uarter turns.
Photo of a community dance for representation
Langvir Nrtiya from Garhwal
It is a less known acrobatic dance performed only by men in Tehri Garhwal. A dancer climbs a fixed bamboo pole and then balances himself on the top. Below the musicians start playing dhol and the domane and to the rhythm the dancer acrobates on the pole.
It may be a really ancient dance as one can find the similarities with the paintings of Desakhya Raga.
Desakhya Raga as represented in a 300 year old painting from Madhya pradesh
Religious dances (Folk Cateogry)
A major chunk of the UK dances are obviously linked to the Religion, some of these are dedicated to appease local gods as mentioned by the William Traill.
Jagar dance culminates in a trance, though its themes vary from region to region in some places ghost are inboked, heroes are different, but the climax of the dance is different. Some forms are used for curing the illnesses, and some for invoking spirits.
Religious dances (Sanskritized category)
After the growth of Vaishnavism around 8th century in Uttarakhand, some dances were too associated with the cult of Vishnu. These include the Pandava dance of Garhwal, Mahabharat katha of Janunsar, Radha Kandi of Garhwal.
e.g. Pandava nritya of Garhwal is basically the narration of story of Mahabharata in the form of music and dancing.
Barada Nati from Jaunsar
Barada nati is performed in the chakrata region of Jaunsar, on the eve of religious festivals and social gatherings. Both girls and boys take part in the dance, and it is done in semicircle. girls may sometimes have pitchers balanced on their heads.
Women performing Barada Nati while balancing Pitchers
Dhuring Dance of the Bhutiyas
One of the most unique dances of the Himalaya, is this dance which is performed by the Bhutiya community of Uttarakhand, after the 1 year of the death of the person to liberate his sould from evil spirit. The origins of this dance is clearly in the Hunting dance of ancient Sino Tibetan community i.e. Kiratas
Features of the Folk dances of Uttarakhanda :
- Though we dont have established and complex literature like Natyashastra, these traditions are still passed down generation to generation.
- While the folk dances are continusly practiced in the himalaya for thousands of years, they are really flexibile and keep accomodating other tradition to stay mainstream.
- The themes associated with these dances changes continue to change overtims. Thus we see, how the shamanic dances came to be associated with agriculture, and now agricultural dances which had to be performed on specific seasons are now performed in many ocassions such as marriage, birthdays and parties.
- The folk dances of Uttarakhand almost resembles the folk dances of other himalayan regions like that of Kashmir, Himahcal pradesh, Afghanistan, Nepal.
- Folk dances don't have much restrictions, everybody participates in them.
Conclusion and the need of preserving our heritage
Our folk dance are the reflections of our ancestors, how they used to live and struggle for their survival. They are an important aspect of our cultural heritage and when are in dire need to preserve our unique cultural identity.
Taking pride of our identity does not means we also encourage the negative aspects of it. it strengthen the bonds within our community and encourage harmony, especially if lower castes and women are not allowed in some forms.
Every state in India has its unique beauty of its heritage and we must protect ours while simoultaneously allow the room for further development and creativity.
How to preserve ??
- Use Digital platforms to promote these dances and build awareness about the need to preserve them.
- When you visit your village during festivals, document those Folk dances.
- If given power, include those in your school programs and cultural festivals in colleges.
- Support your local artisans and performers.
- Continue the tradition of these dances in your generation too, we know that new generations are more into western and Indian classical and there is nothing wrong.
Thank you for reading !!