KUSNUR AHMRD RAZA

ROLLNO C183240

Kunbi dance is a tribal folk dance of the Kunbi community of Goa that portrays social themes. The dance is simple in its presentation and is performed during various social occasions.

Kunbi (alternatively Kanbi) is a generic term applied to castes of traditionally non-elite farmers in Western India.These include the Dhonoje, Ghatole, Hindre, Jadav, Jhare, Khaire, Lewa (Leva Patil), Lonare and Tirole communities of Vidharbha.The communities are largely found in the state of Maharashtra but also exist in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Keralaand Goa. Kunbis are included among the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in Maharashtra.

Most of the Mawalas serving in the armies of the Maratha Empire under Shivaji came from this community. The Shinde and Gaekwaddynasties of the Maratha Empire are originally of Kunbi origin. In the fourteenth century and later, several Kunbis who had taken up employment as military men in the armies of various rulers underwent a process of Sanskritisation and began to identify themselves as Marathas. The boundary between the Marathas and the Kunbi became obscure in the early 20th century due to the effects of colonisation and the two groups came to form one block.

Tensions along caste lines between the Kunbi and the Dalit communities were seen in the Khairlanji killings, and the media have reported sporadic instances of violence against Dalits. Other inter-caste issues include the forgery of caste certificates by politicians, mostly in the grey Kunbi-Maratha caste area, to allow them to run for elections from wards reserved for OBC candidates. In April 2005 the Supreme Court of India ruled that the Marathas are not a sub-caste of Kunbis.

Performance of Kunbi Dance.

Kunbi dance is usually performed by the women folk. The movements are fast yet graceful. The dancers perform the steps very elegantly. Kunbi dance is performed solely on social occasions.

Their songs and dance belonging to the pre-Portuguese era are uniquely social and not religious. An example of a Kunbi song: “The coy bride is filling the pitcher in the ankle-deep water of the rivulet and the fish (called) Thigur is winking at her.

Costume of Kunbi Dance.

The dancers dress themselves in colourful attires that highlight some art form. Also the dresses are simple in design conforming to the tribe’s tradition. These traditional costumes lend a colourful touch to this ethnic art form. The dancers tie their hair in a neat bun and adorn it with colourful decorative flower garlands. They also wear simple jewelleries which usually comprises of necklace, earrings and bangles.

Tribes and their textiles.

It is hard to imagine Goa as a tribal stretch, but it is actually not surprising given the thickly forested Western Ghats that surround it even today. There are three main tribes which are considered to be the indigenous communities of Goa— the Gaudes, the Kunbi and the Gaulys or Dhangars.

The Kunbi, one of the oldest communities of Goa, are further divided into Velips and Zalmis. As this red checked sari was predominantly worn by these tribes, the fabric came to be named after them. The Kunbis themselves get their name from their past. Both Rohit Phalgaonkar, a Goa based historian and Vinayak Khedekar, a folklorist and former member-secretary of Goa’s art institute- Kala Academy, who are helping to revive this weave agree that the word ‘Kunbi’ is the corrupted form of the word ‘Kulmi’. The Kulmi were the original inhabitants of Goa who settled in the hilly areas near the Western Ghats.

Kunbi- Goa’s Tribal Heart.

The land of sun, sand, beaches and holidays, Goa is so popular that most know of its Portuguese past. But how much do we know of its tribal heart?

As you wind your way through Goa, you will catch a glimpse of Goa’s ‘tribal’ past in the form of the unique red checkered sari, that some of the local women wear. The simple garment, that has changed with the times is one of the few actual reminders of the tribes that lived in the hills around Goa. Almost lost till some time ago, today there is a small movement to revive the craft of making these saris and get them recognised as a heritage textile of Goa.

The Indo-Portuguese history of the coastal state of Goa is well-known, but not much is known about its textile heritage. The red checkered sari which is adorned by the original settlers of Goa is the oldest weave of Goa.

Any folk dance of Goa, be it Dhalo or the Fugdi is incomplete without the red checkered cotton sari which is commonly known as a Kunbi sari or the Adivasi sari. This six-yard sari, locally referred to as the Kapad which was predominantly worn by women belonging to the tribal communities of Goa, has no pallu or drape. It is simply pleated at the waist and what would normally be the pallu is drawn across the chest and back over the right shoulder to form a knot locally called a dethali. Traditionally, no blouse was worn with this sari.

Name: Casnowey Fernandes

Roll No.: C183222

The Goan people have an obsession for dance to rhythmic musical patterns. Men, women and children actively participate in traditional dance forms. Goa’s folk dances display old traditions, cultures, lifestyle and objectives of various religions and castes of Goan society. Goan dances have an unique identity in terms of reflecting lifestyles, cultures and desires of society and different religions. Dakhni, Foogddi, Kunbi and Kharvi are a few other traditional dance forms which are a major attraction for the tourists.

KHARVI

The KHARVI, who are known as Tari, are a community found in Goa. Some are Christians, while others are Hindus. They are mostly found in Northern Goa. They are chiefly found in the coastal taluka of Mormugao, Salcete and Tiswadi, the catholic Kharvis generally speak the Konkani language but some use Portuguese. They write Konkani using Roman script. Arranged marriages are common.

CULTURE OF KHARVIS

Fishing is the chief and the traditional occupation of kharvis and it is their only means of livelihood too. The staple food of this community is rice and fish curry. After the boys were ten years old they were usually sent to the sea with their adult family members to help them. But nowadays we do not find fishing activities carried out in Goa in a large scale which is mainly due to education which is rapidly increasing among youngsters and even due to development of barges. Many of the younger generation have moved away from this occupation. They are increasingly to be found working in the Gulf countries, from where they send money to their families in Goa. Those who remain in Goa as fishermen-the women sell fish in groups of around 25 people. The groups share a common fishing vessel and nets as well as a communal shed, and their catches are divided equally among the members.

DANCE PERFORMED BY THE KHARVIS

This colourful dance has several variations in its dance patterns which are performed in different parts of the land. These dances are either performed by only men or by both men and women folk together. The kharvi community is recognized for its distinct identity which also reflects in their dance. The dance focuses on their lifestyle and occupation which is fishing through the performance of this lively kharvi dance, the kharvis forget the many hardships that their occupation brings to them on a daily basis. The kharvi dance incorporates elements that this community is most familiar with-sea and fishing.

COSTUME OF KHARVI DANCE

While performing Kharvi dance, the women are generally dressed in traditional blouses and red-coloured saris that are draped up to their knee. They also adorn themselves with ornaments like necklace, ear rings and bangles, they also tie small flower garlands round their bun and they also wear a white towel around their neck and put on ordinary slippers. On the other hand, the men wear lungis around their waists that forms a triangular shape and wear shirts, they also tie a small scarf around their heads and put on ordinary slippers.

SIGNIFICANCE OF KHARVI DANCE

The dance weaves in aspects related to their lifestyle and occupation which is fishing. This lively dance helps the people of this community unwind after a hard day’s work and forget the many hardships that their occupation presents to them on a daily basis.

PERFORMANCE OF KHARVI DANCE

The kharvis use props such as fishing nets, fishing baskets and rows in their hands while performing the dance. Kharvi dance is performed by both the men and womenfolk. They generally form a single line or stand in pairs. In one of the forms, the fishermen stand in a row holding their oars while the women from a separate row linking their arms and approaching the men folk. As the rhythm of music reaches, separation of men and women gives a way to them dancing in unison. The most fascinating part of this dance is the simulation of rowing of boats, the movement of waves and act of catching fish. They also sway the oars forward and backwards creating an illusion of rowing a boat which is tossing on the waves of the sea.

Goa which is known as the Queen of Beaches, has a rich culture and heritage inherited from several kingdoms in different eras. It combines the Eastern and the Western cultures and reflects an unique blend of traditional and contemporary music.

Lydia Fernandes

C18-3226

The Dhaalo celebration is one of the Sanskaar oriented ritual retained and continued by Gawda women, in quite a few parts of Goa. It is worth noticing that the Christian Gawda has have preserved the details of the Dhaalo festival even more faithfully than the Hindu fold of Gawda women.

The commencement of Dhaalo celebrations is traditionally fixed on the 25th of October every year. However the day is required to be a Sunday or Wednesday. All the women of the colony (i.e. waado) assemble at the maand on the Dhaalo night. The Dhaalo ritual is conducted by the woman only.

The Dhaalo takes place at the outset. A small wooden platform (or a board) is placed in the center of the Maand. A traditional brass lamp with five wicks lit is positioned on the wooden pesdestal. The customary coconut is ceremoniously offered to the Dhaalo deity and also placed near the lamp. Then the woman participates enter and stand in the presence of the deity, full readiness to start the main ritual. It is particularly a ritual of dancing to the accompaniment of certain specific songs.

The celebrant therefore arrange themselves into two lines facing each other. They put their hands around each other’s waist from behind and commence the ritual dancing and singing. That is a prayer to the symbolic coconut and the lamp installed as the deity. Among other things their prayer song contains words purporting to say, ‘ the holy Cross of the Maand has arrived’.

The dancing style, footsteps, patterns and formations are like Dhilo or the Dhaalo of their Hindu counterparts. The dance items are vigorous with powerful steps and has well- built movements by arranging circles and holding each other’s hands. They bend, jump deep in between and present various actions by moving hands, mainly related to agricultural life. A particularity of Christian Dhaalo is that, the Maandkar woman supplies all the material used in the course of the festival. On the last day of the Dhaalo, a Gaaraane is invoked after all the dancers are over. During the Gaaraane the woman participating in the ritual stand in a circle. All the vows taken are fulfilled. Then the festival offering are made. According to Dhaalo custom coconut, jaggery and rice consititute the offering. They are distributed to the gathering as ‘Prasaad’. After the Prasaad distribution, the coconut installed at the Maand on the opening day is broken. This marks the end of the Dhaalo.

Unless the Dhaalo of women take place in the village, the Intruz or the Carnival festival cannot be celebrated. If for any reason the Dhaalo remains uncelebrated, the carnival too is kept to wave aside.
The ritual of the Dhaalo is a clear and convincing evidence of the survival of the old, traditional pattern of Sanskaar oriented rites and rituals in Goa. Besides, it points to the common and harmony including heritage shared by the Hindus and the Christians of Goa. This is higlighted in most of the songs recited during Dhaalo festival.

Mionne Rodrigues

C183251

Dekhni is a semi formal classical Goan dance form.It is also pronounced as Dekni or Dekni. Dekhni represents an attractive mixture of Indian Melody and western rhythm.It is mainly performed by Christian girls in Indian attires.It is a song cum dance popular in goa. Dekhni dance usually enacts the life of a devdasi girl meaning servant of God whose job is to perform dance in temples and social ceremonies like weddings. One of the popular Dekhni song is Hanv Saiba Poltodi Vetam by Carlos Eugenio Ferreria( 1860-1962) first published in Paris in 1895 and then in Goa in 1926.

Etymoligy of Dekhni

The word ‘Dekhni’ means ‘bewitching beauty’ in konakani language.

History of Dekhni Dance

It is believed that this dance has it’s origin in the Devdasi system of the Goans as they follow the Devdasi system. According to this system some women dedicate their life for the service of god. Those who believe in this they do not marry or have families of their own. They perform this dance in front of temples and in front of god. This is the reason this dance has being very popular around the country.

Theme

The theme of this dance is that a devdasi girl who comes to a riverbank to take a ferry to reach the other side where she has an appointment to dance for a wedding. She requests the boatman to do her a favour drop her to the other side of the river so that she reaches on time.The boatman rejects her first saying the water is rough but she keeps requesting him and she is even ready to offer him her golden earings for taking her across urgently.

Performance of Dekhni Dance

It is performed exclusively by women -folk. The dance is set in combination of western rhythms and Indian Melody.some of the steps of this dance has been borrowed from classical dances like kathak and Bharat Natyam.The dance style is very simple with foot steps and actions with body movements.This dance is performed by any number of artists buh there is a main dancer who does it with full actions and the other girls are supportive in nature.The dancers carry small lamps or artis while dancing.Its looks very beautiful to watch women perform this dance. Dekhni is one of the most famous dance performed in Goa.It feels very beautiful and mesmerized to watch this beautiful and soulful dance.

Name-Swizel pereira

Rollno-C183247

The kalshi fugdi dance is just one of the goa’s pearls in its priceless collection. Kalshi fugdi is a dance which is performed by hindu women. Before starting the dance they light the lamp.kalshi fugdi is performed before goddess mahalaxkshmi during the vrata offered to that goddess. It is danced in two forms in a circle or in a row of dancers. Forest people have this dance in rows and village people in circle.kalshi fugdi is performed in satari taluka with the kalash(water pitcher). Kalshi fugdi is danced by the womens group from kulni adivasi community to perform their dance form. This is the challenging moment for the dancers who has to achieve a perfect harmony . The songs might be about puranic stories, family life, complaints rivalries or people. Special fugdi songs are immunreable.

The clothes worn for kalshi fugdi are the hindu culture use colorful sarees. Christains use red saree with a knot being tied on the right shoulder and the dupata is tied around the waist. These clothes is not only used for work but also to dance. They put a nice bun for their hair and put flowers around the bun which looks beautiful.

The women swing and dance in a circle or in rows. First they start with a slow face and then a fast face. A few fixed steps and hand gestures and hand claps are the major element. No instrument or music is used to dance but there are special fugdi songs. The dance is incomplete without the important thing known as kalshi. The kalshi is an pot which is used to water the vegetables or to collect water for domestic purpose. The story of kalshi fugdi came about when the women walked long distance to fetch water. This is one dance which has music in words and beats that donot need any musical instrument but relies only on the sound created by the dancers. The women carry large vessels called kalashi and blow into them as they spin around. The fugdi is mainly performed during the harvest time. They wear brass bangles. They dance with empty kalshi . The kalshi is caught by both the hands and on the songs sung by the participants the kalshi is moved up and down ; from the hands and then caught again. While dancing ,the bangles of brass metal hit the pot and creat a sweet sound. At the end of the dance the mouth of the pot is blown by moving the pot all around, up and down with according to the steps. This shows that the pot should never remain empty. The dance formation includes actions of washing clothes and glimpses into the lives of the women. When they use to go to fetch water in the olden days.

In olden days the women would walk long distances to fetch water. While going the women would dance their way with the pot while blowing into the empty pot

The pot should never be empty, it should be always kept filled as the goddess laxmi would visit each home after night falls and after doing the chores in the house,to slate her thirst from the water pot before leaving . This dance is nice and quite intersting as i known because i have taken part in one of the kalshi fugdi dance. It is nice to dance with kalshi on one side. And the costume worn is also nice to see. While dancing the steps comes automatically while singing the song which is intersting to hear and dance.

JOSIAH RODRIGUES

C-183249 FYBCOM- B

Even though Goa is a very small state we see a varied topography in each taluka.

In pernem taluka we find plains, fields, small hillocks, beaches and small rivulets. Pernem taluka has a rich cultural heritage and one of the main elements of cultural heritage are the folk dances.

Goa has two major festivals, one is Shigmo and the second is Dhalo. Fugdi is not a separate festival, but a part of Dhalo itself. Fugdi is a dance whose participants are only women. Before dancing, they light a lamp before the tulsi vrindavan and invoke the deities to come to the ‘maand’.

Maand is the place where tribal people meet. This place was basically the village centre. The festivals and folk dances were all performed here on the maand.

The invocation is followed by the singing of verses which speaks of how the deities agreed to descend to the place, bringing along with them, blessings of vermillion,flowers, bangles and a saree for the women. The Gods also assure them, that they will have a happy union with their husbands.

To understand the fugdi better as a dance routine you have to be familiar with the folk life of the people.

History

Katti fugdi is performed with the prop that is with the katti (coconut shell).In Goa diffrent people have their own ways of presenting anything , when it comes to dance they show it as per their culture and their beliefs. The people who belongs to the Christians community they perform fugdi with katti’s in hand. The people of Quepem taluka performs fugdi around harvest .

Coconut tree which is hailed as kalpavriksha (wish fulfilling divine tree). The coconut tree, indeed, gives of itself completely where every part of it can be utilised as food or a product of utility. Keeping this in mind the people started to use the coconut shells in their dances, to show the importance of coconut trees through their dance.

Steps

The steps in this dance are from chores of their daily life and agriculturists, their folk dances reflect their nomadic lifestyle. The dance formations include actions of tapping both the coconut shell with the partners coconut shell and take various formation and then come together and form one line and while standing in the line formation ,when the beat comes they have to tape the coconut shells again. The sound that is produced by tapping the coconut shells gives more energy to the dancers. Thier steps also gives us a glimpse into the lives of the women . Nowadays instead of singing, people play songs and the famous song used for this dance is ‘konkani Amchi Goenchi bhas’. This song describes the life of goan people, how they dance and how they greet each other when they meet.

The dance steps in this dance are very simple and easy to catch , and anyone can dance only thing is that , that one should dance from heart and enjoy the music.

Costumes

The costumes for katti fugdi differs as the Hindu counterparts use colourful sarees as they love to wear colours and spread their culture through colours. While the Christians use a chequered red saree with a knot being tied on the right shoulder and a white dupata is tied around the waist. The women also wears red and white bangles and put flowers for their bun and some accessories to complete their goan traditional look.

The katti fugdi actually began as an impromptu dance of the women who interspersed the work of their daily life with moments of gaiety. It is one dance which has music comprising of words and beats that do not need any accompanying musical instrument but relies solely on the sounds and rhythms created by the dancers

I have taken part in katti fugdi a lot of times and other folk dances too, the experience is lovely ,wearing the sarees with bangles and flowers on bun makes you look traditional and gives you a Goan look. Dancing the folk dances infant of people is fun. I remembered when we were dancing the katti fugdi suddenly it started raining and we had to dance in rain only.

The katti fugdi is just one of Goa’s Pearl’s in its priceless collection.