S Harpal Singh
ADILABAD, OCTOBER 31, 2024: The 10-day folk dance festival of the aboriginal Raj Gond, Pardhan and Kolam tribes in erstwhile Adilabad district, Telangana will come to an end in another two days (November 3, 2024). All the visiting dance troupes will have returned to respecting villages to celebrate Lakshmi puja, which, is essentially the worship of mother cow.
A typical Dandari dance troupe has at least 40 dancers usually dressed in whites, their performance akin to the ‘kolatam’ in Telangana or ‘Dandiya’ of Gujarat. The strange-looking Ghusadi dancers sporting huge headgear made out of peacock feathers also form part of the dance troupe.
It is customary for the dance troupe of a given village to visit another village and perform the dances. The village headman or Patel, the custodian of the musical instruments and other paraphernalia associated with the dancing organizes the festival at the village level.
The host and the guest teams bear surnames or ‘gotras’ which need to be compatible so far as marriage alliances are concerned. For example, a troupe where the Patel and a majority of others belong to four god pastry visit a village where the Patel and most of the villagers belong to a phratry which shares marriage compatibility.
As the festival comes at the end of the Kharif crop season, it is also supposed to be a Thanksgiving exercise. The tribals consider a cow to be the most precious possession and hence they perform the Lakshmi puja by worshipping cows.
S Harpal Singh
Independent Journalist
Former Sr. Asst. Editor, The Hindu
ADILABAD-504001, TELANGANA
CELL: 94400 60060
email: hsinghs48@gmail.com
