Bundeli Utsav (Bundeli Festival), a cultural festival to promote the Bundeli (Bundelkhandi) folk arts, is held in Village Basari Tehsil Rajnagar District Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh, India every year during the spring season for 7 days starting from Basant Panchmi.
It is organized by Bundeli Vikas Sansthan, an NGO with a mission to
performs various social activities and promote Bundeli culture, with
the help of Government of Madhya Pradesh’s Department of Culture and
Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation. Various
competitions on folk arts, folk dances, folk songs, food festival,
traditional games and archery events are organized during this
festival. A large number of participants from 8 districts of Madhya
Pradesh (Chhatarpur, Datia, Damoh, Katni, Narsinghpur, Panna, Sagar, ShivpuriTikamgarh) and 5 districts of Uttar Pradesh (Banda, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Jhansi and Lalitpur) take part in these competitions. and
Few of the most famous folk arts showcased by Bundeli Utsav are described below.
Folk Dances
1. Diwari : This dance in Bundelkhand is performed every year
during the festival of light Diwali/Deepawali in the end of October or
first week of November according to lunar calendar. In this connection
the epic story goes that "in Gokul” when Lord Krishna raised Goverdhan
Mountain on his finger to save his associates (milkmen), they danced in
joy. The dancers wear multi-coloured apparels and the chief dancer
holds the peacock feathers in his hands and the rest stick those
feathers in their half pants. The main instruments used in this dance
are ‘Dholak’ and ‘Nagaria’ (both being a form of drums). The male
dancers with long sticks show the marshal arts when the beats of drums
inspire their energy and emotions. This dance is also performed as a
‘thanks giving’ after harvesting.
2. Ravala : Ravala dance in Bundelkhand is basically a dance
drama. The farm labour community of Bundelkhand performs Ravala during
marriages. It is performed with very funny expressions and humorous
dialogues. The audiences are entertained by these expressions of dance
and the dialogues of drama.
3. Badhaiya : Badhaiya is a ceremonial dance. It is performed
on child birth, marriages or any other child social get together to
celebrate happiness and joy. The collective moments of dancers show the
unique expressions of their faces. With rhythm and movements they greet
for the occasion.
4. Raai : Through the centuries Raai has been the folk dance
which has touched its peak as a classical dance. Later Raai had
degenerated its aesthetical values and lost its classical expressions.
Today it remains simply as a folk dance.
Raai means a mustard seed. When a mustard seed is thrown into a
saucer, the seed starts to swings around. They way mustard seed moves
in the saucer, the dancers also swings and when the singers sing the
lyrics of the song the dancers follow the beats with foot steps. It is
a duet and the competition is between the beats of the drum and foot
steps of the dancer. The drummer and the dancer try to win each other
and this competition leads towards the bliss.
5. Horse Dance : It is a ceremonial dance performed by a
trained horse with the loud beats of heave drums called Rabbi. With
graceful movements, the horse follows beats of the drum with its four
steps and the horse rider performs the gymnastics gestures. Typically
horse dance follows the ceremonial marriage processions.
Folk Dances
1. Faag : Faag songs and its rhythmic music could be heard in
the whole Bundelkhand region during spring season when the crops are
ready for harvesting. The spring season of March-April express the
vibrant emotions which are hidden in the tender hearts of the youth,
invites them to come close to fell each other and to express the
mystical attachment between male and female. Finally emotions are
transformed into devotion to make devotee divine.
2. Alha : Alha reciting is always organized to entertain the
farmers during monsoon. When farmers are free from their agricultural
jobs during heavy monsoon and they cannot move anywhere, sitting at one
place Alha recital makes their emotions awake through the description
of heroic deeds of their historical heroes.
3. Dadre and Gari : This is the main folk lore of
Bundelkhand. As a ‘Gari’ they show the happiness and joy to express
their feeling for the blissful movement when the auspicious marriage is
taking place. They evoke the feelings in the heart of bride and groom
with love and romance. ‘Dadre’ is sung by a group of ladies to bless
the newly wed couple.
4. Lamtera : (Call of God) Lamtera songs are sung by Bundeli
pilgrims during devotional festivals of Bundelkhand in the month of
January, February and March after rabi crop in winter blossoms. Farmers
after seeing their crops flowering, their hearts and minds also bloom
like a flower. To show their gratitude to the God, the devotees offer
the flowers of their emotions to the lotus feet of the God. They
realize that the whole year passed in day to day life, and with the
feeling of spring season they want to get blessed by going to the
pilgrimage places, temples and to take the holy bath in the rivers.
5. Khyal : In ‘Khyal Gayaki’, a singer recites mythical
stories, heroic deeds, the social events and the deep family relations.
In this expression of songs, a very special drum ‘Dhapli’ gives very
special beats which harmonize emotions.
6. Kaharwa : In the expression of folk lore Kaharwa, the
sentiments of heart culminate into the romantic expression. This song
is always sung by a drummer who follows the dancer of Raai, which is
why this dance is also known as Raai-Kaharwa.
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