Chhau- A traditional dance form

The great director Ritwik Kumar Ghatak, in his documentary  Puruliar Chhau,  he explored  the traditional Indian heritage of Chhau. It is a popular mask dance of Eastern India, a Bengali Folk-performing arts. Through his thought-provoking and memorable cinematic narrative, Ghatak attempted to glorify the traditional heritage of this Bengali Folk-performing art which, unfortunately, shows very little evolvement since its hunting or warfare origin due to lack of sustained patronage and guidance. In his interviews, he conveys his deep respect and love for this folk art form and its artists. Evidently, the first few lines of the documentary indicate that the authentic performing art of Purulia has been going through a tough time and fighting for its existence, while the performers of Chhau are also struggling to keep their art form breathing. In fact, in my opinion, Ghatak has done a marvellous and unprecedented job in 21 minutes and 27 seconds with the least number of te...

C hhau Dance of Mayurbhanj was subsequently adopted by the relatives of Maharajas in a sophisticated style to serve the purpose of elites. The rife-torn lives of Maharajas could get solace from this dance, which was mostly performed at the time of 'Chaitra Parva', a festival of the ex-states of Mayurbhanj, Kharsuan and Sareikala being patronised by the rulers. A number of ex-ruler states before their merger in Orissa state were practising Chhau dance and some prominent among them are: Chhau of Baripada in Mayurbhanj, Asanpal in Keonjhar, Nilgiri in Balasore, Arnapal in Bhadrak, Bonei in Sundargarh, Talcher in Angul, Balaramprasad in Dhenkanal, Bhubaneswar in Khurda district. Traditional Mayurbhanj Chhau has lived through Uttarsahi and Dakshinsahi since time immemorial. Dancers of both these segments worshipped Bhairava, an aspect of angry mood of Lord Shiva and perform during Chaitra festival, every year which also signifies the Oriya new year that is April...

Today Chhau dance has made itself a remarkable popular dance form. No other folk dance form couldn’t get as much popularity as Chhau in abroad. These three dance styles (Purulia, Mayourbhanj  and Sheraikella) are not only appreciated in our country, but also in foreign countries. Generally speaking, beyond the district, the district crossing the provinces, the provinces cross the country, and the foreign state exceeds the world. Purulia Chhau dance Durga with her family Year Important event 1953 First performed in Rajbhawan in Kolkata. 1954 Chhau dance was performed in “Bango sanskriti sommelon” which was held in Mohammad Ali Park at “deshojo nritya Chhau nach”. 1959 It was performed in evert Youth Festivals. 1962 1965 1968 1978 This dance form performed in Youth Festival in Ranji Stadium. 1969 A Chhau Seminar was held in Bhubaneshwar. Dr. Asutosh Bhattacharjee a...

It is not definitely known what was the nature of costumes that were used during the formative period of the dance about two hundred years ago. Nothing can be summarised on this point from the costumes that are used to-day though they have not yet been thoroughly modernised in any way. From the statement recorded from the older section of the people of the area of Baghmundi it is learnt that the costumes were different from what it is to-day. If that is so, then it must be admitted that there has been a gradual evaluation as far as the costumes are concerned.  More than one century ago, when the Baghmundi Raj family used to hold the annual dance festivals, the member of the family used to supply costumes themselves to the dancers and thus a model of costumes for this purpose was set by them. The costumes that are used to-day have some special features not commonly met with in any other art-form in the area or elsewhere in Bengal. They may be described as follows. A pie...

Gambhir Sing Mura was born in village of Baghmundi. The name of the village is Pitidari. In the year of 1930, Mura was born. He was the youngest son of Chhau artist Jipa Sing Mura. Gambhir Singh Mura  was an Indian tribal dancer known for his contributions to the tribal martial dance of Chhau . At the time of the ‘ samanto’ kings, the programme was held in the night. Two programmes were held in every day. The king's anger was over Jipa Sing Mura for his indiscipline nature. He had to left the Chorida village and settled in Pitidari Tola in the village of Bamni. The little Gambhir spent his life in the forest area.  His birth name was Babu Sing Mura . He lost his father in his young age and became economically deprived.   His childhood spent in his uncle’s house till the age of fourteen. In the year of 1943 he returned to his own house at Chorida. He came in the limelight of Chhau in the year of 1946. He had no specific trainer. He learned various Chhau art form by...

I t is indeed very surprising to note that there certain striking similarities in technique and also in themes between some of the items of dance Bali, Indonesia, and Chhau dance in Purulia. In the themes of Purulia Chhau dance the fight between the good and the evil representing the god and the devils predominate. The same is the case with dace of Bali also when in particular the dance are performed by the males. I can mention here two dance of Bali. The one is known as the Barong dance and the other as the Kris dance. Both are very popular male dance like the Purulia Chhau throughout the whole island of Bali. Barong dance is also a mask dance like Purulia and the Kris dance is partly a mask dance though it is likely that it was wholly a mask dance originally. In Bali, Barong represents the good and his opponent Rangda which is a mythological monster like Asuras of Indian mythological tradition represents the evil. Like all the themes of Purulia Chhau the episodes of the Barong da...