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Gavari, also spelt Gavri, [1] is a 40-day long festival celebrated in July and September of each year in the Mewar region of Rajasthan, India. [2]
Each year, bhopa shamans from Mewar's Bhil communities petition the Goddess to permit their villagers to perform the Gavari ritual and to accompany them for the weeks of touring. The average wait time for her consent is about 4–5 years, and once the ritual cycle begins, she must also be successfully invoked before each daily ceremony. Only when she visibly possesses one or more troupe members can the dance dramas begin and the ritual proceed.
Each of the 25-25 participating communities forms and dispatches its own Gavari company of 20-80 members. The troupes crisscross Mewar performing more than 600 day-long village ceremonies in all. In total, Gavari troupes in total can play to over a quarter of a million people annually.
During the 40-day Gavari season, all players practice strict austerities to maintain reverent contact with the living earth and the immanent spirit. [3] They avoid not only sex, alcohol and meat but also shoes, beds, bathing, and eating greens (which might harm insect life). They eat only a single meal each day during the season. [4] [5]
In the final days, each troupe returns to its home village for a last performance and closing ceremonies. The cycle ends with an immersion rite to return the Goddess's fertility to their waters and all night raucous celebrations.
A Gavari troupe repertoire may include 10-15 classic traditional tales and new ones are still evolving, but the overarching themes are the sacredness of the natural world, radical human equality, and the feminine nature of the divine. These values are reflected in traditional Bhil society where the environment is revered, hierarchy is abhorred, and women enjoy greater rights and status than in communities outside. [6] [7]
Among Gavari's many mythic dramas, two of the most popular and often repeated are Badalya Hindawa (The Banyan Swing) and Bhilurana (King of the Bhils).
Badalya Hindawa recounts how the Goddess re-greened the Earth after a life-erasing flood and fiercely defends it thereafter from greed, stupidity and harm. The playlet features a powerful guru who loses his disciples beneath a sacred banyan tree and demands that the local king destroy it as an illicit source of power. The unnerved king complies and has the tree cut down. The Goddess and her devi sisters are outraged at this desecration and slip into his court disguised as acrobatic dancers to exact revenge. They lure the king close with their artistry, reveal their true nature, indict him for cowardice and sacrilege, and mortally terminate his reign.
Bhilurana is the tale of a composite leader representing five centuries of Bhil resistance to intrusions of all kinds. The play compresses and conflates the armed might of Turkic, Mughal and British invaders and depicts Goddess-inspired Bhil warriors finally driving them all away with daring ambushes, sabotage and shrewd guerrilla tactics.
Both plays end with celebration, salutations to the Goddess, and clear warnings to interlopers to never violate Nature or their sovereignty again. [8]
Gavari drama emphasis inspired improvisation over rehearsal and memorisation. The beginnings and ends of Gavari dramas are known, but how things transpire in between is highly mutable. There are no scripts and many players are illiterate farmers and labourers. [9] Individual plays can continue for hours, contain long soliloquies and dialogues, and are only performed by a particular troupe once on four or five years. The flexible and intuitive improvisational method encourages a wide range of creative expressions, leading to diverse interpretations of the same stories across various villages. Players strive to perform in a receptive trance known as bhava , which resembles the fluid creative state that musicians and athletes call "flow" or "the zone".
Depending on the day and the plays selected a single Gavari troupe can present dozens of different characters - goddess avatars, gods, demons, historical figures, sacred animals, corrupt officials, etc. The only constant roles, which exist outside the dramas, are the Budia figure, his twin Rai devi consorts and Kutkadia, the master of ceremonies.
Women are not allowed to tour as actors with the troupe due to the 4-5 day menstrual isolation Bhil women observe each month. Consequently, all female characters are portrayed by men. [8]
Budia embodies a powerful fusion of Shaivite and demonic energies and is a vital protective Gavari figure. He is distinguished by his dramatic horse hair-fringed mask, sacred staff and twin Rai consorts. In each day's Gavari ceremony the Budia character has three main duties: circling the arena during opening invocations in the opposite direction as the dancers to seal in and protect the energy field they are generating; patrolling the arena perimeter during dance drama sequences to prevent audience members from entering the players' area or shaman circle unless they are clearly entranced; and periodically holding court at the arena's edge with his Rai escorts to accept offerings on behalf of the troupe and confer blessings. [10]
Every Gavari village has its own iconic Budia mask, which is treated as a sacred object and often handed down for generations.
There are many speculative theories about Gavari's genesis, but its true age and origin are unknown.
According to one hypothesis, it may have begun in rural Mewar at the end of the 16th century, when Mewaris largely regained control of their lands and lives from the Mughals in 1579, [11] [12] the Rajput court gratefully awarded their mountain-dwelling Bhil brethren both unprecedented recognition and vast tracts of fertile agricultural land. The latter boon gradually drew most Bhils out of their forest encampments and began their transition to village agriculture. The 16th century hypothesis thus holds that this settling down of a semi-nomadic people created a nostalgia for their more adventurous heritage. Others assert that Gavari began in the 3rd or 4th century in Gujarat, [13] and still others that it as old as Bhil culture itself and dates back four millennia. [14] [15] [16]
Gavari troupes perform two distinct invocation rituals. The first is used to ask the Goddess to permit a village to perform the Gavari cycle. This invocation is held in every Mewari Bhil community on or shortly before the full moon in the Hindu month of Shravana , which usually falls in August as the monsoon planting season ends.
The second is to confirm Her presence and participation at the start of each day's performance. Both invocations require incense, flowers. chanting, madal drum and thali cymbal music, a Shaivite trishula, and the kindling of a dhuni fire.
Initial sanction invocations are usually held in a darkened sanctuary attended by a small group of bhopa shamans, village elders and veteran Gavari players. Other villagers gather outside to await Her decision which is delivered by a possessed trembling bhopa. [17] [18] He proceeds to channel Her spirit as She explains why She will or won't allow them to perform this year. Typical reasons for refusal include discord in the village, shrine disrepair, a poor monsoon, a crop blight, etc., which must be dealt with satisfactorily before petitioning Her again. [19]
Daily confirmation invocations are performed around an altar in the center of the Gavari arena where shamans, musicians and senior players gather in a tight circle. The rest of the players and occasionally villagers dance counterclockwise around this core to create a welcoming energy field. A guardian Budia figure circles the dancers in the opposite direction to seal in their energy and protect it from misuse. The Goddess spirit's arrival and presence is signaled by one or more bhopas falling into trembling bhava trance. [20]
Additional ritual instruments employed following the manifestation of the deity include peacock feather scepters utilized to emphasize and convey the dynamic energy of possession, as well as sturdy saankal chains that trance-induced participants frequently use to strike their backs.
Successful invocations have several visible effects. First they connect the village shaman(s) to the Goddess spirit so they can audibly articulate Her concerns, requests and will. [1] [21] Second, they infuse the Gavari players with creative inspiration to ably enact their roles. Finally, they can overwhelm some villagers with a sense of wonder, grace and bliss. Entranced villagers may be welcomed into the shaman circle or approached for healing and blessings by other members of the crowd. Those possessed often later report feelings of great exhilaration and selfless unity with all surrounding life. Such experiences reinforce Bhils' belief in Gavari's power, their own inalienable equality, and the sacredness of the natural world.
In Gavari, the beauty and power of the natural world are the ultimate expression of divinity. Wilful or heedless damage to its diversity, health or future is thus regarded as not only short-sighted and suicidal, but also criminal and blasphemous. [22] Such views are the seed Seven generation sustainability among many indigenous tribes and their current widespread battles to safeguard water resources, endangered ecosystems and biocultural diversity. [23] [24]
Gavari is righteously egalitarian and disrespectful of unjust authority. [25] Its dramas vividly depict and celebrate the dispatching of powerful officials, gurus and merchants either by the mocking scorn of villagers or the sword of the Goddess in a protective maternal rage. No authority figure is spared and some playlets happily lampoon kings, Hindu gods like Krishna, and even charlatan Bhopa shamans. [26] [8] The healthy skepticism such skits reflected and encouraged in rural Mewar, along with other similar art forms/practices in the subcontinent helped birth India's 2005 Right to Information Act, which has been hailed as "the most significant change to Indian democracy since Independence" [27]
Gavari's itinerant format continues to closely network and promote solidarity among Mewar's scattered rural villages as well as their constituent castes and religious communities. [28] Its rich mythic and historical repertoire also helps keep tribal youth aware of their heritage. [3]
Gavari's comedic skits on farm finance, greedy middlemen and corrupt merchants offer villagers wry lessons in real world commerce and economic self-defense, especially with regard to crop brokers, moneylenders, credit scams, and urban conceptions of wealth. [19]
Gavari tightens inter-community bonds with its month of itinerant village visitations and solidifies Bhils’ sense of responsibility for a world far beyond their neighboring fields. [22] Although only Bhils play roles in the ceremony, Gavari performances also internally solidify communities by involving all castes, communities and age groups in the preparations and audience delight. [29]
The Gavari tradition at home has fallen on hard times [3] Rajasthan's government schools now forbid Bhil students to be truant to accompany their village Gavari troupes on their month-long pilgrimages. This alone is potentially lethal since Gavari has no scripts or schools and the only way to learn its ceremonies, arts and stories is as an apprentice participant. Add to this the accelerating exodus of working age youth to metro centers in search of employment and the average size and number of rural Gavari troupes continues decline. [30]
There are also positives. Local Bhil organizations are also becoming more active in promoting Gavari and its core values. The first English language introduction to Gavari is now available; [8] lobbying is underway for Sangeet Nakat Akademi and UNESCO recognition of Gavari as a globally significant Intangible Cultural Heritage treasure; an increasing number of Gavari clips are appearing on YouTube and Japanese scholars have initiated innovative economic studies of Gavari's societal benefits [31]
Udaipur's West Zone Cultural Centre has started presenting films and samples of Gavari artistry; [32] and local eco-festivals are also introducing the tradition to urban audiences. [33] In 2016 the Udaipur District Collector and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje mobilized local agencies and NGOs to create "Rediscovering Gavari", [34] a multi-year program to promote "Gavari as an ancient folk art miracle... spiritually arousing, artistically surprising and historically mysterious." [35]
The Rediscovering Gavari program invited 12 rural troupes to perform the ceremony on different days in iconic Udaipur settings. These unprecedented events exposed thousands of tourists and townsfolk to Gavari for the first time and sparked a rare blaze of media attention. [13] [36] This was followed by the first Gavari presentation in Delhi at the 2016 National Tribal Carnival, which was attended by Prime Minister Modi who offered lavish praise and encouragement. [37]
Bhil or Bheel refer to various indigenous groups inhabiting western India, including parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and are also found in distant places such as Bengal and Tripura. They speak various languages of Indo-Aryan origin, owing to language shift, collectively referred to as the Bhil languages. Bhils are divided into a number of endogamous territorial divisions, which in turn have a number of clans and lineages.
Chittorgarh is a major city in the state of Rajasthan in western India. It lies on the Berach River, a tributary of the Banas, and is the administrative headquarters of Chittorgarh District. It was a major stronghold of the Rajput State of Medapata. The city of Chittorgarh is located on the banks of river Gambhiri and Berach.
Vagad is a region in southeastern Rajasthan state of western India. Its boundaries are roughly defined by those of the districts of Dungarpur and Banswara. Major cities of the region are Dungarpur and Banswara.
Gogunda is a town and tehsil headquarters of Gogunda Tehsil in Udaipur district, located about 35 km (22 mi) in north-west from Udaipur city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is situated on a high mountain in Aravalli hills and is reached by crossing a difficult mountain pass.
Ghoomar or ghumar is a traditional folk dance of Rajasthan. It was the Bhil tribe who performed it to worship Goddess Saraswati which was later embraced by other Rajasthani communities. The dance is chiefly performed by veiled women who wear flowing dresses called ghaghara. The dance typically involves performers pirouetting while moving in and out of a wide circle. The word ghoomna describes the twirling movement of the dancers and is the basis of the word ghoomar.
Udaipur is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, about 415 km (258 mi) south of the state capital Jaipur. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Udaipur district. It is the historic capital of the kingdom of Mewar in the former Rajputana Agency. It was founded in 1559 by Udai Singh II of the Sisodia clan of Rajputs, when he shifted his capital from the city of Chittorgarh to Udaipur after Chittorgarh was besieged by Akbar. It remained as the capital city till 1818 when it became a British princely state, and thereafter the Mewar province became a part of Rajasthan when India gained independence in 1947. It is also known as the City of Lakes, as it is surrounded by five major artificial lakes.
Kherwara Chhaoni is a census town in the Udaipur district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is part of the Vagad region, which includes the districts of Dungarpur, Banswara and parts of Udaipur district. It is in close proximity to two major highways, National Highway 8 and Rajasthan State Highway 76 and National Highway 927A passes through it. Its name derives from the large number of Kher (Khair) trees in the region in the past.
Manikya Lal Verma was a member of Constituent Assembly of India in 1949. He was prime minister of Rajasthan, India before full formation of the state. He was elected to Lok Sabha in 1957 from Chittorgarh and in 1952 from Tonk. He was recipient of Padma Bhushan in 1965.
Rikhabdeo ( Rishabhadeo) is a town in Udaipur district in the state of Rajasthan, in north-west India.
The culture of Rajasthan includes many artistic traditions that reflect the ancient Indian way of life. This historical state of India attracts tourists and vacationers with its rich culture, tradition, heritage and monuments.
Baneshwar fair is an annual tribal fair held in Dungarpur district in Rajasthan state of India. The fair is held in the month of January or February at Baneshwar, near the confluence of the Som and Mahi rivers. This fair is a major fair in tribal culture and has been described as "the Kumbh mela for the tribals".
Bhanu Bharti is an Indian theatre director and playwright, and the founder-director of Aaj Rangmandal theatre group. Most known for his theatre productions and choreographies with tribal and folk artists, including Pashu Gayatri by K.N. Panikkar, Kaal Katha and Amar Beej, all are based on rituals of the Bhil tribe of Mewar region of Rajasthan, apart from Chandrama Singh urf Chamku Das, Yamgatha and Aks-Tamasha, counting to over 70 plays in a career spanning nearly four decades.
Chawand is a town in Sarada tehsil of Udaipur district, Rajasthan. The historical significance of the town is that it was the last capital of Mewar under the reign of Maharana Pratap.
Shilpgram is a rural arts and crafts complex, situated 3 km (1.9 mi) west of the city of Udaipur, Rajasthan state, India. The center is spread over an undulating terrain of about 70 acres of land, surrounded by the Aravali mountains. Shilpgram is an ethnographic museum that depicts the lifestyles of the folk and tribal people of the region. With an objective of increasing awareness and knowledge about the rural arts and crafts, the Shilpgram provides opportunity for rural and urban artists to come together and interact through the process of camps and workshops.
Kotra is a tehsil of Udaipur district in Rajasthan, India, consisting of 262 revenue villages and 31 panchayats. The tehsil is bordered to the north by Pali and Sirohi districts, to the east by Gogunda and Jhadol tehsils, and to the south by Gujarat state. The tehsil headquarter is located in the village of Kotra, southwest of the Udaipur at a distance of 57 km and 120 km by road.
Motilal Tejawat , (1885–1963) was the leader of the Eki Movement that was agitated in the 1920s in the adivasi-dominated border areas of present-day Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The beginning of the Eki Movement is generally attributed to the events at the Matrikund fair in Chittod. Here, a group of adivasis agreed to desist from paying taxes to jagirdars until the Maharana addressed the problems with the jagirdari system.
Bhomat is a mountainous and forested area in southern Rajasthan, covering all or parts of the tehsils of Kotra, Jhadol and Kherwara in Udaipur district. During British rule, the region was also referred to as 'Hilly Tracts of Mewar'.
The Mewar Bhil Corps is a state armed police force of the Rajasthan Police. The Corps was originally raised by the British Indian government as a military unit along similar lines as units such as the Merwara Battalion and Malwa Bhil Corps. The Corps operated as a regular unit of the British Indian Army until 1938; since then it has been maintained as a para-military force.
The Mangarh massacre occurred on 17 November 1913, when British and Indian troops attacked the stronghold of Govindgiri Banjara at the end of the Bhil Revolt. It occurred on a hillock in the Mangarh Hills of Rajasthan. There are no accurate figures for the number of Bhil, Banjara who were killed, but estimates range from "several Bhils died" to the oral tradition that 1,500 Banjara tribals were killed.
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