Graceful, fluid and balletic folk dance tradition of nomadic mendicants

Amongst many folk dance traditions of India, Ghata Patua dance is unique for its naturalness  and elegance, says Dr Pradosh Samal
 

Not far from the memorial built in honor of Sarala Das, a 15th century poet, who composed popular epic Mahabharat for the in Odiya language and is revered as the “Adi Kabi” or the foremost Odiya poet, three villages of a servitor community thrive around famous Sarala temple in the lush green Kanakpur rural part near Tirtol of coastal Jagatsinghpur district in Odisha. These three villages known as Deulapada, Balisahi and Haripur are home to 250 families of ‘Bhopa’ community, a temple servitor community who supply flowers and other organic materials daily to  Sarala temple for ritual worship. This community is also famous for performing Ghata Patua- a unique folk dance practiced by mendicants of this community, akin to the Karaga dance of Mysore.

With the arrival of spring, this month long dance performance commences from the day of Meena Sankranti, roughly from mid-March and concludes on the day of Mesha Sankranti, in mid-April. Bhopa Performers in small groups leading nomadic mendicant life spread out to villages  across Odisha and showcase their skills as  traditional Ghata Patua dancers.

Explaining the meaning of Bhopa, a leading Patua dancer, Sri Golek Roul says, “Bhopa comes from Bho and Pa. Bho means unique, and Pa means rites. This means, they know and nurture some mystically unique knowledge which is passed on to the eligible next in the family tradition. This uniqueness  also reflects in their dance style.  At the beginning of dance performance the dancer stand erect, chest stretched out, head tilted and the look in the eyes fixed  as if searching something in the working infinite world, a typical posture very akin to what is known as “Jalandhara Bandha” in Yoga community. Rhythmic swinging, swirling and swaying in particular fashion while moving hands in particular style as fingers creating various geometrical patterns make an interesting observation of the grace and fluidity with which they indicate that they might be trying to connect with subtle forms of energy of mother earth. When probed about this trance like state, smiling Sri Roul says, “This state cannot be described and only could be felt and savored; how we reach that state, how our performance gets spontaneous can only be experienced. At best, I can say that a person who received electric shock only knows how it feels. By description one can only guess what might be the feeling from the shock, but could never understand what happens exactly.”

Unlike classical dances and Merry Dance forms, certain folk dances are not very known as they are bound by the ethno-cultural traditions of particular communities. Among the very few free-flowing, spontaneous dance traditions of India, Ghata Patua dance stands apart as it is preserved, nurtured in oral tradition strictly within the Bhopa community of shakti worshippers.

Before the arrival of Meena Sankranti day, Roul explains, “we gear up for the month long event with a lot of preparations. We start with cleaning our home.  We also take out articles and instruments used in dance like the brass pitcher, Urakha, Ranapa, dresses and accessories that include red flowing skirts, jackets, veils, brass ornaments such as kathui, jhumpa for cleaning and polish.”

“On the commencement day on Meena Sankanti, we observe Habisya, cook food in new pot.  We make garlands of hibiscus flowers of varying hues to decorate the pitcher. Patua dancer representatives from original ten families gather at nearby Kanakeswar Shiva temple at Deulapada village. Kanakeswar is considered as the presiding father deity. We decorate our Ghatas or pitchers.  These typical pitchers carry three openings ornamented on this occasion by banana stems and hibiscus flowers.  We adorn ourselves with traditional Patua dance costumes. Post consecration, the pitchers are affixed with mud to a decorative wooden stand of around two feet length.  From Kanakeswar temple, we come in a grand procession balancing the wooden stick with beautifully decorated pitcher on its top on our head towards Sarala temple accompanied by traditional gong and drum players, ululations coming from large gathering of crowd cheering in festival fervor.  Ten pitchers are then placed before the deity in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple where further rituals are carried out. Then, these ghatas are handed over to Patua dancers”                                                               

“The first Ghata Patua dance performance of the season is performed on the open space in front of Sarala temple. We perform different variations of Ghata Patua such as Pahada dance, Ranapa dance, Padma dance, Kachhapa dance. From here, the 10 principal Patua performers accompanied by almost three hundred musicians and performers in small groups spread out to different corners of Odisha and perform. Roul says, “this is our traditional profession”

Male dancer, dressed as a female in red flowing skirts and jackets, ornamented with brass wrist and armlets, adorned with a long veil tied over their head decorated with flowers perform stunningly flowing and graceful movements to the rhythmical beating of gongs. He ties a black bandana to his head and places the pitcher atop a wooden base. In perfect balance the dancers sway to and fro in keeping with the beat, twirling and spinning their veils. Often at the end segment of their performance they use wooden stilts, and dance hopping and skipping atop rudimentary pegs. The dancers also perform on rope spanning long poles and do the balancing act without harness or safety nets. The difficult postures that the dancers show and their balancing act require a lot of skill, courage, training and practice.

Dancers offer blessed vermillion paste to the gathering audiance as the blessing of the deity. In return, they offer these dancers money and grains.

This dance form with slight variations elsewhere is called Ghanta Patua. The dance is performed primarily in honor of  female deity, known in Odisha by many popular names; Bhagavati, Chandi, Hinghula, Charchika, Mangala etc.

On the day of Mesha Sankranti morning these dancing groups return to Kanakapur, the place from where they started their month-long journey. That day fire-walk, also called ‘Jhamu Jatra’ is organized. In a long trench of burning fire, Patuas perform their final dances over the burning fire and the month-long festival draws a curtain.

Roul says, “This is a tradition kept alive by the oral tradition for hundreds of years, preserved by our community. There is always a family member who willingly commits to continue this tradition even though others in the family might choose different professions in this changing and demanding time.  We are the keeper of the secrets associated with this unique rites within our community.  It is our age old family tradition.”