Charkula Dance

Understand

Where Charkula Dance comes from

Charkula is a distinctive women's folk-dance of the Braj region (Mathura, Hathras, Aligarh and the western-UP districts) — performed by a married woman balancing a multi-tiered wooden cradle (the charkula) on her head, decorated with lit candles and paper flowers, in celebration of the birth of a son or for her own marriage. The dance is associated with the folk-devotional culture of the Braj region and is one of the most photographed of the western-UP folk-dance forms. The charkula is multi-tiered (sometimes with 3, 5, 7 or more levels) and the woman balances it on her head while dancing. The dance has been performed at the state cultural events and at the folk-arts festivals of western UP and at Hindustani cultural programmes outside the state.

How it's practiced

Charkula is performed by a solo female dancer who balances a multi-tiered wooden cradle (charkula) on her head, decorated with up to 50 (or more) lit candles and with small paper flowers. The cradle is carefully balanced and the dancer moves in slow, controlled steps in a circle or a line, performing gentle turns and sways as the candles flicker and glow. The accompanying musicians play the dholak, the shehnai and the small cymbals, with the dance building in tempo as the candles keep burning. Costume is the bright Braj women's sari with the colourful odhni and the heavy silver jewellery of the western-UP region. The charkula dance is performed at the wedding ceremony of the bride, or in the family of a newborn boy, or at community cultural celebrations of the Braj area.