Dangal Folk Dance

Understand

Where Dangal Folk Dance comes from

Dangal is the folk-celebration tradition of the mud-wrestling (kushti) tournaments of Haryana — the famous wrestling-culture of the Jat villages of the state. The wrestling tradition has a centuries-old history in the central Asian-Indian exchange through the Mughal court — the Mughal Emperor Akbar made wrestling a courtly art — and the Jat villages of Haryana preserved the tradition as a community-skill exercise and as the warrior-training of the Jat men. The Dangal Folk Dance is the celebratory dance performed around the wrestling pit by the wrestlers and the community at the close of the wrestling event. The dance is closely associated with the 'khap' (the Jat clan-council gatherings), particularly at the Kharak Chana festival (the central Haryana martial-arts gathering).

How it's practiced

Dangal Folk Dance is performed by the wrestlers (the pehalwan) and the men of the village at the close of a wrestling tournament. The dancers form a circle around the wrestling-pit, clapping and singing in unison to the rhythm of the dhol and the nagara. The dance is vigorous and includes the characteristic open-palm chest-clap of the rustic Haryana tradition and the raised-shoulder pose (the pehalwan posture). Music is the dhol and the small cymbal. Costume is the wrestling dress — the langot (the loin-cloth) and the bare-chested wrestler with the bright Gamcha (the wrestler's towel) over the shoulder, plus the rural men in the dhoti and the kurta. Performances are at the wrestling pits of the village (the dangal maidan) and at the Kharak Chana Mahapanchayat.