Garba

Understand

Where Garba comes from

Garba is a Gujarati folk dance whose name derives from the Sanskrit garbha (womb), and the dance is understood as a celebration of gestation, life and the feminine shakti. It is performed during the Hindu festival of Navaratri in honour of Amba Mata, an incarnation of goddess Durga, and is traditionally staged around a clay pot lit from within (a garbo) or an image of the goddess. In December 2023 UNESCO inscribed Garba of Gujarat on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Folk dances of Gujarat more broadly are frequently performed to mark the first menstrual cycle or a marriage, reflecting the dance's deep association with fertility and womanhood.

How it's practiced

Garba is performed in concentric circles — sometimes single, sometimes multiple rings moving in opposite directions — and is traditionally a counterclockwise circle dance whose tempo builds across the night. The traditional music is dhol, dholak, cymbals and shehnai; the typical Gujarati costume is chaniya choli (a flared, mirror-worked ghagra with blouse and dupatta) for women and kediyu for men. Clapping on the down-beat is the defining rhythmic gesture; sticks are not used in garba itself but are taken up in the sibling form, Dandiya Raas, which usually closes the night.