Gaur (Chhattisgarh)

Understand

Where Gaur (Chhattisgarh) comes from

Gaur is the women's folk dance of the Gaur / Gaud (the cattle-keeping community) of Chhattisgarh, performed at the celebration of the marriage of a daughter of the community. The dance is closely associated with the women's song-and-clap tradition of the region, particularly in the plains of Bilaspur and Durg. The Gaur dance is one of the most honoured women's wedding cycle dances of Chhattisgarh, performed by the bride's family and the women of the surrounding villages. The dance is documented as a defining identity of the Gaud community of the Chhattisgarh Heartland and is one of the women's community dances recognised by the state.

How it's practiced

Gaur is performed by groups of women — the bride's family and the women of the neighbourhood — at the eve of the marriage and at the morning of the wedding. The dance is in a circle, with the women moving in coordinated steps accompanied by hand-claps. The accompanying songs are the wedding-cycle verses of the Gaur tradition — typically the Gaur-Marehat songs of the cattle-pastoral community, sung in the regional Chhattisgarhi dialect. The accompanying instruments are the dholak and the small drum. Costume is the colourful regional dress of the Gaur community — the sari in bright pinks and yellows, with the heavy silver jewellery of the region and the colourful-embroidered dupatta. The dance runs through the eve of the marriage and into the next morning of the wedding processional.