Performing Art · Karnataka
Goravara Kunitha
ಗೊರವನ ಕುಣಿತ
A trance-like devotional dance performed by initiated Gorava devotees of the Kuruba Gowda community, danced in bearskin headgear and a black woollen wrap to the beat of a hand-held damaru.
Understand
Where Goravara Kunitha comes from
Goravara Kunitha belongs to the Kuruba Gowda community's devotion to Mailara Linga in north Karnataka and Mudukutore Mallikarjuna in the old Mysuru region — both regarded as forms of Shiva. A man takes deekshe, a formal initiation usually performed before marriage, to become a Gorava and take up the dance as an act of worship.
How it's practiced
A Gorava performs in a bearskin headdress and a black woollen rug, carrying a damaru in one hand and a flute in the other, moving through rhythmic, trance-like steps that build in intensity. Ritual objects blessed at initiation — a bell, a bag, holy turmeric powder, a wooden stick, a bowl, the damaru and the flute — accompany every performance.
A trance-like devotional dance performed by initiated Gorava devotees of the Kuruba Gowda community, danced in bearskin headgear and a black woollen wrap to the beat of a hand-held damaru.
From discovery to practice
The Journey
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