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Performing Art · Karnataka
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
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.
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.
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