Karma Bhajan Dance

Understand

Where Karma Bhajan Dance comes from

The Karma Bhajan is the devotional singing tradition that is an integral part of the Karma festival cycle of Chhattisgarh and the wider central Indian Adivasi belt. The bhajans (devotional songs) are sung by the community as a part of the Karma devotional observance at the village square, where the sacred Karma tree-branch is brought from the forest. The bhajans and the dance that accompanies them are part of the same ritual cycle as the Karma Naach (the dance of the same festival), with the bhajans being the sung-form and the Naach the circular dance. The tradition is documented as one of the living Adivasi devotional-dance traditions of Chhattisgarh and is recognised as part of the Adivasi Cultural Heritage by the Central Institute of Indian Languages.

How it's practiced

Karma Bhajan Dance is performed by the community gathered around the Karma branch in the evening of the Karma festival. The bhajans (devotional verses) are sung in chorus, with the lead singer setting the line and the ensemble responding. The dance is a slow, processional circling — the celebrants walk around the Karma branch in a clockwise direction, with their hands raised in devotional gestures. The accompanying instruments are the mandar (drum), the thali (a small cymbal), and occasionally the mandal of the larger procession. The dance and the bhajans continue through the night of the Karma observance, with the final ceremony at the dawn (the washing of the Karma branch with rice and milk).