Manjhi-Lalgi Dance

Understand

Where Manjhi-Lalgi Dance comes from

The Manjhi-Mallah community (the boatmen / Mallah people) of the Ganges belt of Bihar and eastern UP has a distinctive folk-dance tradition associated with the river, the boat, and the fishing and ferrying trade. The dance is one of the central UP-Bihar folk forms, performed at the festive occasions of the boatmen and at the village festivals along the Ganges. The tradition is documented in the cultural surveys of the state folk-arts academies and is one of the lesser-known but well-practised community dances of the region. The Mallah community has a long association with the rasa tradition through the Maithili poet Vidyapati (whose padyavali of Krishna-Radha songs originated in the boatman and fisher-folk communities of the river).

How it's practiced

The Manjhi-Lalgi dance is performed by groups of men of the boatman community in a circle on the river bank or in the courtyard of the village. The dance is accompanied by the dhol and the dholak in a heavy rhythm and by the swinging motion of the paddle — the dancers occasionally hold the long oars (pahwa) and move in precession, mimicking the rowing. Costume is the everyday Mallah working dress — the white dhoti and shirt (the kurta), with the small jasmine garland on the men's caps. The dance is performed at the celebration of the river festivals and at the weddings of the Mallah community, often by the light of the moon on the river at night.