Povada

Understand

Where Povada comes from

Povada (also Powada) is the ballad tradition of Maharashtra, a narrative poetry-form in the Marathi language that recounts the deeds of Maratha warriors and kings. The form rose to prominence in the 17th and 18th centuries at the court of Shivaji and the Peshwas, when shahirs — professional bard-poets — composed and recited long narrative ballads honouring the valour of the Maratha leaders. Tukoji Angre, the Maratha naval chief of the Konkan, was one of the early heroes celebrated in povadas. The form drew on older Sanskrit and Prakrit bardic traditions but was distinctly Marathi in language and idiom.

How it's practiced

Povada is a sung narrative rather than a dance in the strict sense, but it is performed in front of a gathered audience with the shahir as the lead performer reciting the ballad and a small chorus of accompanists playing the dholki drum and the turya (small metal cymbal). The shahir typically stands, gesturing and declaiming, and the audience joins in the climactic refrains. Performance is usually at community gatherings, in the courts of patrons and at political rallies of the Maratha period. The form survives today chiefly in literary recitation and in regional Marathi theatre.