Rasiya

Understand

Where Rasiya comes from

Rasiya is the lyric-and-song tradition of the Braj region of north-central India (extending into eastern Rajasthan) — a body of poetry that expresses the love of Radha and Krishna in the idiom of human longing. The Rasiya as a song form is attributed to the medieval Vaishnava poets of Braj and has been performed for centuries by men and women in the Braj-speaking belt of Uttar Pradesh and eastern Rajasthan. In Rajasthan's Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur and Karauli districts, Rasiya is performed as a paired dance-and-song tradition by men and women in courtyards and at weddings. The form is associated with the Holi festival (the Rasiya of Braj) and with the larger Krishna-bhakti tradition of the region.

How it's practiced

Rasiya is performed by a man and a woman in a small open setting (a courtyard, a mela ground, a wedding pandal). The man sings the male line of the Rasiya poem (the lover, longing for the beloved) and the woman responds with the female line; between them they dance a paired sequence — gentle circling, hand-and-wrist gestures, the touching of feet and veils. The music is light — the dholak, manjira, harmonium and the bansuri flute — and the tempo is slow to medium, emphasising the poetry over the dance. Costume is the colourful Braj-region dress — the women in the lehnga-choli with dupatta, the men in dhoti-kurta and colourful turban. Rasiya performances can last hours through the night at weddings and during Holi.