Siddi Dhamal

Understand

Where Siddi Dhamal comes from

The Siddi (or Siddhi) are a community of Bantu-speaking African descent living primarily in Gujarat (Saurashtra and the Gir forest region), Karnataka and Hyderabad. They are thought to have arrived on the western coast of India over several centuries through the Indian Ocean slave trade and as sailors, soldiers and servants of the Portuguese and other colonial powers. The community is now concentrated in the Junagadh, Amreli, Bhavnagar and other districts of Saurashtra. The Siddi Dhamal is the community's most distinctive folk dance — a vigorous, trance-inducing group dance performed at religious and life-cycle celebrations and at the Urs of their patron saints.

How it's practiced

Siddi Dhamal is performed by groups of men and women, often in the open at night, accompanied by powerful dhol drumming and singing in the Siddi dialect of Gujarati. The dance builds in intensity as the dhol rhythm accelerates — dancers move in circles, perform vigorous jumps and shoulder-shaking movements, and at the height of the trance may enter ecstatic states understood as possession by saints or spirits. Costume is traditional Gujarati dress with African-influenced silver jewellery. Performances are a regular feature of Siddi cultural festivals in Gujarat and at diaspora events in Mumbai and Goa.