Thathera Folk Dance

Understand

Where Thathera Folk Dance comes from

Thathera is the hereditary caste-community of coppersmiths and brass-bowl-makers in northern India, with concentrations in Awadh (the modern Lucknow-Rampur-Bareilly axis of Uttar Pradesh). The Thathera dance tradition is one of the artisan-caste folk dances of UP, performed at the Muharram observance and at the Jamghat festival — a Muharram-period fair that is celebrated in the cities of Lucknow, Barabanki, Bareilly and Rampur with horse races, displays and folk theatre. The dance was previously performed by the copper-bowl-maker community during the festival of Muharram to mark the close of the Islamic month of mourning, with the Thathera artisans contributing in procession. Today the dance is performed at cultural programmes of the state as a community-identity form of the Thathera artisan class.

How it's practiced

The Thathera dance is performed by men in groups in the open ground at the Jamghat fair or at the Muharram procession. The men beat large brass bowls (the thali / batloi) or small hand-bells as percussion, dancing in a circle in coordinated steps. The dance is fast and rhythmic, with the body swaying to the bowl-strikes. Musicians typically also play the dhol alongside the bowls. Costume is the everyday UP Muslim dress — the white kurta-pyjama with the embroidered cap, the brass-bowls being the central visible prop. The dance is performed at the evenings of the Muharram period and at community gatherings of the Thathera caste.