Tiwa Phu Bathou Dance

Understand

Where Tiwa Phu Bathou Dance comes from

The Tiwa (also Lalung) people are an Adivasi community of central Assam (the Nagaon, Morigaon and Karbi Anglong districts), with their Bathou Puja as the central ritual observance of the year. Bathou is the Tiwa community's ancestor-worship, in which the head of the household (the Bathou-puja) honours the ancestors and the presiding deity of the community. The Tiwa Phu Bathou Dance is performed by the community at the annual Puja, particularly at Tiwa villages of the central Assam districts. The dance is little documented in English-language sources but is recognised as a living tradition by the state. The form is a celebration of the Tiwa identity and the natural surroundings of the foothills of Karbi Anglong, with songs in the Tiwa dialect.

How it's practiced

Tiwa Phu Bathou Dance is performed by the Tiwa community in a circle (with men and women separately at times) at the courtyard of the Bathou shrine during the annual worship. The dance is accompanied by songs in the Tiwa dialect and by the dhol and the bamboo clappers. The movements are simple and earthly, with the dancers gently swaying to the rhythm. Costume is the everyday traditional Tiwa dress — the colourful dhoti for the men and the phin-wrapped wrap for the women, with the characteristic small cape (the rigu) of the Tiwa community. The dance is performed at the central Bathou shrine and at the village gatherings.