On the second and penultimate day of an ongoing mask-based performance festival, proceedings got underway with a welcome for participating artists at the Madhya Pradesh Tribal Museum in the state capital on Saturday.
Organized by the Janajatiya Lok Kala Evam Boli Vikas Akademi (Tribal Folk Art and Dialect Development Academy) in collaboration with the Himalayan World Museum in Sikkim, the three-day festival is showcasing masks from eight countries and seven Indian states.
Dances from 11 states, including hosts Madhya Pradesh, will be presented at the festival, which commenced on Friday. The mask exhibition, proving to be a major draw, presents around 100 masks from India, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Bangladesh, Fiji, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. Delicious cuisine is also available at the festival.
On Saturday, the Thayyam dance was presented by Nishanth KM and his team from Kerala. This traditional folk dance from the southern state is regarded as a devotional dance and is performed after the harvest in October to thank God.
The Bhavada dance was performed by Pavanbhai Ramubhai Bagul and his team from Gujarat.
This dance, performed by the Dangis tribe, means a dance performed while wearing masks.
It is performed to ward off obstacles or suffering. The Bhavada is performed in April. Rural farmers seek blessings from Mataji and request to keep the Bhavada for three to five years for good harvests and offspring. This belief is prevalent throughout Gujarat.
Gaurang Nayak and his team from Odisha presented the Sahijata. The Jatra is a popular folk theatre form from Eastern India, involving music, acting, singing, and dramatic dialogue performed by multiple individuals.
This folk theatre is especially notable in Bengal and Odisha.The Sahijata dance is showcased during religious rallies and rituals, where artists participate using masks of Lord Ganesha, Narasimha, and the goddess.
Chhabiladas Vishnu Gawli and his team from Maharashtra performed the Bhavada dance. In Maharashtra, the Kokna community traditionally performs the Bhavada dance after Akshay Tritiya, also known as "Bohada."The dance features costumes of deities and masks of animals, demons, and nature deities, accompanied by musical instruments such as the shehnai, drums, and thali.
