At the heart of Dandiya raas and the Gujarati community in Kochi is the Samudri Mata temple in Mattancherry. For the nine days of Navaratri, beginning today, this 113-year old temple dedicated to the Goddess throbs with a unique form of obeisance—prayers in the form of dance—to the movements and rhythm of the Raas Garba and Dandiya. The origin of the dance is the tale of Goddess Durga, engaged in an eight-day tussle with demon Mahisasura and his final slaying with her sword. The ninth day is celebrated as victory of good over evil. The dandiyas or traditionally decorated sticks, symbolic of the sword, are used in perfect synchrony and grace by dancers, both men and women.
This religious dance is performed by the vibrant community, 5,000 strong, in West Kochi and about 178 families in Ernakulam. A few new features of the celebration are that it has not only grown bigger and is now performed at many more venues but also has many non-Gujaratis joining in the fun. It is acquiring a festival feel, without losing its sanctity.
“Dandiya raas has certainly grown in the city; there are many more private events now, but the nine days of Navaratri and the dances in the temples strictly keep to religious norms,”says Chetan D Shah, Secretary, Shri Cochin Gujarati Mahajan. By that he means that no Bollywood music or cinematic dance steps are performed during the festival.
He adds, “As Dandiya is popular and brings people to a fun get together at private venues, it is accompanied by live music with orchestra, ‘dhol’(traditional drum) and some film music.”
Kamlesh Sanghavi, Secretary of Ernakulam Gujarati Samaj, says, “We have been holding Dandiya raas for the past 45 years. In Ernakulam we started with five families and it has grown to 172 families, their friends and relatives, but our principal body is in Mattancherry.”
For these nine days families—men, women, children—are all immersed in prayers and festivities around the deity, the dandiya events turning into complete outings with food provided at the venue.
Punita Sundrani, committee member, Navaratri Mahila Mandal, Dariya Sthan, says they have been holding Dandiya raas for the last 50 years, bringing in some variations each time to make the ceremony more colourful. Competitions related to Garba and Dandiya, prizes for pot and stick decoration are the introductions this year. Besides, each day, she says, they dance using different things related to the prayers, like a thali (plate), lamp (diya) and garba (pot).
“These dances are appreciation prayers to the Goddess. Navaratri dance begins with five prime raas garba songs. Garba is of slower movement, followed by the chichodi, a form of dance with special steps. This is followed by the dhamal, which is fast-paced. Dandiya is played last in this ritual of dances. Instead of garba, which women play or perform, men do the chhand, which is traditional and purely religious. Done with slow simple movements it gathers pace and ends in an extremely fast form called Jai Bhavani. All these dances are done in a circle,” explains Chetan Shah.
A striking aspect of dandiya is the donning of traditional costume and jewellery. The dancers, both men and women, endeavour to dress traditionally, says Mansi Joshi, who used to organise traditional costumes—lehenga, cholis for women and topis, kafni pyjamas and kediyu for men—in Coimbatore. Here too Mansi is an active participant in all Navaratri related activities.
With a melting of cultures and customs, over time, the city has taken to danadiya raas too. The beauty of Dandiya and its symbolism has led to many other non-Gujaratis participating in the dance with vigour. “The Tamil Brahmins come in large numbers,” says Shah.
In Ernakulam too Dandiya theme nites have become popular. Not many years ago, a well known film banner used the theme for its get together. Riverbourne, a Leisure Centre, in Tripunithura, has been holding Dandiya events for the last two years. Anargha Raj, proprietor says, “Out of the 80 participants who play dandiya at the centre only 2 % are North Indians, the rest are Malayalis. This dance is energetic and extremely popular.” To make it more accessible to locals Anargha holds workshops and engages Gujarati instructors to teach the dance. To convey the sanctity of the form, she has an aarti performed at the start. Due to the good response she has received since she began, this time Dandiya will be played over two weekends, on four days.
Hotel Crowne Plaza too is utilising the popularity of the dance and hosting a theme event on September 23 at 6 pm. The North Indian Association too are having related dance events.
With more events at different venues it seems Dandiya is striking a chord with the people of the city, in more ways than one.
And as evening sets in at Samudri Mata temple,women will offer their prayers to the Goddess in a slow, moving circle to the beats of the traditional dhol and the tunes of garbo ghumyo re...Ma Kali re, Kalyani re, in appreciation of the Mother Benefactor.