Ghanta Patua fading into oblivion

JAGATSINGHPUR: With Ghanta Patua folk dance losing its charm, thousands of artistes of the coastal district are struggling for  survival.      Ghanta Patua dance is a popular folk dance performed in Odia month of  Chaitra (between March and April) in Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Puri, Khurda and Jajpur districts where members of Patua communities visit different villages and play Ghanta (brass gong). The village streets reverberate with the sound of Ghanta along with their peculiar dance on the stilts. It is closely associated with the worship of Mother Goddess who assumes various names as Sarala, Hingula, Charchika, Bhagavati, Mangala and Chandi.

 Ghanta patuas are non-Brahmin Sevaks or servants of the deities. They keep on moving for the whole month and return to their respective shrines for their annual celebration on the first day of the Hindu new year, Maha Vishuba Sankranti.On Pana Sankranti, patuas perform in almost all villages and worship Goddess Maa Sarala, the presiding deity of the district.  The dance is performed by male artistes and a group of two to four men travel from place to place after worshiping the deities. One of them dresses like a woman and ties a black bandana on his head. He places a ghanta or a well decorated water pitcher that is balanced on his head. Other artistes wear stilts and dance to the rhythmic beat of the ghanta.

 After the performance, the leader distributes vermilion among the people as Mother Goddess’ blessing. Later, villagers give them money, food and other commodities.But now patuas  are not performing due to several reasons. At present, only 280 families in Kanakpur village under Tirtol tehsil are performing the dying art. While local youths are not interested to keep the tradition alive, artistes are reluctant to perform it as there are no earthen roads in villages. As the art form is performed during summer and village streets are getting converted into cement concrete road, they are unable to perform with bare feet.On the other hand, there are no incentives for folk artistes. As a result, the folk dance is struggling for existence, said Birabar Raul of Kanakpur village.