Danda Nata is the most ancient and indigenous of all the folk dances Odisha. It is one of the major theatrical forms associated with the Saiva cult. It is some what an ensemble of folk dances entwined with a plethora of songs and having a variety of characters. Dantanata has always been a part of the mass religious culture of Odisha. A series of complex rituals are connected with it and its occasion is the Chaitra Festival. Ritualistic in nature, the danda (Penance) elucidates the Rudrakali myth narrating the activities of Siva and Kali. In the month of Chaitra (April) the Danda nata troupes stage their performance lasting for 13 to 21 days and the period terminates on the Mahavisuva Sankranti which normally falls in the middle of April.
Danda Nata is a traditional dance festival from the Ganjam district of Odisha, India. It is both a religious and cultural event performed to honor Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction. The festival includes theatrical performances and dance, blending devotion with entertainment.
Its origin is traced back to the age of Tantrism i.e. 8th and 9th century A.D. (after the decadence of Buddhism in Odisha). Regarding the origin of Danda Nata, Prof. Kunja Bihari Dash an authority on folklores says, “The kings of Kesari dynasty who ruled over Odisha from tenth century to eleventh-century A.D.were worshippers of Lord Siva. There existed great animosity among the Saivites and Buddhists. Buddhism was no longer an ideal religion to be patronised by the king or loved by the people. grave-yard. Saivism became the predominant religion. It degraded and exposed all its weaknesses and thus dug its own degraded into down-todden untouchables hated by the upper class Hindus. They had no other option but to worship the Hindu god Siva for their salvation. But, they were debarred from entering the Hindu temples. So they worshipped Siva once a year in a festival called Danda Nata. Thus, Danda Nata came into existence.
According to another tradition, Odisha was a great seat of Tantric learning and was known as Uddiyana Pitha in ancient days. The founder of the Pasupata sect of Saivism held a Laguda (staff) for which he was known as Lagudisa or Lakulisa. In a number of Saivite temples in Odisha Lakulisa appears holding a staff in his hands. At one time, a sect of Saivite mendicants were also known as Dandi as they were holding a Danda or staff as a symbol of religious authority. Here, Danda or staff represents Siva. In a Danda Nata performance two cane-staffs are planted on the ground perpendicularly. They represent Siva and Gouri whom the after Gouri only as Gouri Beta. dancers propitiate, but peculiarly enough, the staffs are named after Gouri only as Gouri Beta.
Some are of the opinion that the word Danda does not apply here to the staff representing the deities. They opine that, the meaning of Danda is the control of speech (Bak Danda), mind (Mano Danda) and body (Kaya Danda) as the devotees practice such controls during the observance of the rituals. There is still another theory of origin of the Danda Nata. It rallies round a tribal story about how a man while hunting in the forest was caught and bitten by a deadly snake, fell unconscious on the ground. His wife deeply perturbed at the pitiable condition of her husband, starts instantly praying and worshipping God Siva and Goddess Kalika invoking their divine blessings for bringing her husband back to life. At the end, both God and Goddess are pleased at the prayer of the woman who blessed her and the husband finally comes back to life. Since then Danda Nata has continued to perform in order to get some miraculous happenings and blessings.
Those who participate in Danda Nata are called Bhakta (Bhakta or Devotee) or Dandua. Others who observe the religious v (Danda Vrata) but do not dance are also called Bhakta. They first initiated to Siva Gotra or Siva’s clan. All of them wear sacred threads and dhotis coloured with red-clay or turmeric and carry a cane-staff all the time. During the period of observance which may continue for 13 or 21days, they keep themselves out of their homes. They live in a house generally the village club- house or the temple precinct built at a distance of the village which they name as Kamana Ghara (the house of desire). There, a lamp is kept burning for all the days’ observance. They take a meal of rice, only once in a day. While taking meal in the afternoon, drums are beaten loudly as they are not to hear human voice during the time. If by chance they hear, they relinquish their meals for this is considered inauspicious. Those who observe Danda nata give up non-vegeterian food, onion and garlic. The main devotee is called Pata Bhakta or Pata Dandua.
Danda nata is derived from “Danda” (pole) and “Nata” a dance which is usually performed in a religious fair called Danda yatra. In this fair Lord Siva and his consort, Gouri are propitiated. The artists of this Danda Nata are called Bhaktas (devotees). Danda Nata troops consist of 13 bhaktas. They dance and sing songs for the entertainment of village community. “Abhinava Chandrika”, a literary work of 1568, mentions about the prevalence of “Danda yatra”. It signifies that folk-theatre was very much popular in medieval Odisha .
“Aiela Kalapahada, bhangila luharabada, piela Mahanadi,
pani subarna thalire, hira parasile, Mukunda devanka rani.”
Signifies that, the Danda nata was originated to check the rise and growth of Islam religion in Odisha, after the defeat and death of Gajapati Mukundadeva the last Hindu king of Odisha in 1568 A.D.
In Danda nata, five musical instruments namely Dhola, Mahuri, Tamak, Kara, and Kartal are used.
The Danda Nata is held in four phases such as, Dhuli Danda, Pani Danda, Bana Danda and Agni Danda. These are as follows:
Dhuli Danda Nata strats at mid-day. The bhaktas roll on the hot sand in the mid-day sun of summer, dance and sing without any sign of suffering in their faces. They bear all pains to draw the kind attention of Siva towards the devotees. The subject matter concerning agriculture like preparation of field, cultivating the land, sowing of the seeds and transplantation etc. are the main attraction in Dhuli Danda. Four dancers portray the scene of a corn field by inter-connecting their heads and legs in a particular manner and play the role of oxen to cultivate the land and one play the part of Halia (Plough-man).
These are performed in a beautiful and comic style. By doing such painful physical exercises the Danduas believe that they are doing a penance for their sins by their prayer to God Siva and Goddess Kalika to bestow blessings on them and as well as on the sponsor Bhakta.
The second phase begins in the afternoon after the completion of Dhuli Danda. It begins with the dipping of the Danduas deep in the water of an allotted tank or river for about an hour called “Jala Danda” (meaning-receiving punishment or physical torture in the water). The bhaktas take their bath and pray to Lord Siva for fulfilling the devotee’s wishes. Pani Danda reflects the social life of the common people based on agriculture.
In the evening the worshippers perform alati gathering the premises of Siva temple or in the open sky. Flame is kept enlightened which signifies the idea that life is full of ups and downs. But one should not despair under any circumstances and keep the light of hope always burning in the heart.
The staying or the rest of the Bhaktas during the evening time in a mango grove or in a peaceful place quite away from the village is known as Bana danda. In that place they arrange a separate pit to cook their dinner. After the evening Alati they cook their food by the help of the straw Dihudi applying Jhuna (wax) without using the match box. One of the most peculiar aspects of their food preparation is that they never use any knife or native blade (Paniki) for cutting the vegetables. They eat only vegetarian foods without using onion or spices during this period.
Agni Danda or Danda Nritya begins in the mid-night. A part and perform the veteran artist known as Pata Bhakta takes dance with different postures of his limbs in tune with the Dhola and other musical instruments. The Dholia (dhola players) really play an important role. The physical feats of the dancer are beautiful and enchanting. Sometimes, the dancer holds the holy lamp. One of the dancers scatter resins on the burning lamp held by him who dances spiritedly and shout intermittently “Kala Rudramani ho jaya” i.e. victory to the black God Siva.
Apart from entertaining village-folk with varieties of dance and songs, the main objective of the folk-theatre is to impart moral teachings in order to remove superstitions and blind faiths in the society.
In south Odisha there are professional groups of Danda Nata patronized by rich villagers. Inspite of being professional they have not deviated from the rituals and the period of performance traditionally fixed. Beyond the prescribed days, the performance of Danda Nata is impossibility. Besides the devotees, the rich house holders belonging to upper caste Hindu society also keep religious vows to conduct Danda Nata performances in front of their houses if desires are fulfilled. But, such vows are not kept by the poor as it entails expenditure beyond their capacity. Therefore, these people observe the Vrata or religious vows by enrolling themselves as Bhaktas. The rich or upper class, who caste Hindus in observing the festivals as a participant perhaps consider it socially derogatory to be on a par with low- only take pleasure and pride in having a performance in their midst. They invite the professional groups. The troupe move to the village during the day time and take rest in the village temple or a lonely place far from the madding crowd. After purificatory bath in a tank or river they finish their dinner in the evening. At about midnight accompanied by drummers they proceed t house of the host where the performance takes place. All their expenses including charges for the performance are borne by the hosting party. The expenditure comes around to thousands of rupees.
Danda Nata has a rich and varied repertory of its own. It includes different items like Gouri Beta Bandana, Jhuna Khela, Patara Saura, Chadaya Chadayani, Siva Parvati, Fakira Fakirani, Sapua Sapuani, Kela Keluni, Binakara, Karuani, Baidhana etc. Though deeply religious in intent, all these dances accompanied by characteristic songs present a vivid picture of the rural Through songs, they not only bring out stories or events from mythologies or legends, but also from many happenings concerning to the family and social life.
Customarily, the Danda Nata performance begins with Gouri Beta Bandana, an invocatory piece of song accompanied by mild dancing. It has been mentioned earlier that, two cane staffs are planted on the grind of performance representing Siva and Gouri (Parvati). The dancers pay their obeisance to the deities incarnate through songs and dances. The songs are all in praise of Kali, Rudrani, Bhabani, Drakshyayani etc. the terrific aspects of Gouri (Bhairavi). The village-folk irrespective of caste and creed sit surrounded with great enthusiasm and devotion to enjoy the dance. Hula Huli sound (a shrill sound of women by wagging their tongues inside the mouth) reverberates, charging the intermittently in the dance and Dhola (country drum) and Mahuri (wind instrument) provide the rhythm and music.” This item lasts for about ten to twenty minutes during which the audience settle down for the night’s performance.
The real performance of Danda Nata begins with Patara Saura (Panna Savara) and Patara Souruni (Panna Savari) the main characters representing the earliest human couple. In the dance, the Saura or Savara goes out hunting and dies of snake-bite, Souruni or Savaruni laments (in the jungle) over the sad demise of her husband. Then, she prays Lord Siva and by his grace the Savara comes to life. On this occasion, there happens to be brief dance of Siva and Parvati accompanied by songs delineating their geneology, power and characteristics through the characters by themselves. After their departure from the scene, the Savara and Savaruni, rejoysing in their happy re-union sing songs in praise of Siva and then dance intermittently. The songs are casted in the form of dialogues, the theme of which mostly relate to legends, love, humour and various other matters and usually of light hearted type.
The dance of the Patara Saura is the most vigorous, difficult and exhausting item in the Danda Nata. In the beginning he enters the stage with bow and arrow in hands and salutes the Gouri Beta by falling prostrate on the ground. This is accompanied by a series of acrobatic feats. Then he pretends to enter into the forest and dances imitating all the traits of ferocious animals of the jungle while going for hunt. There, he acts to die in snake-bite. Then, comes Patara Sauruni in search of her husband. Finding her husband dead, she laments in songs. Being moved by her sorrowful songs, Siva and Parvati who were supposed to be sailing through the heaven descend to the earth. By their grace the Patara Saura comes to life. Their re-union provides a happy occasion for a dance with songs of love.
Unlike the Sabara couple, another couple of a clan known as Chadaya-Chadayani forms an interesting item of Danda Nata. “Chadhaya” means a bird hunter and “Chadhayani”, his wife. This form varies from district to district in content and technique of the dance. In the beginning Chadaya enters and introduces himself to the audience through songs. He also dances intermittently. Then comes Chadayani with whom he indulges in a combat of knowledge through songs from which people learn many things. To prove individual supremacy they ask questions to each other and answer accordingly. At the end, both of them sing of love and fun, dance for a while, and then leave the arena.
Other characters in Danda Nata are Dhoba Dhobani’ (Washerman couple), ‘Fakira Fakirani’ (wandering Mendicant couple), ‘Sapua Sapuani’ (Snake charmer couple), Binakarini (Binakara Couple) and Baidhana. Except Parabha (Prabha) and Baidhana all other characters appear in couple. The Binakara which literally means, one who plays a Veena does not actually hold a Veena, but a bow fitted with jingling bells which he moves with occasional jerks to mark the timebeats. The songs set to different tunes are peculiar to each character. The Beenakara and Baidhana recite theological riddles in the closing scenes of Danda Nata. Sometimes, there occurs rhythmic word combats and song-duels cast in form of questions and answers lasting for several consecutive nights. They appear quite interesting to the village people who watch them enthusiastically reacting off and on with loud appreciative cheers. This variety of dramatisation raises the pitch and the tempo, and in the process both sentiments and artistic skills are clearly brought out.
Throughout all the items of Danda Nata the rhythm is provided by Dhola and music by Mahuri (wind instrument). During singing, Mahuri remains silent; the drum only maintains beats in lower ebb. Mahuri always provides the dance-music. The first few lines of the songs are sung in narrative style when an instrument remains silent and the refrains are always musical and accompanied by dance.
Scholars are of the opinion that, the famous Chhou Dance of Sareikela, Mayurbhanj and other adjoining tracts ows its origin to Danta Nata. They advocate certain relevant arguments in support of their view which cannot be cast aside as baseless; rather they appear most sound and plausible.
The first and the foremost argument is that both Danda Nata and Chhou Dance are the ritual dance of the same festival as “Chaitra Parva” in which Siva and Parvati are propitiated. Rituals the same, as the dancer devotees are called Patua or remaining Bhakta in both the dances. The presiding deity in the Chhou Dance of Sareikela is Paudi, a local name for Bhairavi, the terrific aspect of Parvati. In Mayurbhanj the presiding deity is Bhairava, the terrific aspect of Siva. Both the deities represent the Tantric divinity as in Danda Nata. The ritual commonness in both the dances is quite plausible and therefore there appears the argument in support of the theory of common origin.
