Rituporna ... [Guru] Reward Points : 93700 Member Since : Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Can anybody give some information regarding the Ojha dance in Assam?
Posted On : 12/17/2008 3:24:26 AM
Chetan Juneja Reward Points : 55000 Member Since : Monday, April 28, 2008
Are you talking about the Ojha Pali dance form? Ojha pali is a sort of Hari Katha group that recite Vishnavite and Manasa cult compositions to the musical accompaniment of certain dance movements and mudras and in accord with the tinkling of cymbals.
Posted On : 2/25/2009 2:00:39 AM
Rituporna ... [Guru] Reward Points : 93700 Member Since : Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Thanks as u took the effort to answer. But, I did not mean the Ojha Pali, its different from Ojha dance. As per my knowledge, Ojha dance is a folk dance of Assam. It is performed at the time of worship of Goddess Bishori .
Posted On : 2/27/2009 11:00:35 PM
Bidyut Sinha Reward Points : 10500 Member Since : Friday, August 08, 2008
well ritu i guess you are talking about the Fok dance of Assam which is entirely based on the Manasa Mangal Kabya. The performer sings and dance whilst reciting the age old saga of this Manasa Mangal Kabya. Its indeed a treat to the senses
Posted On : 2/27/2009 11:36:38 PM
Rituporna ... [Guru] Reward Points : 93700 Member Since : Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Ojha , the term usually means the name given to the profession of an exorcist. Ojha can also be a healer, or a teacher, such as of a religious dance. But, Ojha dance is a total different idea. It is a religious dance form performed mainly in the Barak valley of North-Eastern state of Assam. Ojha dance is performed by a single male performer. He wears a long skirt and a kurta. He performs taking a chamar a broom kind of thing in his hands. This dance form is usually performed at the time of Bishari a goddess puja mainly in the fourth Bengali month Shravan July-August in Panchami tithi. The dancer also recites mythological story realted to Behula , Lakhindar and Chand saudagar , a trader. The story goes like this. Chand saudagar , the trader is a great devotee of Lord Shiva and respected person. The goddess Bishari wants to Chand to worship her so that all the people in the earth start worshipping her follwing him. But Chand is adament and he denies to worship any other god apart from Lord Shiva. At this, the goddess becomes furious and one by one she kills all the six sons of Chand. Lakhindar is the seventh son of Chand, who gets married to a noble lady called Behula. On their marriage day, the goddess sends her snake to kill Lakhinder. Assuming that Chand already build a strong protective house for the newly wed by Lord Viswakarma. But, the god also had left a hole for the snake as the goddess ordered to him. On, the wedding night, the snake enters their room and bites Lakhinder. On finding this, Behula, the noble wife took him to Lord Shiva crossing lots of barriers and troubles. She performed a very attractive and dedicated dance. At this, Lord Shiva was impressed and he ordered the goddess to return life of Lakhinder. The goddess agreed on a condition that Chand must worship her. Behula agrees and promises that her father-in-law will surely perform the puja. Lakhinder gets back his life and they return to their home. Then, Behula requests Chand to perform the worship of goddess Bishari , also known as Manasa . Chand agrees for tha sake of saving the life of his son but on a condition that he will perform the puja with his left hand as he worships Lord Shiva with the right one. After he performs puja, all his sons get back their life. In Ojha dance, the performer elaborates this Manasa mangal story in poetical and musical form. Some other people sit around with karatal and perform in chorus. This age old dance form is now becoming extinct as the young generation is hardly interested to perform this.
Folk Dance Form Of Assam
