Garba and Raas

Garba and Raas

Ranj is back with another article!

On Saturday, November 5^th, I attended an event called USSA presents Garba and Raas at the SDFC (Sun Devil Fitness Complex) on the ASU Tempe campus. This was more of a North Indian event, specifically a Gujarati event (meaning a festival that originated from the state Gujarat in India). Keep in mind that I am a South Indian so this was a new experience for me.

Garba and Raas (or Dandiya) are two forms of Gujarati dances.

Many traditional Garbas are peformed around a centrally lit lamp or a picture/statue of the Goddess Shakti. Garba is performed in a circle of the belief that time is a continuous cycle. As the cycle of time revolves, from birth, to life, to death and again to rebirth, the only thing that is constant is the Goddess, that one unmoving symbol in the midst of all of this unending and infinite movement. The dance symbolizes that God, represented in feminine form in this case, is the only thing that remains unchanging in a constantly changing universe.

Raas or Dandiya Raas is a traditional folk dance form of Gujarat, India, and is associated with scenes of Holi, and Leela of Krishna and Radha at Vrindavan. Along with Garba, it is the featured dance of Navrathri evenings in Western India.

The main difference between Garba and Raas is that Raas is played with Dandiyas (pair of colorfully decorated sticks), while Garba consists of various hand and feet movements. Most of the Dandiya steps require even number of people while in Garba there is no such requirement on number of people.

For Dandiya, sometimes instead of sticks, people also use "Swords". The circular movements of Dandiya Raas are much more complex than that of Garba. As people play with sticks, it is important to be careful while playing Dandiya.

I've captured a few videos of Raas, or Dandiya, for you guys to see!