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Hazagiri
Hazagiri
Hazagiri Dance Tripura
The Riangs of Tripura perform Hazagiri dance in the lunar month of Bhadra (August/September). Actually, Hazagiri is a form of Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity. The Riangs practice Jhum (shift) cultivation. When the crop is ready for harvesting Hazagiri dance is performed invoking goddess Hazagiri for a bumper crop. The rituals begin with the worship of nine gods and culminate in worshiping goddess Hazagiri. It is performed by the girls of Riang community. They wear a lungi – like striped skirt and blouse, usually made of black cloth. As a part of the dance they perform on an earthen pitcher. In most of the dances with pitcher, it is balanced on the head as in Karagam of Tamil Nadu. In Hazagiri the dancer balances herself while dancing on it. The pitcher symbolizes the human body. When a dancer dances on it the symbolism is that the dance, which is performed for invoking goddess Hazagiri, is beyond the physical existence of the dancer. It requires a lot of practice to remain in balance while dancing on the pitcher. The musical instruments used with this dance are Khamb, the drum, and bamboo flute.
Lebang Bomani
Lebang Bomani
Another interesting harvest dance of Tripura is Lebang Bomani. The dance is named after the distinctive bamboo clapper with a drone. While playing the clapper the drone wire is also plucked rhythmically: The sound of the drone attracts a kind of grasshoppers. They come in large numbers hearing the droning sound. The dancers gather the grasshoppers and put them in a bamboo bag which is a part of the costume the dancers wear. The dancers are all girls. The grasshoppers are eaten with relish and it is believed that if the catch is sizable then a bumper crop will be harvested. The grasshoppers coming in large numbers attract birds. To drive them away a bamboo made idiophone called ‘Tak-dutreng’ is sounded rhythmically: Besides the idiophone and clapper, the percussion music is provided by a drum called Pung. The melodic content of the accompanying music is provided by a simple string instrument called Sarinala. At rimes, men also join the dance. The choreographic pattern changes from time to time. When both men and women are dancing, women invariably dance in the inner circular formation and the men in the outer ring.
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