About Chholiya (Uttarakhand) Dance

Chholiya Dance of Uttarakhand

Beginning in the Kumaon area of Uttarakhand, Choliya move is otherwise called sword move and is identified with the military customs of the Kumaoni individuals. More than a thousand years of age, this artistic expression is chiefly performed by the Rajput people group in their marriage parades.

Still alive in Rajput weddings in Kumaon district, the artists convey hardware, for example, sets of swords and shields, sets of local metal instruments like Turi and Ransing, sets of percussion instruments like dhol and damau and sets of Masakbeen or Bagpipe.

Attired in the customary outfits of old Kumaon warriors, the moving shape is splendidly synchronized and set apart with hops and turns of the body.

The artists additionally participate in deride sword battling. The Choliya move is a movable frame that is over 1000 years of age and has its beginnings in the Khasiya Kingdom of Khasesh. The Rajputs play out this move at their weddings as a piece of the marriage parades.

It is performed by the Rajputs with swords and shields in sets while the drummers are generally Harijans who are known as Dholies.

Outfit and special arrangement of the set for the dance

The outfits comprise a Churidar Pajama, one long Chola, one cross belt, one belt around the abdomen, patties on the legs and a turban. The face is enlivened perfectly with Chandan or sandalwood glue, while the ear-rings, a bronze shield, and a genuine sword finish the photo.

History of the dance form

The local Kshatriyas were joined by the Chand Kings who touched base’ on the scene in the tenth century. The flux of outsiders Rajputs who made local kshatriyas a little minority additionally went up against the slope traditions and affected Pahari culture with their customs and language.

The days of relational unions on the purpose of the sword were finished yet the conventions appended to it still proceeded.