Adivasi Gussadi troops act as a traditional matrimony festival

Adivasi youth dressed like 'Poral' and 'Kodal' in Gussadi dance  

Dandari / Gussadi festival which is popular for Gussadi dance is going on with Adivasi traditions and customs in connection with Diwali and the Adivasis are celebrating the event with Gussadi and Dhimsa dances for the last few days in the Adilabad district of Telangana.

The dandari/ Gussadi festival will come to an end with the Kolabodi puja two days after Diwali.

Gussadis also act as a traditional matrimony to fix the matches for prospective brides and grooms in their gudems. Villagers will inquire with the Gussadis about the prevailing conditions in their village and also details about prospective brides and grooms in their village.

During the Gussadi / Dandari dance event, some Adivasi girls get attracted to some Adivasi youth with their impressive Gussadi dance and some other times girls and boys who attend the event also fall in love or become friends and that leads to their marriage. 

That is how the Adivasi parents fix matches for their children who were prospective brides and grooms for marriage.

Adilabad MP Godam Nagesh said Gussadi / Dandari troops’ visit to other villages will also act as a traditional matrimony for the prospective Adivasi brides and grooms and observed that sometimes dance connects young people also.

     

One can see Gussadi troops, wearing head gear made of peacock feathers, going from one village to another as part of their tradition being practice from time immemorial to keep the relations intact with their fellow Adivasis lives in other Gudems.

Gussadi dance has become a symbol to Adivasi culture and their connection with the nature including forests and animals. In Gussadi dance, actions of the peacock, tiger and other animals will be performed.

It is tradition among the Adivasis that Gussadis troop will visit a particular Adivasi gudem during Gussadi / dandari festival and that villagers will reciprocate next year and this will go on to strengthen their relations. 

Adivasis seek state aid for Dandari fete

Severe drought conditions and failure of crops forced the headmen and Sarpanches of the Adivasi gudems to approach the ITDA, Utnoor for the first time seeking financial assistance to celebrate their traditional Dandari festivities during Diwali in Adilabad of Telangana.

Adivasis claim that they are not in a position to celebrate Dandari due to failure of the crops and mounted debts and hence needed financial aid to celebrate the festival.

Headmen of the 130 Adivasi gudems had submitted petitions to the ITDA officials seeking sanction of funds to celebrate Dandari during Diwali, which is a major festival for Adivasis.

They have appealed to state government to sanction funds for them and make arrangements for the celebrations of the Dandari on the lines of Bathukamma for which the state government had made elaborate arrangements across the state.

The leaders claimed that they are forced to seek financial aid as they lost two crops and are unable to clear debts they took from the various sources.  

Dwindling forest cover : Adivasis purchase peacock feathers from other states

Instead of collecting them from jungles in the Adilabad district of Telangana, Adivasis these days are purchasing the peacock feathers from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajastan and Chattisgarh states thanks to the fast depleting forests.

Adivasis use peacock feathers to make hats that are worn by Gussadis( Adivasis)  to perform the Gussadi dance as part of Dandari, celebrated for 15 days coinciding with Diwali.

In the Adilabad district, forest cover has come down to 20 percent from the 44 percent in the last 50 years due to various reasons including indiscriminate felling of trees, wood smuggling and penetration of non- tribals into tribal areas and expansion of small towns in the agency areas in the district. 

In the process, peacocks’population has also come down due to deforestation. Adivasis who used to collect peacock feathers from jungles these days purchases them at high prices.           

A single peacock feather sell for Rs 5 while a bundle for 100 comes for Rs 300. During Diwali, thanks to the demand, each feather sometimes sells for Rs 20.  comprising 100 peacock feathers sell for Rs 300 and each Rs 5.

Peacock feathers are also being collected from Zoos and peacock farms in other states. There are 10 shops in Jainoor selling peacock feathers and each shop will sell hundreds of bundles during the Diwali festival season.

Adivasis use to collect peacock feathers in the forests along with minor forest produce and some of the cattle grazers would also collect the feathers when they went to forest daily.

Abdul Khadir of Jainoor, owner of kirana shop that also stocks peacock feathers, said Adivasis were purchasing peacock feathers from their shops these days as finding them in jungles has become difficult due to drastic fall in the forest cover.

He added that that they have been selling peacock feathers during Diwali for the last 20 years. While earlier only a few bundles would be sold, now he sells hundreds of bundles. Khadir said they purchase peacock feathers in bulk from Rajastan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Gujarat.

Adivasi leader Kanaka Yadavrao appealed to the panchayat raj minister K. Taraka Ramarao at Jodeghat to ensure state funds to Gussadis to celebrate the event on the occasion of Diwali. 

No pushkaralu for Adivasis

Adivasis' wooden deities 

Despite being attachment to the river Godavari since a long time, Adivasis do not practice Godavari pushkaralu and will not take holy dip in the river Godavari as they have no such tradition.

However, Adivasis give bath popularly known as ‘Ganga Snan’ to the wooden idols of their traditional gods like Bheemanna, Jalli Devara and Nagoba in the river Godavari twice in a year.

Adivasi leader Sidam Shambu said, “We do not observe Godavari pushkaralu. We have our own set of customers and traditions on various occasion”.

They Adivasis take their traditional gods in a procession to give them bath at identified local streams and also some places at river Godavari.

“It is must for the Adivasis to take dip in the water along with their gods to purify themselves (Shuddi)”, Sidam Shambu said, adding that they will give bath to their traditional gods in Pushyamas and Vaishakam’.

He said they too do Pindapradan called ‘Thoomu’ to their ancestors and forefathers while giving bath to their gods.

There is a tradition among the Adivasis that they equate their elders who died, to that of gods, by performing rituals in their names on the occasion of giving bath to their gods. This traditional is called ‘Karun’ merging the elders who died into their gods.

Adivasis give bath to their traditional gods at ‘Padmalpuri Kako’ at Rampur in Dandepali, considered to be a sacred place as they believe it was a birth place of Adivasi dance ‘Dandari’  to be performed by the Gussadis on the occasion of Diwali.

Another place was Kalamadugu in Jannaram mandal on the banks of river Godavari. The ‘Kattodas’, traditional priests of Adivasis, will perform rituals. Various clans like Atram, Nitham, Sidam, Mesram among the Gods will perform their traditional rituals to their specific gods.   

         

Drought fails to dampen enthusiasm of Adivasis

Adivasis performing puja to Gussadi caps

Adivasis are spending a lot on making Gussadi caps (made of peacock feathers), which are worn during Gussadi dance, performed as part of Diwali celebrations in the Adilabad district of Telangana.

The Adivasis are showing interest and enthusiasm in buying the peacock feathers despite loss due to drought conditions. The money Adivsis are spending on Gussadi caps is a big amount when compared to financial status.

Adivasis wearing ‘Gussadi caps’ are Gussadis . A group of Adivasis wearing the Gussadi caps and performing Gussadi dance are called Dandari.

According to the tradition, Adivasis will collect peacock feathers from jungles. But these days, due to deforestation, they are purchasing the feathers from shops.

Some of the Adivasis, especially those residing near towns and close too plain areas, are not taking the pain to collect every feather of peacock that drops from the birds’ body. Instead, they are purchasing the feathers from shops.

The Adivasis used to collect the peacock feathers when they took the cattle for grazing and the elders used to prepare the caps, each one consisting of nearly 1,000 feathers. Each new Gussadi cap costs a minimum of Rs 7,000.