Garba

Garba is a circle dance from the Indian state of Gujarat, performed during the nine-night Hindu festival of Navratri in worship of Shakti (the feminine divine), most commonly represented by the mother goddess Amba. The dance''s name comes from the Sanskrit word garbha ("womb"); the same root names the garbha deep, a perforated earthenware pot lit with an oil lamp that sits at the centre of the dancing circle, sometimes substituted by an image of the goddess.

Dancers move counter-clockwise around the centre, clapping and singing in unison. Movement begins with steady circular steps and accelerates over the course of a song or session into a rapid whirl. Garba is frequently performed alongside Dandiya Raas, in which paired dancers strike decorated wooden sticks against a partner''s in rhythmic patterns. Traditional accompaniment includes the dhol (a double-headed drum), the smaller dholak, hand clapping, and metallic idiophones such as cymbals and manjira, paired with devotional singing that can continue through the night during the festival. Garba''s social character cuts across socio-economic, gender, and sectarian lines; UNESCO inscribed the practice on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2023, citing this inclusivity and the dance''s continuity as part of its cultural value.

Origins predate reliable dating. Garba is documented in Gujarat for several centuries before the present and is not the work of a single codifier or period; specific decades cited in some sources should be read as approximate.