Garba (dance)

Garba
ગરબા

A couple performing garba (dance) in Vadodara during Navratri festival.
Etymology	from gárbha, Sanskrit for "womb"
Origin	Gujarat, India

Garba (ગરબા in Gujarati) is a form of dance which was originated in the state of Gujarat in India. The name is derived from the Sanskrit term Garbha ("womb") and Deep ("a small earthenware lamp"). Many traditional garbas are performed around a centrally lit lamp or a picture or statue of the Goddess Shakti. The circular and spiral figures of garba have similarities to other spiritual dances, such as those of Sufi culture (garba being an earlier tradition). Traditionally, it is performed during the nine-day Hindu festival Navarātrī (Gujarati નવરાત્રી Nava = 9, rātrī = nights). Either the lamp (the Garba Deep) or an image of the Goddess, Durga (also called Amba) is placed in the middle of concentric rings as an object of veneration.

The word garba comes from the Sanskrit word for womb and so implies gestation or pregnancy — life. Traditionally, the dance is performed around a clay lantern with a light inside, called a Garbha Deep ("womb lamp"). This lantern represents life, and the fetus in the womb in particular. The dancers thus honor Durga, the feminine form of divinity.

Garba is performed in a circle as a symbol of the Hindu view of time. The rings of dancers revolve in cycles, as time in Hinduism is cyclical. 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 (jagat).

The Garbha Deep has another symbolic interpretation. The vessel itself is a symbol of the body, within whom Divinity (in the form of the Goddess) resides. Garba is danced around this symbol to honor the fact that all humans have the Divine energy of Devi within them. Garba is now appreciated worldwide.

Modern garba is also heavily influenced by Dandiya Raas (Gujarātī: ડાંડીયા), a dance traditionally performed by men. The merger of these two dances has formed the high-energy dance that is seen today.