Ghatisani Nṛtta (Ghatti Saani Nritham)
The Dance of the Female Minstrel – A Cāṇḍālī’s Devotion to Lord Kirāta
Among the many deśī (regional) dance forms catalogued by the 13th‑century scholar‑warrior Jaya Senāpati in his Nṛttaratnāvalī, Ghaṭisani Nṛtta (also called Ghaṭisi‑strī or Ghatti Saani) stands as one of the most enigmatic and spiritually charged. Unlike the martial vigour of Perini or the comic antics of Bhāṇḍika, this dance was performed by a lone woman – a Cāṇḍālī (a woman of the lowest social stratum, often associated with cremation grounds and esoteric practices) – who sang philosophical songs (carya‑padas) in praise of Lord Śiva in his fearsome yet compassionate form as the hunter Kirāta. She accompanied herself on the huḍukkā, a small hourglass‑shaped drum held on her shoulder, while moving with soft, graceful steps. This was not a dance of entertainment but of bhakti (devotion) and mystical realisation. This article gathers every detail about Ghaṭisani Nṛtta from the Nṛttaratnāvalī and traces its connections to tantric Buddhist and Śaivite traditions.
The name Ghaṭisani (or Ghaṭasi‑stri) is puzzling. Dr. V. Raghavan notes in his introduction that the manuscripts present the name as Ghaṭisani and the colophon as Ghaṭisi‑strī – “the woman with the ghaṭisa”. Ghaṭisa (also ghaṭasa or ghaḍasa) is a variety of the huḍukkā drum – a small, hourglass‑shaped drum played with one hand while the other adjusts the tension rope. Thus, Ghaṭisani literally means “the woman who plays the Ghaṭisa drum”. The name reflects the dance’s most distinctive feature: the dancer is also the principal drummer.
Jaya places this dance in Chapter VII, after Bhāṇḍika Nṛtta and before Cāraṇa Nṛtta. His description is brief but packed with cultural significance.
Jaya’s description of Ghaṭisani Nṛtta appears in Chapter VII (verses 123‑125 of the critical edition, as per Dr. Raghavan’s introduction). Below is a systematic compilation of everything Jaya tells us.
🧘 A. The Performer – A Cāṇḍālī Woman
- Lowest social stratum: The dancer is a Cāṇḍālī – a woman belonging to the Cāṇḍāla community, traditionally associated with cremation grounds, execution sites, and menial labour. In medieval Indian society, Cāṇḍālas were considered untouchable, living outside village boundaries.
- Spiritual practitioner: Despite – or because of – her low status, the Cāṇḍālī is often portrayed in tantric literature as a great yoginī, a bearer of esoteric wisdom, and a devotee of fierce forms of Śiva or the Goddess.
- Sweet‑voiced singer: Jaya emphasises that she has a sweet, captivating voice (madhura‑svara), capable of rendering philosophical songs with emotional depth.
🥁 B. The Instrument – Huḍukkā / Ghaṭisa Drum
- Self‑accompaniment: The dancer holds the ghaṭisa (a type of huḍukkā) on her shoulder, playing it with her fingers or a small stick while she dances. This is a remarkable feat of coordination: singing, drumming, and moving simultaneously.
- Drum description: The huḍukkā is an hourglass‑shaped drum, held under the arm or strapped over the shoulder. The two heads are connected by tension cords, and the pitch is varied by squeezing the cords. It produces a sharp, resonant, almost barking sound – ideal for rhythmic articulation.
- Surrounding musicians: She is not entirely alone. Jaya mentions that she is surrounded by male and female singers, flutists, drummers (mṛdaṅga), and cymbal players (karaṭa). The Ghaṭisani is the lead performer, not a solitary one.
कायते चापि चाण्डाली हुडुक्कां स्कन्धदेशगाम् ॥”
(“Ghaṭisani is that dance performed by a Cāṇḍālī woman who sings sweetly and plays the huḍukkā drum placed on her shoulder.” – Nṛttaratnāvalī VII.123, paraphrased)
🎵 C. The Songs – Carya‑padas on Lord Kirāta (Śiva as Hunter)
- Philosophical & tantric lyrics: The songs are carya‑padas – a genre of devotional verses associated with tantric Buddhism and Śaivism. They use coded language (sandhyā‑bhāṣā) to describe spiritual experiences. In the Hindu context, they celebrate Śiva in his form as Kirāta – the wild hunter who tested Arjuna’s devotion.
- Lord Kirāta: Kirāta is Śiva disguised as a tribal hunter, dark‑skinned, wearing animal skins, armed with a bow, and accompanied by his wife Pārvatī (as a huntress). This form represents the untamed, primal aspect of the divine, accessible even to low‑caste forest dwellers.
- Devotional theme: The songs sing of the Cāṇḍālī’s love and surrender to Kirāta, seeing him as her lord, father, and lover. They express the paradox of the supreme deity appearing in lowly guise, accessible to the outcast.
💃 D. Dance Style – Soft, Graceful (Lalita)
- Contrast with other deśī dances: Unlike the vigorous jumps of Preṅkhaṇa or the aggressive stamping of Perini, Ghaṭisani Nṛtta is soft and graceful (lalita). The movements are gentle swayings, subtle footwork, and expressive hand gestures that interpret the philosophical lyrics.
- Abhinaya: Since the songs are rich with symbolic meaning, the dancer uses abhinaya (facial expressions and hand gestures) to convey the inner meaning of the carya‑padas – a sophisticated interpretive art.
- Audience: The dance was likely performed in temple courtyards, especially those dedicated to Śiva in his Kirāta form, or during Śivarātri festivals.
🧣 E. Costume – Simple, Austere
- No elaborate ornaments: As a Cāṇḍālī, the dancer wears simple, coarse clothing – possibly a dark or ragged garment, reflecting her low status.
- Hair loose or matted: Possibly wearing matted locks (jaṭā) like Śiva, or loose hair signifying her wild, untamed nature.
- Ash smeared: Like Śiva’s devotees, she might smear her body with ashes from the cremation ground – a symbol of renunciation and transcendence of social taboos.
🏔️ F. Performance Context – Temple & Forest Shrines
Ghaṭisani Nṛtta was performed in specific settings:
- Temples of Kirāta Śiva: Shrines dedicated to Śiva as the hunter, often located in forested areas or on hillsides (e.g., the Kirāteśvara temple in Tamil Nadu).
- Śivarātri night: The all‑night festival dedicated to Śiva would be an appropriate occasion for such ecstatic, devotional dance.
- Processions: The Cāṇḍālī dancer might lead the deity’s procession, dancing and drumming before the idol.
Jaya adds an interesting note: a male may also perform this dance (pumān api), perhaps in regions where female performers were unavailable. This suggests that the dance was not strictly gendered; what mattered was the devotional spirit, not the performer’s sex.
The carya‑pada (or caryāgīti) genre is best known from the Buddhist tradition – a collection of mystical poems in Old Bengali dating to the 10th‑12th centuries, composed by siddhācāryas like Sarahapāda, Kāṇhapāda, and others. These songs use the imagery of a low‑caste woman (a ḍombī or caṇḍālī) as a metaphor for the enlightened mind, and the hunter (Śiva or a Buddhist yogin) as the guru or the ultimate reality.
Jaya’s mention of carya‑padas sung by a Cāṇḍālī in a Śaivite context indicates that the genre was adopted by Śaiva tantrics as well. The parallel is striking:
- Buddhist carya: “The Ḍombī (low‑caste woman) plays the ḍamaru (drum).”
- Śaivite Ghaṭisani: The Cāṇḍālī plays the huḍukkā (drum) and sings of Kirāta Śiva.
It is possible that Jaya witnessed such performances at the Śrīśailam temple (in present‑day Andhra Pradesh), a major centre of Śaiva tantrism and the Kirāta legend. The temple’s hill location and forest surroundings made it a natural home for the Cāṇḍālī dance.
“The Ḍombī, the Ḍombī plays the ḍamaru. The sound ‘ho ho’ fills the charnel ground. The great siddha, with matted locks, dances in the cremation ground.” – Sarahapāda
In the Ghaṭisani Nṛtta, the Ḍombī becomes the Cāṇḍālī, the ḍamaru becomes the huḍukkā, and the Buddhist siddha becomes Kirāta Śiva.
After Jaya’s time, Ghaṭisani Nṛtta seems to have disappeared as a named form. However, its elements survive in:
- Devaradāsi (devadāsī) traditions: Temple women dancers sometimes accompanied themselves on the huḍukkā or tammata drum while singing devotional songs. But the low‑caste, tantric dimension was lost.
- Kirāta Śiva worship: In some parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the Kirātārjuna story is enacted in dance‑dramas, but without the Cāṇḍālī drum‑dancer.
- Folk drumming women: In rural Telangana, women of the Gond or Lambada communities play a small drum while dancing – a distant echo of the Ghaṭisani.
No concerted revival effort has been made for Ghaṭisani Nṛtta. The combination of low‑caste identity, philosophical complexity, and self‑accompanied drumming makes it difficult to reconstruct. Yet, for scholars of tantric performance, Jaya’s few verses are a precious document, preserving a glimpse of a subaltern, ecstatic devotional tradition that challenged caste hierarchies and celebrated the divine in the most unexpected places.
“एवं गाटिसनी प्रोक्ता चाण्डाली नृत्तकोविदा ।
पुमानपि च कुर्वीत भक्त्या परमया युतः ॥”
(“Thus is described Ghaṭisani, performed by a Cāṇḍālī woman skilled in dance. A man may also perform it, filled with supreme devotion.”)
🥁 Ghaṭisani Nṛtta
- Solo woman (Cāṇḍālī), man also allowed
- Sings carya‑padas (philosophical)
- Plays huḍukkā drum herself
- Soft, graceful movements (lalita)
- Devotional – Lord Kirāta (Śiva)
- Low‑caste, tantric context
🎤 Carcarī
- Group of women (4‑8)
- Sings love songs (Hindola rāga)
- Separate musicians, no self‑accompaniment
- Graceful, with padārtha abhinaya
- Romantic (śṛṅgāra) rasa
- Upper‑caste courtly context
🤡 Bhāṇḍika
- Male clowns (bhāṇḍas)
- No singing – animal noises & shouts
- Claps & recited syllables, no drum
- Grotesque, exaggerated movements
- Comic (hāsya) rasa
- Court entertainment, low status
📚 References & Further Reading
- Jaya Senāpati, Nṛttaratnāvalī, ed. Dr. V. Raghavan, Madras Government Oriental Series, 1960 – Chapter VII (Deśī Nṛtta: Ghaṭisani Nṛtta, verses 123‑125) and Introduction (pp. 150‑151).
- Dr. V. Raghavan, “Later Saṅgīta Literature”, Journal of the Madras Music Academy, Vol. IV (1933).
- Pālkuriki Somanātha, Panditārādhyacaritra (Telugu) – contains references to Cāṇḍālī dancers.
- Buddhist Caryāpada anthology, ed. Prabodh Chandra Bagchi (Calcutta, 1956).
- Miranda Shaw, Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism (1994) – for the Ḍombī figure.
- David Gordon White, The Alchemical Body (1996) – on Cāṇḍālī and yoginī traditions.
- Nataraja Ramakrishna, Perini – The Warrior Dance of Telangana (Hyderabad, 1998) – includes a section on Ghaṭisani.
- The Hindu, “The forgotten drum‑dance of the Cāṇḍālī”, June 10, 2018.
- Telangana Today, “Ghaṭisani – When the outcast danced for Śiva”, November 12, 2021.
© For scholarly and educational purposes. All rights belong to respective sources.
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