Telangana folk tradition comes alive

The anniversary celebrations of Lamakaan had a folk flavour of State with the skits ‘khel’ and songs in the local ‘Gondi’ language

Kolaam tribals of Gauri village from the highlands of Adilabad district of Telangana State performed humorous skits (called ‘Khel’) as a part of the anniversary celebrations of Lamakaan in Banjara Hills.

There was a skit about the marriage rituals between the ‘boy’s side’ and the ‘girls side’. In this community at times, there are occasions when a boy takes his team and goes to the girl’s side to literally take her away for marriage and it’s also vice-versa, if any girl likes a boy and wants to marry him in spite of his hesitation.

To add humour to the skit, the ‘rooster’, which was a part of the ‘skit’, tried to escape from the premises and had to be rescued back from the high boundary walls of Lamakaan. These skits are normally performed in the colourful and religious annual ‘Dandaari’ festival of Gonds and Kolaams, which takes place during the month of 'Akkurupo' or Diwali.

A few members of the Kolaam tribe also sang songs in the local ‘Gondi’ language. A lot of influence of Hindi and Marathi can be found in the day-to-day usage of the language due to the interaction necessitated in the society. There is the following of the cult of a deity known in Kolami as ‘Ayak’, also called Bhimal or Bhimana.

Ayak is considered a benevolent god who is worshipped under different names derived from localities. A flavour of the ‘Gussadi’ dance was also seen along with the traditional song and music of the region in the concluding performance.