Retracing Raibenshe—Bengal's surviving war dance

The stage was cleared. A hush fell, like the stillness preceding a storm. Performers dressed in yellow kurtas, white dhotis and red scarves tied around their waists and heads, wearing 'nupurs' (brass anklets) stood arranged in a specific pattern. The Raibenshe show commenced at the sprawling lawns of the Kathgola Palace in Murshidabad.

- PURBASHA KARMAKAR

Raibenshe is a folk war dance, featuring no songs and verses. It only becomes a perfect fit when accompanied by dhols (drums), kanshis (cymbals) and in some places, the "Ran-Singha" or war trumpet, and mainly the sounds of the dancers themselves. To elaborate, the dancers make wild yells and gestures that come from drawing bows from the quiver, throwing spears, brandishing knives and flourishing swords and scimitars, as if they are in an intensified battle. Such sounds, when absorbed, leave shivers down the spine.

Performers played acrobatics with a 'raibansh', meaning a long royal bamboo stick, from which the dance got its name. The inclusion of bamboo sticks made its way through history from the mediaeval Bengal by men who worked as bodyguards of landlords and usually belonged to the Bagdi, Bauri, Dom, Konai, Bhalla and certain other so-called lower castes of the Hindu community back then.