The Garba Dance

BY HIRALAL GODIWALA

(At the end of the Nava-Ratra–the Nine-Night Festival–in Gujerat in honour of the Mother, the garba–little earthen pots with lamps inside, dedicated to the Mother–are left at the temple or set afloat on the waters of the river. This happens on the Dusserah day, at the end of nine glorious nights of fasting and worship accompanied by garba dances in street corners and on public squares. Women, but sometimes men or both men and women, join in these dances. The setting of the following poem is Navdi Bunder, Surat)

“Let’s dance one last, long dance

With wistful yearning,

Desperate,

Yet gay.

‘My Amba, my Goddess, my Queen!

With heavy hearts we send you away

We bid you a last, long, sad farewell.

Come back tomorrow,

Soon.’”

So round and round and round,

With dancing feet and bodies swaying

‘Neath the moon,

They dance–these men and women–

One last, long, desperate dance

Around the lamplit, earthen pots.

And then they set the pots afloat

Upon the waters of the river

The moonlit ghat looks as of ‘nother world

But ours.

Strange shadows seem to haunt

These old, enchanted steps.

The flickering, lamplit pots are set afloat;

And, one by one,

Upon the magic waters of a moonlit river,

The pots float on;

Frail, yet strong with the strength of the votaries,

Bearing the soul of a people away,

And leaving but haunting memories

Behind.

“ ‘With heavy hearts we send you away

My Amba Bhavani, my Queen!

Come back tomorrow,

Soon.’”

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