Chhau

Chhau is a martial dance-drama of eastern India, performed in three styles named after Seraikella in Jharkhand, Purulia in West Bengal and Mayurbhanj in Odisha. Dancers enact episodes from the Mahabharata and Ramayana, local folklore and abstract themes. In 2010 UNESCO inscribed Chhau on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Its classification is debated: Odisha government texts argue that Mayurbhanj Chhau has classical features.

Seraikella masks cover the whole face with restrained, pastel-painted human features, so the dancer's body carries the role. Purulia masks, made by Sutradhar artisans in Charida village, are larger and brighter. Mayurbhanj dancers gave up masks during the 20th century. A 2006 Orissa Review study likens Mayurbhanj stances such as the chauka (square) to those of Odissi.

The technique rests on parikhanda, sword-and-shield exercises shared by all three styles (pari means shield, khanda sword). UNESCO adds stylised bird and animal gaits and movements modelled on village women's household chores; Seraikella calls the gaits topkas and the daily-life movements uflis. Performances run at night in an open space, above all during Chaitra Parva, the spring festival of Chaitra (March to April). Reed pipes, the mohuri and shehnai, play folk melodies over drums such as the dhol and the dhumsa, a large kettle drum. UNESCO records it as taught to male dancers from families of traditional artists or local communities, though women have danced Seraikella Chhau since the 1920s.