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DOLLU KUNITHA

‘There is one beat for Dollu even if it goes for Delhi’ is an old proverb. Which means qÉƽî£À vÁ¼À£ÀzÀ ®AiÀÄ is very close to our heart beat. Dollu beat Tamate like and tabla is also continuous. There is a specific laya so it is a single beat. In oldest times there was a belief that Dollu Kunitha is the domain of the well built men. But that has changed now there are women Dollu Kunith troupes who are as competent as men. Traditionally Kuruba community has the doma over this performative and art. Apart from them Deevaru, Nayakaru, Uppararu also participate. Deevaru of Shivamogga District. Have made Dollu mela as part of their worship. Dollu Kunith has acquired extensive popularity starting from northen Bijapur. To belagavi, bellary, Raichuru, Kalaburgi, Chikkamagaluru, Dharawad, Chitradurga, Shivamogga and Tumakur.

People say Dollu Vadana is like the Bhajana of Beeredevaru. The Meaning of Beeradevaru is actually Eeredevaru. Eera means water. In dravida culture shiva is Eeredevaru. In all the folk legends and purana worlds first manufacturer, player & Dances of Dollu is Shiva. A big Bellied fellow called Dollasura standing on the point of a need did a thapas calling shiva. Shiva appeared and offered himself to be swallowed by Dollasura. Shiva became so heavy in Dollasura’s stomach Asura begged shiva to come out. Shiva cut open asura’s stomach. He made Dollu out of asura’s dimba. Skinning him shiva covered both side of dollu. With asura’s intestine shiva made rope and tide the skin tightly on both the ends. Asura’s hands became sticks and shiva started playing dollu and danced. After he finished shiva donated the dollu to Kurubas. Legends concerning Dollasura vary from region to region and in some places unnecessarily Vishnu is introduced.

          In folk culture shiva-Gange, Gowri parvathis appear dominantly. Outside the folk culture vaidika origin’s vishnu’s inclusions are undoubtedly  ¥ÀæQë¥ÀÛUÀ¼É.  To explain it further the origin  of the word Asura is Ahura of Persian language. Ahur Majda is the almighty god of parsis. But in india Arya Vaidika had great enmity with parsis. Hance Vaidikas manipulated Ahura and turned him into Asura as depicted in their texts. What is the relationship between parsis and folk tradition of the south.

          There is another purana that concerns Dollu. According to that shiva and parvathi once indulged in gambling. The stake was whoever loses must leave kailasa and live incognito. Shiva lost the gamble. According to the rule of the gamble shiva goes into a cave and turns himself into a stone (Linga). Without shiva cosmic world went into olisarray. Finally narada finds shiva. Shiva kills mayamurthy and with his cadaver created Dollu. Narada beating the dollu calls Parvathi – “ Devi your God has come please welcome him”. Parvathi was very happy. Welcomeing her husband she calls all her sakhis “ Swami, our God has returned. Come welcome him” In this purana shiva slaying Maya and through Dollu declaring its non – existence is culturally important. Usually big neem or Honne tree or Palm tree are cut to make 2 ½ to 3 ½ long empty drum. On the left opening Goat skin and on the right side sheep skin is tied. Dollu is tied to the waist of the player. Roughly a 1 ½ feet long stick is used. While the stick is used to beat bare hand is used to beat the left side of the dollu because of this combination of different skin and the rhythmic beating of stic and hand you hear a peculiar robust composition of laya. It is seems natural that Dollu which originally belonged to Kuruba community has the skins of sheep, he-goat and goat seems natural to their world and it highlights their work culture. Sometimes they use Kanchina  Thala, Brass Jagate and flute during dollu kunitha. Dollu festival is also called oddi Vaalag. In the festival there are a minimum of ten artists. During the performance sometimes they wrap themselves with a blanket. Among the Deevas it is a custom to cover their body with wild leaves during dollu kunitha. In recent times they wear Tiger skin patterned cloth around from their waist to knee to make the performance more attractive. The leader of the dollu troupe wears kashi, singing with thala. He remains in the Centre of the circle.

          He is ¸ÀÆvÀæzsÁgÀ and guru of the mela. As the nuances of his thala changes Dollu kunitha’s Rhythm  also changes. The Dancers who play dollu wear big dance anklets Rythmic sound of these anklets too add a special background. To the entire performance.

          Dollu artists who have formed a circle slowly start moving to slow dollu beats. Meter of dollu beat is calculated in ‘Guni’ The beat of the right stic followed by the hand beat on the left forms one ‘Guni’ one Guni is called first step. This gradually keeps increasing Guni is generally in odd number. Even though the sound of the dollu beat is like heart beat because of the odd number beat you will hear it in reverse. Dollu artists never beat seven Guni because they consider it inauspicious.

          There are many ways in which Dollu Kunitha is performed. Hopping on their naunches while playing is koothu paali, somersault, Jumping while beating dollu, playing perching with left knee playing dollu with stilts on their legs, holding with their bare a big verses filled with water and sprinkling while dancing, lying down on their back while playing, putting a small dollu on their big dollu and plying them simultaneously for the variation in sound, making children sit while beating dollu etc., There are so many diverse styles.  

                                          Haalumatha purana, mailralingana kathe, Anasuya kathe, Beeralinge shwarana mahime, Revana siddeshwara, Bhaktha madivala, Dollu Marada pada, Kaviyappana pada, Haralayyana pada, Kumbara Gundaiah, pandavara pada, Basavannanavara chiritre, Thiruneela kanta, padma Devi- These are some of the epic poems dollu artists can sing for a long time.

 

 

 

Last Updated: 13-06-2023 01:19 PM Updated By: Creator


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