Danda nata- An intangible visual cultural heritage of western Odisha

This Intangible culture is the counterpart of culture, which is tangible or touchable. It includes song, music, drama, skills, crafts, and the other parts of culture that can be recorded but cannot be touched and interacted with/out a vehicle for the culture. This intangible cultural heritage is handed down from generation to generation and is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history. Ritual performances also come under the preview of Intangible Cultural Heritage of India. Danda Nata is such a folk artistic performance of Western Odisha. This ritual dance is mostly prevalent in Sonepur, Sambalpur, Boudh, Balangir, Phulbani and Dhenkanal districts. This strange dance is performed by the agricultural communities of Western part of Odisha once in a year stating at the beginning of April (i.e. from pratipada of Chaitra) for over a period of thirteen days or somewhere twenty one days. Qualitative method was followed to collect information.  This dance consists of a series of dances, which are performed, one after another with the rhythm of Dhol and Mahuri by the male members belonging to Scheduled castes, Schedule Tribes and other backward castes. Danda Nata is being gradually modernized in respect of music, dance costume, style and make up and thereby losing its original simplicity and traditional characteristics. The paper focuses on an anthropological understanding of this strange folk artistic performance of Odisha through the eyes of Visual Culture and to ask more interesting questions about the motivations and visions behind this strange ritual art form and to see it not as an object of art, but rather a product of one’s visual culture.