The Dandari-Ghusadi dance festival, which ends on Diwali, is an opportunity for the eligible bachelors to find their life partners and some 100 marriages are finalised in this manner in the Agency villages of Adilabad, Kumram Bheem Asifabad, Mancherial and Nirmal districts, which were part of the undivided Adilabad.
Eligible youngsters of Raj Gond and Kolam tribes who want to get married choose to be part of the Dandari dance troupe in their village as it invariably gets to visit one or two other villages giving them an opportunity to woo girls from those villages. The girls on their part watch the performance, which runs for a night and a day, before they express an interest in any boy. […]
“As per our customs and traditions the youngsters enjoy liberty in many aspects. It is rare that a selection made during the Dandari-Ghusadi phase gets cancelled,” Patel of Bandeyer Atram Sone Rao, who was hosting the Seetagondi dancers, said.
The only change which has crept in in recent times is the importance being given by the Raj Gond elders to education of the prospective groom or bride. “We do not insist upon either of them being highly qualified but education can help the couple survive,” Limba Rao asserted.
Source: “Adivasis dance their way to a girl’s heart”, The Hindu, 29 October 2016
Address: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/Adivasis-dance-their-way-to-a-girl’s-heart/article16085049.ece
Date Visited: 23 February 2021
[Bold typeface added above for emphasis]
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