I am back in India again for a while and at the moment I am in Bangalore. I usually do not do many tourist-y activities when in Bangalore, since I am usually on my way to or from the ashram. This time my husband and I decided to go see a famous Shiva Temple here in Bangalore. I will write about that later, though.
On our way back to our hotel, in a rickshaw, we heard loud drums and saw some commotion across the street where we were stopped. My husband and I decided to get out to go see what it was.
Well, we still dont know exactly what it was, but it was some kind of worship dance for some very small ‘roadside’ temples. There were many men (I will call them Priests – although that is probably inaccurate) dressed in bright yellow with gigantic hats on made of flowers, fruits, bells and other decorations. There was a band of men playing all kinds of instruments, but espically drums. The drummers were great, and there was a really fun energy.
The priests were doing some kind of dance in front of those small ‘roadside’ temples. They took turns wearing the hats and dancing and doing their ceremony for the deities inside the temples. The whole show was already started when we got there and lasted for at least 15-20 minutes.
I did my best to get some video of the action, because it was really a fun thing to experience. I know I am not a great videographer, but I hope you enjoy it. It is a little over 5 minutes long, I cut it down as much as possible but to still give you an idea of the great show it really was.
Here is my video of the dancing Priests we saw here in Bangalore!
Here is a picture of Maha Kali, which is one of the deities that the men were dancing for.
Hope you enjoy the show as much as I did!
Have you ever seen dancing priests in India before? Tell us about it in a comment below!
17 responses so far ↓
1 Byteful Traveller // Aug 7, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Now there’s a unique cultural experience if there ever was one! Great idea to include a video.
2 Chris @ Women's heart rate monitor // Aug 10, 2010 at 8:07 pm
Wow! Isn’t Kali a goddess of destruction? I was worried that those giant headresses were going to fall a few times, so maybe that relates haha. I wonder what the meaning of the dance was for the “priests?” Music sounded really energetic. What a neat glimpse into your travels…thanks for sharing!
3 Kristie // Aug 12, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Thanks for the comment! It was fun to see – and one of the headdresses was about to fall off several times… your right :) I am glad you enjoyed it too!
4 Travel With Teens and Tweens // Aug 13, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Carnival of Cities for August 11, 2010…
A round-up of posts about cities around the world……
5 Byteful Travel Carnival #2 – 2010 Aug 30 | Byteful Travel // Aug 30, 2010 at 8:32 am
[...] presents: Bangalore’s Dancing Priests posted at Culture [...]
6 Byteful Travel Carnival #2 – 2010 Aug 30 « Attorney Legal Blog // Aug 31, 2010 at 5:54 pm
[...] presents: Bangalore’s Dancing Priests posted at Culture [...]
7 deejay // Sep 28, 2010 at 8:57 am
it looks you have so much fun in bangalore…
8 Body language // Oct 23, 2010 at 11:11 am
It’s really unique. I’ve never seen it before. It’s great that you able to share about this dancing priests. I totally like their creative and colorful headdress.
9 WOW Expansion // Oct 24, 2010 at 6:54 am
Travelling to new destinations should always be savoured and remembered of fondly. Thanks for sharing these pictures with us.
10 Jasmine // Nov 2, 2010 at 2:56 pm
I like the beat of the music. it was very nice that you includes a video. makes me think that I should bring some sort of videocam for my travels too!
amazing travel experience.
11 John@international telephone reverse lookup // Nov 10, 2010 at 4:24 pm
This travel experience looks fantastic. However, I heard that there was no dancing allowed in the bars and pubs in Bangalore. You can be arrested for dancing. You also cannot play music that provokes dancing, is this true or have I heard wrong.
12 @ Jambaroo Funky Kids Clothes // Mar 18, 2011 at 3:01 pm
Thanks for the vid – what amazing coloured outfits and those hats really are huge… they must have sore necks after a while?
13 detroit charity // Mar 22, 2011 at 8:23 pm
It definitely is different than what we are use to in America, but I bet it made a unique experience for you. I find their customs very interesting. At first, they seem strange, but after determining why they do what they do, it all makes sense.
14 Junwen // May 20, 2011 at 9:18 am
Great stuff! Vesak Day was celebrated this Tueday in multi-cultural Singapore, and I got to see similar processions. Really cool.
15 Raphaella // Jun 22, 2011 at 11:04 pm
hello :) , can u help me? i want to know how much is minimum wage in norway!?
thank you, bye xx
16 thuval // Jul 3, 2011 at 5:24 pm
well, seems like u guys appreciate this traditional practice called “karaga”.
Participants in the karaga bear the deity on their head without touching by hand and moving around. the role of the men dancing around him with the swords is to stab the one carrying it if he happens to drop it. (its never happened so far) and its not an easy task coz that thing on their head , what u were referring to as a “hat” is much more than that . it is the godess that they are carrying on their head and it weighs close to 15 kg ( 33pounds)
hmmm…. coz of globalization and urbanization all these practices are being lost …
17 Ron // Jul 21, 2011 at 1:47 pm
haha. I want to experience this dancing thing. I want to feel how these men feel dancing while holding a very heavy thing on their heads.
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