Chholiya Dance

Chholiya is Kumaon's martial dance, performed with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, most often at the head of a wedding procession. It looks like a stylised duel and is said to go back around a thousand years to Rajput battle tradition.

Dancers in bright robes and turbans advance and parry in pairs, mock-fighting to the beat of the dhol, damau, ransingha and the long turri and nagpheni horns. The clash of swords and the blast of the horns are meant to drive off evil spirits and protect the marriage party as it travels.

The dance is far more than display. It preserves the memory of a time when hill weddings crossed dangerous country and needed armed escort, and the Chholiya turned that escort into ceremony. Today it is a proud fixture of Kumaoni weddings and cultural events, and its troupes are invited far beyond the hills.