Pitt Hindu Student Council holds annual Spring Garba

Leaping circles around the ballroom in bright flowing clothing, Pitt’s Hindu Students Council… Leaping circles around the ballroom in bright flowing clothing, Pitt’s Hindu Students Council spent Saturday at the O’Hara Student Center performing Indian dances to welcome the spring season.

The group’s annual Spring Garba was coupled with traditional food and prayer. It served as an appeal to the goddess Shakti — the embodiment of several Hindu deities — for a bountiful new season.

According to Hindu Students Council president Samyuktha Ravi, garba is a religious Indian dance from Gujarat, a state in western India.

“It’s a celebration of the coming spring dedicated to Shakti, the goddess of fertility, health and new life,” Ravi said of the event, which went from 5 to 10 p.m.

In line with Gujarat practice, the group placed a table at the center of the ballroom with pictures of Hindu goddesses, around which students dressed in traditional garb pranced. About 150 people attended the event.

“This is sari,” Ravi said, indicating her own garment, a deep blue fabric adorned with shimmering sequins. “It’s just a long piece of cloth, fanned out in the front — part of Gujarat fashion.”

On her brow was a small sticker, called a tika, to protect the forehead, which is believed to be the body’s most powerful energy point.

Other women wore gaghra, a customary two-piece skirt and blouse with bright hues.

“Guys wear servaani,” Ravi added, pointing out a student in a long, tasseled raiment that reached his knees.

As curious students unfamiliar with Hinduism entered the ballroom, dancers would take them aside and show them common steps to garba, so they could also join the colorful procession around the table.

HSC member Raul Larsen, tired from the vigorous dancing, took a seat and drank a grape Crush.

“There’s no formalized step,” the sophomore said between slurps of soda. “It’s all just taught, learned, and changed during the dance. Someone just confidently starts [a dance pattern] and others follow.”

One of those confident leaders was junior and economics major Anand Mahalingam, president of Panther Raas, a competitive team at Pitt that performs Indian dances with the use of sticks.

Despite the fact that he needed a sling for an injured shoulder, Mahalingam instructed students and led processions around the room.

“A couple of people who were going to come were late, so I had to start it,” he said. “I tore a muscle in my shoulder … but I’ll dance anyway. I love dancing.”

Following the dance came the singing of a prayer called “Om Jai Jagdish.” The group gave visitors sheets so they could read the words, while the dancers passed around a dish and danced through the crowd to the beat of clapping hands.

“In the dish are electric candles and flowers,” Ravi said. “The lights [in the place of fire] represent purity, as in the purity of the child. This is offered to all gods.”

After the prayer, as people filed downstairs to eat north Indian-style dishes, some stopped in front of the table and touched the feet of the goddesses displayed, bowing their heads with closed eyes.

“That’s to get a blessing,” Ravi said. “We touch their feet to show humbleness.”

Then came raas dancing. Unlike garba, raas incorporates the use of sticks.

“These are dandiya,” Larsen said of the two decorated rods he twirled between his fingers. “I got them on Devon Street [in] Chicago, which is known to be a little India in the U.S. They’re used exclusively for dance.”

As people in the processions leaped and spun the dandiya, occasionally striking them against their partners’ rods, Ravi outlined the folklore behind their significance.

“It’s supposed to represent a goddess’ swords,” she said, referencing one of the deities on the table. Riding a lion and wielding two blades, tradition holds that Amba Ma killed a great beast terrorizing a village.

Another legend has it that the dance pays homage to the god Krishna, with the sticks representing his flute.

“We are dancing with [Krishna], so to speak,” Ravi said.

The night was concluded with Bhangra, a more contemporary dance with music from Bollywood films. With intense movements and fast-paced dancing, dancers exhaustively twisted to the lively music.

Mahalingam said he believes that the culture that events like the Spring Garba bring are of great value.

“For those people who want to explore different cultures, it’s a great opportunity. We love for everyone to join. We’ll show you the footwork and arm movements,” he said.