Folk Dance of Karnataka (Part 1)

Drive from Bangalore for about 53 km on Mysore road, and we reach a place called ' JANAPADA LOKA' established on 12th March 1994.

The Karnataka Janapada Parishat has established the Folk Art Museums at Janapada Loka .

There are three museum buildings where a glimpse of the  life of village tribes, art and culture is exhibited.  

• Pottery section, costumes of folk singers, decorated bull, colourful Yakshagana costumes, wall paintings, glass paintings, traditional paintings in Tanjore style,  household wooden , bamboo pottery articles and several very interesting  items are displayed in the museums.   

The janapada Loka is simply beautiful.   Inside, it is full of greenery. There is a tank, open air theatre, and a lot of space for outdoor games.  Of course a good number of monkeys too give us company! We find geese, other birds and a lot of fruits bearing trees.   

• We have to search for the sun as quite often the shade of the trees cover the entire area!!  

One more thing much more interesting place for visitors is the eat outs here.!!! very very delcious and sumptuous food at the adjoining Kamath Hotel.

Karnataka has played a vital role in the development of art and culture in India. The ritualistic dances are popular . The dances are denoted by generic term KUNITHA  ಕುಣಿತ .    ಪೂಜ ಕುಣಿತ ) and PATA KUNITHA (ಪಟ  ಕುಣಿತ )

When we visited the Janapada Loka on 26th December 2010, we witnessed types of ritualistic dances performed by a group of young men.  They are PUJA KUNITHA (

                                                                ಪೂಜ ಕುಣಿತ   Puja Kunithaa


Puja Kunita

 Puja Kunitha ia a dance in which a wooden structure with a deity is carried on the dancers head.  He dances to the tune of drums played by many artists.

Watch him performing on the shoulders of another dancer

Here he carries other dancers too!

Dhumka takka dunka takka! Takka Taka Dhumka taka!

Many more photos in Part 2