# Nati (dance)

Nati is a traditional folk dance in the Western and Central Hills of the Indian subcontinent. It is primarily native to the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Nati is traditionally performed in the Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Sirmaur, Chamba, Kinnaur, Uttarkashi, Dehradun (Jaunsar-Bawar) and Tehri Garhwal districts. Due to high immigration of ethnic paharis in the plainlands, this has been made popular in the plainlands too. Traditionally, locals dance to the beats of percussion instruments called Dhol-Damau. Nati dance is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest folk dance.

## Varieties

There are several varieties of Nati performed like Kullvi Nati, Mahasuvi Nati, Sirmauri Nati, Kinnauri Nati, Jaunpuri Nati, Barada Nati, Bangani Nati. In Garhwali it is also sometimes called Tandi, specially in Tehri Garhwal, and Barada Nati in Jaunsar-Bawar. People of Lahaul district have their own distinct dance called "Garphi" and Nati is not a part of Lahauli culture. The Kinnauri Nati dance is mime-like and includes languid sequences.

## Performance

The various Nati dance variations are inspired from the stories of Raaslila and Chandravali. The dance is associated with Hindu deities, and is performed on almost all joyous occasions such as birth, weddings, crop harvest, and religious festivals such as Dussehra and Diwali.
Nati used to be performed by males in the past; however, women are mostly involved in taking the traditional dance form ahead. There are no restrictions on the number of people who can perform Nati. The group is usually led by male dancers carrying a fly whisk. The dancers hold hands and arrange themselves in a circle, and move in a circle with simple dance steps. The dance tempo varies with the music; it usually starts slowly and picks up pace as the tempo of musical beats increase. The songs are woven with stories of old folklore.
A yagna is performed in the end to pay homage to the deities.

## Costumes

Male performers of Nati usually wear Himachali topi (caps), sashes, churidars, suthan (tight woollen pants) and cholas (swirling tunics). The cholas are tied to the waist with the help of dora (a string of cloth). The topis are often adorned with flowers.
Women performers of Nati wear various traditional clothing like ghagra and chola, and silver ornaments called chanki and tunki. Their head is covered with decorated scarves known as dhatu. They wear handmade footwear called pullas. In the Kullu version of Nati, the women are seen wearing a shirt and churidaar, and the shirt is adorned with a one-piece drape known as pattu. An intricate necklace of silver, known as chandra haar, a bumni, and a jhanjhar are worn as jewllery. The costumes are often made specifically for Nati dance.

## Musical instruments

Some of the musical instruments used in Nati dances are dhol (drums), karnal (a longish horn), narsingha or narsinghe (a horn), shehnai, and nagara (drums). In the local language, the musicians are known as tunis.

## Records

The Nati Dance in the second week of January 2016 was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest folk dance in the world. Nati entered in the book as the largest folk dance in terms of participants’ number. Total 9892 women participated in this folk dance in their traditional colourful Kullvi dress on 26 October 2015 during International Dussehra festival.