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Atomba Kutuba (Who Plays the Pestle?)

Amelia Dias and Group
Audio
Atomba Kutuba (Who Plays the Pestle?)

Dhallo is a song-dance form and also a festival during the month of Pausha and Magha of the Hindu calendar. It is performed predominantly by women of the Gavda community, as part of harvest and fertility rituals. This song is sung with the mussoll or pestle, which is played by striking it on the ground while dancing. In the song the women ask who is "playing" the mussoll. The reply is that the Mandkar's daughter is playing the mussoll and that she is of marriageable age.