Nanda Cycle
The phrase “Nanda Cycle” means the mask dance dramas performed in the annual Nanda Devi
festival organized in various villages located within the vicinity of Joshimath town. Such as,
the dramas played on Baisakhi celebrated on April 13-14 every year. Since the principal deity
of these festivals is Nanda Devi, the cycle is named after her. The main aim of the dramas is
to invoke divine entities and super natural powers to ensure wellbeing and prosperity of the
community.Nanda-specific rituals are divided into four cycles: half-yearly, yearly, six-yearly, and twelve-
yearly. The villages that perform theatrical rituals of Nanda at least worship her twice every
year: once in April around Baisakhi and once in August-September around Bhadaun.Trumpet, cymbal, dhol and damaun (the drums) players are always visible to audience in the
Nanda Cycle theater. Each character has a distinctive music. Bhaan, a director and narrator,
sings stories of Nanda and mythical characters and narrates how they overcame various
problems in their lives.The theatrical performances in Lata are divided into the following episodes:
Non-comic Episodes Comic Episodes
Narad Mwair-morin
Brahma-Vishnu Laata-Laati
Ganeshuri Bal Ganna-Gunni
Ishwar Raja Khankar Buddya
Gaura Mai
Kauriya Rishis
Suraj Pattar
Bagh Pattar
Gopichandtheoff.info
249