Mouni dance continues in 12 villages for 12 hours, this tradition is special on Govardhan festival after Diwali.

Goverdhan Puja 2024: While only a few days are left for the festival of Diwali, preparations are going on for this festival. Diwali is known as Deepotsav, on this day the bright lights of lamps spread in every corner of the country. There are many traditions prevalent on this occasion, very few people know about them. After Diwali, Mouni Nritya is performed here while dancing and singing, which is one of the traditions that has been going on for thousands of years. This tradition is especially celebrated on the second day of Diwali i.e. Govardhan Puja.

Tradition prevalent in Bundelkhand

Here, after Diwali, in Bundelkhand i.e. Chhatarpur bordering Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh, Mauniya dance is celebrated in which groups of dancers come out from village to village. It is also called wall dance. Mounia's team goes to 12 villages each and dances for 12 hours. When a group starts it, it observes silence and travels to 12 different villages for 12 hours. After that it is immersed. In this tradition, people walk and dance and sing for several kilometers in silence without eating anything.

By following this tradition, people give a message that the nature should be protected and the cows and bulls should be protected. Before this, the cowherds in the group take an oath of silence and then their group leaves. There is a leader in it, who is called Baredi. These groups move around singing songs, among which Shringaar, Vairagya, Niti, Krishna, Mahabharata, Dharma and Diwari are sung.

Read this also- Include these things in the puja thali on Bhai Dooj, every thing has importance.

Know the mythology of the tradition

There is a popular mythological story behind celebrating this tradition, according to which it is related to the lineage of King Bali, the grandson of devotee Prahlad. The history of Bhekt Prahlad's rule is told in Airach of Bundelkhand. Here Prahlad's son was Virochana, whose son was later sacrificed. From here, the story on the fifty-second incarnation of Lord Vishnu is also prevalent. Apart from this, Baavan incarnation was taken only to deceive King Bali. Before this, when Vairochan's wife was committing Sati, God had appeared to her and said that we ourselves will come to beg for alms in front of your future son.

Hearing this, his wife, who had come to commit Sati, started singing Diwari. In this he sang – 'Bhaali bhai so na jari are vairochana ke saath, mere sut ke saamne kaun hari paasaare haath…', with this song the Maunias start the dance, which continues in 12 villages for the entire 12 hours. Here the immersion of Mauni is done at Dashashwamedh Ghat.