Jagaran and Gondhal: Understanding art and culture of Maharashtra

The motivation behind writing the book was the curiosity and the place where I born and brought up,in the state of Maharashtra,India. Since, childhood I was fascinated towards folk dance, folk artists, their instruments, songs and folk stories. In reality during data collection, I closely saw the struggling and nomadic way of life of folk artists.‘Jagaran’ and ‘Gondhal’ are one of the famous dramatic ritual customs in Maharashtra’s folk culture. This custom generally organized during occasions like after marriage and thread ceremony. Also it was the best medium of communication and spread awareness for the social cause. Due to modernization period,lot of transitions are happening in this art. Folk artists are struggling for their identities. Digitization and modernization period have ignored the original value of this folk art and trend of commercialization has started in recent years. Original folk artists are struggling to conserve this art by all means. This book would be helpful for those who are interested in Nomadic tribal culture and folk traditions exist within state of Maharashtra.