Author: Tarun Vijay
Publication: The Times of India
Date: September 10, 2026
URL:   https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-blogs/nation-notes/garba-is-a-traditional-hindu-ritual-not-a-carnival-of-fun/articleshow/134019258.cms

Garba is a traditional Hindu expression of puja, rooted in the worship of Shakti. It is not a carnival of fun and masti for the rich and de-Hinduised crowd.

Garba is not a secular entertainment event or an open “mela.” It is a Hindu symbol of devotion to Ma Amba. Those who do not worship Ma Durga and bow before her have no business joining Garba.

Its core form and meaning derive from Hindu cosmology, symbolism, and practice centred on the divine feminine.

The term garba comes from the Sanskrit word garbha (womb). In the traditional performance, dancers move in a circle around a garbha deep—a perforated earthen pot containing a lit lamp—or an image of the Goddess. The lamp represents the life force, the divine presence within the body, and the creative power of the Goddess. The circular movement reflects the cyclical nature of time (kāla), creation, preservation, and dissolution in Hindu thought.

This is performed during Sharad Navratri, the nine nights dedicated to the nine forms of Durga.

The festival commemorates Durga’s battle with and victory over the demon Mahishasura, as described in texts such as the Devi Mahatmya (part of the Markandeya Purana). Devotees offer songs of praise (garbi), clap in rhythm, and dance as an act of worship and thanksgiving. In traditional settings the space is treated as sacred: participants often go barefoot, an arti may be performed, and the central lamp or murti remains the focus.

Observance of the Navratri vrat (fast) is a mark of devotion to the Mother Goddess and to the worship of Bhagwati. Garba and related forms such as dandiya raas (where the sticks symbolise the Goddess’s weapons) developed particularly in Gujarat as Hindu social expressions of this devotion.

While the dance has folk origins and has been performed at weddings and other social occasions, its primary and most elaborated context remains the Navratri cycle of Durga worship.

Distinction from purely social entertainment

Because the form is structured around the Goddess and her symbolism, traditional Hindu practitioners and organisations regard participation as an act of reverence rather than secular, non-Hindu recreation. Those who do not accept Durga as divine mother, or who reject murti/image worship and the underlying dharmic belief, stand outside the ritual’s purpose. In this view, treating Garba solely as a “fun mela” detaches it from its dharmic meaning and risks reducing a form of puja and bhakti to mere spectacle.

Analogies with other religious rites are sometimes drawn. Ritual prayer (namaz) on Eid is a specific Islamic act of worship directed according to Islamic theology and practice. Non-Muslims are not expected to join the formal salah itself as participants in the religious obligation; the space and form belong to those who affirm the faith. Similar boundaries exist in many traditions around core liturgical or symbolic acts. The argument is that Garba, when performed as Navratri devotion around the garbha deep or murti of Durga, belongs in the same category of faith-specific practice rather than a state-mandated open cultural fair.

In modern India, in many places Garba has also become highly commercialised and corrupted by de Hinduised event managers. It’s time to put our foot down, take some lessons from Bengal where a dynamic CM Suvendu Adhikari is restoring Durga Puja to its original glory, and save Garba from degeneration.

UNESCO’s 2023 inscription of Garba on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity notes its Hindu social character and capacity to bring people together across backgrounds while retaining the circle of feminine energy/Shakti.

Organisations such as the Vishva Hindu Parishad have rightly argued that because the event is a form of Goddess worship, entry should be limited to those who share the faith, and have called for access control , identity checks or other measures at Garba venues.

Reports exist of friction, targeting Hindu girls, exclusion attempts, and harassment or disrespect at mixed events. News about non-believers systematically “making fun of Hindu deities” and “teasing Hindu girls under the garb of Garba” circulate in the media.

One should refrain from teaching Hindus about inclusivity. India’s Constitution, framed in a Hindu-majority society, guarantees equality before the law, freedom of religion, and the right to manage religious affairs for every community.

Indian constitution is the expression of Hindu inclusivity.

Garba is controlled by Hindu dharmik constitution, the Sanatan Dharma. Hindus can set conditions for access control consistent with Hindu sensitivities. Hindu institutions, temples, and traditional sampradayas already regulate access to certain ritual spaces according to their maryada; the same logic must be extended to community Garba grounded in Durga worship.

It is the right time to appeal to sadhus, sannyasis, and traditional Hindu voices to articulate and defend the maryada of specific Hindu forms. These demands are consistent with the freedom of religious expression.

Garba, in its classical Navratri form, is a Hindu ritual expression of devotion to Durga Bhagwati as mother and embodiment of Shakti. Its symbolism (womb-lamp, circular movement, songs of praise) is not neutral entertainment. Those who do not share the belief system are outside its religious purpose, just as non-Muslims are outside the formal structure of Eid namaz.

Protecting the traditional character of the ritual does not require denying the broader cultural popularity of the dance form, but it does require recognising that a puja-centred practice is not automatically an open secular party. Organisers who treat it as worship retain the right to structure participation accordingly