A Chronological Journey Through the History of Purulia Chhau

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From the powerful movements of Purulia Chhau to the rhythm of the dhamsa and the artistry of its iconic masks, discover the extraordinary journey of one of Bengal's most celebrated living traditions. Explore how centuries of movement, mythology, craftsmanship and heritage inspire CWC's vision of transforming meaningful stories into timepieces made to carry history forward—one moment, one movement and one watch at a time.

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From ancient movement traditions to a globally recognised heritage

The history of Purulia Chhau cannot honestly be explained by giving readers a single year and saying, “this is when Chhau began.” Its origins are older, more layered and more difficult to confine within a modern calendar. Like many living cultural traditions of the Indian subcontinent, Chhau developed gradually through the interaction of communities, rituals, physical practices, music and storytelling. What survives today is the result of a long cultural journey rather than the invention of one individual at one particular moment in history.

For this reason, the chronology of Chhau is best understood as a sequence of historical periods, cultural developments and major documented milestones. The earliest phases belong partly to oral tradition and cultural memory, while the twentieth and twenty-first centuries provide clearer records, named artists, institutional recognition and internationally documented events.

Before the 18th Century — The Deep Cultural Roots of Movement

Long before Purulia Chhau became known on national or international stages, eastern India already possessed a rich landscape of indigenous performance traditions. The regions that today form parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha were connected through centuries of cultural exchange, seasonal festivals, local religious practices and physical traditions. The geographical borders visible on modern maps did not define cultural life in the same way they do today. Communities moved, traditions travelled and artistic practices influenced one another across forests, plains and rural settlements.

Within this larger environment, physical movement played an important role in community life. Martial exercises, mock combat, hunting-related movements, animal imitation and ritual performances created a vocabulary of the body that could gradually become artistic expression. A jump was not merely a jump. A stance could represent readiness, strength or confrontation. The imitation of an animal could communicate character. Movement could become a language even before it became part of a formal theatrical performance.

It is within this long and evolving cultural environment that the deeper roots of Chhau are generally understood. UNESCO describes Chhau as having origins traceable to indigenous forms of dance and martial practices, a description that is particularly important because it avoids claiming a precise single founding date while recognising the multiple traditions that contributed to its development.

The earliest history of Chhau therefore belongs to a period before precise documentation. It is a history carried through bodies rather than books, through practice rather than official records and through generations of performers who learned by watching and participating.

The 18th Century — Regional Traditions Begin Taking More Distinct Forms

By the eighteenth century, the cultural regions associated with present-day Purulia, Seraikella and Mayurbhanj had increasingly developed their own local identities and systems of patronage. Seasonal festivals, community celebrations and royal or aristocratic cultural environments helped create spaces in which performance traditions could evolve.

Over time, the broad family of practices that would become known as Chhau began developing more recognisable regional characteristics. This was not a sudden transformation that occurred in one year. Instead, styles gradually differentiated according to local aesthetics, community practices, political environments and performance traditions.

The three forms known today—Purulia Chhau, Seraikella Chhau and Mayurbhanj Chhau—ultimately emerged from this broader cultural landscape. Purulia developed a particularly spectacular approach based on elaborate masks, vigorous physical movement and dramatic theatrical storytelling. Seraikella developed its own distinctive masked aesthetic, often associated with a more controlled and refined movement language. Mayurbhanj Chhau evolved as a maskless form, allowing the performer's face to become an additional element of expression.

This regional diversity remains one of the defining characteristics of the wider Chhau tradition. UNESCO continues to recognise these three distinct styles as part of the same cultural heritage while acknowledging their individual artistic identities.

The 19th Century — Purulia Chhau Develops Its Dramatic Visual Identity

During the nineteenth century, Purulia Chhau continued to develop within the social and cultural environment of rural Bengal. The tradition became increasingly associated with elaborate masks, colourful costumes, energetic movement and stories drawn from mythology and local imagination.

The development of the Purulia style was particularly significant because the mask changed the fundamental relationship between the performer and the audience. In a conventional theatrical performance, the face is often central to emotional communication. In Purulia Chhau, the face is covered. This meant that the body had to take on a greater responsibility for storytelling.

The movement of the shoulders could suggest pride or aggression. A bent body could communicate the characteristics of an animal. A powerful leap could transform the dancer into a warrior. The rhythm of the feet could establish tension before a dramatic encounter. The body itself became a complete language.

It was also during this long period of development that mythology became deeply embedded within the performance repertoire. Stories and characters associated with the Ramayana and Mahabharata, along with regional folklore and imaginative themes, offered performers an enormous dramatic universe. Shiva, Durga, Rama, Ravana, Mahishasura and other characters could be transformed into physical identities through costume, mask and movement.

Yet Purulia Chhau did not become a simple theatrical retelling of mythology. The stories were filtered through local artistic traditions. A well-known epic character could be given a distinct visual and physical interpretation shaped by the artistic imagination of the region.

The Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries — From Community Tradition to a Recognisable Art Form

As India entered the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, cultural documentation gradually became more organised. The growth of newspapers, photography, public cultural events and scholarly interest in regional traditions made it increasingly possible for art forms such as Chhau to become known beyond their immediate communities.

For centuries, much of the knowledge surrounding Chhau had been transmitted orally. Young dancers learned by observing older performers. Musicians learned rhythms through repetition and practice. Mask makers developed their skills through family and workshop traditions. This system of transmission remained central, but wider exposure gradually began to introduce the tradition to people outside its original geographical environment.

This period was important because it marked the beginning of a transition. Chhau remained deeply connected with village life and seasonal festivals, but it was also beginning to be understood as an artistic tradition worthy of documentation and presentation to broader audiences.

The transformation was gradual. Chhau did not suddenly leave Purulia and become an international stage art. The process took decades and depended on the work of individual performers, cultural organisations and communities.

The 1920s to the 1940s — A Period of Cultural Change and Artistic Transmission

The first half of the twentieth century was a period of enormous social and political transformation across India. Yet in the villages of Purulia and the wider eastern Indian cultural landscape, traditional performing arts continued to serve as important forms of collective expression.

During this period, Chhau remained closely connected with the communities that practised it. The knowledge of movement, music and performance continued to be passed between generations. Performers did not necessarily separate their artistic identity from the rest of life in the modern professional sense. Many artists belonged to families and communities where cultural knowledge formed part of a larger social inheritance.

This period also strengthened the importance of the guru-disciple relationship and direct practical learning. A young performer learned how to stand before learning how to leap. He learned rhythm before attempting a complex character. He observed how a senior artist controlled energy and understood the connection between mask, music and movement.

Such knowledge was difficult to write down completely because Chhau is embodied knowledge. The movement exists most fully when performed.

The Mid-20th Century — Gambhir Singh Mura and the Rise of a Legendary Exponent

One of the most important names in the modern history of Purulia Chhau is Gambhir Singh Mura. His contribution helped bring wider attention to the artistic strength of the tradition and established him as one of its most celebrated exponents.

Gambhir Singh Mura belonged to a generation of artists who demonstrated that Purulia Chhau could communicate beyond its original geographical and cultural environment. The extraordinary physical vocabulary of the dance, its dramatic masks and its visually powerful storytelling enabled audiences unfamiliar with the local language or mythology to respond to the performance itself.

This was an important moment in the broader journey of Chhau. The art form was increasingly represented not only as a local ritual or folk practice but also as a major form of Indian performing art. Individual artists became cultural ambassadors, carrying the tradition to audiences in other cities and eventually beyond India's borders.

However, focusing only on famous performers can sometimes hide the collective nature of the tradition. Gambhir Singh Mura became an important name, but his work was made possible by a larger ecosystem of musicians, teachers, mask makers and fellow performers. Chhau's history is therefore both the story of great individuals and the story of entire communities.

The 1950s to the 1970s — Purulia Chhau Reaches Wider Indian Audiences

In the decades following Indian independence in 1947, there was increasing institutional and cultural interest in documenting and promoting India's diverse artistic traditions. Folk arts, classical arts and regional performance practices became more visible through cultural festivals, government institutions, academies, educational programmes and public performances.

Purulia Chhau benefited from this broader recognition of India's cultural diversity. Its dramatic appearance made it particularly memorable on large stages. The elaborate masks could be recognised instantly. The powerful jumps and martial movements created visual excitement even for audiences unfamiliar with the details of the stories.

This was also a period when traditional forms had to adapt to new performance environments. An art form designed for open-air night performances during community festivals could now appear on formal stages in cities. Lighting, performance duration and audience expectations sometimes changed, but the essential language of the tradition remained rooted in rhythm and movement.

The challenge was always to gain wider recognition without losing the connection to the communities from which the tradition emerged.

The 1980s and 1990s — A Regional Heritage Enters the International Cultural Conversation

By the late twentieth century, Purulia Chhau had become increasingly visible beyond West Bengal. Indian cultural festivals and international performances introduced the art form to audiences who had never visited Purulia.

This wider exposure was important because Chhau's visual language travels remarkably well. A person does not necessarily need to understand Bengali or know every episode of the Ramayana or Mahabharata to respond to a dramatic masked dancer entering a stage through the sound of drums. The art form communicates through physical energy, colour and rhythm.

At the same time, international exposure created new responsibilities. Once a cultural tradition becomes visible to the outside world, it can sometimes be reduced to a spectacle. The challenge becomes ensuring that audiences see not only the beautiful costumes and masks but also understand the communities, history and craftsmanship behind them.

This growing international visibility would eventually contribute to one of the most important milestones in the history of Chhau.

2010 — The Year Chhau Entered UNESCO's Representative List

The year 2010 became one of the most important documented milestones in the global history of Chhau. During the 5th session of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, held in Nairobi, Chhau dance was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The inscription was recorded under Nomination File No. 00337 and included the three major traditions of Purulia Chhau, Seraikella Chhau and Mayurbhanj Chhau. The recognition did not transform Chhau into a historical monument or place it behind glass. Instead, it recognised the tradition as something fundamentally different: living heritage.

This distinction is extremely important. A historic building can survive even when nobody uses it. A living performance tradition survives only when people continue to practise it. Chhau exists because dancers still train, musicians still play, mask makers still create and communities still organise performances.

UNESCO's recognition therefore brought international visibility while also highlighting the importance of safeguarding the knowledge and communities that keep the tradition alive.

For Purulia, the recognition became part of a larger story. A regional performance tradition, rooted in the cultural landscape of eastern India, had become internationally recognised as part of humanity's shared intangible heritage.

The 2010s — Beyond Recognition, Towards Preservation and Livelihood

International recognition brought greater attention to Purulia Chhau, but recognition alone cannot preserve a living art form. A tradition survives not simply through applause, awards or documentation, but through the people who continue to practise it. Artists need opportunities to perform. Younger generations need reasons to learn. Traditional crafts need sustainable livelihoods.

During the 2010s, cultural organisations, documentation projects and tourism-related initiatives increasingly explored ways to document, promote and support the artists and communities connected with Purulia's cultural heritage. A cultural documentation project associated with Banglanatak and Google Arts & Culture highlighted the scale of this living ecosystem, reporting that more than 2,000 artists were associated with villages connected to the Chhau tradition, performing at local, national and international levels.

The number is significant because it reveals something important about Purulia Chhau: it is not the legacy of a single troupe, one family or a handful of celebrated performers. It is sustained by an extensive network of dancers, musicians, teachers, mask makers and other cultural practitioners, each contributing to the survival of the tradition.

And the ecosystem is larger than any single artist count can fully capture.

Behind every performance are musicians whose rhythms shape the movement. Behind every masked character is an artisan who has given a face to a god, demon, warrior or mythical being. Behind the visual drama are costume makers and craftspeople. Behind every young performer is often a teacher, guru or senior artist passing knowledge from one generation to another.

Heritage, in this sense, survives through relationships.

It lives in the exchange between master and student, artisan and performer, village and stage, memory and imagination. The preservation of Purulia Chhau, therefore, is not only about protecting a performance—it is about sustaining the entire human ecosystem that makes that performance possible.

The 2018 — The Purulia Chhau Mask and Geographical Recognition

Another important chapter in the documented cultural identity of Purulia came in 2018, when the traditional Purulia Chhau Mask received registration as a Geographical Indication (GI). Registered under GI Application No. 565, the recognition formally acknowledged the distinctive geographical and cultural association of this traditional handicraft with West Bengal.

The milestone was particularly meaningful because the Chhau mask is among the strongest and most recognisable visual identities of Purulia Chhau. For generations, skilled artisans have transformed traditional knowledge, local craftsmanship and artistic imagination into extraordinary faces—gods, demons, warriors and mythical beings waiting to come alive through performance.

A Geographical Indication recognises the connection between a product and the geographical region that gives it a distinctive identity. In the case of the Purulia Chhau Mask, the registration acknowledged a craft shaped by the cultural traditions of the region and protected its identity within India's wider framework of geographical heritage.

Yet the significance of this recognition extends beyond legal status.

It reminds us of something fundamental about Chhau: Chhau is not only performed—it is also made.

Before the drums begin, before the dancer steps onto the stage and before a myth comes alive through movement, an artisan has already begun the story.

In the workshop, the first transformation takes place. Material is shaped into expression. Colour gives personality to a face. Craftsmanship creates the visual identity of characters that may later command the stage as gods, demons and heroes.

The dancer gives the character movement—but the artisan gives it a face.

The GI recognition of 2018 therefore marked more than an administrative or legal milestone. It brought formal attention to the makers behind the performance and to the extraordinary craft tradition that exists before the spectacle begins. In recognising the Purulia Chhau Mask, the documented heritage of the region expanded to acknowledge not only the dance that the world sees, but also the hands that help make that world possible.

Today — A Heritage That Continues to Move

Today, Purulia Chhau exists in a world very different from the one in which its earliest traditions developed. Performances can now be recorded on smartphones, shared through social media and watched by audiences across the world within seconds. Young artists can encounter global dance forms online while still learning the traditional movements of their own communities.

This creates both opportunities and challenges.

Greater visibility can introduce Chhau to new audiences, generate interest in Purulia's cultural heritage and create new performance opportunities. At the same time, modern economic pressures, changing lifestyles and the influence of global media can affect how younger generations engage with traditional practices. UNESCO itself has identified social and economic change as an important factor in the safeguarding of intangible cultural traditions.

Yet Purulia Chhau continues.

It continues because it remains physically alive.

Every rehearsal is an act of preservation. Every mask made by an artisan carries knowledge forward. Every senior artist teaching a younger dancer becomes part of an unbroken chain between the past and the future.

The History of Purulia Chhau Is Still Being Written

Perhaps the most important thing to understand about Purulia Chhau is that its history does not end with UNESCO recognition, GI registration or international fame.

The tradition is still evolving.

The dancer performing today is creating the future history of Chhau. The young artist learning a traditional movement today may become tomorrow's guru. The artisan creating a mask in a Purulia workshop today is contributing to a craft that future generations may study as heritage.

This is what makes Purulia Chhau particularly powerful as a story of time.

Its roots belong to generations that left little written documentation. Its modern journey includes nationally celebrated artists and international recognition. Its present is shaped by thousands of people who continue to practise, perform and create.

And its future depends on whether the next generation decides that this movement is worth carrying forward.

For CWC — Calcutta Watch Company, that idea creates a deeply meaningful connection. A watch measures time, but heritage tells us what time carries. The hands of a watch move forward, yet they continuously travel across a design shaped by memory. Purulia Chhau follows a similar philosophy. Every performance happens in the present, but every movement carries something from the past.

That is why the story of Chhau is not simply about dance.

It is about continuity.

It is about memory in motion.

It is about how a tradition can travel through centuries without ever becoming completely still.

From the rhythms of Purulia to the world stage, from generations of oral tradition to UNESCO recognition in 2010, and from handcrafted masks to a new generation of artists, Purulia Chhau remains one of Bengal's most extraordinary journeys through time.