Lachhmi JagarHalbi and Bhatri
The birth, marriage and trials of Lachhmi, the rice goddess, told as a long domestic narrative in which a grain crop is a daughter. Sung by women with the dhankul bow and pot, with a chorus answering every line.
कब गाया जाता है: After harvest, sung over several consecutive nights. The region's major oral epic. It runs for several nights, is performed only by women who have learnt it from another singer, and is tied to a household's harvest rather than to a public festival.
Bali Jagar and Dhankul JagarHalbi
Shorter sung narratives commissioned by a household to discharge a vow, performed to the same dhankul accompaniment as the Lachhmi Jagar.
कब गाया जाता है: Vows, illness, house-building.
ReloGondi
Courtship, teasing, work and the immediate surroundings — improvised verses on a fixed refrain, traded between two lines of dancers until one side runs out.
कब गाया जाता है: Dances, fairs, evening gatherings.
Ghotul songsGondi and Halbi
Attachment, jealousy, work and the rules of the institution itself, sung by chelik and motiari to each other. A large body of these was recorded and published in the 1940s, which is why they survive in print far better than they now survive in practice.
कब गाया जाता है: Evening gatherings of the youth dormitory.
Kaksar geetGondi
Petition to Kaksar Deo for rain and a crop, sung by young men and women circling the shrine.
कब गाया जाता है: Before sowing.
Madai songsHalbi and Gondi
Praise of the visiting deity, and the running commentary of one village's dancers on another's — competitive, improvised, and the main way news travels between settlements in the fair season.
कब गाया जाता है: The winter fair circuit.
Bhatra marriage songsBhatri
The bride's departure and the negotiation between the two households, sung antiphonally by the women of each side. Bhatri's Odia affinities are most audible in this repertoire.
कब गाया जाता है: Weddings.