A visual story of Gussadi, a tradition in Adilabad

Hyderabad-based Jennifer Alphonse documents the Dandari-Gussadi tribal tradition through a documentary and book

Each year during Deepavali, the Raj Gond tribe of Adilabad observes the Dandari festival where those chosen by a village chieftain are part of the Gussadi rituals. Their faces and bodies smeared with ash, armed with indigenous musical instruments and sporting specific headgears, the chosen Gussards perform the dance-like Gussadi tradition and visit people’s homes and temples. Hyderabad-based documentary filmmaker Jennifer Alphonse witnessed an introduction to Gussadi at Shilparamam as part of a cultural programme, and was fascinated. “I thought it was a dance form; then I learnt that it is a tradition being practised over centuries,” she says.