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Dhimsa glossary
The words you will meet on this site and in coverage of Dhimsa, briefly defined.
The dance
| Dhimsa | The tribal circle dance itself; the name is usually explained as the sound of dancing footsteps. Full page → |
| Boda, Gunderi (Usku), Goddi Beta, Bhag, Natikari, Pedda… | Named varieties of Dhimsa — ritual, courtship, story and celebration forms. The twelve varieties → |
| Chain / circle | The linked line of dancers — arms around waists or on shoulders — that is Dhimsa's defining formation. |
The music
| Tudumu (thudumu) | The large drum that carries the dance's base beat. |
| Dappu | Flat frame drum playing the fast top rhythm; also the name of a dance form of its own elsewhere in Andhra. |
| Mori | The horn whose melodic line rides above the drums. |
| Kiridi, gilka, jodukommulu | Smaller percussion and paired clappers recorded in accounts of the ensemble. Music page → |
People and places
| Araku Valley | Hill valley in the Eastern Ghats, ~110 km from Visakhapatnam — Dhimsa's home ground and a coffee-growing region. Visiting → |
| Porja, Bagata, Valmiki, Khond, Kotia, Gadaba, Kondadora… | Hill communities of the Araku–Paderu region who dance Dhimsa. History & tribes → |
| Agency area | The administrative term for the scheduled tribal hill tracts of the district — the region where Dhimsa is part of daily culture. |
| ITDA | Integrated Tribal Development Agency — the government body whose residential schools trained the 13,000 dancers of the record performance. |
| Paderu, Seethampeta, Parvathipuram, Rampachodavaram | The four ITDA zones whose students performed at Bhogapuram. The record → |
| Bhogapuram | Coastal town north of Visakhapatnam, site of the new Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport and the record performance. |
| Koraput | Hill district of southern Odisha where Dhimsa's origins are usually traced. |
Last updated: 2026-08-13
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