Bagurumba Dance

Bagurumba is the signature folk dance of the Bodo community of Assam, performed by young women to greet the arrival of spring and the season of plenty.

Its slow, swirling movements imitate butterflies, flowing rivers and wind through the bamboo — earning it the name 'butterfly dance'.

Bagurumba is rooted in Bodo nature worship and the agricultural calendar of the Brahmaputra plains, where the Bodo are among the oldest indigenous communities.

It has long been performed at Bwisagu, the Bodo new year, and was recognised by the state in the post-independence revival of Assam's tribal arts.

The Bodos are a Tibeto-Burman people concentrated in the Bodoland Territorial Region of western Assam.

Bagurumba is performed by unmarried women, and accompanied by male musicians on the kham (drum), sifung (long flute) and serja (bowed lute).

• Dancers wear the dokhna — a body wrap of yellow, green and red stripes — with a contrasting jwmgra shawl draped to flutter like wings.
• A red aronai scarf and brass jewellery complete the look; flowers are tucked into the hair.

• Bwisagu — Bodo new year, mid-April.
• Bushu Jiba and Domashi — harvest celebrations.
• All Bodo cultural events across the Bodoland Territorial Region.

• Kokrajhar — the cultural capital of the Bodoland Territorial Region.
• Udalguri, Baksa and Chirang districts — village celebrations during Bwisagu.
• Guwahati cultural showcases at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra.

A curated gallery of Bagurumba Dance. Images are placeholders until license-cleared photographs are sourced.