Navratri Garba Songs: Traditional Gujarati List

Traditional Gujarati Navratri music falls into three layers: ancient devotional garba-geet sung to the goddess (the oldest layer, often anonymous and slow), the popular folk garba composed in the 19th and 20th centuries by named poets such as Avinash Vyas and Dayaram, and the modern stage and film garba dominated by Falguni Pathak and Geeta Rabari. A typical Navratri night runs from slow devotional garba in the early evening to faster garba and dandiya raas by ten or eleven, with the film and remix tracks coming on after midnight. This article lists the standard songs in each layer with brief notes on what each is.

The devotional opening

The evening usually opens with garbi (the slow devotional form) before the circle picks up speed. The standard openers:

• Aarti: Jay Adya Shakti – the universal aarti to the goddess, composed by Shivanand Swami in the 19th century. Sung at the lighting of the garbo (the perforated earthen pot at the centre of the circle).
• Pankhida O Pankhida – a slow devotional garba addressing the bird (the soul) and the goddess, attributed to Avinash Vyas, popularised by Asha Bhosle.
• Tara Vina Shyam Mane – a Krishna-Radha bhajan widely included in Navratri sets, even though it is not strictly a goddess song.
• Mehndi Te Vavi – a traditional Gujarati garbo sung at a slower pace early in the evening.

Traditional folk garba

This is the largest layer and the one that defines the Navratri sound. These are folk songs composed in Gujarati and Marwari, many anonymous, many attributed to known poets but with no fixed recorded version:

• Gori Radha Ne Kalo Kaan – a duet describing Radha and Krishna, sung at medium tempo, one of the most universally known Gujarati garba.
• Dholida Dhol Re Vagad – an instruction to the drummer to play, a high-energy folk garba that picks up the circle.
• Sanedo – a Saurashtra folk song with a distinctive lyrical refrain, the song most identified with late-night garba.
• Odhani Odhu Odhu – about the dupatta (odhani), playful and danceable.
• Tame Mara Devna Didhel Chho – a devotional addressed to the goddess.
• Mara Te Gam Ka Padosi – a village folk garba in the call-and-response form.
• Aaj Mare Orde – a marriage-themed garba, common in family Navratri gatherings.
• Pankhida (Vagavela) – a faster version of the slow pankhida song, used to step up the tempo.

The Sanedo deserves a separate note. It is less a song than a refrain that singers improvise around. The lyrics vary widely between performers; the constant is the rhythmic Sanedo Sanedo lai laggi chhe chorus, picked up by the circle. Live garba nights almost always end with an extended Sanedo.

The Falguni Pathak set

Falguni Pathak’s Mumbai garba events have shaped what an entire generation thinks of as Navratri music. Her recorded albums from the 1990s and 2000s set the template for the modern stage garba. The standard tracks:

• Maine Payal Hai Chhankai (1999) – the song that made her a national name.
• Yaad Piya Ki Aane Lagi (2000) – the second of the iconic crossover tracks.
• Chudi Jo Khanke – the bangles-clinking song, a regular fixture.
• O Piya – the gentle medium-tempo track, often used in the early evening.
• Meri Chunar Udd Udd Jaaye – the song about the flying dupatta.

Geeta Rabari and the new wave

Geeta Rabari, from Kutch, is the most prominent Gujarati garba voice of the current generation. Her releases dominate the post-2018 Navratri circuit:

• Rona Ben – a Kutchi folk-style track that broke through nationally.
• Cha Banavje – a playful folk song about making tea, sung at fast tempo.
• Mor Bani Thanghat Kare – a peacock-themed devotional, originally from poet Jhaverchand Meghani’s adaptations.
• Reshmi Rumal – a folk love song adapted for the garba circuit.

Alongside Geeta Rabari, contemporary Gujarati artists who appear regularly on the modern Navratri playlist include Kirtidan Gadhvi, Aishwarya Majmudar, Bhoomi Trivedi (Mumbai-based), and the Aditya Gadhvi crossover tracks.

Bollywood and crossover garba

The film garba category sits a layer outside the traditional songbook but is now indispensable to most public garba events:

• Chogada Tara (Loveyatri, 2018) – an adapted folk song, the biggest mainstream garba hit of recent years.
• Dholida (Gangubai Kathiawadi, 2022) – Janhvi Mehra and Sunidhi Chauhan’s version of the dholida theme.
• Nagada Sang Dhol (Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, 2013) – a Sanjay Leela Bhansali composition with a strong dandiya beat.
• Radha Kaise Na Jale (Lagaan, 2001) – an A.R. Rahman track on the Radha-Krishna theme.
• Dhol Baaje (Ek Paheli Leela, 2015) – the Sunny Leone film track that became a garba staple.
• Falguni Pathak’s Indhana Winva – not from a film but on every modern playlist.

For what it’s worth, the Bhansali film soundtracks (Devdas, Ram-Leela, Bajirao Mastani, Padmaavat) have done more to popularise the garba and ghoomar sound nationally than any other single source in the last two decades.

How the night is structured

A traditional Navratri evening at a community garba in Ahmedabad or Vadodara runs in roughly this order:

1. Lighting of the garbo (the central perforated lamp pot) with the Jay Adya Shakti aarti.
2. One to two slow devotional garbi songs while the circle forms.
3. Medium-tempo folk garba like Pankhida and Gori Radha for the first hour.
4. Dandiya raas with sticks (faster, in pairs rather than circle) for the second hour.
5. Fast garba and film tracks through the late evening.
6. Sanedo as the closing extended piece, often running thirty to forty minutes with the singer improvising.

Common questions

What is the difference between garba and dandiya raas?

Garba is the circular dance performed around a central lamp (garbo), traditionally without sticks, using only hand claps and footwork. Dandiya raas is a paired dance using two short sticks (dandiya), striking the partner’s sticks in rhythm. The music for the two overlaps but the steps differ, and within a single evening the same DJ usually plays garba first and dandiya later. Both have devotional roots but dandiya raas has a more pronounced Krishna-Gopi origin story.

Are the lyrics always Gujarati?

Most traditional garba is in Gujarati, with a sizeable share in Marwari (in Saurashtra-Kutch border regions). Hindi-language Bollywood adaptations have grown sharply since the 2010s and are now standard on the playlist. Marathi koli geet, and some Rajasthani folk, also appear at multi-regional events. The strictly devotional aarti and garbi remain almost entirely in Gujarati or Sanskrit.

Who composed the standard garba songs?

The most influential 20th-century composer is Avinash Vyas (1912–1984), who wrote a large share of the Gujarati film and devotional garba canon, often sung by Asha Bhosle. The 19th-century devotional songbook draws heavily from poet Dayaram (1777–1853), the Vaishnava poet of Dakor. Many folk garba songs have no named composer; they belong to the oral tradition of Saurashtra and North Gujarat.

A limitation worth noting

This is a working playlist of the most commonly played Gujarati garba songs, not an exhaustive catalogue. Regional pockets (Kutch, Saurashtra, North Gujarat, the Surti tradition) each have local songs that rarely travel outside the region; the Bhavnagar Khelaiya night, for instance, has its own set of songs not in the standard Ahmedabad rotation. For a comprehensive Gujarati folk archive, the Bhasha Research Centre in Vadodara and the Gujarat Sahitya Akademi are the standard references.

For background on the dance form and the festival, see the Garba entry on Wikipedia and the entry on Navaratri.