Culture of Panvel

Being close to the coastal region, Panvel is surrounded by quite a large number of hills and forts, which played a significant role in the history since the Maratha Empire and Peshwas. The official language of Panvel is Marathi, which is the mother tongue of the residents as well and they take great pride in speaking it.

The religious population of Panvel includes the Hindu being the major part of population, the Muslim in a significant number and the Christian and Buddhist in a trivial number. The traditional dress of Panvel is dhoti or pajama with a shirt for men and a five-yard or nine-yard sari for women. Now a day this traditional dressing is changing with the urban wearing, such as Salwar and Kurti or Jeans and Tops and trouser with shirt or jeans with t-shirt.

Music is the soul of India and like any other region, Panvel also delight in its own folk music—Bharud, Lavani and Powada. The residents revel in the hit Bollywood music along with the Marathi film music as well.

Lavani Music—belongs to the genre of folk music and is originated as a form of entertainment and morale booster for the tired soldiers. Usually, these songs are naughty and erotic in nature and have spicy socio-political satire. It is said that the name is derived from Lavanya, which means exquisiteness. There are two types of Lavani music—Shringari Lavani and Nirguni Lavani.

Dance was used to be the occasional commotion dedicated to reverence and the art was performed in shrines before the deity. Later people started performing it on a regular basis for entertainment and leisure.

There are varieties of dance styles in India that originated from the various parts of the country. Dance styles are developed according to the local convention devouring the elements from the other parts of the country.

Contemporary dance is widely holding the attention of people these days. However, the two legendary folk dances – Lavani and Lezim are most popular in Panvel region.

Lavani Dance—is known for its powerful rhythm mostly performed on the beats of a drumming instrument, Dholki, and is a blend of a traditional song and dance. Lavani is mostly performed by female dancers wearing a nine-yard sari in a traditional Marathi style. There are male dancers as well supporting the lead dancer and are known as Nat. This dance style deals with an ample scope of concepts related to society, politics, religion and romance. However, usually the temperament of Lavani is sensual and naughty.

Lezim Dance—is another form of folk dance. The name of this dance form is derived from the small musical instrument with jingling cymbals known as Lezim. Dholki is used as the main thumping sound along with Lezim while dancing. This dance form is moderately vigorous as it uses energetic physical exercise and drill. It is practiced as a fitness drill by schools, paramilitaries and other institutions. The dancers wear colorful costumes and dance in two, four or a circle formation.

The residents of Panvel enjoys drama and theater as well. Being a part of Maharashtra, they take great pride in Marathi theater and adores the various genre of drama, such as political drama, comedy drama, tragedy and musical drama (also known as Sangeet Naatak) etc. People of Panvel also takes lots of interest in art and craft and keep organizing events for that.

India is known for the celebration of its festivals and being a part of this versatile country, Panvel is not an exception of that. The city celebrates most of the festivals of all the religions. However, Panvel celebrates Hindu festivals with a great extent as Hindus are in majority. A few of the foremost celebrated festivals are Gokulashtami, Gudi Padwa, Rangpanchmi, Diwali and Ganeshotsav and the popular deities are Ganesha, Shiva and Krishna.

• Ganeshotsav or Ganesh Chaturthi, also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi, is the birthday celebration of Lord Ganesha. This is a ten days festival mostly celebrated during the month of August or September.
• Aashadi Ekadashi or Dev-Shayani Ekadashi is one of most important festivals celebrated by the residents of Panvel by walking to Pandharpur from their city to worship Hindu deities Vishnu and Lakshmi
• Maha Shivratri is the festival to celebrate the day of marriage of Lord Shiva. Shiv Jayanti is another festival devoted to Lord Shiva.
• Dahi-Handi is the overly enjoyable festival devoted to Lord Krishna for his birthday. The festival is also known as Janmashtami or Gokul Ashtami.

Vijayadashami or Dasara, Navaratri, Holi, Diwali, and Eid are the other festivals celebrated on a large scale in the city.