Panchali is a form of narrative folk songs of the Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

 region (comprising the country Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

 and the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state of West Bengal

West Bengal

West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

).

Origin of name

The word Panchali probably originates from panchal or panchalika, meaning puppet. According to another school of that, Panchali originates from the word panch, which means five in Bengali language

Bengali language

Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

, referring to the five elements of this genre: song, music, extempore versifying, poetic contests, and dance.

Description

Panchali topics include mythology, legends and sometimes contemporary topics. Common topics are based on Mahabharata

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....

, Ramayana

Ramayana

The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...

 and Mangalkavya. Usually one principal singer would enact the main story with recitation, rhymes and songs. In course of the evolution of the panchali, more singers joined the principal singer to play such instruments as mrdanga

Mrdanga

A mrdanga is a double ended East Indian drum similar to the South Indian mridangam. It is used predominantly in Gaudiya, or Bengali Vaishnava devotional music, and especially in kirtan....

(tabor), dhol

Dhol

Dhol can refer to any one of a number of similar types of double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent and nearby regions. Its range of distribution in India and Pakistan primarily includes northern areas such as the Assam Valley, Bengal, Gujarat,...

(drum) and kanshi

Kanshi

Kanshi may refer to:* Kanshi , Chinese poetry written by Japanese* Kanshi, Fujian, a city in China....

(bell-metal gong).

The panchali later gave birth to the popular Jatra performances.