Who is Gulabo Sapera? Buried alive as a newborn, got engaged at the age of 9 but overcame odds to become the pride of India

A woman from a small town in Rajasthan overcame unimaginable odds to emerge as a renowned folk dancer and make a mark on the world stage by enthralling audiences globally. Kalbelia (folk dance of Rajasthan) dancer Gulabo Sapera was born in 1973 in Pushkar, Rajasthan.
Born in a nomadic family in Rajasthan, Spyera was buried alive just an hour after her birth. She was rescued by her aunt and mother only to become a sensational folk dancer and the pride of the country.

Real name and story of Gulabo Sapera

Gulabo was born as Dhanvantari. He got this name due to being born on the auspicious day of “Dhanteras”, which marks the 13th lunar day of the Krishna Paksha of the Kartik month of the Hindu calendar. At the time of her birth, she was taken away by midwives and buried alive in the forest as her mother already had 3 daughters and people in her community were against the little girl’s life.

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Gulabo’s mother was not even told the sex of the child and when she learned that her newborn had been taken away, she begged members of her community to reveal the little girl’s location. Gulabo’s aunt told her mother her whereabouts and the two sisters went into the forest to rescue the newborn.

Beginning of the famous Kalbelia dance of Gulabo Sapera

Gulabo, who grew up among snakes and watched snake charmers dance to the tunes of her snake charmer father, started dancing when she was just 2 years old. When she grew up, some women from her community took her to various places to perform in order to earn money. However, his treatment of her remains cruel and she is ill-treated by a member of the community despite being the center of attraction.

Gulabo’s fortunes took a turn in 1981 when she caught the attention of a government official at a fair where she was performing Kalbelia dance with her troupe. However, as soon as the people of her community came to know about her identity and her performance in the fair by the authorities, her father was called by the panchayat members and asked to marry his daughter. After this episode, Gulabo who was just 9 years old was engaged to a 35 years old man. However, the man broke off the engagement when he saw that Gulabo loved Kalbelia dance.

After 10 -15 days of this incident, Gulabo was called to perform at Ram Bagh in Jaipur and the rest is history. In 1985, Gukabo performed on the international stage in Washington. In 2016, Gulabo was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award, for her outstanding contribution to enhancing the folk dance culture of India.