Subject Matter of Lavani

The Lavani dance is a blend of dance and song, being performed with the beats of 'dholak', an instrument similar to drum. The word Lavani originated from 'lavanya' meaning beauty.

Lavani is a ballad of love, a bold portrayal of love. The main subject matter of lavani is the love between man and woman in various forms, sexual union between lovers, mensturation of wife, love between husband and wife, wife's bidding farewell to the husband who is going to war, pangs of separation, adulturous love,- the intensity of adulturous passion, sorrows of a childless women, childbirth, amorous adventures of soldiers, these were different themes of lavani.

The lavani poet steps out of the limits of social decency and control when it comes to the depiction of sexual passion. A sexually excited women describing her own erotic passion unhesitatingly is a somewhat unnatural event, but was meant to entertain the male audience of the times. Lavani poetry does not follow the rules of good taste. Lavani also dealt with subject matters of society, politics and religion, in a satirical mode.

With the passage of time, changes came over the themes that lavani dealt with. Contemporary lavani deals with subjects like birth control, domestic violence, family planning, women's health, rape and molestation,

Lavani today is no more limited to the narration of love between man and women.