Did you know # 2

Before the beginning of the 20th century, no male dancer danced as a male. He donned the sthreevesha to impersonate a female. The 1st male dancer to give Bharatanatyam performance as a male was Ram Gopal.

Natyashstra and Abhinayadarpana

Natyashastra, or the Science of Arts, is a treatise on dramaturgy. It was compiled by Bharata Muni sometime between 200 BC and 200 AD. It devotes itself mainly to the 3 aspects of performing arts - music, dance, and theater (also encompasses other forms of arts - painting and sculpture).

Bharata, in Natyashastra traces the origin of dance or Natya to Lord Brahma. The story goes as such.

Once the entire Jambudvipa was full of Rakshas (demons), Yakshas (half-god half-demon), and the serpent class. The Asthta-dikpalakas (rulers of the 8 directions) found it very difficult to control things and lead the universe properly. Life was going astray. On seeing this, Lord Indra along with the other gods approached Lord Brahma. They appealed to him and asked him to create a fifth Veda, which will appeal to the masses through sound and visual means. Lord Brahma, after going through the 4 existing Vedas created the fifth Veda and named it Natya Veda. This Veda included various elements of the 4 Vedas - aspects of acting from Yajurveda, aspects of recitation from Rigveda, songs from Samaveda, and the aspects of sentiment and emotion from Atharvaveda. After codifying the Natyaveda he taught it to Sage Bharata. The sage inturn taught it to his descendents and the Apsaras. To impart the knowledge he used the 4 Vrittis (expressions): Bharathi (vocal), Sattvati (emotional), Arabhati (forceful), and Kaisiki (delicate). The last vritti was to be presented by female characters.

Natyashastra is the theoretical foundation to all the artforms in India and in particular to dance. It contains the core concepts of Rasa (emotion) and Abhinaya (expression).

Abhinayadarpana, written by Nandikeshwara is another ancient tome that talks about the evolution of symbolism and gesture. It was written around 3rd century AD and has 324 slokas in a single chapter (all available manuscripts are in Telugu). Where the Natyashastra explains aspects of theater and dance that includes expression, movements, music, theater construction, and costumes, the Abhinayadarpana concentrates on abhinaya or expression - including facial movements and hand gestures. The Abhinayadarpana is a standard text on dance or Nrtya, which is followed by many schools of classical Indian dance.

The Tanjore Quartet

The dance compositions of legendary music and dance masters of the 19th century, the Tanjore Quartet form the classical canon, or masterpieces of Bharatanatyam. The term Tanjore Quartet refers to 4 brothers (also known as Thanjai Naalvar in Tamil). They are Chinnaiah (born 1802), Ponnaiah (born 1804), Sivanandam (born 1808), and Vadivel (born 1810).

The 4 brothers were born into a family of nattuvanars (choreographers and composers) and belong to the Isai-Vellalar caste. They were educated in music by one of the musical trinities - Muthuswami Dikshithar and were appointed in the court of Raja Sarfoji II (AD. 1798-1832). Under this royal patronage they flourished, spreading their fame to other royal courts, and went on to become the Samasthana Vidwans at various South Indian courts. Chinnaiah took Bharatanatyam to the Wodeyar court in Mysore. Ponnaiah and Sivanandam stayed in Tanjore under the Maratha patronage. Vadivelu incorporated the use of violin in Carnatic music and created the dance form-Mohiniattam at the request of the Maharaja of Travancore- Swati Tirunal.

The brothers codified the basic adavus (dance units) and defined the margam (repertoire) as we know of today. They also composed a number of allarippus, kauthuvams, varnams, javalis, thillanas, sabdams, and padams. They introduced a different sequence of items into Sadir (it later became Bharatanatyam) which integrated various aspects of dance and music into carefully coordinated, aesthetically sound progression. The remarkable works of the quartet and their infusion of creative energy marks the ealry 19th century as one of the most innovative periods of Bharatanatyam history.

PS: The descendants of the Tanjore Quartet continued to be nattuvanars and dance choreographers. One of the most renowned gurus K P Kittappa Pillai is the great grandson of Sivanandam.

Did you know # 1

Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore was the first Vice-President of Kalakshetra from 1936-1941.

Nataraja

Nataraja in Sanskrit means "Lord of Dance". Shiva, in the form of a cosmic dancer is shown with 4 hands and flying locks.

The significance of the Nataraja sculpture is said to be that Siva is shown as the source of all movement within the cosmos, represented by the arch of flames. The purpose of the dance is to release men from illusion, and the place where it is said to have been performed, Chidambaram, called the centre of the universe, is in reality within the heart. The gestures of the dance represents the five activities (pañcakrtya) - creation (symbolized by the drum), protection (symbolized by the "fear not" hand gesture), destruction (symbolized by the fire), embodiment (symbolized by the foot planted on the ground), and release (symbolized by the foot held aloft).

Bhashya Nataraja, the king of Dance, has 4 hands. The upper right hand holds the Damaru, or the drum from which creation issues forth and the lower right hand is raised in blessing. The upper left hand holds Agni, a flame representing the destructive energy. The right leg, representing obscuring grace is placed firmly upon Apasmarapurusha (a symbol of man's ignorance :purusha meaning man and apasmara meaning forgetfulness or heedlesness). The uplifted leg represents his grace and the grant of eternal bliss to those who approach him. The lower left hand gestures towards the holy foot in assurance that Shiva's grace is the refuge for everyone. The cobra around Shiva's waist is Kundalini shakti, the soul compelling cosmic power resident within all. Ganga is shown nesting in Shiva's locks. The crescent moon in his matted hair keeps Kama, the god of nightly love, alive.

The fiery ring that surrounds Shiva is known as Prahabhamandala, which represents the universe with all its illusion, pain and suffering. The outer edge represents fire while the inner edge represents water.

As Nataraja, Shiva represents apocalypse and creation as he performs the Anandatandava (dance of bliss). He dances away the illusory world of Maya transforming it into power and enlightenment.

Angikam bhuvanam yasya vaachikam sarva vaangmayam

Aharyam chandra taaradhi tam namah satvikam shivam

An Introduction

This is a blog solely dedicated to the South Indian Classical Dance form - Bharatanatyam. I had initially thought of sharing my thoughts on dance in general, but being a Bharatanatyam dancer i guess makes me biased towards writing about it. Another reason for initiating this blog is that it will be a good learning process for me - i can learn a lot about the dance form while sharing it with you. To those who stumble upon this blog, if you are as passionate about the dance form as me or even if you are a person interested in Bharatanatyam, please share your thoughts and ideas through this blog. I would really appreciate it. Thanks.