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| * Dances were an integral part of Vedic sacrifice, with gestures communicating meaning and power; and, of course, the book by Bharata was codified in the first centuries of the Common Era. A story in the Jatakas tells us about Sakyamuni’s familiarity with hand gestures. Apparently, in an earlier life Sakyamuni met a woman whom he considered taking for a wife. He was not sure if she was married, and he asked her the question by a hand gesture: he raised a closed fist, and the woman, in answer, showed an empty hand (Saunders: 13). In Buddhist and Hindu traditions the mudras are hand gestures used as seals, guaranteeing the power that is communicated through them or through the spoken word. In icons, hand gestures are also used as identity markers (Saunders: 9). (‘Embodied Cosmologies: Sights of Piety, Sites of Power’ by Vasudha Narayanan) * With the migration of Hindus and Buddhists to East and Southeast Asia, Indian dance forms went with them. Dancing men, women, and celestial beings adorn the walls of the Cambodian temples. The figures of dancing girls were the favorite subjects during the Angkor and the later Bayon period. As we walk through the temples in this area we see the ubiquitous presence of dancing apsaras—the same beings who emerged from the ocean of milk. These celestial dancers give the temples the atmosphere of an Indraloka-one of the celestial paradises. So deep is the word apsara in the Cambodian consciousness that even modern dancers are called “apsaras.” Modern Cambodians now use apsara, an easily recognizable word that ties in with their heritage, as a name for the organization that watches over their monuments and temples. (‘Embodied Cosmologies: Sights of Piety, Sites of Power’ by Vasudha Narayanan) * The icon of the dancing Shiva—the king of dance or Nataraja-is arguably one of the best known pieces of Hindu art. Inscriptions calling him Nrittesvara (Lord of Dance) and Natekesvara (Lord of Drama) are found in Cambodia (Sivaramamurti: 3–4). The drum that is sounded before he dances is like the recitation of Om, the most sacred syllable in the Hindu tradition. The icon of the dancing Shiva is said to embody five functions- creation, preservation, destruction, concealment of the truth, and the granting of salvation (Sivaramamurti: 23–24). The first verse of the Abhinaya Darpanam, a well-known book of dance, says: “His limbs are the worlds, his songs are the languages of universe, his clothes are the moon and the stars” (Nandikesvara: 77). (‘Embodied Cosmologies: Sights of Piety, Sites of Power’ by Vasudha Narayanan) * The dance itself is compared several times to a sacrifice (Sivaramamurti: 9). The sounds of the flute, the veena, and the drum that removes all poisons, all maladies, are part of the orchestra that plays for Shiva’s dance. Shiva is the dancer, the dance, and is adored through dance. Worshiping him with dance is like waving a candle in adoration to the light of the sun (Sivaramamurti: 8). There are other dances—in sculpture and dance he dances his omnipotence, his immanence, his omniscience, and time and eternity. Above all, the devotees implore him to dance in their hearts. The dancing icon simultaneously embodies and articulates one dominant Hindu paradigm of the cosmos and, to the attentive devotee, a lesson in theology. (‘Embodied Cosmologies: Sights of Piety, Sites of Power’ by Vasudha Narayanan) * In Bhamakalapam, an entire section is dedicated to discourse on the kind and significance of jewellery that Satyabhama wears each day of the week. In fact, Satyabhama and especially her plait (jada) have become synonymous with the form. This jada symbolises the universe of which the Adisesha (the great serpent) forms the base, holding the Sun, Moon, 27 stars, the three worlds (heaven, earth, and lower world, patala), and the nine planets (navagrahas). It is intriguing to note how Kuchipudi practitioners incorporated the symbolism of this Puranic idea of Anantha Sesha as the cosmic energy of creation that beholds the universe, into the plait of Satyabhama. ('Intricate Imagery' by Anuradha Jonnalagadda Tadakamalla, NCPA Onstage July 2022) * In the case of (Kuchipudi) female characters, costume and makeup depends on age. Young characters wear half-sarees, langa-voni (lehenga with blouse and dupatta); queens wear a silk saree tied with parting in between the legs and pleats in the front. Interestingly, the sarees used were Benarasi sarees, not the locally available Dharmavaram. This probably was due to the fall and sheen of Benaras silk. Middle-aged female characters generally wear buns while the young ones wear a long braid with jadakucchulu. The female characters are decked with 32 types of jewellery from head to toe. The earliest visuals that are available to us show men in impersonation (as it was the tradition of Kuchipudi); hence ample jewellery is used to make them look feminine. Traditionally, a huge wooden box was used to store the jewellery and costumes, called Ganiyam Petta. ('Intricate Imagery' by Anuradha Jonnalagadda Tadakamalla, NCPA Onstage July 2022) * The Devadasi system at Suchindram flourished till 1930 when it was done away with by royal decree. Given their social importance it is no wonder that many parts of the Suchindram temple (in Tamilnadu) are attributed to donations by Devadasis. The entrance porch or Natakasala has eight pillars at the base of each of which is a statue of a woman. These figures commemorate the eight Devadasis who contributed to the construction of the space in the 16th century. ('The Devadasi influence at the Suchindram Temple' by V Sriram, June 24, 2022) * Apart from the Devadasis, the connect to the performing arts is re-emphasised by the presence of several musical pillars. Maharaja Swati Tirunal composed two songs in praise of Siva here. Kalaye Parvatinatham is in Shankarabharanam / Rupakam while Vande Maheswaram is in Arabhi / Chapu. ('The Devadasi influence at the Suchindram Temple' by V Sriram, June 24, 2022) * The earliest connections between Indian dance and Southeast Asia were identified by Padma Subrahmanyam and Kapila Vatsyayan. Both prolific scholars made the observation that the sculptural arts of Southeast Asia reflected a deep understanding of codes within the Natyashastra. This is particularly reflected in the 9th century temple complex of Prambanan in Indonesia, where we find 62 dancing sculptures, labelled according to the postures delineated in the fourth chapter of the Natyashastra, titled 'Tandava Laksanam'. This dance catalogue of sorts is the earliest of its kind, pre-dating the visual catalogues of dance that we find in Thanjavur, Chidambaram, Kumbakonam, and other sites across Tamil Nadu. It is interesting to note that the idea of visually documenting the sequence of dance postures in stone, as they appear in the text, may have originated in Southeast Asia. ('Cultural alliance' by Gayathri Iyer, The Hindu Friday Review, 27 May 2022) * Balasaraswati's dance was always interspersed by her sudden forays into singing on the stage, and interacting with her singer, her mother, T. Jayammal. An impromptu jugalbandi of sorts unfolded between them, supplemented by Viswa (her brother) on the flute, and other instrumentalists following suit. Rasikas went in droves to view and hear this rare confluence of dance and music. If Jayammal took up raga Kapi for a virutham, Bala would suddenly walk up to the hanging mike (placed just for her) leading it into Hindustani Piloo, prompting Viswa to come up with his own brisk flourishes. Improvisation or manodharma ruled the stage. ('The high note' by Charumathi Ramachandran, The Hindu Friday Review, 27 May 2022) * On a sweltering summer's day in July 1518 a woman called Frau Troffea steps into a square in Strasbourg and begins to dance. At first those around her only watch, curiosity piqued by this unusual public display. They watch a woman who will not, cannot, stop. She dances for nearly a week, felled occasionally by exhaustion but largely undaunted by the body's other warning signs: pain, hunger, shame. There is no music. Her heart keeps the tempo, working hard to make the motion continue. By the time she is taken away, it is too late. Others have joined. By August there will be hundreds. Like her, they cannot explain themselves. They dance as if compelled, feet bloodied and limbs twitching. Further chronicles outline the measures taken by the authorities in response. One writer describes dancers being carted off to St Vitus's shrine outside the city, where they are "given small crosses and red shoes." Another mentions more direct arrangements made for the dancers to tire them into submission, with "persons... specially appointed to dance with them for payment, to the music of drums and pipes." This does not help. "All this was of no avail, and many danced themselves to death." The phenomenon was later dubbed choreomania. In the 400 or so years since this bizarre event - Strasbourg's so-called "dance plague" - occurred, many theories have been proffered to explain what exactly happened. It is an event that grips us to this day, inviting retellings, and inspiring artists and creatives to put their own spin on these strange happenings. ('The people who 'danced themselves to death'' by Rosalind Jana, BBC, May 13, 2022) * Though it is now the most famous example, Strasbourg was not the only "dance plague" to hit Europe during the medieval and early modern era. Many instances of uncontrolled or threatening dancing were recorded in Germany, France, and other parts of the Holy Roman Empire. The story of a surreal summer in Strasbourg is just that: a story. Mass dancing of some form is documented in at least six different contemporaneous chronicles, the dancers' motions reportedly continuing for weeks. Frau Troffea is named as the instigator in several of them. Beyond that, details begin to diverge. Various starting dates are given. Different methods of dealing with the phenomenon are emphasised. Like plenty of other historical events, a portrait is drawn from fragments. ('The people who 'danced themselves to death'' by Rosalind Jana, BBC, May 13, 2022) * Srimanta Sankaradeva (1449-1568) founded sattras in which nothing but Krishna-worship was practiced. He decided to have a textile woven with the theme of Krishna's various exploits. What was woven, according to tradition, was a vast textile, some 180 feet long, produced on a draw-loom in the highly complex lampas technique, featuring in brilliant colours, repeat patterns of figures, all centering upon Krishna. This great textile was given the name Vrindavani Vastra. The original Vrindavani Vastra, woven in the lifetime of Sankaradeva and possibly under his personal supervision, appears not to have survived, but textiles in the same tradition, and rigidly following both the same technique and the same range of themes, continued to be woven in the times that followed. The various incarnations of Vishnu, and the exploits of Krishna, were all there to see in highly stylised form in these woven strips of figured, silken cloth: the killing of different demons; the quelling of the serpent Kaliya, the sun-bird Garuda as the vehicle of Vishnu; and so on. It is estimated that close to 20 fragments of textiles of this kind, going back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, have survived, but they are all scattered now, being mostly in museums in London, Paris, Los Angeles, Newark, Wales, and, of course, in the British Museum. ('Art N Soul: From Assam to London-Tracing the journey of a Vrindavan Vastra' by BN Goswamy, Sahapedia, June 11, 2020) * Invented to boost the spirit of the soldiers as a mock fight and to keep them fit for any fight, Chhau is believed to have derived its nomenclature from chhauni (military camp). Maharaja Krushna Chandra Bhanja Deo, who ruled during the second half of the 19th century, had introduced Chhau to Chaitra Parva which was being hosted inside the king's palace as the most important annual festival. The king took a keen interest in grooming the Chhau dancers. He created two troupes - Uttar Sahi and Dakshin Sahi and appointed ustads (experts) to recruit talented artists and train them. The artists were offered the best treatment so that they could focus fully on their dance practice for the annual festival. To create a healthy competition with the mission to encourage the artistes to excel, the queen patronized the Uttar Sahi troupe while the Dakshin Sahi troupe received the patronage of the king. (Mayurbhanja Chhau: Where martial arts meet dance' by Shyamhari Chakra, India Art Review, April 19, 2022) * Venkatasundara Sani was born into the hereditary dance community that performed in temples, and is believed to have lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Proficient in music, dance, poetry, and languages such as Sanskrit, Telugu and Kannada, she had also studied ancient treatises and movement systems. In 1908, under the aegis of the Mysore Trading Agency, Venkatasundara Sani published a book titled Rasikajana Manollasini, also known as Sarasangraha Bharatha Shastra. The book is a stunning revelation about dance of the early 20th century. Only four chapters survive, yet they cover a wide range - poetry, dramatics, music, gesture, posture, and temple rituals. Venkatasundara employs precision in her codifications, several of which are similar to those found in the Natyashastra and Abhinaya Darpana. The book is written in a complex combination of Kannada, Sanskrit and Telugu, often mixing phrases and vocabulary from each language in interesting ways. From the language used extensively in the book and a study of dancing communities of Kolar and Bengaluru, it is likely that Venkatasundara Sani was of Telugu origin. ('The devadasi who wrote about dance' by Gayathri Iyer, The Hindu Friday Review, March 4, 2022) * The most important piece of repertoire mentioned in Rasikajana Manollasini by Venkatasundara Sani is the ritual dance known as the Ashtadikpala Pushpanjali. Venkatasundara mentions each of the eight cardinal gods, followed by Eeshaana (the abstract form of Shiva) as being propitiated with different types of white flowers including jasmine, hibiscus, lily and tuberose. She incorporates ritualistic actions into the dance such as prokshanam (sprinkling of water to sanctify space) and even performs a small shlokam with specific mudras, movements and postures (karanas and charis). She uses the term 'Bharatha Natyam' to refer to her dance, by saying "Someshwarasya agre sthitham Bharatha Natyam karayeth" (performing Bharatha Natyam at the Someshwara temple). ('The devadasi who wrote about dance' by Gayathri Iyer, The Hindu Friday Review, March 4, 2022) * A path-breaking turn in G Venu's life was the decision to follow the Koodiyattam celebrity Guru Ammannur Madhava Chakyar like a shadow until his death, after watching his performance at Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple in Thrissur. The passion was such that Venu resigned his job in the School of Drama and shifted to Irinjalakuda. When Guru Chakyar accepted him as a disciple, that decision was historic as the orthodox Ammannur family decided to train a non-Chakyar in Koodiyattam. ('The myriad avatars of abhinaya' by GS Paul, India Art Review, 28 Nov 2021) * The history of Kerala has many examples of beautiful women of the Devadasi sect being accepted as consorts by kings. Devadasis Kantiyur Tevitichi Unni, Cherukarakkuttatti and few others had become queens too. The chief among the queens of Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagar was Devadasi Chinna Devi. What is more, it was not uncommon for maidens from royal or Brahmin families to become Devadasis. Uttara Chandrika, the heroine of the Nanneli Kavyaṁ belonged to the Chirawa royal family. Traveller Bukkaner has recorded that even Brahmin women could be found among the Devadasis of Mysore and Kerala. ('Devadasi tradition: The Occult Origins of Mohiniyattam - Part 12' by Nirmala Paniker, India Art Review, Sept 8, 2021) * Many of the rulers (of Kerala) were themselves learned men of fine arts and great connoisseurs of art and music. They led simple lives devoid of display and extravaganza and spent much of their time and money in the encouragement of fine arts. For instance, the erstwhile Kochi Maharajas encouraged Kuttu and Kutiyattam. The Zamorins of Kozhikode preserved Krishnanattam. Ramanattam, which was originally formulated by the Kottarakkara rajas, later took the form of Kathakali. The Kulasekhara kings (Thiruvanchikulam) encouraged the female traditions in performing arts even as early as the Chera Kings, particularly music and the lasya dance forms. This patronage continued till the time of Swathi Thirunal Maharaja. Silappatikaram presumed to be written in the 2nd century was authored by the youngest raja Elango Adigal. ('The Occult Origins of Mohiniyattam - Part 18' by Nirmala Paniker, India Art Review, Oct 27, 2021) * Balaramabharatam written by Karthika Thirunal Balarama Varma (1758-1798 A.D.), based on the Natyasastra of Bharata Muni, is a very valuable work on the science of dance, a veritable accomplishment to the stage arts of Kerala. Balarama Varma was born to Attingal Rani Thampuratti and Kilimannur Valiyakoyithampuran. He was known as 'Dharmaraja' (The noble king). He was interested in music and dance and was an exemplary musician. It is said that Kathakaḷi was systematized and stipulated during his time. The Kathakaḷi Attakathas (literary work meant for Kathakaḷi performance) Rajasuyam, Subhadraharanam, Gandharvavijayam, Panchaliswayamvaram, Bhagavatam and Kalyaṇasougandhikam were all composed by him. As far as Kerala is concerned, Balaramabharatam is a dance treatise based on the practices that were popular in Kerala at the time. ('The Occult Origins of Mohiniyattam - Part 18' by Nirmala Paniker, India Art Review, Oct 27, 2021) * Today's souvenirs are rather drab affairs - endless pages of 'with best compliments', a couple of articles, then lists of songs for the year's concerts, shared by those artistes who care to do so. But at least until the 1960s, these well-produced publications were a record of the times. They scored high in aesthetics too, with illustrations, half-tone block images and black-and-white photographs. Despite poor quality paper and not-so-sophisticated printing technology, their content was always interesting. - If Musiri Subramania Iyer endorsed the efficacy of Kesavardhini hair oil for the tresses of the women in his family in one ad, Chittoor Subramania Pillai paid glowing tributes to a doctor whose patent medicine cured him of inflamed tonsils. But all of this is nothing compared to the paean that TRK Rao of Car Street, Triplicane, composed in praise of Dr. Naru, sexologist, of Naru Hospital, 24, Broadway, Madras. Just a few lines will give you a broad idea - "I was a perpetual nuisance to my wife who just could not bear to see in me someone as her husband. Today the regeneration brought about by you compels the same wife of mine as though through magic to kiss the dust that I tread beneath my feet. The new strength that your treatment has infused..." Presumably, Mr. and Mrs. Rao lived happily ever after. - A cursory glance would reveal that the number of films announced but never made far outnumbered those that finally hit the theatres. What happened, for instance, to Bhakta Sabari starring Vasanthakokilam? Or Nakkeerar to be shot with Dandapani Desigar in the title role? And was his Sivayogi ever released? - And then there are the photos of artistes and chief guests - all the men turbaned, suited and booted, with walking sticks. Women seem to have preferred being photographed in profile. The names are yet another matter altogether - each man has at least three. My favourite is hardware merchant Chinni Yelamantha Chetty Anjaneyulu Chetty - try saying that quickly. And the titles - Mahakathaka Kanteerava Abhinava Bharatacharya Brahmasri Chidambara Bhagavatar of Agara Mangudi was as wide in name as he was in size. We live in tamer times. ('Souvenirs of the Season' by V Sriram, The Hindu Friday Review, 10 Dec 2021) * Writing for India International Centre Quarterly in 2017, V. Kalyan Shankar and Rohini Sahni note that under British colonization, the devadasis were labeled as "prostitutes" and held in low social regard. In fact, when a troupe of dancers from Pondicherry toured Britain and France in 1838, their mere presence incited a riot. On the opening night of their performance in London, Engelhardt reports on how a group of moralists initiated a "hissing campaign to express fears of the baneful effect of these 'temple prostitutes' on 'the morals of the spectators.'" ('Examining the real-life temple dancers who inspired La Bayadère' by Sarah McKenna Barry, Dance Magazine, Feb 26, 2021) In 'Bhalyutbhavam', poet Kunchan Nambiar describes the dancers of Indra's court decorating themselves for the performance. It is interesting to note that though they are court dancers of Indra, their costumes and ornaments, and complete attire for that matter resembled that of the Kerala dancing girls. There is no doubt that while describing these dancers, Nambiar had Kerala women in his mind. The verses reveal that the dancer was accompanied by the maddalam for rhythm. Other accompanying instruments included ilathalam (cymbals) and titti (a pipe instrument) and tambura (for shruti). All available historical evidence of Mohiniyattam in the early 20th century agrees that maddalam, titti and ilathalam were commonly used in Mohiniyattam performances. Also, notably, other female theatre forms like Nangiarkoothu do not use these instruments. This gives us increased confidence that the dance form that Kunchan Nambiar describes in his narrative is indeed Mohiniyattam. ('The Occult Origins of Mohiniyattam - Part 16' by Nirmala Paniker, India Art Review, Oct 13, 2021) * A metamorphosis occurred during the time of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal, who was interested in Carnatic music. Swathi Thirunal with the help of the Tanjore brothers remoulded Mohiniyattam and systematized it with many specifications. Due to these influences in the 19th century, Mohiniyattam gained similarities with Bharatanatyam in many aspects of its music and performance. ('The Occult Origins of Mohiniyattam - Part 17' by Nirmala Paniker, India Art Review, Oct 20, 2021) |
