Information - Snippets

2025

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The entire text of the Abhinaya Darpanam has been written by Nandikeshvara but he often uses the word Bharata in different ways. The question arises then, who is Bharata or what does Bharata refer to? Is he Bharata the writer of the Natya Shastra? Is he Shakuntala's Bharat? Rama's brother Bharata? Or does Bharata refer to an actor? Or the Bharata, the caste of a person?
Moreover, in Bharata's Natya Shastra, Bharata himself defines the word Bharata in Chapter 35, shlokas 66-69 as a theatrical party, an actor, an act, a jester, a musician, a director, a playwright, a crown maker, a dyer, a painter, craftsman and expert. In the light of this, Acharya Parvatikumar has taken the word Bharata to mean a sage or a learned man, an expert and an actor.
('Abhinaya Darpanam' by Sandhya Purecha, Nartanam, Oct - Dec 2019)

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"Very often dancers entered films to help their families deal with some kind of financial crisis - Minu Mumtaz, Saroj Khan and Bela Bose, for instance," said researcher Siddhi Goel. Some of these dancers also stepped in to assist their gurus. For instance, Rani, who lit up the screen with her dancing - Dekho bijli dole with Asha Parekh (Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon) and Ja mein tose nahin bolun with Jeevankala (Sautela Bhai) are superb examples of her talent - was known to help her guru Gopi Krishna in rehearsals and film shoots.
('One woman's search for the kathak dancers who were relegated to the background by Bollywood' by Malini Nair, Scroll.in, Jan 14, 2023)

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There is a wrong belief among dancers and other people that there is only one family, the Tanjore Quartet family. Actually, there were seven families, very popular families. There might have been many natyacharyas but the seven families were very famous. And after the murder of Vijaya Raghava Nayaka, one of the families moved to Thirunelveli, and from Thirunelveli they went to Mysore and Thiruvananthapuram (then, Travancore) and other such places, and then they came back and stayed in Thirunelveli. When Thulaja, the Maratha ruler ascended the throne, he wanted all the natyacharyas of Thanjavur who had moved out of Thanjavur to come back. So he invited them; at that time there were Mahadeva Annavi, Gangaimuthu Annavi, and such other great natyacharyas who belonged to Thanjavur but lived in Thirunelveli. Thulaja invited them back to Thanjavur. So Mahadeva nattuvanaar and Subbaraya nattuvanaar came back to Thanjavur. Mahadeva nattuvanaar was appointed to do service in Thiruvarur's Thyagaraja temple, Subbaraya was appointed in the Brihadisvara temple.
('In Conversation: Dr B.M. Sundaram,' Sahapedia, June 7, 2016)

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Several Kaḷaris or training centres for Dasiyattam training were established in the Vijayanagara Kingdom in the present Andhra Pradesh, Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala during Swathi Thirunal's reign. Artists from these Kaḷaris interacted with each other constantly and the female dancers and the Naṭṭuvans (accompanying percussionist in Bharatanatyam or any classical dance art form) often used to go to other Kaḷaris for training as well as for performance.
The political rule often changed hands, and the styles of dancing also got variously influenced due to this. Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Kannada, Sanskrit, Hindi and Malayalam works were commonly used in the Dasiyattam compositions. Even though the styles were different, due to the constant and abundant cultural exchange that occurred during this period, certain similarities started evolving in traditional Devadasi dance forms, more specifically in Mohiniyattam and Bharatanatyam.
('The Occult Origins of Mohiniyattam: Part 20' by Nirmala Paniker, India Art Review, Nov 10, 2021)

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By the time the Simha Nandana talam is completed, the picture of a simham (lion) was completely drawn by the dancer's feet (foot painting). Using Mallikamoda talam and appropriate jathis and a kirtana on Kumaraswamy, Guru CR Acharyulu also experimented and was successful in drawing Mayura or peacock just like Simha. Similarly, a lotus was drawn while dancing to the Lakshmi talam.
('Retracing steps: CR Acharyulu (1919-1998)' by Voleti Rangamani, Nartanam, Vol XX, No: 1, Jan-March 2020)