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From
the 15th century onwards the artists chanelised their energies into writing
and illustrating manuscripts and painting on temple walls, clearly showing
dance as an important preoccupation. Manuscripts illustrating Orissan architecture
and sculpture are also filled with dance figures. Most important among
such manuscripts is the Shilpaprakasha. Obviously, there was a close interaction
between the designers, executors, the theoreticians of dance and sculpture,
the creative artists, poets, sculptors, painters and dancers.
(Kapila Vatsyayan in 'Indian Classical Dance' - chapter 'Odissi') |
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In
the region of Tirupati, we find an enormous musical contribution from Annamacharya
and later poets. Annamacharya is said to have composed 32,000 sankirtanas.
His son Peda Tirumalacharya got them inscribed in copper plates in the
Tirupati temple but some of the copper plates are said to have gone to
Ahobila and to Thanjavur. Today, including the sankirtanas of Peda Tirumalacharya
and his son Cina Tirumalacharya, we have a total of 14,523 sankirtanas
by Tallapakam poets. Annamacharya has also composed the Venkatachalamahaatmya
in Sanskrit and Ramayana in dvipada metre in Telugu. Ragas are mentioned
for the sankirtanas in the copper plates in Tirupati.
(TM Krishna in 'Rhythms of time' in The Hindu magazine, Jan 9, 2011) |
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The
Silappadikaram gives the dimensions of the stage. The length is 8 Kols;
the breadth, 7 Kols; the height of the stage-platform is 1 Kol; and the
height of the stage-space from the floor of the stage up to the beam is
4 Kols. That is, the stage is 48 ft. X 42 ft.; the height of the platform
is 6 ft., and that of the stage-space, 24 ft. This stage then approaches
the nature of the rectangular stage of Bharata, of the middle size, approximately.
(Theatre-Architecture in Ancient India by V. Raghavan) |
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