Origin of Bharatnatyam

Bharata muni is the creater of Natyasastra and believed to be written during the period between 200 B.C.E.and 200 C.E. The Natya Sastra discussed a wide range of topic, a practical manual for dramatic or performing art such as - music, dance, drama. It also consist of speech, costume, body language,gestures, stage decoration and most importantly the state of mind of the performer.
an archieved image of Bharatnatyam dancers (image courtesy: Google)

Indian traditional dance (nritya) - Bharatnatyam has its root in the asthetics of natyasastra. This is one of the seventh classical dance practices in India. There are lots of evidences in the 'Veda' which shows that the dance was used as a part of rituals to worship God. The epic period of Ramayana and Mahabharata also had evidences where dance was a part of worship rituals and entertainment. So by this we can say dance was flourished in India mainly for day to day worship of God. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mudras in Bharatnatyam

Image
Mudras are hand gestures that used in Bharatnatyam. The hand gestures are major part of Angika Abhinaya. Dancers speak via body movements rather than orally , in this way mudra is the main tool of dancers to convey their inner feelings or some activities they want to express .  There are two classifications in Indian traditional dance – Image courtesy: Google   Asamyukta hasta Asamyukta hastas are done using single hand. Natyasatra mentioned 24 asamyukta hastas in this sloka. Four new mudras are added to the list later which are  Kataka, Vyagraha, Ardhasuchi and Palli. Patakas tripatakascha tathavai kartarimukhaha Ardhachandra haralashcha sukhatundaka tathaivacha Mushtischa shikharakhyascha kapitha katakamukhaha Suchasya padmakosha sarpashira mrigashirshaka Kangulo alapadmascha chatura bhramarastatha Hansasya hansapakhsashcha sandamso mukulastatha Urnanavas tamrachuras chaturvingshatiririta.   Image courtesy: Google   ...
Read more

Karanas in Bharatnatyam

Image
Natyashastra states that Karanas are the unit of dance. Guru Padma Subrahmanyam attempted to reconstructed all the 108 karanas. Karanas are the brief body movements describing leg, body, arm accompanied by hasta mudras. Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam had a thorough research on Karanas and written a book named as - "Karanas-common dance codes of india and Indonesia.". The research mainly based on five temples which are Prambanan, Tanjavur, Kumbokonam, Chidambaram. Karanas are considered as mere poses earlier. In the 20th century she has state that karanas are not only postures but a total series of dance movements. Devdasis used to perform all 108 Karanas but now a days in most contemporary Bharatnatyam practices small number of karanas. Many of  Padma Subrahmanyam disciples such as Sujata Mohan, Uma Sriram, Janaki Rangrajan, Rashmi Bandopadhay and others are teaching the 108 karanas based on Dr.Padma Subrahmanyam's research. Natya shastra states karanas are created by Lord S...
Read more

Some Veteran Dancers of Bharatnatyam

Image
There are some veteran dancers of Bharatnatyam who worshipped dance as religion. Their hard effort helped bharatnatyam to be an art of the people. Bala Saraswati: Tanjore Balasaraswati also known as Balasaraswati was a celebrated traditional Indian dancer.  Image courtesy: Google She was awarded the  Padma Bhushan  in 1957 and the  Padma Vibhushan  in 1977, the third and the second highest civilian honours given by the  Government of India . In 1981 she was awarded the  Sangeetha Kalasikhamani  award of The Indian Fine Arts Society, Chennai. After witnessing her performance Uday Shankar became an ardent promoter of her performance. Her performance recreated the interest of people in traditional dance. Her performance also gained reputation internationally.  In a review in 1977, the New York Times dance critic  Anna Kisselgoff  described her as one of the "supreme performing artists in the world...
Read more