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Part 1
The Natya Sastra and Sadir
It would be wrong to assume
that because Sadir is now called Bharatanatyam, the Natya Sastra of Bharata
deals only with this kind of solo dance. Bharata’s classic is not merely a
treatise on dance, but a compendium which deals comprehensively with
dramaturgy including poetics and everything connected with the stage like its
construction, makeup of artistes, acting, music, etc. In the sloka ‘munina
bharatena’ in his play ‘vikramorvasiya’, Kalidasa refers to sage Bharata not
merely as authority on the theory of Sanskrit drama but as a producer of a
particular play in which was incorporated the delineation of the eight Rasas.
Bharata’s work remains the earliest and richest source of information on dance
and matters pertaining to it. It became the standard work on dance and was
followed by all subsequent writers on the subject.
The Sadir’s claim to be
called Bharatanatyam is not totally illegitimate because it follows, if danced
in the traditional way, many of the dance patterns described in the Natya
Sastra. An immense variety of exquisite rhythmic patterns called Nritta on the
one hand and highly refined and suggestively symbolic Abhinaya on the other,
distinguish Bharatanatyam from the other dancing styles of the world. Every
dance unit called Karana in Sanskrit or Adavu in Tamil is made up of a
specific pose, a foot movement and a Nritta Hasta. A continuation of such unit
makes an Angahara (dance sequence) and a number of Angaharas constitutes a
full dance. The Nritta or pure dance is “simply being beautiful to look at”.
Though in other dance systems also some poses and hand movements are combined,
in Bharatanatya, it is combined to such a perfection as to produce an immense
variety of dance patterns with beauty hands synchronizing with poses and
footwork. This is further embellished by the addition of graceful neck and eye
movements.
Present day writers on dance
try to make a distinction between Adavu and Adaivu. The Tamil
dictionary makes no difference between the two words. The word ‘Adaivu’ has no
less than 14 meanings while ‘Adavu’ is used only in dance. The origin of the
word seems to be the Telugu word ‘Adugu’ or ‘Aduvu’ meaning ‘feet’. In the
dance section of Tulaja’s ‘Sangita Saramrita’ a number of Adavus have been
described and the Sanskrit equivalent has been given as ‘kuttanam’ which means
the striking of the ground with the foot. A sloka from the ‘Sangita Muktavali’
makes this more clear.
“Etani
Karanan yahuh ‘adu’ sabdena laukikah
nata
andhradi desasthah tauryatrika vicakshanah”
(These are called ‘Karanas’
or ‘adu’ by the people and also by the dancers of Andhra and other areas who
are experts in song, dance or instrumental music).
Dance in ancient Tamil
Nadu
A brief reference will be
made here to dance in ancient Tamil Nadu which was being practised by all
classes of people as described in the Tolkappiyam, the oldest Tamil work. The
kinds of dancing, Vallikuttu and Kazhanilaikkuttu are described but as we do
not know their grammar we are unable to compare them with the present day
dance patterns.
The Silappadikaram is,
however, a treasure house so far as dance in Tamil Nadu is concerned Ilango
Adigal refers to the dances of Siva, Murugan, Kama, Lakshmi and Indrani. Siva
is said to have danced the Kodukotti and Pandarangam after his burning of the
three cities (Tripuradaha). This is exactly the same dance referred to by
Bharata in his Natya Sastra as having been performed by Siva on the same
occasion.
Plethora of Literature
There is no dearth of
literature on the Natya Sastra and subsequent works on dance like the
‘Nrittaratnavali’ of Jayasenapati, but these are of use only to the scholar.
When a practical dancer tries to find out which dance forms existed in the
Chola period, he is referred to some inscriptions or Karana sculptures in some
temples. There is hardly any reliable literature on the Sadir as it is danced
today in the name of Bharatanatyam. After the decline of the Chola empire,
Tamil Nadu was invaded by Malik Kafur in 1310 and there was political chaos
till 1370. After the areas were retrieved by the Vijayanagar forces, the Tamil
portion was being ruled by the Vijayanagar kings till the setting up of the
Nayak rule in Tanjore in 1530. No account of what was happening in the dance
field during nearly two centuries is available. Some details are available
only from the reign of Raghunatha Nayak (1614 – 1635) and Vijayaraghava Nayak
(1635 – 1673) from the Telugu literature written at the time. Noy only the
music but dance was also called as ‘Karnatakamu’. A complete picture of
Sangita, Sahitya and Natya prevalent in the court of the last two Nayaks is to
be found in the ‘Rajagopala vilasam’, a fine Telugu work by Chengalva Kalakavi.
A large number of dances
prevalent at the time is found in Telugu works and these include Allika,
Chaupada, Dandalasyakam, Darupadam, Desi, Gujjari, Jakkini, Perani, Sabdam,
Kuravanji etc. The names of a number of Rajadasis who had specialized in
particular types of dance are given such as Rupavati of Chaupada,
Champakavalli for Sabdachintamani, Murti for Jakkini, Komalavalli for Kovai,
Bhagirati for Perani and so on. These names would indicate that they were
Devadasis of Tamil origin. Recently a well-known dancer of Andhra Pradesh has
done research on these dance forms.
Dance in Serfoji’s Time
In 1959 the Saraswati Mahal
Library, Tanjore, published a book Korvyache Sahityache Jinnas containing
dance compositions in Marathi by Raja Serfoji which came as an eye-opener to
many. Each nirupana in this collection contains 18 compositions set in the
same Raga and the order followed by the ruler shows that all the 18 items were
being performed in his time. Only a few of them viz., Sabdam, Varnam, Padam,
Kavutthuvam and Tillana have survived in the present-day Bharatanatyam. One or
two of the forms are danced in the Bhagavata Mela tradition. The word
‘Jakkini’ is stated to be associated with Persia but strangely enough it is
found in the ‘Koyil Olugu’ a history of the Srirangam temple. The composition
called ‘Servai’ (perhaps ‘Sevai’) is none other than our ‘Alarippu’ but the
other forms have been unearthed by Achary Parvatikumar of Bombay. Some of the
dance forms of the Nayak period seem to have gone out of vogue during the
Maratha period and some more added.
Part 3 - The Tanjore Quartette >> |
