Indian dancing

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF INDIAN DANCING

Drama. In a way, it is the esoteric knowledge of the priests converted into an exoteric medium. Its components are as follows:

From the Rig Veda, ot Book of Hymns, it derives its metre that, when hummed or sung in accompaniment to the dancet’s movements, can summon the gods to attend the worship of men. From the Sama Veda, ot Book of Melodies, it has taken enchanting, bewitching music. From the Yagur Veda, ot Book of Sacrifices, it has adopted the art of abhinaya, or mime, through which the dancer can communicate with his audience, whether of gods or of men. Finally, from the Atharva Veda, or Book of Spititual Craft, it has acquired rasa, ot emotional appeal, and bhava, ot intellectual appeal, both of which enable the dancer to communicate with all creation.

When Brahma attempted to initiate King Indra into the subtleties of this all-embracing treatise, the King of the Gods found the lore so complicated that he declined the proffered knowledge.

Now, from the abode of gods, the domain of mythology, we must cross the thin borderline into the realm of historical data, according to which Brahma, on Indra’s refusal to be instructed, decided to impart the newly devised science to a mortal — the Sage Bharata Muni.

To this sage is attributed the Natya Shastra, an enormous work running into thirty-six chapters, treating minutely of dancing, drama, music, grammar, and rhetoric.

Bharata next set about training a group of dancers chosen from the apsaras, ot celestial dancing girls, and a company of musicians, ot gandharvas. The first performance of the troupe took place in the presence of Lord Shiva. So impressed was the Divine Dancer with what he saw that he called for his ganas, or attendants, and ordered them forthwith to help in putting the finishing touches to the art Bharata had acquired.

Tt was Tandu, or Nandikeshwara, who instructed the Sage in the tandav, ot vitile aspects, of the dance art. These vigorous movements are those on which the male dancer must lay stress. The /asya, or graceful feminine movements, were imparted to Bharata by Shiva’s wife, Parvati. Here, once again, is proof that both tandav and /asya, ot male and female movements, must be acquired in harmony

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