Indian dancing

KATHAKALI

of course, Ram, an avatar, ot incatnation, of Vishnu the Preserver.

The other important epic which serves as a theme for Kathakali dances is the Mahabharata. These two mighty heroic poems of ancient India are cleverly narrated through a gesture language allembracing in its scope. There is a symbol for every representation of gods and personages as well as for the smallest of actions. It is a formidable task to acquire a deep knowledge of all the wudras and their permutations. The Kathakali dancer’s training is therefore long and laborious.

Stylization in Kathakali is a rigid code. The characters are well defined, and divided into three distinct groups:

(a) Sattvzk, ot virtuous characters. (b) Rajstk, or heroic characters. (c) Tamsik, or destructive, diabolic ones.

GENERAL PATTERN

It is impossible in a concise work to name all the movements and gestures encountered in Kathakali. But we may take a peep at the general panorama the technique presents:

As in Bharata Natyam, the elaborate abbinaya cover the four planes: vachika (of the voice); sattvika (of the mind); angika (of the body); and aharyya (of deportment and décor).

There ate /asya, or feminine, and ¢andav, or masculine, movements as in the other schools. The vigorous movements ate usually in the wr or bira rasa (hetoic mood), while the softer movements depict the sringara rasa (erotic mood).

Gestures in Kathakali are of three kinds:

1. Prakritik, ot natural gestures. 2. Pratirupi, ot imitative gestutes. 3. Prasariti, ot amplified gestures.

An idea of the intricate pattern of Kathakali may be obtained from the fact that there are four varieties of actions of the head, eight of looks, thirty-six kinds of glances of the eyes, six movements of the mouth, nine neck movements, six ways each of moving the chin, the lips, the cheeks, and the nose. The eyelids may be

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