DANCE FORMS: AN INTRODUCTION
Gomango, Giridhar, Constitutional Provisions for the Scheduled
Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. Mumbai: Himalaya Publishing House, 1992.
Government of India, Office of the Registrar General.
Census of India, Paper No. 2, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes Arranged in Alphabetical Order. New Delhi: Publications Division, 1960.
Keer, Dhananjay. Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission. 2nd ed.
Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1962.
Wheeler, James T., and Michael Macmillan. European
Travellers in India. Calcutta: Susil Gupta, 1956.
DANCE FORMS
This entry consists of the following articles:
AN INTRODUCTION
BHARATA NATYAM
KATHAK
KATHAKALI
KOODIYATTAM
KUCHIPUDI
MANIPURI
MOHINI ATTAM
ODISSI
AN INTRODUCTION
The multifaceted dance forms of India—both classical and
regional—have evolved from the earliest times to the present. Indian dance has permeated all other forms of art,
including poetry, sculpture, painting, music, and theater. It
is a composite art with distinctive characteristics, reflecting
the Indian civilization’s worldview, philosophy, religion,
life cycles, seasons, and environment. As a dynamic art,
dance forms continue to evolve, growing with the imagination of creative artists exploring human movement.
Evidence found in cave paintings and statues—from
the “dancing girl” of Mohenjo-Daro to a wealth of later
sculptures—and literary references from the Vedas, the
Upanishads, and the epics clearly attest to India’s flourishing tradition of dance performance. Nātyashāstra, the
classical text of dance and drama (2nd century B.C.–2nd
century A.D.), codified India’s ancient theatrical arts.
With its roots in Hindu religion, as a temple offering to
the gods, Indian dance inspired sculptural artists for millennia, from the simple dancing girl to the brilliantly
complex and symbolic depiction of Shiva as Nata-raja,
“king of the dance.”
Classical dance forms evolved along with a tradition of
tribal, folk, and social dances in all parts of India. The
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Abhinaya Darpana, a text solely devoted to dance,
followed the Nātyashāstra, indicating that by the tenth
century classical dance flourished. Many kings supported
the arts, and dance developed in the royal courts as well.
An inscription from the eleventh century A.D. in the
Brihadiswara temple mentions four hundred dēvadāsi
(slaves of the gods) dancers, retained there for the entertainment of Brahman priests. Dēvadāsi emerged as an
institution, its female members cultivating classical dance
and sustaining it as a living tradition.
Classical Indian dance forms are governed by the codification and the aesthetic principles set forth in the
Nātyashāstra. A vigorous “masculine” type of dance is
called tandava, while the more graceful “feminine” style
is lasya. There are specific divisions: nritta, or pure dance,
is performed with abstract movement and rhythm patterns; nritya, or expressional dance, includes mime, facial
expressions, and hand gestures, used to convey the meaning of a song to which the dance is performed; natya is
drama, in which four elements of abhinaya, the histrionic
representations are utilized to communicate a theme.
Those four elements of abhinaya are: angika, bodily
movements; vachika, speech and dialogue; aharya, the costumes, stage settings, and properties; and sattvika, the mental states. In angika, an important role is given to the hastas,
or hand gestures, popularly known as mudras, considered
the most distinctive feature of classical Indian dance. A
dancer narrates a story using facial expressions and bodily
movements; he or she also uses hand gestures that have
specific meanings, complementing the facial expressions.
The Nātyashāstra has also codified all human emotions
into nine rasas (sentiments): shringara (love); vira (valor);
raudra (ferocity); bhaya (fear); bibhatsa (disgust); hasya
(laughter); karuna (pathos); adbhuta (wonder); and shanta
(tranquillity). The aim of any representational dance or
dance-drama is to evoke rasa, a state of sentiment, in the
spectator according to the bhava (emotions) created by the
dancer. This evocation is called rasanishpatti, or eliciting
the aesthetic flavor.
Pure dance numbers with abstract movements are
decorative, creating patterns in space and time. In expressional dance, however, a solo dancer assumes the role of
narrator as well as various characters, impersonating
many roles. This multifaceted performance is known as
ekaharya lasyanga.
As one line or a single word may be interpreted in
many ways to enhance the basic mood, improvisation
further enhances the audience’s enjoyment of the themes
presented. Since dance dramas are taken from Hindu
mythology and the epics, the stories are well known. The
emphasis is therefore on the manner in which the dramas
are enacted.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
India
D A N C E F O R M S : B H A R A T A N A T YA M
Most of the classical dances have close links with religion. Therefore the content of the dance usually concerns gods and goddesses, who behave much like human
beings. Though temple dancing is now banned, the spirit
of bhakti (devotion) permeates classical dance, and exceptional dancers always evoke it. A variety of folk dances
and social dances are also performed on festive and religious occasions.
Bharata Natyam is the oldest classical dance style, but
seven other regional styles have emerged: Kuchipudi
(southeast coast); Kathak (north); Kathakali, Mohiniattam
(southwest coast); Odissi, (east coast); Manipuri (northeast); and Sattriya (Assami northeast). Each of these dance
forms has its own kinetic dance language, with codification of the hand gestures, movements, specific regional
classical music, costumes, and conventions. Mohiniattam
is performed only by women dancers, but all the other
forms are performed by both men and women. They are
neoclassical dance forms, based on oral and shastric traditions. Indian modern dance has also evolved, as classically
trained dancers explore contemporary themes. Classical
and modern dance exist side by side, continuing to attract
modern audiences to the beauty of Indian dance.
Sunil Kothari
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kothari, Sunil. “Dance-Drama Tradition of Kuchipudi, Bhagavata Mela Nataka and Kuravanji with Special Reference to
the Rasa Theory as Expounded in Bharata’s Nātyashāstra.”
Ph.D. diss., Maharaja Sayajirao University, 1977.
———. Bharata Natyam. Rev. ed. Mumbai: Marg Publications, 2000.
Nātyashāstra. Part 1. Gaekwad Oriental series. Baroda:
Oriental Institute, 1956.
Vatsyayan, Kapila. Indian Classical Dance. New Delhi: Publications Division, 1974.
Venkataraman, Leela, and Avinash Pasricha. Indian Classical
Dance: Traditions in Transition. New Delhi: Roli Books, 2002.
BHARATA NATYAM
India’s classical Bharata Natyam dance form dates back to
the Rig Vedic hymns, and even earlier in visual form to
the figurine of a dancing girl from Mohenjo-Daro.
Nātyashāstra, the compendium on dance, theater, music,
and prosody (2nd century B.C.–2nd century A.D.) refers to
Lasya, which includes a solo dance, depicting ten to
twelve emotional numbers performed by a dancer.
Bharata Natyam is performed today as a solo dance and
therefore appears to be a direct derivation of Lasya.
Bharata Natyam was nurtured and developed in South
India, where magnificent Hindu temples, built during the
reigns of the Pallavas and the Cholas (4th century A.D.–12th
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
India
Bharat Natyam Dance Form. Today, the once banned Bharat
Natyam is India’s most popular form of dance. Meaning is
conveyed through stylized hand gestures and facial expressions,
mime and action—with the choreography having an almost
geometric pattern. BARNABAS BOSSHART/CORBIS.
century A.D.) bear testimony to their love of architecture,
sculpture, and paintings, as well as to their devotion to the
gods. The Chola kings maintained hundreds of dēvadāsi
(servants, or slaves, of the gods) dancers in their temples.
That tradition was sustained by successive Pandya,
Nayaka, and Maratha rulers until the end of the nineteenth century. The dēvadāsis were female dancers who
performed their ritual dances before the temple idols and
the Brahmans, who provided for their care.
British Christian missionaries and officials of the
British Raj stigmatized the dēvadāsis as “prostitutes” and
undermined their position as “servants of the gods,”
thereby severing the tradition of Hindu classical dance.
In 1927 the Devadasi Act banned all dancing in temples
in Madras (Tamil Nadu).
The early decades of the twentieth century saw the
revival of classical Hindu dance through the pioneering
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