BHARATANATYAM – Where it came from?
Indian folklore believes that Lord
Brahma formed the Fifth Veda Natya Veda, an essence of the other four Vedas.
After creating this Natya Veda, he gave it to sage Bharatan and asked him to popularize
this Veda on earth. Following the words of Lord Brahma, sage Bharatan wrote Natyashastra or the Science of Dance, a great,
comprehensive work on the science and technique of Indian drama, dance and
music. Bharatanatyam got its name from sage Bharatan. The dancers and professionals
still follow this material to learn and perform.
In Indian folklore, Lord Shiva is the
supreme lord of dance. Dance preformed by Lord Shiva is known as Tandava,
which portrays his violent nature as the destructor of the universe. The Tandava
performed with joy is called Ananda Tandava
and performed in violent/angry mood is called Rudra
Tandava. Tandava has vigorous, fast movements. The dance performed by Goddess Parvathi is
known as Lasya, in which the movements are
gentle and graceful.
In olden days Bharatanatyam was
performed mostly by Devadasis, who would
perform in the temples. These Devadasi were proficient artists who would sing,
dance, play many instruments. They were fluent in Sanskrit
& other local languages which helped them to infer compositions which they
would perform. Then dance entered the palaces. Here the artists called Rajanarthaki,
performed in the courts of kings.
JEWELLERY
& COSTUME FOR BHARATANATYAM (Visit www.IndiaMartInUSA.net)
Bharatanatyam jewelry
is widely known as Temple Jewellery. The origin of Indian Temple Jewelry dates
back to 12th century. Originally in olden times temple
jewellery was made of gold with ruby, emerald & pearls and was used by the
devadasi girls who danced in Temple and durbars. Its unique design has
made it very popular and adorable. Even today, real temple jewellery is
made by highly skilled craftsman. Today temple jewelry is closely
associated with Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dance forms. Temple jewellery is admired for its beauty, wonderful artistry and
unmatched craftsmanship. Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dancers wear temple
jewellery during the dance performance.
These
days Temple jewellery is made using a variety of metals like
silver and brass as its base. Both these varieties are then plated with
gold. The one's made with silver are more expensive and
preferred by professional dancers. The base metal kind is more affordable and
is commonly used. In appearance both look very
similar. The traditional
temple jewelry set has 11 different ornaments namely the Long chain
Short necklace, Sun/Moon, Nethichutti or chutti, Mattal or Matti, Jimikki, Belt or Oddiyanam, Vanki, Rakkodi, Nath/Bullakku
and bangles. Dancers also wear chilangai/salangai in the ankles during dance performance. Along
with temple jewelry, dancers use kunjalam to decorate the hair. This kunjalam
comes in different designs and is tied to the end of the braid to add
aesthetics to the hair. The ones used for Bharatanatyam
or Kuchipudi dance have matching green and red stones in
them.
BHARATANATYAM DANCE at a glance…
Bharatanatyam is divided into
three parts as below:
Abhinayam or Natyam: Dramatic story telling
Nritham : Pure dance movements
Nritya : Combination of abhinayam and nritham
Nritham
Nritham can be broadly divided into Chari, Karana, Angahara and Mandala. Movement of
a leg is called Chari. Movement of both the legs is Karana. 3 Karanas make a Khanda. 3 to 4 Khandas make a Mandala. 4 to 9 Karanas make a Angahara.
4 to 5 Angaharas also make a Mandala.
108 Karanas and 32 Angaharas
are defined in Natyashatra. The 13 Nritta Hastas (explained later)
are used to perform nritham. The rythmic
body movements along with hand gestures are called Adavus.
Number of adavus constitute
a Jati. Jati will
generally end with a Muktaya or Teermana.
Different types of Adavus are Thattadavu, Mettadavu ,Natadavu, Kattadavu, Kudittamettadavu , Maiadavu, Mandiadavu, Jati , Nadai and Aradi.
There are 12 adavus in each of the
above explained. Hence 120 adavus exist in total.
Only about 70 - 80 are in practice. The adavus are
more or less Karanas. Hence can be
concluded that there are 108 adavus. The 108 Adavus are carved in the Chidambaram Temple in Tanjore, Tamilnadu, India. To perform an adavu, aramandi, bending
of the knees is very important.
The entire body is divided as Anga, Pratyanga and
Upaanga.
Anga
Head, Hands, Chest, Waist, Bottom, Legs are the Six Angas.
Pratyanga
Shoulders, Arms, Stomach, thighs, Knee are the Six Pratyangas.
Upaanga
Sight, Eyebrow, Eye lids, Eye balls, Cheeks, Nose, Gums, Lower Lip, Teeth,
Tongue, Chin and Face are the 12 Upaangas.
When all Angas (main body parts) coordinate (along
with pratyanga and upaanga)
the artist is said to have Anga shudhi. Anga meaning body parts and shudhi, meaning
faultless. Any dancer should try to attain this flawlessness. The Natyashastra, which talks about all aspects of
Bharatanatyam, quotes slokas to perform all the above movements.
ARANGETRAM
Arangetram is when the first public
performance of Bharatanatyam or Mohinyattam dancer occurs. Arangetram is a Tamil word. It is also called Rangapravesha
in Kannada. Ideally this should be the first public performance of an artist.
After learning bharatanatyam under the guidance of an
accomplished guru, this is the occasion for the Guru to present his/her student
to the public. At least 8 - 10 years of training is necessary to give a good
performance.
Usually duration of an arangetram
will be 1 1/2 - 2 hours. To perform for such long duration one must have good
stamina and concentration. This time is divided into two halves.
In the first half the artists
generally perform Pushpanjali Or
Alaripu, Jatiswaram, Shabdam and Varnam
In the second half the focus is on Padam,
Ashtapadhi, Thillana, and finaly
Manglam