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History Of Bharatanatyam Dance4/26/2021
Iyer who became involved with the Bharatanatyam revival movement was incarcerated on charges of nationalism and imprisoned.Theoretical base of this form traces back to Natya Shastra, the ancient Sanskrit Hindu text on the performing arts.A form of illustrative anecdote of Hindu religious themes and spiritual ideas emoted by dancer with excellent footwork and impressive gestures its performance repertoire includes nrita, nritya and natya.It also continues to inspire several art forms including paintings and sculptures starting from the spectacular 6th to 9th century CE temple sculptures.
Thus, traditionally the word refers to a dance form where bhava, raga and tala are expressed. The theoretical base of this dance form, which is also referred as Sadir, trace back to ancient Indian theatrologist and musicologist, Bharata Munis Sanskrit Hindu text on the performing arts called Natya Shastra. According to legends Lord Brahma revealed Bharatanatyam to the sage Bharata who then encoded this holy dance form in Natya Shastra. The text that consists of thousands of verses structured in different chapters divides dance in two specific forms, namely nrita that is pure dance comprising of finesse of hand movements and gestures, and nritya that is solo expressive dance that comprises of expressions. According to Russian scholar Natalia Lidova, Natya Shastra elucidates several theories of Indian classical dances including that of Tandava dance, standing postures, basic steps, bhava, rasa, methods of acting and gestures. The Shiva temple of Kanchipuram that is decorated with carvings dating back to a period between 6th to 9th centuries CE manifests the development of this dance form by around the mid first millennium CE. Many ancient Hindu temples are embellished with sculptures of Lord Shiva in Bharatanatyam dance poses. The eastern gopuram of the 12th century Thillai Natarajar Temple, Chidambaram, of Tamil Nadu dedicated to Lord Shiva bears sculptures depicting 108 poses of Bharatanatyam, referred as karanas in Natya Shastra, that are intricately carved in small rectangular panels. The 18 arms of the Shiva sculpture expresses mudras or hand gestures that are part of Bharatanatyam. According to some sources the Devadasi culture dating back to 300 BCE to 300 CE evolved under the auspices of the royals that saw the temple dancers called Devadasis, who were dedicated to serve the Lord as dasis or servants, performing the dance form. Eventually the Devadasi culture became an integral part of rituals in South Indian temples. Although ancient texts and sculptures indicate existence of such culture and presence of dancing girls as also exclusive quarters for women in temple compound, there is no concrete evidence either archaeological or text-based that can manifest the Devadasis as prostitutes or courtesans as accused by some colonial Indologists. After analysing evidences, Davesh Soneji, a historian on performance arts and an expert on Bharatanatyam, concluded that courtesan dancing phenomenon commenced during the Nayaka period of Tamil Nadu sometime around late 16th or 17th century. Such developments saw decline of various classical dance forms which were subjected to contemptuous fun and discouragement including Bharatanatyam that through the 19th century remained exclusive to Hindu temples. Eventually social and economic conditions associated with Devadasi culture added with contempt and despicable attitude from the Christian missionaries and British officials, who held the Devadasis of South India and nautch girls of North India as harlots, disgraced such systems. Furthermore the Christian missionaries launched anti-dance movement in 1892 to stop such practice. The Madras Presidency under the British colonial government banned the custom of dancing in Hindu temples in 1910 and with this the age-old tradition of performing Bharatanatyam in Hindu temples also came to an end. The Tamilians were worried that such a rich and ancient custom of Hindu temple dancing was getting persecuted on the pretext of social reform. Many classical art revivalists like Indian lawyer, freedom-fighter, activist and classical artist E.
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