Indian dancing

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF INDIAN DANCING

Shiva’s wife Parvati, the King refrained from inviting his son-inlaw to the feast because he frowned upon Shiva’s habit of associating with gods and demons alike. Parvati, insulted at the omission of her spouse, immolated herself. Shiva, on finding his wife’s cotpse, hung it round his shoulders and performed one of his frenzied dances, giving vent to his intense grief.

It is here interesting to note that Shiva and Parvati are often depicted in ancient sculptures, such as those at Mohanjo Daro and Harappa, as one composite figure, half male and half female, known as the Ardhanariswara-Nataraja. Lord Shiva himself weats a man’s ofnament in one ear and a woman’s ornament in the other, showing that since the beginning of time dancing has been a rite performed by both men and women.

In the Shiva Purana, it is said that Brahma, being dissatisfied with the prajapatis he had assigned to help him in his work of creation, turned to Maheshwara, the God of Illusion, who appeared before him in dual-sex form, on the female half of which Brahma bestowed the responsibility of creation. An ancient s/oka, ot verse, further proves the composite aspect of Shiva and Shakti, or Parvati, by declaring: Suddha spatika sankasam umadardhadbarinam (Pute as crystal and having Parvati as one half of the body). Thus the Ardhanariswara-Nataraja representation proves that dancing is the domain of men and women alike.

Apart from the purely physical manifestation of the dainic urtya there is the urge to dance resulting from emotional impulses. This urge finds an outlet in ritual dances expressing the fervour of the soul, the dance of the hunter inspired by joy of the chase, and other subjects which infuse the blood with wildness and courage. Havelock Ellis rightly maintains: ‘If we ate indifferent to the art of dancing, we have failed to understand not merely the supreme manifestation of physical life, but also the supreme symbol of spiritual life.’

Matter, by its very nature, must dance, for, says Collum, ‘Matter itself, in its “kinds”, is a question of the pattern of the atoms building itup .. . if we think how truly an Indian dance is a question of “patterns” — changing patterns that increasingly melt into one