Indian dancing

INDIAN DANCING

NRTYA: AN ANALYSIS

Let us examine the three chief features of mrtya: 1. The Sattwik abbinaya (astral plane). 2. The Angik abbinaya (divine plane). 3. The Abharyya abhinaya (visual plane).

1. Satiwik Abhinaya

Sprung from the Atharva Veda, or Book of Witchcraft, the Sattwik abbinaya consists of two elements complementary to each other: (a) Rasa, or emotional flavour; (b) Bhava, or a mood to suit a patticular emotion.

RASAS: The primary and most important requirement of #rtya (and of natya too) is rasa, which may be interpreted as emotional flavour ot sentiment. The artist must seek to arouse this ecstasy in the spectators so that his emotions and theirs may fuse and become attuned to the spirit of the drama. However, this ‘oneness’, as we may term it, can be achieved only if the audience itself is keyed to the same pitch as the player. Hence it is laid down that the spectator himself must be vasa-conscious, having a knowledge and understanding of the philosophy of the Hindu Pantheon wherein all gods and all creation ate part of the Divine Essence — in other words, one with the Creator. Rasa, or emotional fusion of the artist and the audience, is compatable with Brahmananda, or Oneness with Brahma the Supreme.

The arousing of rasa is described in Nandikeshwara’s Abbizaya Darpanam as follows: ‘Where the hands go, the eyes follow; where go the eyes, there the mind; where the mind is, there is feeling; where there is feeling, there is mood, or bhava.’ Translated into simpler terms, this means that the arabesques and gestures of the dancer’s hands hold the gaze of the spectators whose minds, being cattied away by the lively gesture play, become exalted to a mood of rapture.

BHAVAS: While rasa is the primaty feature of rtya, bhava is the secondary and complementary feature. The main difference between the two is that while rasa depends purely on imaginative trans-