Indian dancing

BHARATA NATYAM

THE term Bharata Natyam, in its restricted sense, applies to the dance technique evolved in the South of India and practised in the temples of Shiva. It is a highly specialized science with a traditional background and rigid codes and conventions. For many centuries it has been performed only by certain peasant families in the district of Tanjore, these inheritors of the craft being known as nattwans.

Until recently the chief exponents of Bharata Natyam were devadasis, ot temple girls, specifically dedicated to the task of dancing for the gods. The temple dancer, acquiring her professional knowledge from het nattwan, often forms with him a life-long alliance seldom broken by either party. The institution of the devadasi and her offering of prayer through the dance medium has its roots in religion, as is clear from the nature of the vocation. In time, however, Bharata Natyam came under royal patronage and the profession of the devadasi degenerated, more or less, into harlotry. This reflected unfavourably on the temple dancer’s art, causing it to be looked down upon and outlawed even from the marriage pandal (canopy or tent) where it had lingered on.

Fortunately, Bharata Natyam is to-day being slowly restored to its former position. It stands in the forefront of all the classical dance arts now prevalent in India, owing to its religious origin and its highly developed technique. It is, moreover, the form of dance most akin to the code compiled by the Sage Bharata Muni in his famous Natya Shastra, from which soutce it derives its name.

Bharata Natyam skilfully embodies the three primary ingredients of dancing — bhava, or mood, raga, or music and melody, and #a/z, or timing. All its movements, gestures, and flexions are rigidly stylized. It is a proud art, for it boasts of deriving its sandav, or virile aspects, from Tandu, who taught them, at Shiva’s behest, to Bharata, and its /asya, or softer movements from Shiva’s consort Parvati who