Bharatanatyam

Bharatanatyam (also known as sadir, chinna melam, dasi attam, and bharata natyam; pronounced bar-uht-not-tee-um) is a form of Indian classical dance from Tamil Nadu that is traditionally performed by women. It is characterized by expressive hand movements, detailed posing, and a stiff upper back. The name Bharatanatyam is the synthesis of two words: natyam, which means "dance" in both Sanskrit and Tamil, and bharata, which is itself a mnemonic word formed from the sounds bha, ra, and ta. These three syllables are placeholders for the words bhava ("emotion"), raga ("melody"), and tala("rhythm"), which are regarded as the essential components of the dance. Bharata is also an ancient name for India itself, so that Bharatanatyam can simply mean "Indian dance."

It has strong associations with the Hindu religion and was formerly performed almost exclusively by a class of women called devadasis (meaning "servants of the divine"). These women were selected as young girls to become "wives" to temple deities so that they might dedicate their lives to the service of their particular god. Part of their duties required them to learn traditional Indian arts, including music and dances like the Bharatanatyam, which was primarily called the sadir when performed by devadasis. The sadir was used to teach Hindu scripture. The devadasi tradition was banned under British colonial rule due to concerns that it supported the degradation of women. With the outlawing of this tradition, Bharatanatyam dance fell into great decline. However, as Indian nationalism grew in the period before Indian independence in 1947, the country underwent a cultural renaissance in which the Bharatanatyam became a mainstream art form performed by women outside Hindu temples.

Brief History

Bharatanatyam is regarded as one of the oldest dance forms in the world. Its origins date back to the publication of a Sanskrit Hindu text on the performing arts called Natya Shastra. Its author was an ancient scholar named Bharata Muni (whose name had no impact on the etymology of the Bharatanatyam dance), who wrote the Natya Shastra between 200 Before the Common Era (BCE) and 200 Common Era (CE), although these dates are debated. This work is equal parts encyclopedia, story, academic treatise on the staging of arts, and poetry. One aspect relates to an epic myth in which a collection of celestial dancers called the apsaras and musicians known as the Gandharvas used a sacred art to defeat demons. The dance used by the apsaras was then given to humanity as the Bharatanatyam dance.

Depictions of this dance may be found in a variety of sources, including temple carvings, epic stories, and sculptures. By the seventeenth century, the Bharatanatyam had become linked to aristocrats of the Maratha and Vijayanagar empires, who became major patrons of devadasis. Under their oversight, many of the contemporary aesthetics of the Bharatanatyam dance became fixed. The decline of these empires in the nineteenth left many devadasis scrambling for sources of patronage, and with their waning fortunes, fewer women were classically trained as Bharatanatyam dancers.

The relationship of the devadasis to the temple leaders remains a point of controversy in India. Young girls were married to a temple in the pottukattu ceremony. Upon becoming a devadasi, these girls occasionally became the sexual partners of temple patrons. On the one hand, these women often maintained a high social status that did not require them to perform the traditional domestic duties of legal wives. However, they did not gain the legal rights of wives.

In the late nineteenth century, the British colonial authorities viewed devadasis with growing distaste. They perceived such cultural artifacts as the devadasi system as a form of institutionalized prostitution and the Bharatanatyam dance as a relic of backward superstition. In particular, Christian missionaries viewed devadasis as courtesans and campaigned to have such institutions banned. Due to the efforts of the missionaries, the British colonial leadership, and female activists such as Muthulakshmi Reddy, the devadasi system was abolished in 1947. These efforts led to the disestablishment of devadasis, who had few other real-world skills and often fell into poverty.

The Bharatanatyam saw a revival in the late 1930s thanks to the efforts of such figures as Rukmini Devi Arundale, Balasaraswati, and E. Krishna Iyer. The dance subsequently officially became known as Bharatanatyam and largely moved from the realm of the devadasi class to higher social castes.

Overview

In its initial incarnation, the Bharatanatyam dance was intended to be a physical expression of a devadasi dancer's devotion to a particular deity. The dance further served as a formal method of daily worship called puja. When performed at religious ceremonies, rites of passage, or other ceremonial occasions, it was intended to link the viewer, the dancer, and the divine together into a shared spirit of exaltation that is known as rasa.

Bharatanatyam is intended to be a fusion of two important components of Indian dance called nritta and nritya. Nritta is described as a pure technical form of dance that is both fast and rhythmic but lacks the expressive and interpretive components of nritya. Nritta is intended to engage the senses of the audience into the performance, while the nritya spreads the dancer's intended message through gestures and motions that engross the spirit and emotion of the viewer. Sometimes Bharatanatyam incorporates a third element called natya that is primarily used in group dances and requires the dancer to use body movements akin to dance-acting.

The strength of a dancer's abhinaya ("acting") conveys the dance's meaning. The traditional Bharatanatyam dance uses six different sections (called margam, meaning "path") that are performed in the same sequence every time. These are called, respectively, alarippu, jatiswaram, shabdam, varnam, padam, and thillana. Each aspect uses different movements and is designed to help build the dance into a rhythmic and symbolic pitch.

The two most crucial elements are the karana and mudras movements. The karanas are the transitional poses between the various movements of the dance. More than one hundred different karana poses exist that are based upon Hindu sculptures, such as those found in the Thillai Nataraja Temple. The mudras are used to express meaning and language throughout the performance.

These dances are accompanied by traditional Carnatic music native to southern India. Bharatanatyam evolved alongside this type of music as a means of communicating religious ideas. The Bharatanatyam musical accompaniment consists of a singer called a nattuvanar who recites the required poetic text (sahitya), nattuvangam cymbal players, mridangam drum players, and oftentimes a violinist, veena player, and flutist.

The traditional costume for a Bharatanatyam dancer is intended to resemble a Tamil Hindu wedding dress. The colorful sari dress reaches to the dancer's ankles, while the front of the dress is pleated in a semicircular shape.

In the twenty-first century, Bharatanatyam is practiced by all genders, and the dance has become popular in some areas outside India as well. Contemporary Bharatanatyam maintains its traditional roots but often references contemporary themes.

Bibliography

“Bharatanatyam.” Akademi, www.akademi.co.uk/bharatanatyam/. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

"Bharatanatyam." Cultural India, www.culturalindia.net/indian-dance/classical/bharatnatyam.html. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

"Bharathanatyam – Classical Indian Dance Forms." World Dance Heritage, www.worlddanceheritage.org/bharathanatyam. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

Kar, Paromita. "Modernity, Post-modernity, and the Paradigmatic Mudra: Corporeal Negotiations in the Works of Toronto's Contemporary Bharatanatyam Choreographers." Geographies of Dance: Body, Movement, and Corporeal Negotiations, edited by Adam M. Pine and Olaf Kuhlke, Lexington Books, 2014, pp. 1–19.

Katrak, Ketu H. "Contested Histories: 'Revivals' of Classical Dance and Early Pioneers of Contemporary Indian Dance." Contemporary Indian Dance: New Creative Choreography in India and the Diaspora. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, pp. 26–54.

Katrak, Ketu H. "Innovations in Contemporary Indian Dance: From Religious and Mythological Roots in Classical Bharatanatyam." Religion Compass, vol. 7, no. 2, 2013, pp. 47–58.

Kothari, Sunil. Bharata Natyam. Marg Publications, 2000.

Soneji, Davesh. Bharatanatyam: A Reader. OUP India, 2012.