________________
made little distinction between the secular and the sacred life; the ordinary, everyday life had always been regulated and guided by religious ritual and thought. Thus representation of dance in Indian art and architecture encompassed all aspects of life. "Where artistic, social, and religious life are integral parts of a ritualistic culture", Richard Lannoy writes, "temple art reflects the desire to escape from the anguish of life in time....Efforts to maintain a state of exaltation among the worshippers lead to the glorification of the temple dance as the principal form of the sculptural decoration...Rows of images are portrayed in the poses of the classical dance; the geometry of motion animates all surface decoration with pulsating rhythm. The ecstatic dance of religious possession gives formal shape to the law of internal and unarrested circulation, the life urge, irrepressible as the beating heart, the pounding blood."
Basic to the Indian aesthetic tradition is the close relationship between the visual and the performing arts, particularly dance and drama. The classical dances, Bharatanātyam and Kathākali, have had great influence on sculpture. Not only did the sculptors borrow specific themes from the dancer's repertoire, but the underlying rhythm in Indian sculptural form, as Pal has observed eloquently, is essentially similar to the dancer's rhythm.
Sixteen vidyadharas in the rangamandape in the Lumeve temple. They are playing different musical instruments
