Sacred Dance of India

Author(s): Mrinalini Sarabhai
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Page 20

Usually only selected portions of the plays are performed After the period of training the students give their primary recital Selections from the Balacharitam are chosen for their first performance on the stage An interesting fact in Kudiyattam is that women, not only sang but also took part in the plays They were called 'Nangyars' and belonged to the Nambiar community The Nangyars were experts in music, acting and singing Many of the dance movements, as in the Natya Shāstra, have special names, but the texts for the mudras are the same Hastalakshana Deepka, as is used in Kathakal
After Kudryattam, the intoxicating lyricism of Jayadeva's Gita Govinda swept Malabar This devotional poem with its deepest roots in 'Sringara Bhaktı' originated in Bengal and became a favourite piece in Kerala, a dance of Krishna, Radha and her Sakhi, known as 'Ashtapadıyattam!
It was about AD 1660 that the Zamorin of Kozhikode, Manadevan Raja, wrote eight plays on the life of Krishna, to be performed in his own temples, usually at Guruvāyur
The dancer's make-up is similar to Kathakali, though the chuttr is smaller and used also by women characters Beautiful and awe-inspiring masks are employed frequently One of the loveliest items is the dance of Krishna with the Gopikas and here the transition of the folk dance into the classical form can be clearly visualised Apparently, this dance is akın to the various Kalis of Kerala, the Kolkalı, like the Rās of Gujarat, the Karkottıkalı, danced by women during the Onam festival and the Thiruvadrra. kalı, the maiden's worship to Manmatha, God of Love
Ottam Thullal
Mention here should be made of Ottam Thullal, which is a popular solo dance form in Kerala, borrowing freely from Kathakalz and using it for both, old and new ideas A Thullal dancer, accompanied by two musicians, sings and dances to the audience Beginning in the traditional way with Kathakalı steps and gestures, he recites and acts out entire stories from ancient epics, usually written by the famous poet and satırıst, Kunjan Nambiar, and often inserts topical subjects to enliven the recital
There is, as we have seen, in Kerala an essential continuity of the dance pattern, beginning as ritualistic and slowly developing into an art form Yet, throughout its quest for essential style, the dance remained a religious manifestation, opening up vistas in human thought and meaning The entire search was, and is, for the discovery of the meaningful in human existence and the identification of man and God Never has man in the Eastern world, especially in India, been completely alienated from the world of the Puranas Knowledge can be perpetuated in many ways and as Polanyi says, "The shaping of knowledge is achieved by pouring ourselves into new forms of existence" The dance in India, from the earliest times, was a vehicle through which man, at first fearful of God, soon became the instrument of God, endowed with divine power, though still groping the way towards truth
In Kerala the stage was set for a dance-drama of more sublime intensity, less primitive, and yet stimulating the mind and the senses
There was a certain exclusiveness about Krshnattam, for there was only one company and that belonged to the Zamorin The performances were