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A
wind pierced across the twigs of a banyan tree leaving
its leaves in rhythm. A sparrow skipped from its one
babe to the other with its feathers fluttering in
blissfulness. A lily unfolded its petals gently and
slowly and grace and beauty were born. The woods surged
and a chorus burst. The mountain peak melted and the
rivulet - twisting, curving and echoing distant horizons,
danced down onto the earth. And, the moon mounted
the zenith and a translucent mass of silver - bright
and soothing, poured covering the entire creation
from the hilltop to the vale, meadows, fields, lakes,
ponds, rivers and everything. The overwhelmed man
witnessed the moment and his feet moved - forward
and backward, right and left and in circles, and,
in them revealed rhythm, grace and beauty, and unveiled
the mystery of existence for his mortal frame had
dissolved and conscience had merged into the cosmic
conscience. He was now the being beyond him, and in
him the cosmos sought to reveal itself. This divine
magnification of an act of body - the body melting
into the act and in the act the cosmic conscience
transpiring, was the ever first dance on the earth.
In Indian
tradition dance was thus a divine dimension of the
man's act. Unlike other arts, the dance was an unearthly
thing - something born in the mortal frame but possessed
of divine bearing. The dancer, in the process of
dance, sublimated his own self - body, soul and
all faculties, as did a 'tantrika', and united with
the supreme Self - ultimate goal of both - dance
and 'tantra'. It was a position different from other
arts. The dancer, himself being the instrument,
medium and diction of dance, was more intimate with
his theme than was a painter, sculptor or architect
who employed extraneous means and himself only partially.
Besides, dance was a thing beyond the form in which
it revealed, as also beyond what it revealed. It
revealed anger, destruction, or a violent mind,
but it was neither. It revealed love, love's longing,
or infatuation, but it was not dragged away by them.
The anatomy of the dancer wherein dance manifested
was not the anatomy of dance. The dance did not
inseparably merge into its medium, as did mediums
and themes in other arts. The dance was more or
less an abstract vision - a form which was as much
formless, an appearance, as much a 'non-appearance',
something of a spiritual experience which a materially
manifesting vision inspired.
Dance as the Ancient Mind Viewed It
Egyptian prince Rehotep
and his wife Nefert |
The ancient Indian mind hence
had unique reverence for dance - so much that it
conceived its gods as dancers discovering in dance
the accomplishment of their assigned functions,
ranging from creation to annihilation, and the divine
grace - an essential attribute of gods. Such reverence
for dance - for its unearthly divine fervor, mysticism,
stoical bearing, aesthetics, and strength to influence
and inspire, was not seen in art, culture and religious
thought of other early civilizations. Whatever the
perspective it was conceived with, the art of the
early Egypt sculpted a figure as static and formal
- a mummy-type accurate anatomy minus blood in veins.
The sculptures of the Egyptian prince Rehotep and
his wife Nefert, in Egyptian Museum, Cairo, hardly
reveal a feeling of intimacy.
Greek sculptures of the corresponding
era revealed a lot of physicality and dramatic gestures
but the sensuous modeling, which in Indian art a
dance-mode inspired, was completely missing. Roman
sculptures were endowed with some degree of emotionality
and sensuousness, but their flat and graphically
rendered gestures and body-curves revealed theatrical
prosaicness, not dance-like plasticity and modeling.
Even the Greco-Roman phase of Indian art - Gandhara
art and art of Kushanas in particular, lacked in
sensuous modeling which dance infused into the art
of other Indian schools.
Dance in Shaivite Perception
Shiva’s Awesome
Dance |
The Shaivite tradition perceives
the origin of dance in Shiva. In the beginning were
roaring horizons, tempestuous winds, turbulent oceans,
rocking mountains and moving earths. But, then emerged
Shiva - the proto cosmic being, with his little
drum. He played on it and danced and in the beats
of his drum and moves of his feet re-cast unruly
skies and violent waters, and all their cries and
commotion. The unruly sounds were set to syllabic
discipline, and cosmic disorder, to ordered movement.
In the process were evolved rhythm, melody and word
- the steps still held in great reverence by all
forms of Indian classical dances. The tradition
hence acclaims Shiva as both, the first exponent
of dance and the first linguist.
Shiva – The Adi-Nratya
Guru |
The Shaivite cult abounds in
numerous myths of Shiva and his consort Devi performing
dance in their various manifestations. Unlike Vishnu,
Shiva is seen almost as a regular dancer performing
for accomplishing an objective as also for pure
aesthetic delight of his consort and devotees. The
tradition hence reveres him as both, 'Adi-nratya-guru'
- the first teacher of dance, and Natesh or Nataraja
- the king of dance.
The Inseparable Couple |
In him revealed both faces of
dance - 'lasya' and 'tandava', of which all subsequent
dance forms were offshoots. 'Lasya', the dance of
aesthetic delight revealed beauty, grace, love and
all tender aspects of existence. 'Lasya' is the
mode that defined many of Shiva's iconographic forms
- Kalyana-Sundara, Vrashavahana, Yogeshvara, Katyavalambita,
Sukhasanamurti, Vyakhyanamurti, Chinamudra, Anugrahamurti,
and Chandrashekhara.
Cosmic Form of Dancing
Shiva |
'Tandava' - or 'anandatandava',
was the dance of absolute bliss, as after the Great
Age ended and dissolution became imperative, the
Great Shiva, Who alone remained to effect the 're-birth'
of life, danced in absolute bliss over the head
of dissolution. In visual arts dissolution is represented
as Apasmarapurusha, the demon of darkness, which
prevailed after dissolution.
Tripurantaka Shiva |
Sound, which vibrated the space
- the first of the five elements that announced
creation, fire, the symbol of final conflagration
as also of the re-birth of energy - main source
of life, and gestures of re-assurance, fearlessness,
release and liberation accompanied 'anandatandava'
as its organs. It was in 'anandatandava' that the
fivefold activity - creating, maintaining, veiling,
unveiling, and destroying, and the six celestial
'bhavas': 'shrishti' - creation; 'sanhara' - dissolution;
'vidya' - knowledge; 'avidya' - ignorance; 'gati'
- motion; and 'agati' - inertness, revealed. 'Anandatandava',
thus, encompassed entire cosmos and its phenomenal
existence. Shiva resorted to a dance similar to
'anandatandava' when destroying Tripura - three
cities of demons, elephant demon Gaya, demon Andhaka
and when accomplishing Trailokyavijaya - victory
of three worlds.
Kali and the Arrested
Moment |
Devi, Shiva's variously named
consort, is alluded to have performed dance in her
manifestations as Kali - Mahakali or Shamshana-Kali,
and Bhairavi. Devi had many other forms, each representing
a particular 'bhava'. So did ten Mahavidyas and
'Saptamatrikas'. Each of such forms was modeled
using the dance-mode in which its characteristic
'bhava' transpired. Thus, in modeling Devi's other
forms, too, a similar dance-iconography was used.
Vaishnava Myths
Trivikrama: Vishnu
in His Incarnation as Vamana |
Vishnu or his incarnations resorted
to dance only on a few occasions, but despite, he
is revered as the 'Adi-nratya-guru' along with Shiva
and Kali. Vishnu resorted to dance once in his incarnation
as Vamana, when in mere two strides he spanned three
worlds and won for himself Trivikrama - conqueror
of three worlds, or Vishnukrant epithet. As the
tradition goes, the mighty demon-chief Mahabali,
the grandson of the legendary Prahlad, after ousting
gods from Indraloka, was performing 'Vishvajit yajna'
for conquering rest of the three worlds. On a petition
from gods Vishnu incarnated as Vamana - a dwarf
Brahmin, reached where Mahabali was performing 'yajna'
and prayed to him for giving him a piece of land
measuring just three strides. 'How much a dwarf
could cover in three strides?' thought Mahabali
and granted the prayer. But, then Vamana expanded
his form, raised his left leg and in two strides
spanned all three worlds pushing with the third
Mahabali to the nether world.
The Dance of Victory |
Vishnu as Krishna danced once
to subdue venomous serpent chief Kaliya
Rasamandala with a
Difference |
and many times for delighting
'gopis' - Radha in particular.
Vishwamitra - the Hermit |
Vishnu as also his incarnation
Rama or even Parashurama, and his consort Lakshmi
or Rama's consort Sita, were conceived with a monarchical
frame to which dance was alien except for a divine
objective. It was the same with Vaishnavite Indra,
king of gods. Indra, too, did not resort to dance,
though unlike Vishnu, he had at 'Indrasabha' - his
court, numerous dancing nymphs - Urvashi, Menaka
being better known. Besides dancing, these nymphs
were used for seducing opponents. The legend of
Menaka seducing sage Vishvamitra and corrupting
his fifty thousand years long penance is well known.
Jain and Buddhist Lines
Ten-Armed Dancing Avalokiteshvara |
Though dance was an aspect of
worship with devotees and attendants represented
as dancing - both in the self-denying Jainism and
the middle-path-pursuing Buddhism, dance was not
allowed to infuse into the iconography of either
the Buddha or the Jain 'Tirthankaras'. In contrast
to 'Tirthankara' images, Buddha's were conceived
with 'lavanya' - aesthetic beauty coupled with a
celestial 'bhava', but beyond 'lavanya', they revealed
nothing of dance. Subsequently evolved in these
religious orders subordinate deity forms, some of
which were conceived as resorting to dance and others,
with a form in which revealed a dance-mode, manifestations
of Jain deities Saraswati and Amba, and of Buddhist
Tara and Samhara - the Bhairavi-type goddess of
annihilation, being the main. By now, dance was
the core of the entire body of divine art, portrayal
of celestial 'bhava', spiritualism, 'lavanya', elegance,
and grace being in main focus. Now the spirit of
dance permeated, besides various Jain and Buddhist
deities - Lokeshvara and other Bodhisattvas in particular,
Mayadevi - Mother of
Buddha |
also the figures of Maya and
Trishala, the mothers of Buddha and Mahavira.
Dance in Pre-Historic Days
Line Drawing of Dancer
with Bow and Arrow from Bhimbetka |
In India, rock-shelter drawings
reveal the earliest examples of dance. Figure E-19
at the Bhim-Betka rock-shelters, drawing of 'urddhakeshin'
Shiva at Nawda Todo, forms of monkeys at Gupteshvara
and a number of human figures at Pahadgarh, Tikla
and Abachand present evidence of dance being in
prevalence those days.
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