MRINALINI V. SARABHAI
T
he temple in ancient India was the centre of all cultural activities. Temple-building was in itself an act of devotion.The sage Markandeya tells us that ‘to build a temple is meritorious, so is the making of an image or deity. Valuable indeed is the worship of a divine image and so is its adoration.’
The drama, narya, which included dance, was created by Brahma himself, to teach a way of life to the entire universe. ‘There is no wisdom nor art nor craft, no device, no action that is not found in drama.’ It was but natural that this art was presented from the earliest times in the sacred precincts of the temple, for it was not mere entertainment, but education. In fact, the temple became the home of all theatre and soon dance and drama were part of the ritual worship. Dance was to please the gods and it is said that the gods, were more pleased by dancing than by flowers and other offerings. Every temple had its own Rangamandapam, which was used on all auspicious occasions.
When the great temple of Puri was being built, the Raja, Indradyumna, sent a special invitation to Brahma to inaugurate the temple. With Brahma came many of the deities and the celestial dancers, Urvasi and Rambha.
With the installation of Sri Jagannatha, Balabhadra and Subhadra, who Were carried in three beautiful chariots, musicians sang, while the apsara women danced. Dancers
in the temple of Puri trace their heritage to these two heavenly dancers who brought the dance to earth. The dancers were called ‘Maharishi’ and the tradition was that when the food was offered to God, the dancer and her pakhwaj player were the only ones to be present with the Rajaguru who represented the Raja himself.
The Devadasi system extended all over India. While in Puri they danced Jayadeva’s Geetha Govinda, their sisters in the South danced to the Lord Shiva, Nataraja, the God of dance. The devadasis of South India, were the custodians of the rituals within the shrine and also when the deity was taken out in procession. The dasis or hand-maidens of god had different functions. In front of the dwajasthamba of the temple, danced the Rajadasis. Then, there were ‘swadasis’ who performed on special religious days as, for instance, when
the Kumbhabhisheka was performed.
Sacred duties of fanning or decorating god, lighting the Kumbharati etc., were done by dasis called ‘adukala mahal’, ‘Deva Kannigayar’ and ‘nataka mahal’, while the devadasis performed regularly in the temple’s dance sabha, for the people.
Their dance told the stories of god and the mood was primarily that of devotion, worship through bhakti. All through the South, the devadasis danced and the earliest literature tells us of the patronage of kings to the art and their endowments to the families who belonged to the temple.
The temple was the focus of all the performing arts and continued to be so for many centuries. In Kerala, the dance took another form, in the Krishnanattam and the Kathakali.
Here the dancers are usually all males and the stories are enacted as dance-dramas.
Taken from India’s sacred epics, the backdrop is still the eternal truth of God.
From the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Puranas, the triumph of good over evil is vividly depicted and the stories of Krishna are danced regularly in the temple of Guruvayur.
People taking vows to obtain grace from god, offer a Kathakali performance to god, in the temple court-yard. The ornamen-tation of the Kathakali dancer, the colours of the face with its division of satvic, rajasic and tamasic elements, makes him one with the character and transforms the spectator into a devotee who sees the play of the world before his eyes. Here are the great heroes, the Pandavas, the compassionate Krishna, the gentle Sita and the great Prince Rama. The audience sees a world of fantasy, but beneath this spectacular dance drama, they are taught the true wisdom of Hindu philosophy. Indeed, the dance is a ritual, essential to create a contact between man and divinity.
In Andhra, in the village of Kuchipudi, families of Brahmins studied and enacted dance-dramas. Each temple had a balipitha, which was a large, well-polished slab of stone placed behind the Nandi which faced the interior of the temple. Upon this, on festive occasions, the devadasis danced. The Kuchipudi Brahmins, the Bhagavatars, entertained audiences with
‘total theatre’, dance-dramas, with stories from the Puranas, in the temples and also outside in village squares.
The great wave of Vaishnavism swept the country from the twelfth century and dance-dramas composed from the Bhagawata became immensely popular.
Religious fervour caught fire through
dance.
It was not strange therefore, that these plays were composed by great rishis.
Siddhendra Yogi, wrote the most popular Kuchipudi drama, the Bhama-Kalapam (Parijatapaharana). It is said he requested all families in Kuchipudi to dedicate one of their sons to the art of the dance and especially to enact the part of Satyabhama, the swadinapatika nayika, whose love of Krishna, depicted all the varying moods of the rasa and bhavas of the classical tradition.
After the destruction of the great empire of Vijayanagar, many of the families of Bhagavatars sought refuge with the Naik Kings of Tanjore and it was at Melattur village that they settled to perpetuate the art. The patterns of worship in the beginning of the play are still followed in the dance-dramas of today. The todaya mangalam is the initial prayer and the Ganesa vandana destroys all obstructions.
Enacted before the temple, the dancers dedicate their performance to god. Each article is also blessed. For instance, if the dance-drama is Prahalada-charita, the mask of Narasimha is placed near the image in the temple the whole day. The actor also fasts on the day of the performance to enable him to realise the role he is to play.
Before Narasimha’s entrance, the mask is brought out and certain rituals performed.
When the actor actually dons the mask, so powerful has been his devotion and concentration that he becomes wild and frenzied while dancing and often goes into a trance which only leaves him when the mask is removed.
The Yakshagana of Karnataka, similar in content to the dance-dramas of Kerala and
Andhra Pradesh, has several groups attached to the temples. Here too, as in Kathakali, the actors wear enormous crowns, the facial make-up is intricate and suggestive of the characteristics of the role. Costumes too are intricate and particular colours are used for romantic or demoniac characters.
Every dance-form had its origin in the temple and dance performances were offered as vows to the deity by people in times of calamities. Kings also patronised the dance and it was taken to courts.
In Malavikagnimitram we read of a competition in the King’s Court. So too, in the heavenly court of Indra, where Urvasi the celestial nymph, danced.
But it was not merely the temple precincts that were important. It was and is the spirit of the dance that is the dynamism of its form. And the spirit is that of dedication to the Supreme. The temple is wherever the dancer dances! As a prayer that sends its subtle essence into the cosmos through the invisible barriers of sound, so does the dance make sacred the ground upon which it is performed.
Through the centuries, our country has been invaded and ravaged and new cultures have poured in. But India has always absorbed change and made it her own. Yet throughout has been the eternal theme of man’s search for the eternal and as the Natya Sastra says, ‘One who performs well the art of dance created by Maheshwara will go liberated, to the abode of God.’