DANCING GODS

               कलावतीं कलापूर्णां कलादात्रीं कलाप्रियाम्।

               कलयामि कलासिद्ध्यै सर्वशुकलां सरस्वतीम्।।

Dance in India is divine.  Its origin in Vedic texts and Epics are abundant.  Lord शिवः in the form of नटराजः, पार्वी His consort, Lord विनायकः and Lordकृष्णः in the form of नटवरलालः are all associated with this Art.  In ancient times, this dance was universal and it was practiced by all sections of society.  In early ages, Sanskrit, followed by Tamil works were the only source of understanding this Art.

BharataNatyam, Kuchupudi, Kathakali, Yakshaganam, Kathak, Odissi etc., are the classical dances of India.

BharataNatyam is the classical style dance of TamilNadu.

Thanjavur, Vazhuvur, PandanaiNallur, KattuMannarKovil and Kanchipuram are the different Paanis or Styles in BharataNatyam.

Thanjavur quadrate – Ponnaiya, Chinnaiya, Vadivelu and Sivanandam formed the Margam which is followed till today in BharataNatyam.

Prince उत्तरः in the महाभारतम्  learnt this Art from बृहन्नला none other thanअर्जुनः who disguised himself incognito.  Particularly the Brahmins from AlwarThirunagari, Melattoor, Soolamangalam and OOthukkaadu temples cultivated this Art.

The traditional history of the dance in India is well known to all.  Sage भरतःthe father of Indian dance and dramatics, once produced a play for pleasing the Devas.  It was later performed before Lord शिवः and पार्वती.  The Lord शिवः pleased with भरतs skill, asked one of His Ganas, ताण्डुः a skilled dancer to instruct the sage भरतः – the principles of His own cosmic dance.  Originally being taught by ताण्डुः, the dance was called ताण्डवम्।  At the same time पार्वती  taught her own dance to उषा – the daughter of बाणःand the wife of अनिरुद्धः, grandson of Lord कृष्णः.  This came to be calledलास्यम् and is used to connote a feminine type of dance.  This can be referred to in the book मालविकाग्निमित्रम्  by कालिदासः  as

देवानामिदमामनन्ति मुनयः कान्तं क्रतुं चाक्षुषं

रुद्रेणेदमुमाकृतव्यतिकरे स्वाङ्गे विभक्तं द्विधा।

त्रैगुण्योद्भवमत्र लोकचरितं नानारसं दृश्यते

नाट्यं भिन्नरुचेर्जनस्य बहुधाप्येकं समाराधनम्।।

The phrase “ नृत्तं गीतं च वादित्रं सङ्गीतकमुदाहृतम् ”  suggests that Musical dance performances consist of three elements viz., Dance, Song and Instrumental music.

योऽयं स्वभावो लोकस्य सुखदुःखमन्वितः।

सोऽङ्गाद्यभिनयोपेतः नाट्यमित्यभिधीयते।।

अभिनयदर्पणम् - One of the Sanskrit rhetoric work states that

कण्ठेनालम्बयेत् गीतं हस्तेनार्थं प्रदर्शयेत्।

चक्षुर्भ्यां दर्शयेत् भावं पादाभ्यां तालमाचरेत्।।

The song should be sustained by the throat, the ideas to be shown by the hands, the feelings by the eyes and the rhythm to be kept by the feet.  Sage भरतः already mentioned that

यतो हस्तस्ततो दृष्टिः यतो दृष्टिस्ततो मनः।

यतो मनस्ततो भावः यतो भावस्ततो रसः।।

Moreover, this is to be noted that

वयोऽनुरूपः प्रथमं तु वेषो वेषानुरूपश्च गतिप्रचारः।

गतिप्रचारानुगतं च पाठ्यं पाठ्यानुरूपोऽभिनयश्च।।

In BharataNatyam, the differences are in the costumes, pleats and that the braid is never brought to the front.

Now some slokas related to नटराजः Lord of Dance.

जयत्वदभ्रविभ्रमभ्रमद्भुजङ्गमश्वसत्-

विनिर्गमत्क्रमस्फुरत्करालभालहव्यवाट्।

धिमिद्धिमिद्धिमिद्ध्वनन्मृदङ्गतुङ्गमङ्गल-

ध्वनिक्रमप्रवर्तितप्रचण्डताण्डवः शिवः।।

This sloka from शिवताण्डवस्तोत्रं by रावणः in praise of of Lord

शिवः where he dances to the beat of Mrdanga which made the sepants restless.

Nataraja usually is found dancing with His left leg up.  But here is an interesting point to be noted that Lord Nataraja is dancing with His right leg up at Madurai.  Let us find out why?

  

                                                                        

Rajasekhara Pandiyan, son of Vikrama Pandiyan who ruled Madurai was a master of 63 of 64 Arts, the one remaining was dancing.  He thought that while Lord Nataraja is ever dancing, how could learn the Art.  Meantime he came to know that KARIKAAL CHOZHA – his counter-part in Chozha Kingdom, was a master of all the 64 arts including dancing.

Pandiyan decided that he too learn this art and experienced the pain of learning dancing.  Happy with his mastery over all the Arts, came to Lordशिवः, seeking His blessing.

Experiencing the pain during the practice of this Art, he thought  how the Lord could endure this pain as He is dancing for ever without any break.  He wondered how the Devas and Rishis never thought of this difficulty of the Lord.  He was hesitant to put this question to Lord when great souls remained mute.

Sivaratri came.  After completing four poojas, Rajasekhara Pandiyan stood before the Lord and spoke with tears.  Oh! Lord! You are dancing on only one leg for long.  Can’t you change the leg for me? If you don’t, I shall plant my sword before you and fall on that and end myself.  So saying he closed his eyes in meditation.  When he opened his eyes, he was excited to see the Lord dancing with His right leg pressing the left on the stage.  Lord couldn’t see His devotee suffering from any reason.  The king sang in praise of the Lord’s response to see his prayers.  He also secured a boon from the Lord that He would stay in Madurai in the same dancing form.

                                             

 Next, a sloka from  gaepaliv<zit> of vedaNtdeizk> who was a vaishnavite Guru.  He describes Lord k&:[> dancing, who went in search of butter in the house of nNd>, with one leg bent and the other dancing to the rhythmic beat of the churning curds.

AaivÉRvTvinÉ&taÉr[< purStat!

AakuiÂtEkcr[< inÉ&taNypadm!,

dXna inmNwmuore[ inbÏtal<

nawSy nNdÉvne nvnItnaq(m!.

He describes the Kaliyanartanam of krshna in his work yadavabhyudaya that

laelapt½r[lIlahit]irthalale inj)[e

n&TyNtmàit"k&Ty< tmàitmmTyNtcaévpu;m!,

devaidiÉSsmysevadrTvirthevak"ae;muorE>

†òabxanmw tuòav zaEirmihiròavraexsiht>.

                   

Lord  k&:[>, the invincible and possessing unpreventable acts; divine and charming was worshiped by the demi-gods with pleasing hymns, was pleaded by Kaaliya whose life was begged by his serpent-wives who cried on behalf of their husband, spitting venom on account of the dance of 

Lord k&:[> on his hoods.  The mere chanting of this sloka seems to be that our tongue itself dances in our mouth.

Now we can see the phrase about the dance of Lord

ivnayk>

                  

iximiŠf iximiŠf va* m&d¼

äüanNdhre gjann !

ta{fvn&Tyhre gjann!

vamnêphre gjann !

All the above said slokas focus on the dancing styles of Lord nqraj>, Lord k&:[> and Lord ivnayk>,  There may be other incidences of other gods and their dancing forms.  But these three were considered as prime.