| Dances Of India - An Encounter With Reality Through Dance - Chapter [I] |
| By : Ajit Hari Sahu | Previous | Next |
| Posted on : 29 Aug, 2005 | Total Views : 313 |
Man's soul urges and inner-drives expressed in rhythmic body movements constitute an art form, and it is called Dance. Rhythm and movement are basic to all creation and existence. Men, birds and beasts, plants, the earth, the planets and the stars, all are engaged in a ceaseless cosmic dance-recital, as it were. Rhythm and movement is life, and its cessation stagnation, decay and death. Dance symbolizes both evolution and involution. Recent researches have revealed that distant galaxies are dancing away from us at an immense speed, some of them at a rate of 90,000 miles per second. But dancing as an art form finds its best and continuous expression in man, whom God has created after himself. Man is destined to dance his way to higher and still higher levels of consciousness and evolution till he achieves fullness and perfect fulfillment. Fullness is a state of being when one does not see another, or hear another, or know another. This is a state which dance, nay all fine arts help man to attain.
The universal but unique phenomenon known as dance springs from man's innermost creative impulses, religious urges, emotions and sensibilities. The aesthetic foundations of this Indian art form are laid on the rock foundations of spiritual sadhana or rigorous discipline leading to moksha or liberation, however fleeting and momentary in the beginning. Aesthetics as a branch of philosophy enquires into the ultimate cause and source of dance and its emotional content and significance as a ting of beauty and joy forever. In the words of C.E.M. (Joad, "Philosophy is not concerned with phenomena, but with their meaning; not with facts, but with values; not with what is, but with what ought to be; not with facts, but with values; not with ends." Thus, it is concerned with beauty in art, its experience and expression and values. Dance, manifested through rhythmic movements, is sensuous, but the experience of ananda (bliss) in it is transcendental and spiritual. In Indian aesthetics rasa (mood or flavour), as the cause of ananda (bliss), is central and fundamental. It is also the essence of beauty and harmony. The ultimate Reality, or Brahman, both in its impersonal and personal aspects, is Sachchidananda (Sat, Chit and Ananda), that is, he is Existence-Consciousness-Bliss absolute. Ananda (bliss) and rasa (sentiment) are two aspects of the same Reality. Therefore, God is rasa as well. Brahman is the ultimate cause of all manifestation. Reality can manifest itself in diverse shapes and forms of various splendour, beauty and grandeur, and yet remain the same. The different manifestations of the Divine are real but they cannot exist without the prior existence of That. Art forms may be different, but they all converge on the point of rasa. It is He who manifests himself in and through all art forms, each being reflecting a portion of his splendour, are fixed like spokes in a wheel or like branches around a trunk of a tree. He is there in everything artistic and beautiful, but more so in one than another in proportion to the manifestation of his glories and divinity. The greater the expression of divinity in a given piece of art, the richer the experience of bliss and sublimity. That is why a particular dance recital may be found equal, superior or inferior to the other.
The aesthetic theory of rasa is common to all Indian classical arts. Indian wisdom has underlined in no uncertain terms time and again that rasa- experience evoked through various arts is essentially transcendental. The artists experience it in their creation, and others as audience or spectators. Both are participants in the same sadhana; both share and enjoy the same experience. Dance is not merely for entertainment. Its delight is of higher order and serves to attain the yogic state when restlessness of the senses and the mind ceases and veils of duality are torn asunder leading to identification of the knower with the self of Atman. The aim of all art is that which liberates. According to Acharya Shankara real art is that which librates. The aim of all art in India has ever been liberation and the growth of righteousness in man through beauty and delight. And in the ultimate analysis God is the only source of beauty, bliss and beautitude. That is why different art forms are at their best when they express His glory. God is indeed essence (bliss) and getting that essence all become happy. "All these beings come from Bliss, after birth they live through Bliss, and they move towards and enter into Bliss". (Taittiriya, Samhita, 1.3.28). An enjoyer of dance or any other art form is a sahridaya i.e. an intelligent, good-hearted responsive and receptive man, full of feelings. He is a rasika full of aesthetic sensibilities and is possessed with receptive mind and heart. He virtually seeks refuge in Him through dance, etc.
The constituent elements of the state of rasa or bliss are- vibhava (cause of emotion), anubhava (effect of emotion) and sanchari or vyabhichari bhava (subordinate emotions). These in proper combination transform the sthayi bhava (primary emotion) into rasa or bliss. Sthayi bhava are corresponding to the nine rasas or sentiments; sringar (love), vira (heroism), bibhitsa (disgust), raudra (anger), hasya (mirth), bhayankara (terror), karuna (pity), adbhuta (wonder), shanta (tranquility) and vatsalya (parental fondling).
In regard to the evocation of rasa in the context of dancing Nandikeshvara observes, "Having made the prayers, etc., the dancing may begin. The song should be sustained in the throat; its meaning must be shown by the hands; the mood (bhava) must be shown by the glances; rhythm (tala) is marked by the feet. For wherever the hands moves, there the glances follow; where the glances go, the mind follows; where the mind goes, the mood follows; where the mood goes, there is the flavour (rasa)". The enjoyment of rasa, in its universalized state with the help of dance, liberates a person, however, temporarily from the bonds of "I-ness" and "My-ness". This state signifies release from the slavery of senses and mind, a state of bliss and peace and liberation from the limitations of phenomenal world. It is a state of complete identification and yet a perfect neutrality. The spectators or audience enjoy the given rasa through identification and yet remain simply detached observers and witnesses. It is characterized by the intimate co-participation of the dancer and the audience.
Patanjali, the celebrated grammarian and the profounder of the Yoga Philosophy, has defined yoga as the "Chittavrittinirodh" or restraint of the fluctuations and modifications of the mind. And the art of Indian dancing helps to attain and maintain this stage so that there is communion between the individual soul and the Universal soul. It may be underlined that the yogic state is a state of forgetfulness and surrender of body, mind and soul to the will of Supreme Being. It subdues the senses, stills the mind, burns the samkaras and thereby imparts an inexpressible equipoise. The balance and harmony so acquired help the spirit to soar higher and higher, above the reach of illusions and duality, in the realm of perfect bliss, rest and fulfillment: "When the five organs of perfection still together with the mind, when the reason do not function this they aver to be the highest state. This they deem to be yoga-the steady concentration of the senses. Man then becomes pure attention for yoga is both origin and extinction."
Kathopanishad, VI, 10-11.
In the words of Ananda Coomaraswamy, "It will be seen that in all cases the dance is felt to fulfill a higher end than that of mere entertainment; it is ethically justified upon the ground that it sub serves the Four Ends of life, and this view of Natya's is plainly stated in Triuvenkatachari's preface. The arts are not for our instruction, but for our delight, and this delight is something more than pleasure, it is the godlike ecstasy of liberation from the restless activity of the mind and the senses, which are the veils of all reality, transparent only when we are at peace with ourselves. From the love of many things we are led to experience of Union; and for this reason Tiruvenkatachari does not hesitate to compare the actor's or dancer's art with the practice of Yoga. The secret of all art is self-forgetfulness."
Bharata Muni's Natyashastra is the earliest extant monumental document and treatise on Indian Dance. Here the subject is delineated in great detail in the context of Indian Drama. Natyashastra or the Science of Dramaturgy is a great and comprehensive work on the science and technique of Indian drama, dance and music. Giving the divine origin of drama and allied art, Bharata Muni says that Brahma the Creator, the first of the Hindu Triad was requested by Indra and other gods to create a pastime for their pleasure and delight. Brahma pondered over the matter, went into a trance and created drama, a pastime worthy of Indra and other celestial beings. He took pathya (words) from the Rigveda, abhinaya (gesture) from the Yajurveda, geet (music and chant) from the Atharvaveda. Brahma synthesized these four elements into the Natya or the fifth Veda. Vishvakarma, the 'omnificent' then erected a splendid stage and a theatre hall, and the gods and apsaras, the voluptuous celestial dancing girls staged the first drama. The apsaras were born at the Churning of the Ocean. Incidentally, the first play created and staged was "Amrita Manthan" or the Churning of the Ocean.
The divine origin of dance, drama, etc. may not be taken literally, but symbolically it signifies that these art forms were held in great respect from the very beginning of Hindu civilization, and formed an integral part of Hindu religious, devotional and exercise and this gave rise to the office and institution of the Devadasis or temple dancing girls. In those early centuries, the Devadasis were held in great reverence, and their main duty was to sing and dance before the temple deity. The Devadasis were accomplished artists; they could sing, dance, play on various musical instruments and read and interpret religious texts with a touch of perfection.
The Devadasis (maids of the God) were actually ceremonially married to the Deity of temple. And it was first and foremost duty of such a woman, as a wife and maid to serve her lord God in all respects. They offered their dance and song as a prayer and oblation at his feet. They served him, entertained him, danced and sang for him, as a wedded bride would do for her groom and husband. In ancient times in South India there were temples and temples thronged with Devadasis, pious, refined, cultured, skilled in various arts and held in high respect. They danced and sang as if possessed, and the audience was transported to a very high plane of consciousness and ecstasy.
Dancing being an expression of devotional life, every dance recital is still begun with a prayer and mangalachar (repeating a prayer for success). Abhinaya Darpana of Nandikeshvara categorically state that dancing is vulgar in which the actress does not begin with a prayer", and those who look upon the dancing of such a vulgar actress will have no children, and will be reborn in animal wombs".
Indian classical dance was born and nurtured in the temple, and then a few centuries later it reached the royal courts. It took a few more centuries to reach the public platform. In its secular form it can still be seen in the nautch performed among the Hindus on many an auspicious occasion. Conceived in dim and hoary past, the Indian dance forms have come a long way traveling from the ancient temples and shrines to the public stage through the feudal courts. Thus, all Indian classical dances have their roots deep down in the religious urges. That is why thematically they depend almost completely on the rich mythological tales of the Hindus.
Dance represents a beautiful synthesis of many other art forms. Different arts, independent in their own way, actually have a common ground of the same blissful aesthetic experience. This aesthetic thread of rasa or bliss is the basic concept, which runs through and combines all art forms into one manifestation and experience of the beautiful and blissful. Thus, they play the dual role of beneficiary and benefactors to one another, and in the process enrich others and are enriched themselves. The artist (dancer) and the spectator share this common bliss and ecstatic experience. The spectators should be well oriented and cultivated to enjoy a given dance recital, or they would remain outsider to this experience of joy and ecstasy. Indian classical dance pre-supposes a dancer and an audience both well oriented, initiated and cultivated so as to be possessed of the same aesthetic rapport between the two. It is a kind of participation in an inner spiritual vision and enlightenment. This common sharing transforms a dance recital into holy ritual, a spiritual interaction or communication.
It has been rightly observed that in Indian classical dances there is no amateur but all are professionals. A dancer has to undergo a continuous long and arduous conventional training and practice for years together before he or she can come before the spectators. It makes Indian dances impersonal and traditional. The dance movements, the rhythms and accompanying music all remain the same whoever the dancer might be. There is nothing left to chance or improvisation. There is hardly any room for personal emotions, feelings and sentiments. The same dance patterns are followed which have been evolved by maestros of the art during the past centuries. A dance recital must strictly conform to the age old and well established art traditions. That is why it presupposes a receptive viewer, a responsive audience, an audience well initiated in the techniques of the art. In the words of Ananda Coomaraswamy, "the exhibition of his art is altogether independent of his emotional condition, and if he is moved by what he represents he is moved as a spectator. Excellent acting wears the perfect air of spontaneity, but that is the art which conceals art".
The rasa realized and experienced both by the performer and the viewer remains the same impersonal and objective entity. It is an art concealing art, totally impersonal, objective, traditional, deliberate, and elaborate in technique and appeal. It breaks a new ground of perception; opens entirely a new vision of Reality. We all as human beings desire deeply to be released from the prison of our ego, to experience that state of being which is blissful, the condition of oneness and togetherness with the Universal Spirit. Dance recitals help us to regain that lost heaven of unity and oneness. All aesthetic experiences arising out of dance, drama, music, poetry, etc. form the return pathway. To borrow a metaphor from poet Shelley, life is a dome of many colored glasses that stains the white radiance of Eternity. And dance removes this stain and reverses this fragmentation of many colored glasses. It is indeed an encounter and ensuing possible unity with the Reality. Such are the doctrinal and philosophical frontiers of dance according to ancient Indian wisdom.
