About the Theme

India is a land of culture, literature, music and dance from time immemorial. In fact, India has such a large treasure trove of the arts that it is quite difficult to pick and choose as each have a vast history of their own. Every year, we have depicted different themes in our Referencer. This year, we have narrowed down to focus on the Indian art form of classical dance.

India has a great number of different styles of dance forms from simple folk dances to choreographies of mythological stories. However, all Indian classical dance forms have one thing in common, they all have their roots in the Natya Shastra.

The Natya Shastra is the oldest surviving text on performing arts and stagecraft in the world. It was composed by Bharata Muni in the ancient past but nobody is sure of the timeline of this composition. However, the roots of the text extend at least as far back as the Natasutras, dated to around the mid-1st millennium BCE. This book has an outstanding collection about the theories of dance and music, comprising 36 chapters with a cumulative total of 6000 poetic verses describing various performing arts including dramatic composition, structure of a play, the construction of a stage to host it, genres of acting, body movements, make up and costumes, role and goals of an art director, the musical scales, musical instruments and the integration of music with art performance.

From the descriptions given, it is abundantly clear that Indian dance had already attained great artistic excellence, even before the creation of this Shastra.

India’s premier arts institution, the Sangeet Natak Akademi recognizes eight different forms of classical dance in India which are Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kathakali, Odissi, Manipuri, Kuchipudi, Mohiniyattam and Sattriya. Six of these dance forms are featured elsewhere in this Referencer and two of them are featured here. These two being:

Mohiniyattam: Literally interpreted as the dance of ‘Mohini’, the celestial enchantress of Hindu mythology, it is a classical solo dance form of Kerala. According to a Puranic story, Lord Vishnu took on the guise of a ‘Mohini’ to seduce the Asuras, both in connection with churning of the ocean and the episode of the slaying of Bhasmasura. While mention of Mohiniyattam is found in the 16th-century legal text Vyavaharamala, it is likely that the dance is older. The dance form is considered to be a feminine expression of love (maternal and devotional), with elaborate costuming, soft facial expressions and feminine hand mudras that emote a story through dance and is therefore ideally suited for performance by women.

Kalamandalam Kshemavathy and Bharati Shivaji have been individually awarded the Padma Shri for their contribution to this dance form. The Malayalam film ‘Pullipulikalum Aattinkuttiyam’ (2013) has choreographed scenes of the Mohiniyattam dance forms.

Sattriya: The Sattriya dance form has its origins in Assam. While the history of dance arts in Assam go back to ancient times as seen in ancient inscriptions and sculptures, Sattriya was introduced in the 15th century A.D. by the great Vaishnava saint and reformer of Assam, Mahapurush Srimanta Sankaradev as a powerful medium for propagation of the Vaishnava faith. The word Sattriya is derived from the word ‘Sattra’, because till then the dance recitals were exclusively practiced within the compounds of a Sattra - a monastery like institution - which was the epicentre of the Vaishanvite culture. Traditionally performed only by males, in recent times females have also been practicing this art form.

Jatin Goswami has been awarded the Padma Shri for his contribution to Sattriya and the Assamese film ‘Pole Pole Ure Mon’ (2011) has choreographed sequences of the Sattriya dance form.

We can observe that Indian dance were not only seen as a way of celebration, but also as offering of worship and thanksgiving to the deity. In Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali, Manipuri, Kathak and Odissi, the central element is of God worship. All these dance forms use basically the same 'mudras' or signs of hand as a common language of expression and were originally performed in the temples. They were also effective in carrying forward important accounts of Indian culture from generation-to-generation through dance and music.

Dance is an integral part of our lives and the concept behind this Reference Manual is to give a slightly deeper understanding and better appreciation of our rich and diverse cultural heritage.