Understanding the Chronology of the word Bharathanatyam

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ajaysimha
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Joined: 19 Apr 2018, 18:16

Understanding the Chronology of the word Bharathanatyam

Post by ajaysimha »

Understanding the Chronology of the word Bharathanatyam

I choose a post from rasikas forum itself.
(a)“bharatanATyam was known as kUttu (in Bharati Dasan's dES composition, 'tunbam nErgayil yAzh eDuttu nI', he asks - tamizh kUttin murayinAl ADi kATTa mATTAyA? - will you not show it through the idiom of tamizh dance - aka bharatanATyam), and
(b)later on sadir (ANDAL describes, sadir iLa mangayar - young dancers in her dream),
(c)and then dAsiATTam because the dEvadAsIs were the dancers.
(d)In the 1930s, during it's revival, E. Krishna Iyer and Rukmini Devi Arundale are credited with having come up with the name bharata-nATyam bha from bhAva, ra from rAga, and ta from tALa - emotion, melody and rhythm, the pillars of any dance form.
But the (d) statement somewhere contradicts
where in dasar uses the word bharathanatyam directly in his composition adidano ranga
so we can say that the word bharathanatyam must have been come to use before purandara dasars time

AdidanO ranga in Arabhi ragam

Pallavi: AdidanO ranga adbhutadindali kALingana phaNeyali
Anupallavi: pADidavarige bEDida varagaLa nIDutali daya mADutali nalidADutali beNNe bEDutali krSNa
caraNam 1

amburuhOdbhava akhiLa suraru kUDi ambaradali nidu avarstutise rambe Urvashi ramaNiyarellaru
cendadim bharata nATyava naTise jhamtaTa takadhimi tadhigiNi tOm endu jhampe tALadi tumburunoppise
dhA ma pa dha sa rI endu dhvaniyinda nArada tumburar gAna mADalu nandiyu maddale cendadi hAkalu

and the song continues…
so could anyone share their views in this…?
Thanks and Regards,
Ajay Simha

Pratyaksham Bala
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Re: Understanding the Chronology of the word Bharathanatyam

Post by Pratyaksham Bala »

This may be shifted to "Natya" to attract particular attention.

vgovindan
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Re: Understanding the Chronology of the word Bharathanatyam

Post by vgovindan »

@@ajaysimha
Please search the web for 'Natya Satra' - attributed to Bharata Muni.

Sachi_R
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Re: Understanding the Chronology of the word Bharathanatyam

Post by Sachi_R »

I attended a workshop conducted by the redoubtable Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh on Bharatamuni's Natyashastra.
Composed perhaps in the 3rd Century BCE, it is an eloquent treatise on the composite aesthetics of classical theatre, dance and music. Then there are other subsequent famous dance treatises.

Dr. Padma Subramanyam takes great pains to explain how she has reconstructed the more comprehensive and classical art form we can call Bharata-nritya in her nomenclature going back to Bharata's 108 karanas. She has produced a DVD on this.

The Tanjore temple is supposed to have in the inner mezzanine paintings and also sculptures elsewhere illustrating the dance movement "modules" defined by Bharata as karanas. Mahaperiyava has blessed Dr PS for her work.

All this shows that regardless of local nomenclature, classical dance in India has developed through organic growth from roots of an ancient art form described by Bharata. It seems to be a similar process like how our music has comes own from Sama veda.

For me Bharatanatyam means the classical dance form rooted in elements described by Bharata muni.

ajaysimha
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Re: Understanding the Chronology of the word Bharathanatyam

Post by ajaysimha »

Thanks for the info.
yeah Dr padma's work on 108 karanams is a rebirth to this art as it was lost by time

rshankar
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Re: Understanding the Chronology of the word Bharathanatyam

Post by rshankar »

Sachi_R wrote: 29 Sep 2018, 09:14I attended a workshop conducted by the redoubtable Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh on Bharatamuni's Natyashastra.
Composed perhaps in the 3rd Century BCE, it is an eloquent treatise on the composite aesthetics of classical theatre, dance and music. Then there are other subsequent famous dance treatises.
It is oldest extant text on dramaturgy, and it is followed in the traditions of theater in many countries in SE Asia, not just India. It deals with not just the aesthetics, but also the techniques of dramaturgy, including costumes, stage set up, etc.
Only one chapter, Chapter 4, deals with dance.
Sachi_R wrote: 29 Sep 2018, 09:14Dr. Padma Subramanyam takes great pains to explain how she has reconstructed the more comprehensive and classical art form we can call Bharata-nritya in her nomenclature going back to Bharata's 108 karanas. She has produced a DVD on this.
If I understand it correctly, the karaNas are only a part of it. Practitioners of the nATya SAstra (nATya used in the catholic sense of the word - story telling), called naTas and naTis were accomplished dancers, singers, and actors. Probably in one of the first examples of specialization, some began to focus on one area, and became dancers, singers, or actors. Over time, this dance form underwent metamorphosis due to the pressures of geography, local languages, and customs (including evolving musical traditions), and developed into the forms we now recognize as kathak, oDissi, maNipuri, cchau, kuchipuDi, kathakaLi, mOhiniATTam, and bharatanATyam. Dr. Padma has revived the original dance form (the pan-Indian form) prior to its metamorphosis. This includes the incorporation of the karaNas as specialized movements and not merely static poses. This (ancient) form is what she calls bharatanRtyam, and I believe that one can see elements of many of the classical dance forms in it.
Sachi_R wrote: 29 Sep 2018, 09:14For me Bharatanatyam means the classical dance form rooted in elements described by Bharata muni.
Again, my understanding is that the SNA is able to classify a dance form as classical, if its evolution from the nATya SAstra of bharata muni can be proved....so, all of India's classical dance forms are rooted in elements described by Bharata muni, not just bharatanATyam. The grammar of present day bharatanATyam follows the abhianaya darpaNa of nandikESvara.

vgovindan
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Re: Understanding the Chronology of the word Bharathanatyam

Post by vgovindan »

naTi - a dancer. This word has much affinity with tamil words - நடி, நடிகர், நடமாட்டம், நாட்டியம். Tamil does not seem to have any separate word for that - naTi. Another proof of co-evolution of tamil with saMskRta.

Sachi_R
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Re: Understanding the Chronology of the word Bharathanatyam

Post by Sachi_R »

Ravi,
Someone in the family has translated
Abhinayadarpaṇa of Nandikeśvara recently for dance students.

It is a very interesting treatise.

The very famous shloka taught to dancers early is from there:

Āṅgikaṃ bhuvanaṃ yasya
Vācikaṃ sarva-vāṅmayam।
Āhāryaṃ candratārābhiḥ
Taṃ numaḥ śāśvataṃ Śivam॥

Today is Vijayadashami, it is worthwhile reading this (from The Mirror of Gesture, AKC)

Image

rshankar
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Re: Understanding the Chronology of the word Bharathanatyam

Post by rshankar »

vgovindan wrote: 19 Oct 2018, 05:19 naTi - a dancer. This word has much affinity with tamil words - நடி, நடிகர், நடமாட்டம், நாட்டியம். Tamil does not seem to have any separate word for that - naTi. Another proof of co-evolution of tamil with saMskRta.
If I understand correctly, naTi is not a dancer - it refers to a follower of the nATya SAstra/vEda - they were dancers, singers, and actors rolled into one - and they used all these skills to tell stories, which is what nATya was about.

rshankar
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Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Re: Understanding the Chronology of the word Bharathanatyam

Post by rshankar »

Sachi_R wrote: 19 Oct 2018, 08:48Ravi,
Someone in the family has translated
Abhinayadarpaṇa of Nandikeśvara recently for dance students.
Didn't Anand Coumaraswamy translate it also?

Sachi_R
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Joined: 31 Jan 2017, 20:20

Re: Understanding the Chronology of the word Bharathanatyam

Post by Sachi_R »

Ravi,
The scan I shared was from AKC (Ananda K Coomaraswamy).
The translation I referred to is in Kannada, meant for study by dance students.

rshankar
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Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Re: Understanding the Chronology of the word Bharathanatyam

Post by rshankar »

Thanks - I wasn’t familiar with the acronym “AKC”....I’m familiar with the clarinet player, Sri Natarajan, whose initials are AKC and was thrown a bit.

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