Bharatanatyam

Inspired Post: Asarwari Parab who is a Yoga practitioner and Bharatanatyam dancer.

Bharatanatyam it’s an art which is something close to my heart. I always admire and wanted to learn this dance ever since I was a kid. I remember when I was a kid, my mom would bring me and my twin sister to the temple every Friday, and right after praying, I would run down to the temple hall where they use to have Bharatanatyam classes. I will quietly sit at the corner of the hall and watch them dancing so gracefully. I still remember how strict the master was and yet, I insisted my mom to enroll me into the class, but unfortunately my sister wasn’t interested so I had to drop the idea of joining. Today, with the grace of god and my guru S.K Durai, I’ve got the opportunity to explore and write about Bharatanatyam with so much of joy.

Bharatanatyam is an Indian classical traditional dance which is well known among the Hindus. This Indian traditional dance is originated in Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu in southern India. Bharatanatyam is one of the oldest classical dances and it is known as mother of many other Indian classical dance that has been existence for over two hundred years. Bharatanatyam word comprises of Bha stands for bhava which means feelings or emotions, Ra stands for raga which means melody or musical notes, Ta stands for tala which means rhythm and Natya means dance which comes from a Sanskrit word.

It was also said and believe that Bharatanatyam was originally addressed as Dasi Attam which eventually comes from the word Devadasis. In many centuries ago, the priestesses in Hindu temple are called as Devadasis. In Sanskrit Devadasis means female servant of a god, where young girls were married to deity and they dedicate themselves to worship and serve the god in the temple for the rest of their life. They would sing, dance, and play musical instruments to honor the deity. Therefore, these female dancers are called Devadasis. In the mid-thirties, S. Krishna Iyer who is a lawyer and a Bharatanatyam dancer, had introduced the term Bharatanayam and it was then spread by Rukminidevi Arundale.

We often see Bharatanatyam dancers’ worship to Lord Shiva, reason being Lord Shiva represents Bharatanatyam and he is considered the god of Bharatanatyam. He is well known by numerous names, example, Nrityapriya (Lover of Dance), Nataraja (King of the art dancing), Adiyogi (the first Yogi) and many more names. Having said that, when comes to dance, Lord Shiva’s movement and expressions are dynamic, powerful, and sharp hence why he is often being related to Bharatanatyam.

Bharatanatyam is purely known for its gracefulness, tenderness, and sculpturesque poses. It is a dance with full of expressions. This dance has its own specialty and uniqueness which had attracted me, where it involves most of our body movement, hand gestures, facial expressions, and foot work of course. Since now I’m in my journey of learning yoga, I too can relate the movements of Bharatanatyam with yoga. I have once read an article which acclaimed by a kathak dancer Shovana Narayan, “dance and yoga are two sides of the same coin.” Nevertheless, she claimed that many of the stretches, twist and inversions can be related to yoga. It was said that Brahma Sthank in Bharatanatyam is the Padmaasana (Lotus position) of yoga and Samasuchi Mandala is another variant of Utkatasana in yoga pose. Similarly, various mudras such as dhyana mudra and jnana mudra are also used in yoga and baratanayam.

Besides these movements, being a woman, what catches my attention is their costumes, accessories and make up. Women dancers will be draped with sari, but this sari is not a single piece sari. It’s a specially stitched by combining few pieces of sari. The sari is customized in such so it’s easier for the dancers to wear and dance with it. Where else the costume of a men is much simpler where they will wear a dhoti covering the lower part of the body and there’s no upper garment. When it comes to make up, it has its very own unique way of putting on the makeup. There is a purpose of this make up, especially around the eyes and eyebrows as they would want to make it more visible since these are the important part of the dance particularly for the expression.

Bharatanatyam is an art which purifies the mind body and soul, just like how yoga works on us. Bharatanatyam can begin after a child is five years old and as for an adult with necessary flexibility and stamina may join for the classes. Having said that, I’ll be soon fulfilling my childhood dream by enrolling myself into Bharatanatyam classes and I strongly believe that the yoga that I am learning and practicing now will give me a tremendous support in my journey of Bharatanatyam.