Thursday, May 9, 2013

Dance


                         
A Study of an impact of Hinduism on Odissi as a Classical Indian Dance Style. 

                 Krishna-Radha fascinated poets and playwrights of Orissa. Odissi dance was inundated with the Krishna-Radha legend from the 12th C onwards influenced by the Geetagovinda of the Jayadeva. The sculptural pieces of evidence of the 1st century BC at the Ranigumpa and several treatises on Odissi Dance is earlier known as Odra Nritya written between the 16th and 19th century prove the fact that the classes of dancers were performing this style of dance. The Nartakis were dancing in the royal court and for the general public at the time of Vasantotsava. The maharis and devadasis used to perform in the temple and their dance was basically ritualistic. From around the 17th C began to perform the dance for the mass called “Gotipua”. Owing to the extreme changes in social values and gradual withdrawal of Royal Patronage, the nartakis were the first to disappear from the scene by around the latter half of the 19th C. The Maharis continued to dance in the temple of Lord Jagannatha of Puri till the 4th decade and it was more a ritual than dance.
The expressional numbers of the nartakis till the 12th C were mostly based on Sanskrit poems often steeped in Shringara Rasa, but not inspired by the Krishna legend. But the Geetagovinda became so popular that both the nartakis and maharis began basing their expressional numbers frequently on the ashtapadis, as said by a school of thought, eminent dancer Rita Devi. Singing and dancing the ashtapadis became the regular form of the temple being disrupted for some time but Prataparuda Dev, the Gajapati King of Puri, restarted it. On 8th July 1500 he proclaimed that no song and dance other than those based on Geetagovinda should be performed in the temple of Lord Jagannatha. The influence of the Geetagovinda was so deep that the highly ornate Oriya poetry of the said period was immensely inspired by the Krishna legend.
Further, we have some examples of poets outside the Hindu religion like the “Shalveg” who was a Muslim Odiya poet known for his poems. He was the bhakta of Jaganatha who was not even allowed to enter the Jagannath Temple. He used to sit outside the temple for hours and wait for one glance of Lord Jaganatha when the doors opened in the evening. His poems at first were not accepted by the people but later they got recognised and still are being used as Abhinaya. One of his famous compositions is “Aahe nila shaila”. Thus we can see that Hinduism and Lord Jagannath's influence was strong that it also incorporated even bhakta’s of different religion into it and finally even was broader to accept them and their work. As said by one the dancers from a school of thought, Tonushree Datta.

Another school of thought by Guru. Smt. Mitra Purkayastha mentions
“Religion has had a deeper impact on Odissi Especially the Vaishnava and Shiva sects of Hinduism. The essence of Abhinaya in Odissi has been the Sanskrit work, Gita Govinda written by the 12thcentury poet, Jayadev. Gita Govinda comprises of 24 ashtapadis or 8 verse poems and revolves around the eternal love of Radha and Krishna.
Like other Indian dances, Odissi has tandava or vigorous, masculine movements, as well as lasya or feminine, graceful movements. The dancer's aim is to attain unity with God through dance.”

If we would go back to the 13th to 19th century saw dancers as “Gouni”, “Nachuni” dancer performing in the “Garmagruha” and “Potvari” dancing in the Ratha yatra. Post-Independence some of the classic choreographies and performances of “Dashavatar- Kuruyadu Nandana” and many more Ashtapadi’s in Vasanti and exploration of many Odiya songs and poetry took place. One of the well-known groups which were known at that time was “Natyo Darpan”.

As I move on to sum up the impact on Hinduism stating some of the compositions like Swaabhinaya Pallavi in Odissi which is also danced for Ganesha, Saraswati and Shiva. Unlike other dance styles, these compositions pay homage to n numbers of goddesses. As a whole, I thought though Hinduism saw a lot of change right from Ganga dynasty coming in and also we see the influence of Prataparuda Dev, the Gajapati King, Hinduism always accepted the changes and moved ahead. It was on the broader perspective towards accepting all the various parts of ritualistic traditions and art in itself. This is what I analysed after a conversation with my Guru Parimal Phadke.