Movement and Mimesis The Idea of Dance in the Sanskritic Tradition

by

Mandakranta Bose The University of British Columbia, Asian Centre, Vancouver, Canada

SPRINGER -SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Base, Mandakranta, 1938-Mavement anO mimesis: the idea of dance in the Sanskritic

tradition I by Mandakranta Bose. p. cm. -- (Studies of classical India; v. 12)

Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-94-010-5594-9 ISBN 978-94-011-3594-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-3594-8 1. Danclng--India--History. 2. Sanskrit language--Texts.

1. Title. II. Series. GV1693.B595 1991 793.3' 1954--dc20 91-21902

ISBN 978-94-010-5594-9

Printed on acid-free paper

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© 1991 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht OriginalIy published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1991 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1991

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Movement and Mimesis

Studies of Classical India

VOLUME 12

Editor:

Bimal K. Matilal Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions & Ethics, Oxford University, U.K.

Editorial Board: R. P. Goldman, Daniel H. H. Ingalls and A. K. Ramanujan

The aim of this series is to publish fundamental studies concerning classical Indian civilization. It will conclude editions of texts, translations, special­ized studies, and scholarly works of more general interest related to various fields of classical Indian culture such as philosophy, grammar, literature, religion, art, and history. In this context, the term 'Classical India', covers a vast area both historically and geographically, and embraces various religions and philosophical traditions, such as Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism, and many languages from Vedic and Epic Sanskrit to Pali, Prakrit, and Apabhramsa. We believe that in a profoundly traditional society like India, the study of classical culture is always relevant and important. Classical India presents an interesting record of deep human experience, thoughts, beliefs, and myths, which have been a source of inspiration for countless generations. We are persuaded of its lasting value and relevance to modem man. By using extensive and for the most part unexplored material with scientific rigor and modem methodology, the authors and editors of this series hope to stimulate and promote interest and research in a field that needs to be placed in its proper perspective.

The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume.

tIo my motlitr

tBina !l(py Cfwutfnury

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Preface

1. Introduction

2. The literature of Dance

3. The Naryasistra and the Concept of Dance

4. Llisya: A Dramatic Art

5. NrtYa and Upariipaka

6. Bandha and Anibandha

7. The Degi Tradition

8. Conclusion

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

ix

xi

1

5

13

108

131

154

194

216

256

261

289

305

ACKNO~DOBNmNTS

My first guide to the study of literature on dancing was Professor

Thomas Burrow whose kindness and guidance has always been my

inspiration and under whom I began to explore this field at Oxford twenty­

five years ago. The first fruit of this was my B. Litt dissertation, which

later led to a guide-book to the technical terms used in the Sanskrit

literature on dancing. Following upon that beginning, through the last two

decades I gathered material to write this history of the evolution of

concepts of dancing as recorded in the Sanskritic tradition.

It is a pleasure to record my thanks to my friends and colleagues.

During my research at Oxford the critical advice of Alexis Sanderson and

Jonathan Katz was invaluable. To Professor Bimal Matilal I am indebted

for both moral and scholarly support. Professors Richard Gombrich and

Samjukta Gupta have helped me with many details as has Professor G.C.

Tripathi of Allahabad. I am grateful to Professor Ken Bryant of the

University of British Columbia for the use of computer typography

designed by him. One of my deepest debts is to Professor Arindam

Chakravarti for suggesting the tide of this book.

The Spalding Trust has placed me under a debt of gratitude by

awarding me a Trustee's grant I am also grateful to the Social Sciences

and Humanities Research Council of Canada for a fellowship. To the

Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia lowe

thanks for the use of computer facilities.

My greatest debt is to my husband Tirthanlcar, whose criticism and

help sustained me through the period of writing. My daughter and my son,

Sarika and Pablo, have patiently borne my frequent absences. Without the

support of my family I could not have completed this book.

ix

ABBREVIATIONS

Abh.Dar. A.B.

Ad. Lib. AP

A. Soc. MS. DR.

G.O.S. KA KAnu.H KAnu.V. KAlam. KS NN.

NLRK N.D.

NS. NR.

NRK.

Nr. Adh. Bh.Ar. Bh.P. Ma. Manas. RK. VDP. STR. Sr·P.

Abhinaya Darp8{la AbhinavabharatI Adyar Library Agni Pur~a Asiatic Society Manuscript Da§ariipaka Gaekwad Oriental Series Kavyadar§a Kavyanu§asana of Hemacandra Kavyanu§asana of Vagbha!!a KavyaJarhkara Kiimasiitra Nartananir{laya Na!akalak~8{laratnakosa

Na!yadarp8{la NatyaSastra N"rtyaratnavall N"rtyaratnako§a N"rtyadhyaya BharatMIJava BlJavapraka§ana MaJavikagnimitra Manasollasa Rasakaumudl Vi~{1Udharmottara Pur~a

Sivatattvaratnatakara Sp'lgarapraka§a

xi

xii

SKA. SadC. SUS. SC. SN.

SDar. SDam. SMak. SMak.V SR. SSam. SSar. S.D. HM.

HR.

ABBREVIATIONS

SarasvatUcll{llhabharll{la Sadrigacandrodaya Sangltopani~atsiroddhira

sangha Candra SanghanaraylI{la Sangha Darpll{la Sangha Dimodara sanglta Makaranda sanglta Makaranda of Vedasiiri Sangha Ratnikara sangha Samayasira Sangltasirasarhgraha Sihitya Darpll{la Hastamuktava11 Hastaratnava11

PREFACE

The most comprehensive view of the evolution of dancing in India is

one that is derived from Sanskrit textual sources. These texts are the basic

material that students of the dance in India must examine in order to

uncover its past. Since the rebirth of informed interest in dancing in early

twentieth century, its antiquity has been acknowledged but precisely what

the art was in antiquity remains unclear. Discovering the oldest forms of

dancing in India requires, as do other historical quests, a reconstruction of

the past and, again as in other historical investigations, the primary

sources of knowledge are records from the past. In this case the records

are treatises and manuals in Sanskrit that discuss and describe dancing.

These are the sources that the present work sets out to mine.

These texts taken collectively are more than records of a particular state of the art. They testify to the growth of the theory and practice of the

art and thus establish it as an evolving rather than a fixed art form that

changed as much in response to its own expanding aesthetic boundaries as to parallel or complementary forms of dance, drama and music that

impinged upon it as India's social and political situation changed. When we place the Sanskrit treatises in chronological sequence it becomes clear

that the understanding of the art has changed through time, in its infancy as

well as in maturer periods. Following these changes through the treatises

is essential to an historical investigation because not only do theoretical

discussions in the texts reflect dancing as it was but the practice of dancing

in turn seems sometimes to have followed the precepts laid down in the

texts correlating dancing with other performing arts and setting its

aesthetic objectives.

1

2 PREFACE

These texts are part of a tradition of discourse in the arts that was at

once scholarly and practica1. The earliest extant example of this tradition

is the Niitya§astra of Bharata Muni, in which all the performing arts of the

time are discussed and in which dancing is regarded as a technique for

adding the beauty of bodily motion to dramatic performances. An

ancillary to drama rather than an independent art, dancing carried no

meaning and elicited no emotional response. In the works of later writers,

however, its autonomy was recognized as also its ability to express

thoughts and feelings and it began to be discussed fully in works devoted

particularly to it rather than in works on drama or poetics-a clear sign of

its growing importance in India's cultural life.

Bharata's work, however, remained of seminal importance. His

description of the body movements in dancing and their interrelationship not only provided the taxonomy for all subsequent authors on dancing but

much of the information on its actual technique. But Bharata described

only what he considered to be artistically the most cultivated of all the

existing dance styles, leaving out regional and popular varieties. These styles, similar in their basic technique to Bharata's style but comprising

new types of movements and methods of composition, began to be included

in later studies. These later works, most notably the Sarlgltaratniikara of

Samgadeva and the Nanananin,Jaya of Pu1)<Jarlka Vinbala, indicate a shift of emphasis towards previously neglected styles whereby the art of

dancing underwent substantial structural and aesthetic changes. By the

16th century the newer styles carne to occupy the central position in the

accounts of contemporary dancing and coalesced into a distinct tradition

that has remained essentially unchanged to the present time. This is the

tradition, the present study argues, from which the present-day dance

styles of India are directly derived, for modern styles, such as Kathak and

Odissi, show striking parallels to techniques found only in the treatises of the later tradition, not in works of the earlier tradition of Bharata.

MOVEMENT AND MIMESIS 3

Necessarily, this study rests on an understanding of the technical terms of

dancing, to facilitate which a glossary is appended at the end of the book.1

This study begins by setting out the broad periods into which the texts

fall. Next, chapter 2 offers a chronological review of all the extant and

available Sanskrit works on dancing, including works that discuss dancing

as part of a larger interest in the performing arts in general. In doing so,

the dating and interrelationship of some of the texts are considered This is

followed in chapter 3 by a close examination of Bharata's views on dancing, including its legendary origin, its purpose and function, its types,

and its relationship to drama and acting. Chapter 4 deals with luya, a type

of performance basic to Bharata's understanding of the dramatic arts,

which has caused much confusion because of the attempt of later authors to categorize it as dancing. In chapter 5 we turn to tqtya and upariipaka,

which became major elements of the conception of dancing after Bharata

but, like Uisya, were variously understood. Chapter 6 discusses a new

method of categorizing dance forms that was devised in the early

seventeenth century: the categories were bandha and anibandha, which

seem to have been adapted from the literature of music to indicate two

distinct systems, the formulaic and the non-formulaic, of structuring dance performances. These terms manifest an altogether new approach to dancing that signalled a widening of the dancer's technical and aesthetic

horizons and one that corresponded with the growing strength of new forms. These forms, broadly classified under the rubric de§i, coalesced

into a distinct tradition that assimilated older forms; this later tradition is the subject of chapter 7. Chapter 8 concludes the study by summarizing the

historical process of the development of dancing in India.as found in the

texts examined here and arguing that this process was one of building upon

rather than imitating the past The process, therefore, was a flexible one

1 For fuller explanations of these tenns, see my Classical Indian Dancing: A Glossary (Calcutta: General Printers, 1970).

4 PREFACE

that permitted the assimilation of new forms and techniques and the

redefinition of its purpose, function and aesthetic scope. This flexibility

explains why the dance in India has not merely survived but has continued

to develop, even though sometimes at an uneven pace, through centuries of

social and political turmoil.