PAPER 5 DANCE, POETS AND POETRY, RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY AND INDIAN CLASSICAL DANCE MODULE 1 DANCE, THE VISUAL IMAGE OF POETRY Introduction Movement somehow cannot lie. It’s a journey from the one who creates a situation, a story, a plot, a mood and sets the tune [our great poets were also composers] to the ones who bring it alive as a stage performance, enacting the same by not only respecting the intention of the lyricist in every word and meaning but also adding that extra dimension which is required in order to fully explore every possibility that may arise out of the poem. It is the imagination of the dancer and the competence of the singer and accompanying musicians that gives expression to the implicit, extended meaning of the sentences. After acting the word to word narrative with the help of Padartha Abhinaya / ऩदार्थ अभबनम , the Sanchari-Vyabhichari bhavas / संचायी व्मभबचायी बाव flow appropriately like a river with the help of deeper nuances in the musical composition. This would make the performance finer in the aesthetic aspect and Rasa would fructify. It is important to convey the exact intention, understood by the linguistic meaning of the poem, visualizing the situation or scene, studying the character whether divine, historic, legendary or day-to- day persons of ordinary background. Knowledge of the poet, the tune or Raga and rhythm or Tala employed [slow or fast, qualities of the Raga etc] will help in categorizing the types of heroes, heroines, actions and reactions. Angika / आंगगक, Vachika / वागचक and Satvika Abhinaya / सात्ववक अभबनम travel after introspection on the poem. 1 When Manodharma / भनोधभथ or intuition acts, there is a voice from within that gets expressed at the spur of the moment, spontaneous and not practiced. The Sthayibhava / स्र्ामीबाव or predominant mood of the poem should never be lost by the dance; else the Rasa which was first known or experienced by the poet would not be successfully conveyed and transmitted. Just as the poet has given expression to his thoughts through the written words, the dancer has to express the suggested meanings of the same through the dramatic art. Subtle dimensions in process of creation of word In this connection i.e.- Rasa, it is vital to know that it is the consciousness of the poet that is transferred to the dancer and then the spectator. Consciousness has vibration, Spanda / स्ऩंद, characterized by Sphota, sound. The sages spoke of four levels of speech- Para / ऩया, Pashyanti / ऩश्मति, Madhyama / भध्मभा and Vaikhari / वैखयी. The Rig Veda 1.164.45 says “चववरयवा啍ऩरयभभिऩदातनिातनववदयु ब्रह्भणामेभभतनवषण्, गुहात्रीणणतनहहिनीन्गमन्ििुयीमंवचो भनुष्मवदत्न्ि” (i.e. the cognoscenti know of the Vak that exists in four forms. Three are hidden and the fourth is what men speak).The subtle body is composed of seven Chakrās / चक्र or energy centres. Para is the first stage of sound in it’s unman fest stage and is the source of all root ideas and germ thoughts. Shabdabrahman / श녍दब्राह्भण manifests through his power of maya first as Para Vani / ऩया वाणी in the Mooladhara chakra / भूराधाय चक्र at the lowermost part of spine, then as Pashyanti / 2 ऩश्मत्न्ि in the Manipura / भणणऩुय chakra at the navel, next as Madhyama in the Anahata / अनाहि at the heart and then eventually as Vaikhari in the Vishuddha at the throat [Saint poet Tyagaraja / वमागयाज says in his poetic composition, Shobhillu / शोभब쥍रू, Sapataswara – Nabhi / सप्िस्वय-नाभब, Hrut / कृ ि, Kantha / कंठ, Rasana / यसन]. This is the divine descent of voice. Descent indicates creation [from subtlest to the grossest] and ascent indicates dissolution [from grossest to the subtlest], Avarohan / अवयोहण and Arohan / आयोहण. Para is indicative of a truth that there is a sphere of super- consciousness where the sound is heard in different dimensions. Pashyanti represents the intellectual consciousness, like an idea which has not yet been expressed in words. In this stage, sound possesses qualities such as color and form. In this stage the differences between languages do not exist, as this sound is intuitive and situated beyond concepts. Here is Iccha Shakti / इ楍छा शत्啍ि, the will. Madhyama represents the mental consciousness. Here there is a clear distinction between the sound and the object it denotes. This is more of a mental speech rather than the external audible speech. Within the Madhyama-vaak / भध्मभा-वाक् exists Jnana Shakti / ऻान शत्啍ि, the knowledge. Vaikhari / वैखयी represents the physical consciousness, an audible speech manifestation. Vaikhari is the sound which has come all the way from the root chakra with the force of Vayu, upwards to the throat, mouth, teeth and tongue, to become an articulate sound, audible to the external ear. Within the Vaikhari-vak exists Kriya-Shakti / क्रक्रमा- 3 शत्啍ि, the power of action. The flow of Divine Consciousness from the inaudible seed of evolution to the audible Vaikharis the tree of art. The poet, actor, spectator are comparable to the root, tree, flower and fruit of the tree and the hearts of all are pervaded by Rasa which makes the journey from one to the other. So it was the spoken or the chanted word from the innermost recesses of the heart that led to so many different art forms, each with its special ambience and audience. Kavya has always been a performing art. Poetry in ancient India was never to be silently read but chanted, sung, performed and celebrated in the company of others. Literary and performing arts were not fragmented, as they seem to be today. It is only the skilled poet or the artist who is able to capture the heart-throbbing moment and convert it to a moment of beauty in an artistic creation, whether it be through the lyrics of the poet or the brush of the artist or the histrionics of the dancer. When poetry was recited with a certain metre and melody, a song was created and performed on stage with gesture and movement as natya or dance drama. Rama is not just an individual but also a universal being is the process of universalization and becoming one with the aestheticized universal being. It is liberation of a being from the narrow self and become one with the universal consciousness. This is essential for the poet who describes the actor who plays the role and the viewer or reader. This puts forth pralaya / प्ररम dissolution as a necessary condition. Dissolution or Death of ego filters out all identities that veil the universal consciousness and bestow grace of Rasa. It is said that the creator cannot see his own creation, if he starts seeing it, he 4 cannot create- he will develop a feeling of possession for the form being created by him. Rasa - Dhvani / यसध्वतन of Kavya Anandavardhana’s Dhvanyaloka / आनंदवधथन ध्वन्मारोक revolutionized Sanskrit literary theory by proposing that the main goal of poetry is the evocation of flavor (rasa) and that this process can be explained only by a semantic power which is beyond detonated meaning–that of suggestion. The commentary by Abhinavagupta, Lochana develops this well. Dhvani or suggestion is the soul of poetry. The words are the body of poetry and dhvani is the soul, the breath or Prana / प्राण. One can analyze by knowledge of grammar and the prosody, the body but the soul can only be felt directly by the sensitive by appreciation. The expressed meaning is important but the suggested meaning remains most important. It is compared to the relation of the meaning of individual words to the meaning of a sentence. We cannot grasp the meaning of a sentence unless we know the meaning of the words. But we do not form mental images of these words and then assimilate to get the - meaning of the sentence. When the sentence is finished, it’s meaning as a unit flashes through the mind. Similarly, dhvani, flashes into the mind of the listener when he grasps the prima facie meaning. In this theory, the basic postulate is that utterances possess a literal meaning and also convey a further meaning. Rasa – dhvani, flavour or emotion or mood or sentiment is the essence of poetry. Rasa is the realisation of one’s own consciousness. It is an ideal and impersonalised form of joy, universal in character and the aesthetic pleasure resulting from it, is general and not particular. 5 Rasa can only be suggested but not described. It is Sahrudya / सदम, the connoisseur, who is capable of discerning the intricate cords of veiled word and senses the aesthetic relish. Anandavardhana clearly states that appreciation of poetry is essentially the same as the creation of it. Aesthetic experience, characterized by the immersion of the subject in the aesthetic object, is akin to the beatitude of ecstasy or Brahman / ब्राह्भण or the Self. Some features of kavya In Indian tradition, a philosopher and a poet are expressed by a single term ‘kavi’ ie- someone with a vision. Anandhavardhana’s brilliant exposition of Dharmakirtis poems, also establishes the identity of Dharmakirti / धभथकीतिथ the poet and Dharmakirti the philosopher. However, the knowledge or Jnana Marga / ऻान भागथ was transcendental, yet insufficient to invoke in common parlance that which Bhakti could infuse and suffuse. Pouring out from the hearts of some of the greatest of greats like Adi Shankara / आहदशंकय were our Stotras / स्िोत्र, Tantric / िांत्रत्रक and Agamic / आगभभक poems like Soundaryalahiri / सौन्दमथरहयी, Ardhanareshwarashtakam / अधथनायीश्वयाष्टकभ, Shivapanchaksharam / भशव ऩंचाऺयभ, etc. Shaiva Siddhantic / शैव भसधात्न्िक poetic works were created on Nataraja of Chidambaram [the eternal dancer] like Tirumandiram of Tirumoolar, Tiruvacahakam of Manikkavachakkar, Tevarams [three most prominent Tamil poets of the 7th century], the Nayanars - Sambandar, Tirunavukkarasar and Sundarar.