Panchamaveda-natya shastra

The Gods & Godesses pleaded Lord Brahma to create another veda which would be simple for the common man to understand. It is believed that considering this request Lord Brahma created the Panchamaveda, Fifth veda, Natyaveda, an essence of the other four vedas. It is believed that he has taken pathya (words) form the Rigveda, abhinaya (gesture) from the Yajurveda, geet (music and chant) from Samaveda and rasa (sentiment and emotional element) from Atharvaveda to form the fifth veda, Natyaveda.

After creating this natyaveda, Lord Brahma gave the same to sage Bharata and asked him to popularise this veda on earth. Following the words of Lord Brahma, sage Bharata wrote Natyashastra or the Science of Dramaturgy, a great, comprehensive work on the science and technique of Indian drama, dance and music.Bharatanatyam might have got its name from sage Bharata also.The dancers still follow this work to perform.

There is also another story which says that Godess Parvathi tought this dance form to Usha, daughter of Banasura, a demon. Usha taught the same to the Gopikas of the city of Dwaraka, Lord Krishna’s birth place. Thus the divine dance form Bharatanatyam was introduced to the mankind.

In Indian mythology, Lord Shiva is considered as the supreme lord of dance. This divine art form is performed by Lord Shiva & his wife Goddess Parvathi. The Dance performd by Lord Shiva is known as Tandava, which depicts his violent nature as the distructor of the universe. The tandava performed with joy is called Ananda Tandava and performed in violent mood is called Rudra Tandava. There are 7 types of Tandava. Namely Ananda Tandava, Tripura Tandava, Sandhya Tandava, Samara Tandava, Kaali tandava, Uma Tandava and Gauri Tandava. There are few people who believa that there are 16 types of Tandava. Tandava has vigourous, brisk movements.The dance performed by Goddess Parvathi is known as Lasya, in which the movements are gentle, graceful and sometimes erotic also. Some scholars call Lasya as the feminine version of Tandava. Lasya has 2 kinds. Jarita Lasya and Yauvaka Lasya.

The art form has definitely gone through lot of changes over the years. In olden days it was performed mostly by female artists. They were called Devadasis, who would perform in the temples. These devadasis were accomplished artists who would sing, dance, play many instruments. They were well worsed in sanskrit & other languages which helped them to interpret compositions which they would perform. But this tradition came to an end as the devadasis lost their position in the society.

….Bharata Natyam in seiner klassischen Form hat seinen Ursprung in jenen Manuskripten, die man Natya Shastra nennt, und die vom weisen Bharata um 4000 v.Chr. niedergeschrieben wurden. Ursprünglich war es dazu gedacht, um die Hingabe und Frömmigkeit auszudrücken. Als die Welt jedoch in einem Chaos von endlosen Kriegen versank, entnahm Brahma aus den vier Veden deren Essenz und erschuf eine fünfte Veda, die man nunmehr NATYA VEDA nennt. Diese Veda ist eine Ausdrucksform, oft auch Yoga genannt, ein Tanz, durch welchen der Mensch wieder in Einklang mit seinem Schöpfer und dem Universum kommt.

Ursprünglich Sadir genannt, durfte Bharata Natyam nur zu besonderen Anlässen und an Festen im Tempel von den Devadasis getanzt werden. Diese Devadasis waren gut ausgebildete Künstler, die singen, tanzen, und viele Instrumente spielen konnten. Sie beherrschten Sanskrit und kannten daraus viele Verse. Auch andere Sprachen lernten sie, welche ihnen dabei halfen, Kompositionen besser zu interpretieren. Jene hohe Kunst ging mit dem sozialen Niedergang der Devadasis zu Ende, durch den Einfluß der westlichen Kultur, welche viele indische Elemente bis zum heutigen Tag nicht versteht…..