Observations and findings on the practice of Gati

Varieties of movements can be recognised in many tribal and folk arts. Periṇī tāṇḍava of Andra is a warrior dance, which has vigorous steps and movements. In burrakatha forward, backward and circular movements are performed where the stage is also in circular shape. Kuṇita of Karnataka has some animal movements and includes dance called jaḍe kollāṭṭta, which is performed with different patterns of movements. The term kuṇita itself refers to circular gaits known as kuṇita, self-circle. The kalāsa in the theyya of Kerala has varieties of gaits out of which annanaḍai is very famous. Tirayatta has pure dance patterns, theyya is the ritualistic dance in which the shaking movements starts from the legs and goes upward, and the whole body starts quivering.^[1] Vigourous jumps and whirls are seen in many ritualistic dances of Kerala.

In Jātra, the folk theatre of Bengal while enacting the story of Durga, many acrobatic movements such as sword fighting, wrestling, etc. are performed.^[2] In a theme based on serpent the dancer moves in the gait of a serpent with bending and twisting of the body along with high held hands denoting the hoods.^[3]

Swang is the folk theatre form of Bundelkhand. Generally, this is of comical type and the actors perform such types of gaits during their entry and exit. In Himachal ‘hiraṅkā swang’ is enacted in which the boy is dressed up like a deer and he moves around in deer steps. Most popular among swang is dummy horse dance. In northern India it is called kachi-goḍi.^[4] Vigourous movements and jumps are the mark of bāṅgra dance of Punjab. Varieties of group formations, gaits, acrobatic movements, etc. are seen in the tribal dances such as nāgā, sānthāl and lambāḍi dances.

Traces of movements of cārīs, karaṇās and maṇḍalas are seen in the practice of the regional dance, drama and folk forms. The gaits of the characters are based on these movements. Karaṇas like krānta, atikrānta, viṣṇukrānta, garuḍapluta, gajakrīḍita, hariṇapluta, gṛdhrāvalīnaka, nāgāpasarpita, etc. themselves suggest the gait. Though they are not technically based on Nāṭyaśāstra, they had many similarities as they followed the deśī works prevailing in their regions.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Indian Theatre–Edited By Farley P.Richmond, Darius L.Swann, Phillip A\. ? Bharatārṇava Zarrilli. p.145

[2]:

Folk Theater Of India -Balwant Gargi

[3]:

Hist.of Indian theatre Vol.2. p.197.

[4]:

Hist.of Indian.theatre Vol.2. p.138.