2.1. Origin of Dance (Nṛtta) and Hand-postures (Hasta-mudrā)

In the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa, an interesting story is narrated in connection with the origin of Dance.

Once two demons named Madhu and Kaiṭabha had stolen four Vedas from Brahmā.^[1] Being worried, Brahmā went to Lord Viṣṇu and asked for help.^[3] Lord Viṣṇu was ready to help Brahmā and got up from his bed on the śeṣanāga and searched those two demons in the ocean.^[4] In that very moment goddess Lakṣmī noticed the graceful movements of limbs and charming steps of the feet of Lord Viṣṇu and she got impressed by it.^[5] At the arrival of Lord after completing his task, Goddess Lakṣmī expressed her feelings in front of the God and asked about the extremely charming strides presented in the water by Lord. Then the Lord said that he had created the Nṛtta, which should be executed with the graceful movements of limbs, sense organs and the movements of feet.^[6]

Thus, Lord Viṣṇu created the Nṛtta. The point to be noted here is that, according to the Nāṭyaśāstra, and the Abhinayadarpaṇa, lord Śiva is the originator of Dance^[7] where as the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa accepts Lord Viṣṇu as the creator of this art form.

The hand postures are termed as hastamudrās in Sanskrit. The hastamudrās are very essential to denote some particular action or state in dancing and these mudrās are formed with the help of hands and fingers. In the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa the necessity of hand gestures are highly recommended as according to this book, Dance depends on the actions of the hands.^[2] In the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa mainly three kinds of hastamudrās are discussed and those are termed as hasta.

These three kinds of hastas are—

1. asaṃyuktahasta,
2. saṃyuktahasta and
3. nṛttahasta.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

tato jagṛhaturvedānbrahmaṇastau narādhipa/ Ibid., 3.34.6

[2]:

sarvaṃ karāyattamidaṃ hi nṛttaṃ/ Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa, 3.26.97

[3]:

Ibid., 3.34.6-7

[4]:

utthāya salilāttammādbabhramā salilāśaye/ Ibid., 3.34.8

[5]:

[...] Ibid.,3.34.9

[6]:

[...] Ibid.,3.34.16

[7]:

[...] Abhinayadarpaṇa, 3