The Aesthetics of Indian Dance

THE AESTHETICS OF INDIAN DANCE
Contribution of
Ananda Coomaraswamy and Gopalakrishnayya

“The whole of Shakespeare’s work” wrote Eliot “is one poem; and it is in the poetry of it in this sense, not the poetry of isolated lines and passages of the single figures which he created that matters most.” This sentence is from T. S. Eliot’s essay on John Ford, which suggests the need for exploring the pattern of wholeness in the work of a major writer. Any student of Coomaraswamy’s writings sets out on a similar exploration. For Coomaraswamy’s relevance to the history of twentieth century thought is based on his contributions to five types of studies. First, as a scientist who was associated with the discoveries of thorianite and serindibite. Second, as an inspired artist-philosopher of the Indian Renaissance. Third, as the original leader of the study of the disciplines of comparative aesthetics and com­parative iconography whose artistic and scholarly interests ranged from symbolic imagery to the technical and theoretical aspects of Indian painting. Fourth, as an exponent of the philosophical aspects as well as the dramatic techniques of the Indian dance as well as an influence of such varied subjects as Rajput painting and Buddhist aesthetics. Incidentally he was the first scholar to highlight Rigvedic references to the dance as well as to a female dancer in his article to the 14th Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. And finally as a scholar-artist who collaborated with Sister Nivedita and Duggirala Gopalakrishnayya. However. Coomaraswamy’s literary work extended over the whole of his life, and is basic both as a means of organizing his scientific as well as aesthetic interests and as a reflection of them.

For those who are concerned with the life and achievement of Coomaraswamy, the deeper significance is not in the actual circumstances of Coomaraswamy’s scientific career in Sri Lanka put the transformation of the Sri Lanka geologist into the inspired artist-philosopher of the Indian Renaissance. The answer is derived from two celebrated responses –Sister Nivedita’s response to Coomaraswamy’s early works on art criticism and Coomaraswamy’s association with Duggirala Gopalakrishnayya.

Sister Nivedita and Coomaraswamy began collaborating on the wellknown book Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists. And since Sister Nivedita died soon after, Coomaraswamy had to write the major portion of the book. But the greatest contribution made by Sister Nivedita was to introduce Coomaraswamy to Tagore, John Woodroffe and Sir J. C. Bose. For this resulted in a neglected aspect of Coomaraswamy’s achievement–Coomaraswamy as a translator.

It is a curious fact that Ananda Coomaraswamy, Sir J. C. Bose and Ramsay Macdonald had perceived the beauty of Tagore’s original compositions in Bengali, long before he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. He had translated several poems from Tagore. Again Coomaraswamy spent an aesthetically rewarding time in the Punjab. For it was this period which witnessed Coomaraswamy’s interest in the poetry of Iqbal whom he met there, his involvement in the world of Rajput painting and his introduction to the world of the Punjab and Kashmir.

Gopalakrishnayya’s association with Coomaraswamy began in the wake of his translation of a Coomaraswamy lecture delivered in London – this article entitled Hindu Chitrakalalu – was publish­ed in Prabodhini, Guntur, Vol. V. No.3 and No.4, 1911 and 1912. However, Gopalakrishnayya’s actual collaboration with Coomara­swamy began in 1915.¹ Indeed it is this collaboration which resulted in the English translation of the Telugu abridgement of Nandikesvara’s Abhinaya Darpana or The Mirror of Gesture. ²And here is an extract from Coomaraswamy’s tribute to Gopalakrishna­yya : “I cannot refrain from paying a brief tribute of very high respect to his strength and purity of character and intellectual attainments. My collaborator...was already what can nowadays be rarely said of young Indian students, an educated Indian before he came to Europe, and was therefore in a position rather to gain than lose by the European experience which has too often a culturally destructive effect on the already Anglicized victim. He took an A. M. degree at the University of Edinburgh, and return­ed to India, after five years’ absence”.³

Coomaraswamy had viewed the Telugu abridgement of Nandikesvara’s Abhinaya Darpana – the abridgement of Nida­mangalam Madabhushi Tiruvenkatachari which was composed in 1887 – not only as an historic link in the long chain of India’s historic evolution beginning with Bharata’s Natya Sastra but also as the herald of modern India’s artistic renaissance. Indeed in his Introduction to the first edition which was brought out by Harvard University Press, in 1917, Coomaraswamy states that “While we still lack a complete and adequate translation and even a satisfactory edition of the Dramatic Science (Natya Sastra) of Bharata, the present version of a shorter compendium known as The Mirror of Gesture (Abhinaya Darpana) of Nandikesvara may be of use as an introduction to Indian method”. ⁴

Here it is necessary to understand the significance of such words as Nartana, Nrtya and Nritya. Actually the word “Nartana” or Pure Dance is different from Natyawhich signifies Dramatic Representation of Nrityaor gesticular representation of the ideas contained in a song. Again, according to our mythology, just as Brahma created the art of Natyain the Treta Yuga, so did Paramasiva create Nartanaor Pure Dance. Further, Bharata is said to have learnt the art of Tandava from Tandu or Nandi­kesvara in response to a suggestion from Paramasiva also known as Nataraja or more accurately as Nartana Raja. Further­more, Bharata is said to have learnt the art of Lasya or the feminine dance from Parvati. Interestingly, the majesty of the Tandava and the delicacy of the Lasya are reminiscent of the allegro and the pianissimo at a different level of aesthetic perception. And just as the concept Natya which is derived from the root Nat to imitate, creatively sustains the Natya Sastra, so does the concept Nartanawhich is derived from the root Nrtto dance, revolve round the Abhinaya Darpana.

At least five aesthetic reasons exist for calling this publica­tion a classic. First, the exquisitely nuanced Coomaraswamy­-Gopalakrishnayya translation harmonizes with the beauty of the original text. In fact, Nandikesvara’s Abhinaya Darpana or The Mirror of Gesture is not merely an excellent handbook of dramatic techniques but also a work of art. For Nandikesvara possessed the kind of artistic imagination which could transform a mere dictionary of gesture-language (angikabhinaya) into a series of memorable aesthetic experiences. Here is a sensitive summing-up of the aesthetic vision of the Indian dance in one unforgettable paragraph. “The song should be sustained in the throat; its meaning must be shown by hands; the mood (Bhava) must be shown by the glances; rhythm (Tala) is marked by the feet. For wherever the hand moves, there the glances follow; where the glances go, the mind follows; where the mind goes, the mood follows; where the mood goes, there is the flavour (Rasa).” ⁵

Second, Coomaraswamy and Gopalakrishnayya were the earliest modern scholars to understand the significance of Indian painting as well as the nature of Indian painting in their wider perspectives. Here it is worth-stressing that Kalidasa’s Sakuntalamis not only a scholar’s delight but also meant for the stage. The following example as interpreted by Coomaraswamy, illuminates the permanent and universal relationship between Kalidasa’s Sakuntalamand Nandikesvara’s Abhinaya Darpana. “Mounting a car” is to be shown as follows: “The knees are to be raised, the leg being bent and lifted, so that the knee is level with the chest, and there held; and then the same is done with the other foot.” Furthermore, while reflecting on the dramatic gesture of Nalina-padmakosa in Bharata’s Natya Sastra, one is irresistibly reminded of such works of art as Kalidasa’s Abhijnana Sakuntalam and the Ajanta Frescoes. For this lovely gesture which is symbolic of the lotus bud, unveils poetic vistas of the watering of the trees by Sakuntala in Kama’s hermitage. Here  is a reproduction from the Coomaraswamy-Gopalakrishnayya translation: “First show Nalina-padmakosa hands palms downwards, then raise them to the shoulder, incline the head somewhat bending the slender body and pour out.....To move the Nalina-padmakosa hands downwards is said to be pouring out.” The action indicated is reminiscent of one of the Ajanta Frescoes, “but the actress, of course, only makes believe to lift and pour, she does not make use of an actual vessel”. ⁶

Third, as Prof. G. S. Ghurye correctly observes in his book Bharata Natya and its Costumes, “The actual representation was brought to the notice of the students of the dance through The Mirror of Gesture. ⁷Prof. Ghurye, also says that “The scene in the caves of Orissa, generally ascribed to the second century B. C., where a female is figured in a dancing pose, is reproduced in the above-mentioned contribution and is interpreted by Coomaraswamy as a scene in a Natyasala or dance-hall. If his inter­pretation is correct, then it is the earliest representation of human beings dancing in our country. Almost equally ancient is the dancing scene in Bharhut Sculptures, reproduced in Coomaraswamy’s contribution”. ⁸

Fourth, Coomaraswamy and Gopalakrishnayya had played an important role in the recovery of the Indian dance. In fact, this publication which owes some of its aesthetic insights to the celebrated “Sadir” dancer Tiruvarur Gnanam, had greatly contributed to a revival of interest in the art of Indian dancing during the second decade of this century. Indeed the alchemization of the original “Sadir” dance of the Tanjavur school into Bharata Natyam as it is known today, was creatively realized in the wake of the publication of this work as well as innume­rable articles on this subject by Coomaraswamy.

This brings us to the last point. It speaks of the universality of outlook of Coomaraswamy that he, the modern interpreter of Nandikesvara’s Abhinava Darpana, had stressed what Bharata had characterized as the Samanya Abhinaya–“the totality of perception which encompasses the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual planes”. ⁹ “It will be seen” observed Coomara­swamy, “that in all cases the dance is felt to fulfil a higher end than that of mere entertainment. It is ethically justified upon the ground that it subserves the Four Ends of life, and this view of Natya is plainly stated in Tiruvenkatachari’s preface stated below. The arts are not for our instruction, but for our delight, and this delight is something more than pleasure; it is the godlike ecstacy of liberation from the restless activity of the mind and the senses, which are the veils of all reality, transparent only when we are at peace with ourselves. From the love of many things, we are led to the experience of Union: and for this reason Tiruvenkatachari does not hesitate to compare the actor’s art or dancer’s art with the practice of Yoga. The secret of all art is self-forgetfulness”. ¹⁰

Here is the Coomaraswamy-Gopalakrishnayya translation of the relevant paragraph from Tiruvenkatachari’s preface. “The Bharata Sastra………is like the Union-Science (Yoga Sastra) which is the means of attaining spiritual freedom (Moksha) and the reason why a science such as this has come to be regarded in such a fashion is that it is by movements of the body (Angikabhinaya) that the lineaments and interplay of hero and heroine, etc., are clearly exhibited, so as to direct men in the way of righteousness, and to reveal an esoteric meaning; obtaining the appreciation of connoisseurs and those who are learned in the love of gesture. But if we understand this science with finer insight, it will be evident that it has come into being to set forth the sport and pastime of Sri Krishna, who is the progeintor of every world, and the patron deity of the flavour of love; that by clearly expressing the flavour and enabling men to taste thereof, it gives them the wisdom of Brahma, whereby they may understand how every business is unstable; from which understanding arises indifference (Vairagya) to such business, and therefrom arise the highest virtues of peace and patience, and thence again may be won the Bliss of Brahma.” ¹¹

All in all, the Coomaraswamy-Gopalakrishnayya translation of the Abhinaya Darpana or The Mirror of Gesture must be placed among the major works relating to the exposition of the aesthetics of the Indian Dance.

References

¹ G. V. Subba Rao says in his biography (Andhra Ratna Gopala­krishnayya, 2nd edition, page 10, Goshti Book House, Amala­puram. 1967) that Coomaraswamy and Gopalakrishnayya had met for the first time In the United Kingdom in 1914.
² Ananda Coomaraswamy – A Centennial Biography: By S. Durai Raja Singam. Page 4 of the Chapter on Coomaraswamy and Duggirala. Malaysia. 1977.
³ The Mirror of Gesture: Translated into English, 2nd Revised edition by Ananda Coomaraswamy and Duggirala Gopala­krishnayya. Introduction. New York. 1936.
⁴ The Mirror of Gesture: First edition, Introduction. Harvard University Press. 1917.
⁵ The Mirror of Gesture: Third edition, page 17. Munshiram Manoharlal, Delhi. 1977.
This unforgettable paragraph has been explained by the dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai in the following strain: “The dancer must sustain the song in the throat, depict the meaning by the hands, the Bhava (mood) through the eyes and keep time with the feet.” (Understanding Bharata Natyam: By Mrinalini Sarabhai, First edition, pages 148 and 149. University of Baroda. 1965.)
⁶ Ibid. Pages 4 and 5.
⁷ Bharata Natya and its Costume: By G. S. Ghurye, page 29. Popular Book Depot, Bombay. 1958.
⁸ Ibid, page 29.
⁹ Manomohan Ghosh defines Samanya Abhinaya as “Harmonious Representation.” According to him, “Abhinavagupta seems to have no very convincing explanation as to why Samanyabhinayawas so called. He discusses it from different points of view (Pp. 436-440). From the contexts of this chapter as well as the definition given here in 72 below, it means that the harmonious use of the four kinds of Abhinaya (vi, 23) and as such it should be distinguished from the Chitrabhinaya (xxvi) which applies only to the special representation of various objects and ideas” – The Natyasastra ascribed to Bharata Muni. Translation by Manomohan Ghosh. Revised Second edition, Vol. 1, page 442, Manisha Granthalaya, Calcutta. 1967.
¹⁰ The Mirror of Gesture: Third edition, page 9. 1977.
¹¹ Ibid. Page 11.