The following a text is an excerpt that is an exact representation of the Book named “Kuchipudi Classical Dance” by Sri. M. A. Naidu published on the occasion of “The World Telugu Conference” by The Andhra Pradesh Sangeeta Nataka Akademi, Hyderabad. This book is a monograph from the pen of Sri M. A. Naidu who is well known, not only in Andhra Pradesh but also throughout India, as an authority on the subject. This prestigious Conference, sponsored by the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh was inaugurated on the Telugu Ugadi Day, 12th April, 1975, with a view to strengthen the forces of Social Integration among the Telugu people by developing the various facts of their Cultural heritage based on a long history spreading over a period of 20 centuries. This Conference was headed by Hon’ble Sri Jalagam Vengala Rao, the then Chief Minister and Hon’ble V. Krishna Rao, the then Minister for the Education who acted as the Executive president of the said committee.
I had been preserving this rare book for the past 35 years like we preserve an ancient manuscript.
I had read many articles on the Subject of Kuchipudi, its origin and aspects from many books and websites even of great personalities. It was very disheartening to know that incorrect and incomplete information on the subject was being presented. Hence, I am glad that I am including this text as a very vital and valuable information reference resource for all those who want to explore a gist of the realm of the Kuchipudi Classical Dance form, against all misconceptions prevailing about the history of Kuchipudi as a whole, today. (Also refer my forthcoming book, still unnamed for the time being, for more valuable information on the subject).
Nrityakala Thapaswi”, “Natyakala Prapoorna”
Guru P. V. Bharani Shenkar
(National Second Generation Guru for Kuchipudi Tradition)
Honoured by the Central Sangeeth Natak Akademi, New Delhi.
-- By M.A. Naidu
Dance, as a form of art, has been known to mankind from times immemorial. As mankind progressed, the dance became progressively more sophisticated. Sometimes, dance had a rich spiritual import. Sometimes it was a sort of entertainment.
Among the most ancient dances is Indian dancing. Its form may have changed but its content is the same as it was thousands of years ago. The Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa civilisations, dating back to 3000 B. C., were characterised by a high degree of perfection in this art form. Whether or not dance then had religious significance is debatable but what cannot be debated after the discovery of a fine statue of a dancing girl at Mohenjo-Daro is that dancing had reached a high degree of sophistication even as early as that.
Our Puranas and other lore speak of some close relationship between divinity and classical dance. There is also something divine about Bharata’s “Naatya Sastra”, the immortal classic on dance and drama.
Even among Indian dances, those of Andhra Pradesh have always had their own distinctive character and appeal. That is true not only of the classical dances of Andhra Pradesh but also of its folk dances. Their greatness and antiquity can be understood, from the fact that they were referred to in glowing terms as far back as in “Gadha Saptasati”, which was Before Christ, in Bharatamuni’s “Naatya Shastra”, which is believed to have been written somewhere between 200 B. C. and 200 A. D., in Palkuriki Somanatha’s “Panditharadhyacharitra and “Basavapuranam”, which belonged to the 12th century A. D., in Jayapa Senani’s “Nritta” Ratnavali”, also of the 13th Century A. D.
Andhras have enriched not only dance but also literature on dancing. “Abhinaya Darpana” by Nandikswara, who lived somewhere between the third and fourth century B. C., and “Nrittaratnavali” by Jayapa Senani, two Andhras, are still regarded as authoritative works on dancing.
Later on, between 11th century A. D. and 14th century A. D., a host of Andhra commentators added to the wealth of literature on dance. These included Nanyadeva, Bhoolokamalla, Kumaragiri Reddy, Pedakomati Vema Reddy, Lollu Bhattu, Singa Bhupala and Mallinatha. Besides, our historical works are replete with references to dance halls, dances and dancers like Lakumadevi of Kondavidu and Machaladevi of Warangal.
On the pillars at Amaravati and Nagarjuna Konda, on the temples of Bikkavolu, Palampet and Draksharam, and in the caves of Undavalli near Vijayawada, are etched dance poses which are as ancient as they are exquisite.
The classical dances of Andhra Pradesh owe at least as much as those of any other part of the country to Bharata’s “Naatya Shastra”. Andhra classical dances also follow the four kinds of Abhinaya, Angika (movements of the limbs), Vachika (speech), Aaharya (costume) and Satvika (emotions and facial expressions) laid down by Bharatha.
But “Abhinaya Darpana” which, as already mentioned, is from the pen of an Andhrite, namely Nandikeswara, deals threadbare with Angikabhinaya. “Rasamanjari” by Bhabudatha Misra, which deals with “Sringara rasa” (armourousness) is also very popular in Andhra Pradesh. That possibly explains why greater importance is attached in Andhra Pradesh to “Sringara Rasa” and “lasya”, which means graceful dance, than to veer rasa and Thandava.
Andhra classical dance is commonly divided into two categories “Naatya Mela” and “Nattuva Mela”. The former consists of dance-drama and the latter of pure dance. Devadasis and courtesans have been the exponents of the latter.
One school of thought believes that Indian dance began to lose its spiritual import long before the dawn of 1000 A. D. Eminent scholars concerned over this trend, according to this school, launched a movement to stem the rot, and that Kuchipudi was one of the centres where the movement was organised.
Another school of thought holds that Kuchipudi was the starting point of a movement to restore ‘Vachikabbhinaya’ to its due importance. This abhinaya had increasingly been relegated to the background in the various dances of India. The latter view is reinforced by the fact that in Kuchipudi dance, the dancer renders in Vachikabhinaya while in other forms of Indian dance, it is in the background.
Long before Kuchipudi Brahmins adopted dance drama and dance as their profession, there existed dance-drama in folklore, and classical dance as Nattuva Mela. Kuchipudi Bhagavats refined and lifted the dance-drama from folk to classical level and dedicated themselves to the propagation of “Madura Bhakthi”, devotional love of God. A word about the Kuchipudi dance troupes. Some of the residents of the village well trained in dance join together in a troupe. This troupe is called a ‘Melam’ and it should not be confused with the troupes of courtesans, which are also ‘Melams’. There will be a leader on whose behests all the members obey. It is traditional to refer to the troupe either by the surname of the leader’s family or by his name. For instance the troupes are called as ‘Chinta Vari Melam’ or the troupe of the ‘Chinta’. ‘Mahankali Vari Melam,’ ‘Vedantham Vari Melam’ ‘Bhaghavatula Vari Melam’, etc., similarly. These dance troupes were presenting dance dramas or their plays not only in the neighbouring towns and villages or the districts but also in other different places where they appreciate their dance-dramas i. e., in places where Telugu language is understood, as the language of their dance dramas is Telugu.
Kuchipudi is a village in Divi taluk of Krishna district, about 15miles from Masulipatnam, and about three miles from Movva, the birth place of Kshetrayya who composed hundreds of “Padas” or dance-songs. Srikakulam, the capital of Satavahana kings, is a few miles from Kuchipudi. This tract of land has been famous for culture and fine arts right from the third century B. C. Providentially the king of the region, Abdul Hasan Tanesha was campaigning the village, Kuchipudi. He was a lover of fine arts and presentational arts and liberal with his munificence. He was the only Muslim king who was really secular in disposition and showered benefits on those to whom he has taken a kindly attitude. Kuchipudi dancers, dance troupes and the entire village are greatly indebted to this non-Hindu king. He used to frequently visit Machilipatnam which is presently the head-quarters of Krishna District in Andhra Pradesh, India. He had a fortification in that place because it is vulnerable by sea to foreigners and by land to the natives. His visit to this town was with almost a huge caravan, consisting of all the members of his establishment-Ministers, Army Chief’s , Clerical staff and their families including his harem, and horse or bullock drawn carts, because in those days the fast moving vehicular conveyance was not available. He used to camp at whatever be the place whenever darkness descended, mostly in places where he had his establishments. In one of such sojourns he came to Kuchipudi. The Kuchipudi dancers were lucky in this and were extremely happy about this visit. They had an interview with the king in which they requested the king to witness one of their performances in the night, which they told the king, was a mark of expression of their joy on the visit of the king to their place. Abul Hassan Tanesha, a lover of arts graciously accepted the proposal and witnessed their performance that night. This was a wonderful opportunity for the Kuchipudi people to show their artistry, learning and skills to their king and earn his goodwill. They have presented their performances that night with extreme care so that it projected their dance-drama which was full of music, dialogues and interesting incidents so that it attracted the attention and invited the admiration of their king. Tanesha forgot himself in the emotional impact. He was in a way surprised to learn that his Kingdome had artistes of such great calibre and felt proud about it. He felt in his own mind that any present or gift would not be sufficiently indicative of the enjoyment he received by witnessing the performances. He felt that his name should be eternally associated with Kuchipudi dance-drama. So he thought that it would be proper to gift away the entire village with an extent of 600 acres as a charitable endowment for Kuchipudi dance, dance-drama and its troupes with hereditary rights in the name of nine families that were existing at that time in the village of Kuchipudi and saw to it that ‘Firman’ or order was issued imediately on the spot. This ‘Firman’ was issued in the name of ‘Bhagavathula Narasanna’ the oldest member of Kuchipudi village as executer of the ‘Firman’. Sense of property is a very possessive instinct in a man and so the original nine families refused to admit the two families who also had dance tradition in them, to admit them into their fold. The two families which have to be newly admitted into partnership of the village sort the good offices of Kandregula Jogipantulu and Mosalikanti Kamoji Pantulu to mediate. The two gentlemen who belong to a Zamindari family of Machilipatnam accepted to negotiate. (It may not be out place to state here that there exists a mansion in Machilipatnam called Pantuluvari Meda which is reputed to have withstood the on slaught of a tidal wave in the middle of 19th century and several hundreds of people of the town were rescued in that massive huge mansion). A successful agreement had been negotiated between disputing parties apportioning the lands of the village signed by all the parties concerned and the two gentlemen signing the documents as arbitrators. Once again I have to refer to the munificence of that great Muslin king, Abdul Hassan Tanesha which kept the residents of Kuchipudi happy who are devoted to that great inimitable dance tradition of which the Telugu race is ever proud of.
From the local records of McKenzie, we learn that the Kuchipudi Brahmins staged a “Kelika” in the Court of Veer Narasimhadevaraya, who ruled over Vijayanagaram from 1506 to 1509. So, it is clear that dance-drama flourished in Kuchipudi even before 1500 A. D.
Siddhendra yogi, who was a great scholar both in literature and philosophy, wrote “Ramakalapa”, and taught it to Kuchipudi Brahmins. Siddhendra made them take a vow that every Brahmin male born in Kuchipudi would take up dancing as his profession, or at least appear on the stage once a year. Women are forbidden to take part in dance and dance-dramas. Kuchipudi Brahmins came to be called Kuchipudi Bhagavatas because they used to enact stories from Bhagavatam.
The period of ‘Siddhendra yogi’ has been a bone of contention among the scholars on the subject. Some of them have tried to put the period very much back to place Kuchipudi dance in the forefront in terms of sanctity regarding its earlier origin with reference to Saint ‘Siddhendra’. The arguments advanced to attribute antiquity do not appear to be plausible with particular reference to historical incidents that could be properly correlated. Some claim that he belonged to the 14th century, some others claim to later periods of 16th century notwithstanding the existence of Kuchipudi dance in a much earlier period – while Abdul Hassan Tanesha gifting away the Kuchipudi village was in late 17th century. It is reasonable to infer from the arguments of the various scholars and correlating the historical evidence, it is most probable that he belonged to the 16th century or early 17th century. There is a very interesting incident about how ‘Siddayya’ or Sidappa became Siddhendra yogi. There is no recorded evidence about this incident. So, I am narrating the incident as I comprehend it to be reasonable. Whether or not he belonged to Kuchipudi village, it is certain his wife was from Kuchipudi. In those days the marriages were child marriages. During a visit to Kuchipudi, be it earlier or during the period of consummation of his marriage, his wife is reported to have had a jibe at him, for he was not very well educated. This, Siddappa took as an insult and resolved to become a scholar and then only face his wife. He left. Next morning the members of the household found his bed vacant. They did not know where Siddappa was in spite of enquiries. He left for Benares (Varanasi) where he beseeched a renowned scholar whose name is not available and became a scholar in various ‘Sastras’ (Science), Sanskrit language and literature. In number of years, as time lapsed, the desire in him to go back to his native place became very intense. He started on his return journey. By the time he came to his village, ‘Kollur’ on the banks of river Krishna, there were signs of the river swelling. He could not overcome his desire to reach Kuchipudi on the other side of the river even though it was dead of night. He was an expert swimmer. So he dared crossing the river that night itself. He started swimming across the river. As he was swimming the river began to rise in a spate. By the time he reached the middle of the river, the floods in the river were full and fast. His direction was changing and was being washed down. He looked forward and backward. He was in mid-stream. He lost all hopes of reaching home and about survival. For a traditional Brahmin the convention is that one should renounce before he dies. In that great stage of emergency, with the last resort gone, he concentrated on Him and accepted mental renunciation, his soul being the preceptor that administered the oath to him. He lost himself in meditation and did not know what was happening. Time fleeted. Suddenly he found that he had struck something hard, opened his eyes and saw that it was twilight and he landed on the other bank and found that Kuchipudi was within sight. He came to his normal senses. He was grateful to the almighty for saving him and thought that the new life was given to him by God for him to enjoy life with his wife and relations. As he was walking towards the village, it flashed across his mind that he has renounced all earthly pleasures that night in a great state of emergency and helplessness. He was shorn of all earthly bonds. He learnt from passersby that saint ‘Sivanarayana Thirtha’ was camping in the nearby village of Narayanapuram. He went there, stayed in the company of the saint for some time and returned to Kuchipudi. He diverted all the amorousness in him into creating ‘Bhamakalapam’ a dance-drama in which the amour-stricken consort Sathyabhama, pined for her lover-lord whom she had insulted inadvertently. She summoned her maid-in-attendance and poured out her heart. The maids in attendance are women who grew up along with the princess and when the princess gets married they accompany them to their husbands’ home and are their confidants. The maid chides the impertinence of Sathyabhama in saying that she was more beautiful than Lord Krishna who was supposed to be extremely charming and was loved by 16,000 ‘gopikas’ (milkmaids). Naturally Krishna was annoyed and left her palace. The degree to which the insult hurt him can be easily imagined from the fact that he preferred separation from His concert for whom He brought down ‘Parijatham’ (celestial flowering plant) from the Heaven to the Earth. The maid was able to estimate the degree of insult to which Krishna was subjected to and chided Satyabhama all the more. Satyabhama was in tears and all her pride for her beauty was washed down, by the grief which was heart-felt and sincere remorsefulness overtook her. She beseeched her maid to carry a message from her to the lord. She writes imploringly a letter to Krishna in which she admits all her defects and praise and that she should be pardoned and that he should come back to her and hands it over to her maid, to be delivered in person. The maid took the letter to Lord Krishna who accepted the apology and returned to her.
So the Yakshagana Bhamakalapam is a piece of mono-acting with Sathyabama, the consort of Lord Krishna, as the heroine. It is regarded as the best Kelika and as a highlight of the dramatic literature. In this play, Satyabhama’s pangs of separation from her Lord are vividly depicted. Philosophically interpreted, Sathyabhama is the ‘Jivatma’ and Lord Krishna, the ‘Paramatma’. Satyabhama’s pangs of separation and longing are those of “Jivatma” pinning to merge into “Paramatma”. This creation of saint Siddhendra has stood the test of time and is still the piece-de-resistance of the Kuchipudi repertoire.
In this piece, only Satyabhama appears on the stage and the “Sutradhara”, who is the leader of the troupe acts as her maid. Siddhendra Yogi depicted Satyabhama as an incarnation of Love and “Sringararasa”. So, one who seeks to play the character must be a master of dance and “Abhinaya”.
Another Kalapam in the famous Kuchipudi repertoire is “Gollakalapam”. This was written by Bhagavatula Ramayya in the last quarter of the 19th century. Ramaya was not only proficient in the art of dance but also was a strict ritualist in the orthodox Brahmin way. He also practiced ‘yoga’ (a type of devotional physical culture), and was a poet too. In his native place Ghantasala, one time Buddhist centre, he used to give lessons in dance to the ‘Devadasis’ of that place. Towards the last quarter of the 19th century, he wrote ‘Gollakalapam’, a work on presentational art under the name ‘Yagnapattu’. ‘Gollakalapam’ like ‘Bhamakalapam’ is designed for monoacting. If the heroine of Bhamakalapam is Satyabhama, the heroine in ‘Gollakalapam’ is a milkmaid. The heroine is studied in ‘Vedas’, ‘Dharmasastras’ and other aspects of Hindu religion. The heroine enters the stage by selling milk and curds. She is confronted by an arrogant orthodox Brahmin who is very proud of his caste. Each of them accosts the other in ridiculing tones, indulge in self-praise and enter into a discussion. They discuss ‘Vedas’, ‘Upanishads’ and their allied aspects. In their discussion figure, that caste system, philosophy, ideal family life, the development of human being from the state of embryo and other similar aspects won vehement arguement advanced by the milkmaid is that everyone is borned a ‘Shudra’ and with a refinement of culture and initiation into the ‘Vedic’ cult, one becomes a Brahmin and convinces him about it.
Ramayya trained his women desciples in Bhamakalapam also. There are several stories in circulation about him. I shall narrate one very interesting incident in his life. He was touring in West Godavari district with his ‘Bhamakalapam’ troupe and camped in a village in a well-to-do Brahmin’s house. They gave a performance that night in the village; the host also attended the performance. All of them returned in the early hours of the morning and the host went to bed. Ramayya was a staunch ritualist and went to the well for ablution and daily rituals which consisted of ‘Yoga’ practice also. After sometime, the whole place was pervaded by the noise of humming bees. This disturbed the host who woke up, came out and discovered that the source of this noise was near the well. He went there and the humming noise was emanating from the body of Ramayya which was six feet high from the ground in ‘Padmasana’ (a method of sitting with folded legs while practicing the yoga). He could not understand as to how this could happen. He went back into the house, woke up one of Ramaya’s desciples and asked him as to what it was? The disciple replied that Ramayya practiced a system of yoga called ‘Hata Yoga’ and when one practices it, one could rise above the ground in the air and the humming noise he heard was the ‘Omkara’ uttered by Ramayya. To those that do not know about ‘Hat Yoga’ what happened was the impossible.
After the fall of the Vinayagar Empire, Achuth-Appa Nayaka (1561-1614 A.D.) who was the main supporter of this style of dance invited families from Kuchipudi and gifted them each with a house, a well for drinking water and few acres of cultivable land and settle them in a colony named after him Achutapuram, about 10miles from Tanjore. The same place was later on known as Mellattur derived from the Telugu name Melaputuru, meaning a village of dance troupes.
Till the beginning of this century the surnames of the Brahmins of this village were the same as those of the original emigrants from Kuchipudi. Kuchipudi dance dates back to 1502 A. D. From historical records of Machipalli village known as ‘Muchipalli Kaifiat’. The same record also confirm that the Kuchipudi dancers were permitted to perform before Veer Narasimharaya of the Vijayanagar Empire and in their dance revealed to him the misdeeds of his vassal, Sammeta Guravaraju of Siddavattam, by one of them putting on the garb of the vassal who was trying to molest a woman, in a very delicate and beautiful style without any obscenity. This opened the eyes of the king who immediately passed orders for excecution of this subordinate and releaved the people of that area from the misdemeanours of Gurava Raju.
From the above, it is obvious that the dance style that was developed in Tanjore was only at a later period and that is now known as the Bharatanatyam. Here, it may probably be not out of place to mention about the differences between the Kuchipudi style and Bharatanatyam style. Kuchipudi style is more elaborate, flowy, free and delicate, for it was performed in gay abandon in the open while the Bharatanatyam style is precise, angular and delicate involving specialisation in ‘Dristis’ or slants of eye, because it was performed in the courts of the kings which had limited the dancer’s movement. This difference is also due to the fact that the Kuchipudi people performed for large audiences which needed exaggerated movements and the Bharatanatyam style was performed for restricted audiences. It is also true that the Kuchipudi dancers, in the late 50's of the century have adopted the ‘Cutchery’ style of Bharatanatyam, which itself is moulded after the pattern of the South Indian musical concert. Of course, items in the closed performances of these two branches if Indian dance are entirely different even though the main source is just the same.
About a century ago, Kuchipudi Bhagavats took up this type of streetend play and popularised it. Prahlada in three parts, was the first play taken up by them. Afterwards, they began to produce Usha Parinaya, Sasirekha Parinaya, Harischandra, Mohini Rukmangada, Rama Nataka, Gayopakhyanam and Rukmini Kalyanam.
The stage for the Kuchipudi dance-drama is a simple open air stage. The spectators sit on three sides under the open sky. On the fourth side a white or coloured curtain is hung. As there were no moving curtains in the olden days, a white or decorated cloth served as the backdrop. Torches fed by castor oil served as lighting. There was no front curtain and when characters have to appear on the stage, a curtain is held by hand by two persons with the artiste behind and the curtain moves in synchronism with the movement of the artiste. At the beginning of each performance a braided plait of a woman character was thrown over the curtain with a challenge that if anyone would excel them in dance they can take the plait away as a trophy by cutting it off which did not happen till now.
Dame jealousy operators everywhere. The Kuchipudi people too had jealous rivals. Although they could not excel them in dance they were employing their methods for subduing them. One such method is to employ ‘Mantras’ from the ‘Tantric’ lore. Toward off the troubles created by their rivals, the Kuchipudi dancers had perforce to study the science of ‘Tantra’, if their rivals employed a particular ‘Mantra’ to scuttle their activity; they had to employ a counter from the same ‘Tantric’ method which the rivals employ. So the Kuchipudi dancers were not only experts in dance but also were experts in ‘Mantra-sastra’ a section of ‘Tantric’ lore.
After prayer, the herald would announce the arrival of the king. Then the king would enter stage, stand behind the curtain and announce his name and title in a song called ‘Pravesa daruvu’. Then the curtain would be taken away and the drama would commence. The “Sutradhara” would stand behind the actors and conduct the play. He would repeat loudly what the character said and would even interpret it. Sometimes, he would himself act in place of minor characters.
The orchestra consists of mridangam, flute or violin, tambura or harmonium, and two or more background singers. Kings, ministers and other characters would wear beautifully designed crowns, mantle and ornaments, according to their rank. Other female characters would wear ornaments which were the replicas of the ornaments worn by queens and other important personages.
A word has to be said about the ornaments worn by the Kuchipudi dancers. They are made of ‘Poneke’ wood which is a kind of cedar, light in weight. Carved exquisitely, they consist of crowns of varied sizes and shapes, shoulder plates, arm-bands, wristlets and necklaces. They are different for men and women, kings and queens and their subordinates according to their status. The carvings on the ornaments for men are bold while those for women were delicate.
Besides dance-drama, Kuchipudi Bhagavats have in their repertoire a number of solo dances which they have choreographed into perfection. Jayadev’s “Geetagovinda”, Naarayana Theertha’s “Krishnaleela Tarangams” and “Padas” of Kshetrayya are best suited for solo dances. So, Kuchipudi artistes took up these dance songs and mastered them. Afterwards, they added to their repertory “Sabdas”. Sabdas are intricate dance numbers.
Some of them are composed in praise of kings like Pratapa Simha, Damera Simhendra Bhupala and Tulaji. Prahlada Pattabhisekham, Manduka, Rama and Dasavatara are some of the important “Sabdas” with word and music but predominant with rhythmic syllables.
There are very intricate and difficult dance numbers in ‘Nritta’ or pure dance which is devoid of word and its meaning. They are either musical or rhythmic syllables. There are particular ‘talas’ or scannings of time. One is the ‘Vinayaka tala’ in 92 ‘matras’ or units in which if a dance number is performed by a dancer, the foot prints, if traced, would give the complete figure of ‘Vinayaka’ the elephant-headed son of Lord Shiva who wards off all evil. There is another dance number in ‘Simhananda tala’ of 108 ‘Matras’ or units. If this number is danced, the figure of a lion could be traced from the footprints of the dancer.
In performing these solo dances, the artistes wears dress and ornaments suitable for the dance. Orchestra is the same as that for dance-drama. The artiste begins with Puja dance. For every song, the artiste exhibits the “Bhava” (meaning) and “Rasa” (emotion) through “Angika Abhinaya”, “Vachikabhinaya” and “Sathvikabhinaya“.
The meaning of every word in general is shown in “hastas” (hand-gestures). They place the two palms in such a shape that the audience understand the meaning of the word or recognise the idea behind. The hand-gestures are codified and are highly stylised. The audience are expected to be knowledgeable and so the full meaning of hand-gestures employed in a particular dance is understood by them. ‘Sathvikabhinaya’ is the expression of the mental state through the face. ‘Angikabhinaya’ is an expression through the movements of the limbs. ‘Aharyabhinaya’ is expression by make-up and costume. ‘Vachikabhinaya’ is expression through word which may be in prose or poetry. Into all these ‘Nritya’ or dance is interwoven and the whole becomes the dance performance. The leader of the dance party directs the entire performance sounding the cymbals and renders the rhythmic syllables like ‘Thom-Dhimi’, ‘Ma-Ga-Ga-Ri-Sa’.
Yakshagana is beleved to be the main source of all folk dance-drama forms. Yakshagana means music of the Yakshas or Celestials. Musicologists say that it is a folk style practiced by an Andhra tribe called Jakkulu. The great poet Srinadha describes in “Kridabhirama” the performance of a Jakkulu woman. She wears an attire suitable for dancing and narrates a story singing and dancing. Afterwards other characters were introduced and dialogues were written.
Gradually, Yakshagana has developed into a full-fledged dance-drama. The style of music and dance employed is ‘desi’ (indigenous) “Garudaachala Yakshagana” and “Sugriva Vijayam” seems to be the oldest Yakshagana. This type of full-fledged Yakshagana dance-drama flourished under Tanjore kings. Even Nayaka and Maharashtra rulers of Tanjore, like Vijay Raghava Nayaka and Shahaji wrote many Yakshaganas.
But the language employed in Tanjore Yakshaganas is vulgar to the point of being obsene. Yadava Bhagavathulu, Mala Bhagavathulu and Yanadi Bhagavathulu produce this kind of dance-dramas. Garudachala Nataka, Lepakshi Krishna Nataka, Sarangadhara and Virataparava Nataka are very popular. More than 40 manuscripts of Yakshagana dance-drama are now available in the Tanjore Saraswati Mahal Library.
With the advent of religion ‘Nattuva Mela’ or dance troupes came into existence. The original troupes consisted of a woman dancer, two female voices , a drum and violin. The woman dancer is usually a ‘Devadasi’ who is dedicated to the service of God through her dance in the Temple. The woman originally dedicated to God and His service later on became courtesans, who danced in the courts of kings and Zamindars, were dedicated to the service of these human demy-gods, for the Sanskrit adage “Naa Vishnuh Prithvipatih” says the same. Women only danced in this mela and men acted as “Sutradharas”. Like Naatya Mela, Nattuva Mela also follows Bharata’s Naatya Sastra, with a slight variation in execution. Nattuvamela dances can be broadly divided into “Aradhana Nritya” and “Darbar Nritya”. Worship of God is the main aim of the former and pleasing the King is the object of the latter. Devadasis’ dance was in praise of different deities inside the temple, and in the Kalyana Mandapa (Marriage hall). In Siva temples there used to be a small platform called “Bali-Peetham” on which the dances were performed.
These dances begin with the worship of Vinayaka, the God of obstacles. Then begins the flower-offering dance and other dance numbers. At different rituals, Devadasis excecute dances appropriate to the occasion. Besides these, intricate dances are performed on special occasions and festivals. While taking the deity round the temple, they perform “Asta Dikpalaka” dance, worshipping the eight Gods of the directions. There are nearly 40 dance numbers in “Aaradhna Nritya”. On coming into contact with Kuchipudi artistes, Devadasis also took up Bhamakalapam with some alterations. Some used to stage “Parijatha Nataka” of Narayana Tirtha. Attempts are being made to ginger up Aaradhna Nritya and dance-drama in Nattuva Mela style.
Yakshagana was originally the form of drama of a descriptive type where only one artiste danced and told the story. Later on, two characters, the “Yaksha” and “Yakshini”, a man and a woman, danced and narrated the story. Characters like the clown or “Vidushaka” and fortune-teller or “Yerukala Sani” were added on to the Yakshagana”. More and more characters were introduced with clear-cut parts, to be played by each one of them and the “Sutradhara” or the actor-director who sings the prologues to the various scenes and takes up roles as the action demands, during the Yakshagana performances.
Thus the solo type of Yakshagana developed into a full-blown dramatic form with dance, music, diction, song and verse, and it is in this form that the Kuchipudi dance-dramas are preserved till today, incorporating the principles of “Naatya Sastra” and Abhinaya Darpana” to give it a complete classical form.
Singing a verse does not exist anywhere in the world except in Andhra Pradesh in India, although a verse is rendered in a musical tone in other parts of the world. It is in Telugu and Telugu alone that a ‘Padyam’ or verse is sung in a particular ‘Raga’ or melody.
The Kuchipudi dance has maintained its own pattern of singing of one particular type of verse known as “Kanda”. The first two lines of the verse are rendered in straight pure melody (raga) while the latter two lines are sung with melody and rhythm. This style is known as “Kandaardha”. The main language of the Kuchipudi dance-drama is Telugu, freely embellished with Sanskrit verses and songs.
Arduous physical exercises are the first lessons that the Kuchipudi dancers receive, which lead to a greater flexibility of the body, poise and gait. They are taught Telugu and Sanskrit classics besides music and dance.
The Kuchipudi dancers were all men till the end of the first quarter of the present century and were mostly agriculturists practicing dance-dramas off-season. The make-up of the original Kuchipudi artistes was very simple. They used a single colour paint and powder appropriate to the character to be portrayed. These simple colours were prepared from minerals and vegetables. Two dance numbers in the Kuchipudi style are particularly noteworthy for a curious combination of physical skill with cultural artistry. The dancer stands on the sharp edge of a plate, with a round-bottomed pot poised on the head. Both contain water. The dancer executes a full dance number from one of the songs written by Saint Siva Narayana Tirtha, keeping correct time and executing circles on the dance-floor without spilling the water from either the plate or the pot while the hands exhibit the traditional “mudras” or gestures and the feet mark time. Some of the modernists who believe in classicism pooh-pooh this number as mere acrobatics and do not appreciate the purpose for which this number is designed for. Indian dance and hence Kuchipudi dance is developed on devotionalism and concentration for ultimately realising the cosmic personality of God. In this dance number, the dancer while executing the dance concentrates her mind on not spilling water either from the pot or from the plate which is obviously the beginning of training for concentrating on God while living in an earthly atmosphere. The latter is comparable to the hand-gestures and marking time with the feet. The songs that are rendered in performing this item have the burthen either ‘Balagopala Mamuddhara Krishna’ or ‘Balagopala Krishna Pahi Pahi’ Krishna Leela Tarangini, a compendium of songs on the wondrous deeds of Lord Krishna by Saint ‘Siva Narayana Tirtha’. The Telugu race takes pride in this work not only because the saint was from a Telugu Brahmin family but also because of the innate literary and artistic content of each ‘Taranga’ or wave. The name of the work, liberally translated would be ‘Waves of the wondrous deeds of Krishna’. There is absolutely no recorded or internal evidence about the place of his birth. However different persons have claimed differently. Some claim his place to be Narayanapuram, one mile and a half away from Kuchipudi, a few miles from the banks of the river Krishna while others claim it to be Vellatur, in Guntur district, actually on the banks of the river Krishna. So, one cannot be definite about the place of his birth.
Another is the role of “Dadinamma” a maid on a canopied bedstead. The torso is bent into a recumbent posture on the side with one hand supporting the head while the legs are maintained vertically for execution of footwork. The legs are marked up to the waist horizontally and artificial legs and feet are set to complete the illusion of the maid in a posture of repose. The maid is recollecting the sweet memories of enjoyment with her male spouse. The make-up indicates that she is a ‘Vishnavite’ (devotee of Vishnu), the Second in the ‘Hindu Trinity’ of Gods. The physical communication of her’s is in the relationship with the Lord and not the physical man. As the dance number goes on she is supposed to have been impregnated with the spirit of God and her conception is not through her natural spouse. The role converts itself to ‘Yasoda’ who believes that she had delivered the divine child Lord Krishna and becomes a ‘Balenta’ or wet mother. She enjoys suckling the child. The mundane aspect is completely forgotten and the entire audience is emotionally elevated to a spiritual state. The number is executed in this posture for full 2 to 3 hours.
There are two other Kuchipudi dance numbers which are worthy of special mention. The “Dasavataras” or the ten incarnations of the Lord, which in modern parlance, depict the evolution of the intelligent modern man from the embryonic state of life under water. I shall endeavour to be more explicit. In the “Dasavataras” of ten incarnations of God, he assumes ten forms, (1) ‘Matsya’ or fish, (2) ‘Kurma’ or turtle, (3)’ Varaha’ or boar, (4) ‘Narasimha’ or lion-man form (5) ‘Vamana’ or short human form (6) ‘Rama 1’ – tall human form with axe (7) ‘Rama 2’ – tall human form with bow and arrow. (8) ‘Rama 3’ – tall human form with plough (8) ‘Buddha’ - thinking tall human form and (10) ‘Kalki’ – tall human form mounted on a horse. These ten incarnations if interpreted as the origin of life and development of man (1) life (2) amphibious life (3) land life with love for water (4) half man half beast or carnivorous aboriginal man (5) Pigmy man (6) man who used the axe for obtaining his food (7) man who used the bow and arrow for obtaining his food (8) man who used the plough to till the soil and obtain his food (9) intelligent man who started thinking about problems other than food and (10) the modern man of the jet and atomic age.
I presume that this new interpretation of the ten incarnations of God in terms of modern thinking is more rational and would be accepted by the intelligentsia.
The other is the “Arthanaareeswara Nrithya”, where one half of the artiste is dressed like Parvathi and the otherf half as Lord Siva, with a thin veil stuck on the face along the nose line which is moved to the left and the right as Siva or Parvathi is portrayed. The genetic interpretation of this dance is that there is a man always in a woman and a woman in a man. And it is this internal concord in man and woman that makes life in this world pleasant.
The Kuchipudi dance-teacher besides taking part in the dance drama of their respective ‘Melas’ or troupes have in later years, or perhaps from the middle of the nineteenth century have began tutoring women disciples that belonged to the courtesan community in the neighbouring villages of Kuchipudi, ‘Movva’, ‘Nangigadda’, ‘Ghantasala’ and ‘Meduru’. They imparted extensive and intensive training to the Devadasis more particularly in ‘Kaisiki Vritti’ or the delicate style in dance. Meduru is my ancestral place.
In ancient times it was custom of kings and Zamindars to have court dancers. They danced before the king in Durbar and on festive occasions. These dances were classical. These courtesans used to render in dance the songs of Jayadeva, Narayana Thirtha, Kshetrayya and also songs specially composed in praise of the kings themselves. The Kuchipudi dancers, although there are seeped in the rituals of Hindu religion and are devoted to dance and dance-drama, condescended to perform and resorted to ‘Pagati Veshalu’ (day time acting of various roles) which are supposed to be of a lower order in the standards of artistic presentations. In coming down from their standards they were not motivated by monetary considerations but were inspired by emotions of a higher order and that was to inspire the people for social and political emancipation of the people who had degraded in their human and religious approaches and donned on roles of social and religious importance so that the uneducated, un initiated common man, could comprehend the various aspects of social behaviour and religious property. Some of the roles put on for day-time performances have been, in later years, included as items in the solo dance-performances by persons or women trained by the Kuchipudi dance teachers. One such is the ‘Arthanareshwara’ about which I have elaborated elsewhere in this monograph. Among the authors whose songs are danced by courtesans and sometimes by solo dancers of Kuchipudi; I have already dealt elsewhere about Narayana Tirtha. Jayadeva, whose songs are danced mostly by the ‘Odissi’ dancers, who belonged to Orissa and composed songs on the erotic aspect of love of Radha and the Gopikas. It was said that Padmavathy, wife of Jayadeva, was a good dancer and that he composed the songs for her dance. Jayadeva’s songs are also danced by the Kuchipudi dancers.
Kshetrayya was a Brahmin. And a native of Movva village in Krishna district and his surname was the same as that of the village. Even today there are Brahmins living in that village with the same surname. Varadayya was the name given to him by his parents. The name Varadayya later became Kshetrayya or Kshetragna. Kshetra in Sanskrit is a holy place and Varadayya visited several places and composed songs on local deities at those places. So his name became famous as Kshetrayya or Kshetragna. He was a scholar in Telugu, Sanskrit, music and science of dance. It is said that he loved a ‘Devadasi’ from his village when he was still a student. It is from the inspiration given to him by his courtesan, who herself was a devotee of Venugopalaswamy of that village, that Kshetrayya composed several hundreds of songs on the deity and every song has imprint ‘Muvva Gopala’ in it. During the period when he was composing songs he came into contact with the dancers of Kuchipudi. These dancers had intimate contact with Saint Siddhendra and Saint Sivanarayana Tirtha. Their experiences were narrated to him which had profound influence on the personality of Kashetrayya. He wrote his songs in the native idiom of Telugu language in a smooth style which are full of great import and are easy to interpret. Annamacharya of Tirupathy paved the way for his type of song (padam) and Kshetrayya, in a way followed it. While Annamacharya’s songs were full of devotion, Kshetrayya’s songs besides the devotion had a great erotic content. So these songs were more pliable in dance. There are eight types of heroines and all the aspects attributed to them are found in his songs. Kshetrayya’s songs are famous throughout South India.
I have tried to represent Kuchipudi dance, with its roots in ancient times, from its inception to what it is today, taking up solo and dance-dramas performances in their variegated forms and aspects and included interesting incidents from the lives of persons who have given songs or dance-dramas to the Kuchipudi people. I am very happy to present this monograph in Kuchipudi dance in its varied aspects to acquaint connoisseurs of dance-forms with this style of dance.
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