The Lord of Dance

[Guest guest]

The Lord of Dance While Lord Shiva danced the 'tandava', Parvathi performed the 'lasya'. These are the male and female aspects of Indian dance. The tandava is vigorous, energetic and bold. The lasya is graceful, gentle and feminine.Which is a General Knowledge by most of us. But thats not all there is more to the story of The Lord Of Dance.. It is said that Brahma, the Creator, was disturbed by the turmoil that existed on earth. People were not happy. The Brahmins had kept the knowledge of the Vedas a closely

guarded secret. They were exploiting the other communities. Brahma decided to remedy the situation. A dramatic and visual presentation of the texts would make it interesting even for uneducated, simple people. Soon, they became aware of the lessons contained in the holy scriptures. He taught this wonderful art of 'natya' or drama, to a sage called Bharata. Bharata taught this wonderful art to his ganas or attendants and they performed it in front of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva was so happy to see their dramatic performance, that he taught them his own vigorous dance, called tandava. Bharata then wrote a long thesis on the art of dance, drama and music, which is called the 'Natya-shastra'. A very beautiful shloka or verse advises the dancer on how to give life to many Indian Shastr gestures. "Where the hand goes, the eyes should

follow, Wherever the eyes go the mind and the heart should follow, Where the mind and heart are, there are true expression, Where there is expression, there is enjoyment." Love, anger, laughter, compassion, valour, fear, disgust, wonder and peace are the 9 main gestures. One must not forget the main part of the Lord of the Dance which is a VEENA the Devine Instrument.The fact that Saraswathi, the Goddess of arts, is always identified with Veena, only symbolises that Music (synonymous with Veena) has primary importance among all forms of fine arts. In Soundarya Lahari's Sloka 66 there is a beautiful anecdote which goes on like this: Goddess Saraswathi is "singing " praise of Pasupathi in her veena (it is said that when Saraswathi plays Veena, one gets to hear the lyrical form itself and that is why the word

"singing" in used-gaayanthee ) in the presence of Devi Parvathi, who at an exhilarated moment vocally exclaims at the beauty of the music. That simple exclamatory Aaha! of devi is sweeter than the music itself making Saraswathi to simply blush and stop playing and She even silently wraps up Her instrument!(Vipachyaa gaayanthee) . last but least many of the Dikshitar compositions have references to veena. Notable among them are: (a) Daasarathe in Sankarabaranam (western note style), wherein he refers to Rama as enjoying Narada's veena gana, (b) Bharathi in Devamanohari, a song on Saraswathi of Tiruvaroor, © Mamava meenakshi in varali etc. Sre P.S. Prabhakar wrote more in his many links about Veena. Pranam, Babitha

Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Search.