For those who believe that dance is a way of life, the Natyashastra by Bharata Muni is the Holy Grail. Considering there are few texts in the world, which have been written on dance, the Natyashastra and the Abhinaya Darpana stand out like the holy texts of Indian classical dance. They stand out due to their exclusivity and maybe that leads one to wonder why there haven’t been dance texts written in the longest time which would encompass all aspects of dance. Along with the futuristic plans, one also looks at the relevance of these texts in today’s day and age.
Eminent Odissi danseuse Kum Kum Lal believes that the relevance is not lost anywhere, but just not sought anymore. “There are two aspects we need to look into — the aesthetics and techniques. Both are equally important, but in our day-to-day lives, we end up using more of technique. Aesthetics is all about how emotions are conveyed and how one needs to do abhinaya on stage. But technique is what we end up paying more attention to. The technique is very important since you need to understand how to move your body in a particular way or your hand gestures et al,” she says.
That Natyashastra is like the Bible and compounds theory for all forms of performing art, is well-known. Lal says that many dance postures from the Natyashastra are acrobatic and may not be necessarily relevant in dance today. “Abhinaya Darpana for that matter is still extremely relevant. It is a source of hastamudras (hand movements) and teaches you how to communicate,” says Lal. She says one of the foremost reasons even for raising an issue if the dance texts are relevant or not is that people aren’t much aware of Sanskrit. “The thing is people don’t know Sanskrit and that leaves many with little scope to comprehend these texts,” states Lal.
Pratibha Prahlad, a distinguished Bharatnatyam dancer says that their relevance cannot be lost as it is the foundation of Indian classical dance. “All our dance texts come from the Natyashastra and the thought behind dance emanates from a massive text like this. The grammar and the vocabulary of every dance maybe different, but certain terms and conditions are the same and that’s what the Natyashastra establishes. Well-known Bharatnatyam danseuse Rukmini Vijaykumar, who is trained in contemporary dance as well, says that the application of these texts is very much around. “We apply so many concepts from the dance texts, so it wouldn’t be right to say that they are irrelevant,” says Rukmini.
But the common thread of thought is that at least in the last five decades, there hasn’t been any dance text that could compound all the aspects of dance after the Natyashastra and maybe the Abhinaya Darpana. “I don’t think anyone today is equipped enough to do a good job of it. Various interpretations have been published, but I can’t think of anyone who can codify all the aspects of dance and put it together in one text now,” says Prahlad.
Lal says atleast with respect to Odissi, she has seen some work taken up by the Odissi Dance Research Centre. “They have taken a lot of efforts to refine and amalgamate various aspects, but a lot needs to be done,” says Lal. Vijaykumar says that she hopes someone among her generation will be able to pull off the mammoth task. “I don’t think re-imagining the Natyashastra is possible. That is like the Bible, and should remain untouched. But I do hope that we have something pathbreaking,” she says.