Tracing its Origins from Hārappān Civilization to NātyaŚāstra

CHAPTER – I

INTRODUCTION

Originated in the district of Tañjāvūr in Tamiḻnāḍu, Bharatanatyam is one of the oldest and the most popular dance forms of India. It is one of the dance forms that has gone through a series of historical events and has evolved from the ashes like a phoenix. The well-known history of Bharatanatyam often directs its glorious connections to temples and worshipping various Gods and Goddesses of the Hindu religion. For students who are delving into the intricate world of Indian classical dance, seeking art dissertation help can give them valuable insights into the cultural significance and the story of the evolution of Bharatanatyam.

Since the time of the Hārappān civilization, dance drama has been one of the essential parts of the Indian religious rituals. Dance drama is one of the attributive parts of Indian culture which can be traced back to the ancient rock paintings of Bhimbetika. The rigorous Vedic ritualistic culture of Yājna has an intrinsic relationship with the dance drama and various scholars have contended that the dramatic performances of such ritual in a sacred enclosure, is essentially the origin of Indian dance drama. The prevalence rites and ritual of dance and dance drama had been perceived and seen as a re-enactment of the cosmos that essentially included the celestial bodies and the mundane world of living, the connection between God and human beings. The significance of Indian dance drama can be traced from the 2nd CE literature, NātyaŚāstra scripted by Bharat Muni. According to the scriptures of NātyaŚāstra, the ritual practice of Yājna shall help you reach mokśā by release of rāsa or emotion.

While the many literatures and records can be found on the subject of dance drama ritual on other parts of India, South Indian culture holds a very few of them even though the Dravidian culture was extremely rich in folk-dance dramas. It is to be noted that the matriarchal society of Dravidian culture nurtured the form of dance and dance drama where both men and women freely participated. Tolkāppiyar’s famous grammatical book provides an in-depth knowledge of the Tamil dance drama and it could be found that ‘Kūttu’ is defined to be the oldest form of Sānkśkrit dance drama that used to be performed in South Indian Temples.

Popularly known as Cadirāttam or Dēvādāsiāttam, Bharatnatyam had emerged in South India as a solo dance form which was exclusively relative to the women of the society. Bharatanatyam has been considered as one of the eight ancient dance forms of India and this dance form essentially represents the true essence of the spiritual culture of South India i.e.Shaivisim, Shaktism and Vaishnavism. The etymology of Bharatanatyam might seem resembling the name of India or Bharata but it essentially comes from Hinduism and the tradition set by sage Bhārata. The term consists of three mnemonic – bhā-rā-tā, where ‘bḥā’ stands for feelings and emotions, ‘r̥ā’ stands for melody or framework of a song and ta stands for the rhythm. The second part of the word i.e.‘nātyām’ is a Sanskrit word that essentially means ‘dance’. Thus, etymologically, Bharatanatyam means the form of dance that consists of rhythmic expression of different feelings or emotions through a dance.

As per the ancient scriptures and the descriptions of various Tamil literature such as Silāppātikaāmr, Bharatnatyam is semi-dramatic dance drama where the dancers participate in the songs and express the rhythmic music with the help of mūḍrāś. Also, Asit can be found in the works of Khokar, Bharatanatyam was considered to be a fine art by the time of mid1st-millenium century. However, a better representation of Bharatnatyam as it is practiced today can be found in the work of 17th century text called SaṅgītaSārāmṛta of Tulaja.

Bharatanatyam is essentially linked to the concept of bānii.e. a specific type of dance form that is traditionally was learned by the women of the society under a master or guru. As it has been mentioned above, Bharatanatyam was used as a method of worshipping God during the ancient days, thus the essence of Bharatanatyam resides in describing the mythical legends and several stories of the Hindu Gods and Goddesses. It deduced its spiritual texts from several Hindu texts and the dance essentially linked to the Hindu temples of the Southern region of India.

The dance form of Bharatanatyam consists of a bent leg or lower bottom and a fixed upper torso with exceptional footwork in this steady frame. The beauty of this dance forms resides with its hand signs ormuḍrāś and the emotions expressed with the eyes of the dancers. The traditional form of Bharatanatyam essentially consisted of dance or nrityāand drama or nātyāa.

While Bharatnatyam embodies Bhārātā’sNātyaŚāstra, this dance form was essentially performed by the Dēvādāśīs of the South Indian temple and the form of Dēvadāsiāṭṭam slowly evolved into the modern day’s adaption of Bharatnatyam dance drama. In this research paper, we shall essentially focus on how the Dēvadāsiāṭṭam of the ancient India reformed through the ages and developed into the modern day’s Bharatnatyam dance drama as we know it. Also, with the help of this research paper, we shall dissect the relationship between the Dēvādāsī culture of the ancient India and the modern day Bharatnatyam dance drama and the political, economic and cultural aspect of development of Bharatnatyam dance drama shall be well dissected in reference to the lifestyle of the Dēvādāsīs, the original creator of this nātyā style.

LITERATURE SURVEY

For the purpose of conducting conclusive research on the topic of origin and development of Bharatnatyam Dance Drama, a literature review of various books, papers and articles on Bharatanāṭyam dance dramas and related areas was conducted. A thorough literature survey shall assist us in attaining the true origin and the steps of development of evolvement of the oldest dance forms of India with reference to special mention to the custom and culture of Dēvādasī and how Bharatanatyam Dance Drama of the ancient India essentially adhered to the different caste of women and how Bharatnatyam Dance Drama has evolved through various time periods

SANSKRIT DRAMA – ITS ORIGIN AND DECLINE

As it has been postulated by eminent scholar Shekhar, Bharatnatyam Dance Drama has essentially evolved from the ancient forms of Sanskrit Dramas and it is through several Sanskrit Dance Dramas that Bharatnatyam Dance Drama has adapted and embraced the particular form today. Hence, the critical study of Sanskrit Drama shall only provide us with detailed insight as to what is the pathway of Bharatnatyam Dance Drama as we witness it today.

RE-SCRIBING TRADITION: MODERNISATION OF SOUTH INDIAN DANCE DRAMA

This enlightened book by eminent researcher on the subject Guru Rao Bapat provides us with the subject of South Indian Dance Dramas and how the South Indian Dance Dramas have evolved through ages as well. This book also speaks of as to how South Indian Dance Drama is linked to the ancient Bharatnatyam Dance Drama and hence the development of the same can be linked to the ancient forms of South Indian Dance Dramas.

DANCE DIALECTS OF INDIA

The book by eminent dancer Ragini Devi postulates how the Dance Dramas of Tamilnadu and the evolvement of Bharatnatyam Dance have been discussed extensively. This book links the origin of Bharatnatyam as a Dēvadāsi culture and essentially speaks of the development as a Dance Drama as well.

RUKMINI DEVI ARUNDALE, 1904-1986: A VISIONARY ARCHITECT OF INDIAN CULTURE

Rukmini Devi has always been considered as an important figure in transforming Bharatnatyam as we witness it today and as such the book of Leela Venkataraman and Avanthi Meduri essentially provides with detailed research on the subject of Bharatnatyam Dance and Dance Drama and how Dance Drama has essentially originated from the Bharatnatyam Dance as postulated by Rukmini Devi during the British Era.

THE SANSKRIT DRAMA IN ITS ORIGIN, DEVELOPMENT, THEORY & PRACTICE

Bharatnatyam Dance Drama has essentially originated from the ancient Sanskrit Drama and the same has been stated in the book by Arthur Berriedale Keith. This book essentially focuses on the ancient forms of Sanskrit Drama and how such Sanskrit Dramas have evolved through ages and the development of the same is stated which can be linked to the Bharatnatyam Dance Drama.

THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HINDUISM

As it has been postulated by the eminent researcher on this subject James G. Lochfeld, Bharatanatyam Dance Drama is essentially linked with the Bharatanatyam dance form and the author in his research paper has explained the origin and history of Bharatanatyam dance drama from the Hinduism perspective and how Bharatanatyam has been evolved with the temple culture of South Indian State Tamil Nadu.

TRADITIONS OF INDIAN CLASSICAL DANCE

According to author Mohan Khokar (1984), the origin and development of Bharatanatyam Dance Drama has been traced by the South Indian temple culture and it has also followed the history of Bharatanatyam since the ‘Natya Shastra’ postulated by ancient Bharat Muni of the Hindu religion. The author has essentially established how Hinduism has influenced Bharatanatyam ancient India and how Bharatanatyam Dance Drama from the ancient Bharatnatyam form has evolved accordingly. Bharatnatyam was considered to be one of the dance forms of India that was used as an inseparable part of worshipping Hindu Gods and Goddesses and to entice the royal clans of the Kingdoms herein.

A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE SANSKRIT DRAMA, WITH AN INTRODUCTORY SKETCH OF THE DRAMATIC LITERATURE OF INDIA

The ancient culture of Sanskrit Drama essentially influenced the development of Bharatnatyam Dance Drama and other forms of Dance Dramas across the whole India and the same can be tracked from the publication of Schuyler, Montgomery, b. This book essentially focuses on the evolution of the Sanskrit Drama and how the dramatic literature of India has been influenced by the Sanskri Drama therein.

THE AESTHETICS OF ANCIENT INDIAN DRAMA AND MUSIC IN ANCIENT INDIAN DRAMA

The journal published by author V. Raghavan essentially focuses on the types of Indian Drama and it provides with a detailed structure of the Dance Drama of India along with different forms of the dance as well. Also, Raghavan’s focus on the music in Indian Dramas provides for a strong base of research for the South Indian Dance Dramas and the development of Bharatnatyam Dance Dramas can be tracked down from such literature as well.

BETWEEN THEATRE AND ANTHROPOLOGY

The author Richard Schechner (2010) in his book has described and linked Bharatanatyam with the Hindu anthropological value and the form of Bharatnatyam Dance Drama has been expressly linked to the ancient theatre form of India and the same has been defined in the reference to the social anthropology of the South Indian Temple. Also, the author has provided several references to the Dēvadāsi culture of the South Indian Temples as well.

FROM INTERCULTURALISM TO HISTORICISM: REFLECTIONS ON CLASSICAL INDIAN DANCE

As per the journal article provided by Pallabi Chakravorty (2012), the author has reflected on the Indian classical dance forms including Bharatanatyam Dance and Dance Dramas and has connected Hinduism to inter-culturism. In her journal article, the author has essentially focused on the subject of how Bharatanatyam has connected different cultures of Hinduism under one temple and how such evolvement of Bharatanatyam Dance Drama has been of utmost importance for the post British enrichment of classical dance in India herein.

EXPLORING BHARATHANATYAM: A REFORMULATED DANCE FORM OF DĒVĀDASĪ TRADITION IN THE 20TH CENTURY

In the writing and research of S. Jeevanandam (2016) the relationship between Dēvādasīand Bharatanatyam dance dramas has been highlighted and several instances have been provided to clarify and explain how Bharatanatyam dance drama was one of the mediums through which the real history of Dēvādasīcould be ascertained and it also provided us with an in-depth knowledge about the Dēvādasīculture and the torture and the mental trauma they have endured under the subtle curtain of religion, worship and the environment of the South Indian temples herein.

BHARATANATYAM AS A GLOBAL DANCE: SOME ISSUES IN RESEARCH, TEACHING, AND PRACTICE

In the journal article published by Avanthi Meduri (2004), the author has identified and clarified the way of Bharatanatyam as a global dance and how Bharatanatyam has adopted the world stage with special reference to its historical past. Also, the author in the journal article namely “Bharatanatyam as a Global Dance: Some Issues in Research, Teaching, and Practice”, several research issues regarding the origin of the Bharatanatyam Dance drama have been identified along with the modern teaching practices as well.

BHARATA NĀTYAM, REBIRTH OF DANCE IN INDIA

In the research paper postulated by Kimiko Ohtani (1991), the author has exclusively researched on the origin of the Bharatanatyam with special reference to the Dēvādasīculture. The author has also highlighted the rebirth of the Bharatanatyam Dance Dramas after the post British ban on this particular dance form. The author has essentially explained the protests surrounding Bharatanatyam and how Bharatanatyam -was restored as a rich cultural dance form by Rukmini Devi in the 20th Century India.

DOGMA OR POLITICAL AGENDA? BHARATANATYAM AND ITS RE - EMERGENCE IN BRITISH

In the research paper published by David (2007), the author has focused and tried to explore the Tamil diasporas of Bharatanatyam Dance Drama and the way Bharatanatyam has been linked to the ancient culture of India and it had become one of the such dance forms of India that were to be passed from one generation to another herein. Also, the author has conducted research on the subject of Bharatanatyam to be an international influence as well.

DANCING ARCHITECTURE: THE PARALLEL EVOLUTION OF BHARATANATYAM AND SOUTH INDIAN ARCHITECTURE

In the research by Jayakrishnan Kavitha (1981), different dance forms under the wings of Bhratanatyam has been explored and explained in this research paper and the same has been elaborated on the basis of the traditional Indi as well. According to the author, several other dance forms such as Alarippu, Jathi Swaram, Shabdam, Varnam are considered to be some of the importance categorization of the Bharatanatyam Dance Dramas herein.

METAMORPHOSIS OF BHARATHANATYAM: FROM TEMPLE TO A TRANSNATIONAL ART

In the paper published by Nirupa (2020), a well determined and explained identification has been established between Bharatanatyam and religion, caste and creed of the traditional India herein. The author of this research paper essentially outlined the history of the Bharatanatyam with the help of its transformational explanation from the 19th century to the 20th century and how the dance form has been passed down from one generation to another with the help of the Dēvādasīculture herein.

REWRITING THE SCRIPT FOR SOUTH INDIAN DANCE

As it had been postulated in the research work of Matthew Harp Allen (1988), Bharatanatyam has been essentially reformed and evolved post the British-raj and post the ban of such dance form in India and it is Rukmini Devi who helped in the reincarnation of the of the dance form. It then became a old Indian traditional dance form that spread outside the confines of the temples of South India and evolved to its present form slowly.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The origin and development of the Bharatanatyam dance drama is a wide subject to be covered and Bhratanatyam is one such traditional dance forms of India that demands a separate historical evolution. However, Bharatanatyam is not just another Indian dance form, but it has entangled in several historical and cultural development of India that concerns the Hinduism and the culture that had been preserved and nurtured in the ancient Hindu Temples through dancing drama. It is one such dance drama forms of India that has gone through several layers of developments that are political, societal and economical in nature. Thus, in this research design we shall try to recollect and emphasize on the significance of this study and we shall also focus on the aim and objectives of this research paper and provide a brief description on the limitations of this study as well.

(a) Significance of this study

The core significance of this particular study is to identify the entangled history of Bharatanatyam dance drama. Being one of the oldest classical dance forms of India, Bharatanatyam is considered to be derived from Nātār̥ajāor Shiva, the God of this dance. This dance forms had been utilized widely in the ancient India to worship Gods and Goddesses and the dance form was originated with the sole purpose of worshipping and serving the deity of the Hindu Temples. Bharatanatyam dance dramas were never to be performed outside of the temple. Also, this is the dance form that was nurtured by the Dēvādāsi culture, which was prominent across the whole India in the 6th and 9th CE centuries.

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Thus, focal point of this particular study is to identify the course of historical development of Bharatanatyam and how Bharatnataym dance drama has been evolved and developed from the ancient form of Dēvādāsiāttam. The study shall also shed light on how the culture of Dēvādāsihas provided the Bharatanatyam a political label, which was used during the colonial time in India and that led Bharatanatyam to be the source of one of the Tamilian protests in the early 1930’s.

(b) Scope of the Study

Bharatanatyam dance drama is essentially an art that studies and replicates the bodily movement of the dancers as a group in narrating a story that might have religious or mythological character. In this dance drama form, the dancers become an instrument of the dance while synchronizing completely with the rhythm and music. This is a dance form that aims at awakening the spirit within and it helps in feel the spiritual presence of Gods and Goddess within us. This is why this is the oldest dance forms that was accepted in the South Indian Hindu temples for the purpose of worshipping the deity. The scope of this study is to understand the origin and development of Bharatnatyam dance drama and how the modern day Bharatnatyam dance drama has evolved from the ancient Dēvādāsiāttam.

The collection of music, dance and drama has provided in Bharatanatyam with a special charm which is rich in cultural value and it has been considered as one of the graceful dance forms of India as well. Each and every muḍrā/hāstāor hand signs and abhināyāor expression of feelings of Bharatanatyam provides with an in-depth knowledge into the Hindu religion. The rhythm or music of Bharatanatyam resembles the ancient śhlōkās that enchants the greatness of different Hindu deities.

Thus, the scope of this study is to understand the in-depth knowledge of Bharatnatyam dance drama since the ancient form of Dēvādāsiāttam, when it had been only an instrument to worship Gods and Goddesses of South Indian temples and this research paper also provides with the scope of understanding how the modern day Bharatnatyam dance drama has changed over time since the ancient Dēvādāsī culture.

(c) Aims and Objective of the Study

The basic aim and objective of this study is to understand the origin and development of the Bharatanatyam dance drama and how Bharatnatyam dance drama has evolved through the ages from the ancient Dēvādāsiāttam to the modern day Bharatnatyam as audience witness it on stages. The aim of this research paper is to map the history of Bharatnatyam dance drama and provide the readers with a conclusive idea as to how Bharatnatyam dance drama has taken the shape and form as it is represented in the modern times..

(d) Research Methodology

The research methodology for the purpose of understanding the origin and development of the Bharatanatyam Dance Drama mostly involves primary and secondary sources of data. The research paper primarily focuses on the detailed exploration of the origin and development of the Bharatanatyam dance drama since the ancient times of the 2 CE Centuries.

In order to conduct the research properly, descriptive and analytical research methodology shall be followed to understand the culture of Dēvādasīand the dance form nurtured by them. The culture of Dēvādasīwas essentially established during the Chola kingdom, when the girls from the lower strata of society or the war prisoners, irrespective of their origin and caste, were given to the temples as human offerings and they were married off to the deities of the Hindu temples.

As it has been postulated by James G. Lochtefeld, Bharatanatyam was essentially a dance form largely adopted by the Dēvādasī for the purpose of worshipping the deities and enticing the royal clans of the Cholas and other succeeding kingdoms of India. In connection to Bharatanatyam, the condition of the Dēvādasīs shall be concluded with the help of descriptive research methodologyand an analytical method shall be adopted to understand whether the ban of Bharatanatyam in the colonial British era was justified and how such ban has provided Bharatanatyam with its shape and form as it is witnessed in the modern culture.

Also, with the help of descriptive research methodology, the post-colonial development of Bharatanatyam shall be studied in reference to Rukmini Devi, a Brahmin who restored and revived the Bharatanatyam after it was banned in the year of 1910 by the British.

According to the current report, the Dēvādasī system is illegal in India and yet by the reports of the National Human Rights Commission of the Government, the belt of Dēvādasī still exists in the Maharashtra and Karnataka belt. The child trafficking are extremely high in this region and this Dēvādasī belt is usually enriched by women who are deserted by their husbands or women or child who has been forced to be sold into this system herein.

One of the biggest hurdles in removal of the system is lack of accurate data. A report submitted by Sampark to the International Labour Organization estimated that there are around 450000 Dēvādasī present over the country. The plight faced by them is traumatic. They are deprived the right to education and face social stigma from others. The trauma increases with age and they are left with no work and extreme poverty in their old age. This extends to their children who face discrimination and are denied rights and privileges that other kids get. The health, education and mental development of the child is at a considerable risk. The daughters in particular are deprived of job opportunities and education and are expected to carry forward their mother’s duties, thereby, living a life of isolation and traumatization.

Thus, for the purpose of this particular study, the help of primary and secondary sources and descriptive and analytical research methodology shall be taken into consideration. With the help of descriptive research methodology special emphasis will be given to the culture of Dēvādasī, the ban on the Bharatanatyam during the colonial era and the revival of Bharatanatyam as a modern dance form, outside the temples by Rukmini Devi. With the help of analytical research methodology, an analysis should be drawn in relation to the Dēvādasīand how Bharatanatyam has depicted the plight of trauma that these lower strata girls have faced during the ancient times. Also, it shall shed light on the modern day revival of Bharatanatyam dance drama and the relevance of the oldest dance forms in the 21st century.

(e) Research Questions

The research question of this chapter shall essentially focus on several aspects of Bharatanatyam dance drama it could unveil and relate the societal aspect of Dēvādasī and other political aspect of the British India. It shall shed light into the recent caste dynamic of Bharatnatyam Dance Drama as well. Thus, the research questions of this study shall be as follows:

How Bharatanatyam dance drama is connected to the Dēvādāsiāttam of ancient South Indian temples?

Did the British Rulers of India banned Dēvādasī culture only due to its association with prostitution or it had a deeper political aspect entangled into it and how did such banning affect the development of Bharatnatyam dance drama?

How Rukmini Devi revived this ancient dance form and differentiated the same from the Dēvādāsiāttam the British regime and how did Rukmini Devi has contributed in the development of Bharatnatyam dance drama?

How Bharatanatyam dance drama has evolved as a dance form and how it has become a dance form that is transferred from the lower-caste to the upper caste Indian society?

How Bharatanatyam dance drama speaks of the caste-based discrimination that is still prevalent in the context of the Modern Indian society and how does such caste-based discrimination affects this nātyā?

(d) Limitation of the study

Being one of the oldest dance forms of India, Bharatanatyam dance drama has always been the center of attention of several research papers and studies to understand the Hinduism of the ancient India and to understand the ancient architectural growth of the temples herein. However, very limited research has been done on the pioneers of the Bharatanatyam Dance form and the culture and condition of the pioneers of the Bharatanatyam dance. The Bharatanatyam dance drama includes nrita (pure dance), nritya (solo expressive dance) and natya (group dramatic dance) and through this study, it is possible to explore the dance drama through critical evaluation and exploring different dance forms.

All the research and studies done by several national and international scholars have often ignored the contribution of the Dēvādasīin nurturing the form of Bharatanatyam and how the oldest dance forms of India speak of their story as well. Also, the scope of the Bharatanatyam as a revolutionary dance drama form that has suffered a ban for almost 20 years in the face of the colonialism and the revival of the dance forms in the post-colonial India have often been overlooked.

Also, the study is limited in the aspect of how Bharatanatyam, being a dance form performed by the girls of the lower strata during the ancient times, was revived by the Brahmins and how the revival in the post-colonial India, this dance form was essentially marked by the upper caste Indians. Also, the relevance of Bharatanatyam in the modern world has not been discovered much as well.

CHAPTER – IV

BHARATNYAM DANCE DRAMA – THE ORIGIN AND MEDIEVAL DEVELOPMENT

Bharatnatyam is also known as Sadir-attyam or Thevara-attyam, is one of the oldest classical dance forms of India that has given shape to the Indian rich tradition and heritage. Bharatanatyam is a team performing art that consists of one solo dance and one or more singers associated to it. The ancient Natya Shastra, Abhinaya Darpan and many other tamil scriptures of ancient times provides to the real meaning and nature of Bharatnatyam dance drama as a performing art .

The solo dancer, also called as ekharya, recites excerpts from the epics such as Ramayana or Mahabharata or any other religious scriptures and such recitation is done through hand gestures and expressions. Through the Abinaya accompanied by dance or Nritya that involves very specific knee position, the story of historical drama or religious scriptures are presented. The dancer uses a specific hand gesture to provide for end of one storyline and the beginning of the other.

Bharatnatyam dance drama repertoire involves three kinds of dance dramas – Nritta, which is abstract and has no part of storytelling; Nritya, which involves storytelling and includes expressing emotions with specific hand gesture and Natta, which is a team performance that narrates the story of a legend from an epic or any other religious scriptures. Bharatnatyam dance drama is all about symbolism as it was an essential part of worshipping Hindu deity during the ancient age. It involves several stages of dance dramas and the bending knee posture is the main posture which defines Bharatnatyam under common parlance.

4.1 HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF BHARATNATYAM

Bharatnatyam is one of the oldest classical dance forms of India and the origin of Bharatnatyam can be traced back to the Natya Shastra and Bharata Muni. The oldest mention of Bharatnatyam can be found in the texts of 2nd century CE. The Natya Shastra provides with more than 6000 verses of Bharatnatyam and it includes various poses, gestures, hand signs. It is from Natya Shastra, it can be deduced how Bharatanatyam was originated following the Tandav-nritya of Shiva.

As per the researche conducted by Lidova (2014), the Natya Shastra texts contains the basic concepts of Bharatnatyam along with the theory of Tandava and the concepts of rasa and bhava. These ancient texts describe the dancing form, gestures, hand postures, expressions and other basics of Bharatanatyam dance.

Apart from Natya Shastra, more direct historical reference of Bharatanatyam can be gathered from the Tamil epic, Silappatikaram and Manimegalai. Both of these epics hail from the 2nd Century CE and 6th Century respectively.The tamil epic Silappatikaram provides with the image of a Bharatnatyam dancer and how she trains for her Bharatnatyam practices. Many verses could be found in both of these epic that refer to the existence of Bharatanatyam in the ancient India. Also, the ancient architectures of Hindu temples are concrete proof of the existence of Bharatnatyam in the ancient India.

4.2 SADIRATTYAM AND DEVADASI CULTURE

It is said that the ancient Indian reference to Bharatanatyam is vague and it does not quite provide with the course of development of Bharatanatyam in the modern Indian society. According to many Indologists, Bharatanatyam descended from Sadirattyam, a dance form that was practices and performed by the Devadasi community of South Indian Chola regime. The term Devadasi was not invented back then. According to Soneji (2011) and Chandrika (2009), the now Devadasis were known as thevaradiyal during the Chola regime in South India and it is presumed that the historical context of Bharatnatyam dates back to 300 CE. During the realm of Raja Raja Chola, more than 400 women who were recorded to be ‘servants of Gods’, were given lands and houses by the then King of the Kingdom.

The thevaradiyal community did not have any specific caste attributed to them and they belonged to both higher and lower castes. Lots of women, who became thevaradiyal, were war prisoners as well. Later, these women collectively were identified as one social group and their community established a different identity in the society that was not marked by any particular caste herein.

These women were forbidden to enter into any marital arrangement as they were said to be married to the deity to whom they were bound. However, the thevaradiyal community had immense freedom and they could be consorts to various patrons and their children born out of any wedlock, were regarded as legitimate in the eyes of the society. The thevaradiyal or the ancient presentation of Devadasi community had their own land, property and freedom which were unmatched with other women of the society. Such granted independence also provided them with a high status in the eyes of the society. They were considered to be symbol of pious and grace and they were treated as Goddesses as well.

Earlier the dance of thevaradiyal community was termed as Sadirattaym, which were solo performances for the worshipping of the deity or for performing in any festivals. How Saidattyam converted to Bharatanatyam in the early 19th century, is unknown to the historians but as both of these dance forms almost had identical dance postures, hand gestures and attire, it has been deducted by the historians that it was the Devadasi community who invented the Bharatanatyam into the context of Indian society. Also, all the later development of Bharatanatyam was associated to Bharatantyam being a dance form belonged to the Devadasi community.

CHAPTER – V

COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE DECLINE OF BHARATANATYAM IN INDIA

The colonial development of Bharatnatyam when this dance form was dissected on the basis of its character and the whole dance form changed. After East India company entered into India in the 18th century, many societal aspects of India started changing. At first, the British were more concerned with their revenues and how they could earn more money from the lands of India and that is why during the 18th century they did not concerned themselves with the traditions of Indian society.

It is only in the late 19th century, when British empire started ruling India, when Bharatnatyam was dissected by the Christian missionaries and Bharatnatyam was eventually banned in India.

5.1 THE BRITISH ERA AND EVOLUTION OF BHARATNATYAM DANCE DRAMA

With the arrival of East India Company in India during the 18th century, the economical map of India started changing. The native Indian kings started losing their lands and their kingdoms to the British rulers and the foreign invasion took over the whole of India. The British rulers faced lots of revolutions and protests from the native Indians and the Indian kings during this century but in vain. British exploited and manipulated Indians for their own benefit and their ‘divide and rule’ strategy ruined the ancient India and its glory.

In this chaper, we shall discuss in details about the ban that was imposed by the British and the different aspects of such ban. As Bharatanatyam and Devadasi community are intricately connected to each other, an in-depth study on both of these fields shall be conducted in this chapter.

5.2 THE BAN OF BHARATNAYAM BY THE BRITISH EMPIRE (1910)

The ban imposed on Bharatanatyam in the era of the British-raj was not well received by the Indians; especially the Tamil people. While the British wanted to ban the practice of Devadasi, the anti-dance camp of the Christian religion essentially attacked the dance form that was adopted by the Devadasis herein. The rich cultural front of Bharatanatyam was exclusively ignored and overlooked and the oldest dance form of India was marked as being vulgar and sexual in nature (Chakravorty & Gupta, 2012).

Thus with the Christian religion slowly spreading in India and several parts of the South India herein, ban was imposed on the practice of Bharatanatyam as being targeted and associated with child prostitution. While some of the scholars are of opinion that the British people confused the Bharatanatyam dance forms with the culture of Devadasi, many scholar are of the opinion that it is the spread of the Christian religion that marked the dance form as being a sin and imposed a ban on the dance form as a whole .

As it has been essentially researched by Srinivasan (1983), the situation of Bharatanatyam in India dramatically changed during the 17th century with the European Colonialism in India. British and the European rulers discarded and disregarded the Indian aristocratic system of which Bharatnayam was a great part and with the invalidation of the kingdoms, the rich culture of India started to shatter little by little

However, the prohibition imposed on the practice of Bharatanatyam by the British rulers was extremely arbitrary in nature and as per eminent scholar Chakravorty, the actions of British and the re-emergence of the dance form in a post-colonial India has three perspectives - societal significance, political agenda and religious dogma. In this segment, we shall discuss the three aspects of Bharatanatyam development of India and critically discuss the dilemma that binds Bharatanatyam to its Devadasi origin to the modern world hereby.

5.2.1. The Ban of Bharatanatyam Practice – Societal Significance

With British being the powerful ruler of India, the expensive aristocratic system of India and all other rich Indian cultures associated to such culture became invalid and useless. The British people did not have enough funds to provide for the expensive Devadasi Culture and the festivals associated to such culture herein. Also, the living situations of the Devadasis in Indian Hindu temples were temporary and they could not make a living by performing Bharatanatyam Dance alone.

As it has been researched by Soneji (2010), the culture of Devadasi was founded on the ground of young girls being married off to deities, where the ritual essentially translated as ‘servants of God.’ During the colonial period, these girls mostly belonged to the lower strata of the society. Thus, once the physical appeal of these girls took off due to age or any other reasons, they become a burden on the society. Such condition of Devadasi is not the original idea of this culture. During the Chola regime, Devadasis came from royal backgrounds and royal families and enjoyed quite a freedom in choosing their partners while being a servant to the temple deity.

Also, their children were accepted as legitimate in the society and Devadasis held a high position in society. They were identified as the symbol of purity and grace and Bharatanatyam was their signature style with which they used to charm the royal clans during a festival. In other words, the ancient Indian society held a high place of respect for the Devadasis.

However, the societal status of respect, pious and grace started to descend for them as soon as the British rulers took over the economy of India. In the ancient times, the royal clans of India having prosperous relationship with the Hindu Temples, provided lots of funds to preserve the Devadasis. However, as the British started to take over India and the royal clans becoming less relevant to the political map of India, the funding for the temples were reduced. As a consequence of which, the Devadasi culture took a big hit during the British regime and they officially entered a state of poverty

It is a common conception that the Devadasis always belonged to the lower caste women or girls but it is false to a particular extent. During the Chola regime, Devadasis custom or culture essentially belonged to the Upper Caste Girls as the dance form Bharatanatyam had a direct correlation with the Hinduism and worshipping of the deities. Due to the fall of the aristocratic system of India, the royal clans started to lose their wealthy status and thus the Devadasi culture lost its previous charm and grace. With the fall of glory and splendour of the South Indian royal clans, the temples lost its previous majestic charm.

The spread of Christianity only invalidated the status of Hindu temples in India and girls from upper caste and royal clans started to drift away from the Devadasi culture and lower class/caste girls started fill up the place. Although it was unusual for ancient and traditional Indian culture to accept lower class and untouchables to worship deities and perform Bharatanatyam as a Devadasi, the British regime faced with such situation as Hindu Temples lost its past glory, purity and sacred nature which preserved the Devadasi culture and these women became extremely poor. Due to such poverty, upper caste women left the Devdasi custom eventually. Even the music that was written during that time omitted the glorious worshipping quality and adopted a far inferior attitude involving sexuality with a sense of vulgarity. As it has been provided by Narayana Rao (2002), in his research paper, a sample of such song is shown below:

“It’s true; I have my period but don’t let that stop you. No Rules Apply To another man’s wife I beg you to come close But you always have second thoughts All these codes where written By men who don’t know how to love When I come at you, wanting you, why do you back off? You don’t have to touch my whole body Just bend over and kiss.” (Narayana Rao, 2002)

The abovementioned prose directs towards sexual innuendos which go strictly against the ancient Devadasi cultures and it can be seen that with the shift in the society during the British era, the culture of Devadasi has been shifted as well. It is true that the Devadasis never received proper respect from the society from the start of the British era and they were always seen as being more open with their bodily movements while performing in a festival of the temple or anyplace else by the Christian religious believers.

While the culture of Devadasis were extremely respected during the Chola regime and the culture of Devadasis were always considered to be of the upper strata of the society with high respect, the situation reversed during the British era. During the British era, Devadasis were essentially marked with negative judgements and due to the presence of different religions in India, the conditions of Devadasis degraded more and more every day.

Thus, it can be critically analyzed that the degradation of the Devadasi culture and the Bharatanatyam dance form along with the Devadasi, was a societal and an economical catastrophe. With the presence of British in India, the economical system of the Hindu temples completely broke down as the royal clans either united with the British rulers or diminished their own existence by fighting the British power.

As a result of such economical condition of the Hindu temples and the lack of funds, the temples lost their status of grace and purity. The Devadasis entered into a state of poverty and in order to make a living through their one of the skills, Bharatanatyam, the status of Bharatanatyam degraded with the Devadasis as well. Eventually, Devadasis were labelled as sex-slaves and prostituted before the eyes of the society and in the due process, they were exploited as well.

Thus, the British banned the concept and culture of Devadasi in the year of 1910 and all the Hindu temples of India were supposed to abide by this strict circulation. However, the British put a ban on the skills and dance forms shared by the Devadasi as well. Bharatanatyam was banned along with the culture of Devadasi in India and it is said that the anti-dance camp of the Christian religion was behind this ban.

While it seemed arbitrary on the part of the British to ban the practice of Bharatanatyam just because it was associated with the Devadasi culture, Bharatanatyam was considered by the British to be the public invitation to prostitution. They did not see the dance form as a rich cultural heritage but an unnecessary reminder of a banned profession.

Eventually the 1910’s ban on Devadasis and the practice of Bharatanatyam triggered a state-wide protest against the ban and victimization of rich Indian dance tradition. The cultural discrimination by the British was extremely criticized by the Tamilion and other Indian citizens and many eminent personalities raised their voices against such arbitrary ban on Bharatanatyam just because it was associated with the Devadasi. Also, with such ban, the Devadasis were dehumanized and their age old profession was made illegal in India. 5.2.2 The Religious Dogma against Bharatanatyam

The East India Company took over India during the 18th century. During the 18th century, there were several other European colonies in India and none of them had exclusive control of the Indian economy. East India Company being a corporation that understood only monetary terms did not try to take control of the inner workings of India such as the law, order or any kind of religious policing of whatsoever nature. Such religious policing only started after the Queen of the Great Britain took over India and Christian religion started to spread in different corners of India

As it has been discussed earlier, with the weak economic conditions of the Indian royal clans in different regions, the rich Indian traditions started to be ripped off their glorious past. The traditions and heritages of India were barely surviving on their own and many distinguished classes of people became extremely poor such as the temple priests, royal dancers and the Devadasis. Even though the Devadasis were going through extreme poverty, it was them who were only allowed to practice Bharatanatyam and no one else outside the temple

During the 19th century, with the arrival of the Christian religion in India, the ancient and traditional dance forms of India was ridiculed and mocked. The practice of such dance forms was discouraged and these rich dance forms were labelled as being of vulgar nature with hints of sexuality. The North Indian dance style Kathak and the South Indian dance form Bharatanatyam was presented by the Christian missionaries as being of erotic cultures that welcomes prostitution and slavery (Ghuman, 2014, p.97).

The dancers of Kathak and Bharatanatyam were called as harlots and the founder of erotic debased culture which was considered to be a sin in the Christian religion. The earlier status of freedom of the Devadasis was not well received by the British people and the Christian missionaries launched an anti-dance movement against the rich heritage of India

From the study conducted by Walker, it can be seen that the British rulers and the head of the Christian Missionaries divided the dancers of India in two groups namely the ‘Nauth Girls’ who belonged from the North India and the Devadasis who belonged from the South India, especially Tamil Nadu. Kathak and Bharatanatyam were the two dance forms associated with these women and both were labelled as being vulgar and entertain erotic traditions which are harmful for the society at large.

Thus, it was circumstantial pressure that led to the degradation of the Devadasis and as a result of such degradation; they were tagged as being prostitution fronts and altogether, a ban was imposed on the culture of Devadasi by the Madras Presidency and British Empire in the year of 1910

5.2.3 The Political Aspect of Bharatanatyam Ban

The political aspect of Devadasi and Bharatanatyam ban is something that is rarely talked about and the content of the same is not explored by the scholars as well. In the work of Mishra, Mahal and Shah (2000), detailed description has been provided on how Devadasi enjoyed more freedom than other women of the ancient society and their sense of freedom essentially belonged to the owning of land. Devadasis owned ‘inam’ lands in their own names that were agricultural in nature. The same information could be found in the works of Dirk (1992) as well.

In the 19th century the land ownership in Pudukkottai was divided in an equal manner and women could inherit property as well. As it could be found in his study, more than 70% of the agricultural land was inam land. Among the 70% of land, close to 15-20% of the cultivable land was reserved for the Hindu temples and they were dedicated in the name of the deities and being the servant of the deities, the Devadasis enjoyed the ownership of the lands.

It was obligatory for the temples to keep the line of succession of the inam lands in the name of the Devadasis when they were first assigned as a particular Hindu deity’s servant and the line of such succession would continue for generations thereafter.

However, during the colonial period, the British mostly intended to maximize the land resources and earn revenues with the help of the Indian Zamindari system. British seized the lands owned by the Hindu temples in South India and reserved more than 50% land for the military services. The temples were left with little land and the whole inam land reduced to an amount of 25% of the land owned in a kingdom/State . Such atrocity put the artisans, artists, temples and Muslim shrines in trouble and the financial condition of these classes worsened.

The Devadasis lost their status of freedom, their sense of ownership and their independence eventually. They became depended on their patrons or consorts for their livelihood and their poverty became the reason for them getting exploited. Once their independence was snatched away by British rulers, they were started to be treated more like discriminated slaves.

On top of such change in distribution of lands, the British Empire banned the Devadasi culture in 1910 which invalidated their profession and dehumanized them. While there are no direct proofs to justify the political ploy by the British, the dots can be connected by using Chakravorty & Gupta (2012) and Dirks (1992) work.

It can be critically analyzed that as Devadasi owned a substantial amount of agricultural land in the South India which could be used by the British to maximize their revenue, the British directed a ploy of declaring the Devadasi culture to be fronts for prostitution and tagged Bharatanatyam as a vulgar dance form to entice men. Once Devadasi along with their Bharatanatyam skill were banned and made illegal, it was easier for the British to capture their lands and use it for their own good.

5.2.4 Critical Analysis of Bharatanatyam Ban in India and further Development

From the abovementioned discussion on the banning of Devadasi and Bharatanatyam, it can be said that the prohibition imposed on Bharatanatyam was not a societal coincidence or misunderstanding by the British. British rulers were not concerned with the welfare of Indian society and their religious ploy was only to create a public base to impose the ban legally. They could not snatch away the lands owned by the Devadasis and the independence of this women threatened their status in the South Indian States.

Now the question comes, why Bharatanatyam was banned? It was the intention of the British rulers to confiscate the lands owned by several artisans, temples and Muslim shrines in India. British rulers concluded different political and economical ploy to cut off each of land owners and concentrate the cultivable lands in their own hands. For such purpose, the British banned Devadasi customs in Temples and to ensure to distort their livelihood in order to confiscate the lands they owned, Bharatanatyam, was banned that was the only skill the Devadasis possesses to earn a living. Thus, it can be critically concluded that Bharatanatyam was banned by the British to ensure better title over the lands of the Devadasis and disrupt the entire Indian heritage to establish better claim of the Western World.

5.3 THE BAN OF BHARATANATYAM AND THE CONSEQUENCES (1910-1940)

During such time of turmoil, it was Krishna Iyer, a lawyer who had no connection with Bharatanatyam, who questioned the stereotype of the ban that was put by the British on Devadasi and Bharatanatyam Dance Drama. He essentially questioned the relevance of banning Bharatanatyam along with the Devadasi system and she also questioned the relevance of killing one rich and traditional dance forms of India (Medhuri, 1988).

From the research paper of O’Shea (2007), it can be found out that due to the audacity of Krishna Iyer to question the ban on Bharatanatyam, she was arrested and jailed on several charges of sedition and nationalism and eventually the banning of Bharatanatyam got the colour of politics. Iyer persuaded several fellow prisoners to practice Bharatanatyam and the protest against Bharatanatyam ban continued.

The protests continued following the path showed by Krishna Iyer and many other Tamil reformists who protested furiously against the arbitrary ban that was imposed on Bharatntyam along with the dehumanization of the Devadasi system. The British government declared several laws to erase the tradition of Bharatanatyam from India and strict actions were taken against the protestors. However, during such time of turmoil, it was one American dancer who came to the rescue of Bharatanatyam. Eminent American Dancer Esther Sherman understood the conflict of the Tamil protestors and she was empathetic with the cause of such protests as well.

In the year of 1930, she moved to India and claimed the legacy of Bharatanatyam by learning the dance form and rigorously protested against the ban. Eventually, she changed her name to Ragini Devi and due to this, the movement to revive Bharatanatyam gained a new pace and perspective herein. However, the ban was not automatically lifted from Bharatanatyam even after the movement gained such huge follower in the 1930.

The ban was loosened up in India as the British Empire had more important issues to attend to in the Colonial India. During this time when India was so close to its independence, true revolutionary movement was conducted by several classical dancers of India to gain new perspective on Bharatanatyam and revive this dance form as a separately from the culture of Devadasi (Dirks, 1992).

From the researches of Khokar (1984) and Arunkumar (1989), it can be concluded that after the fall of the Devadasi culture in the late 18th century, partly because of the economical condition of the royal clans and partly because of the political ploy played by the British rulers, Bharatanatyam gradually became a dance form that is performed by the lower caste members of the society.

The dancers had already lost their high social status during this period and they were mostly looked down upon. Gradually, the development of Bharatanatyam happened in a way that it became associated with the lower caste members of the society and the traditional dance became the victim of caste division. Due to such labelling during the early 19th century, it became impossible for the Indians to revive and regroup Bharatanatyam even after the British rule was over.

It was Krishna Iyer, who first noticed the issue with Bharatanatyam and identified that Bharatanatyam, being a traditional dance form, had no possible connection with caste. However, being a male member of the society, his comments and protests were not welcomed by the then Indians and he was questioned by the peers about the history and origin of Bharatanatyam as he was a lawyer and not a Bharatanatyam dancer. As it has been mentioned earlier, during the British era, he had suffered temporary jail time as he raised his voice against the Bharatanatyam ban in India.

Thus, it was the time for someone to come forward and carry the words of Iyer herein. In the year of 1940, along with Ragini Devi’s movement against the ban, Rukmini Devi Arundale came forward. She was a theosophical society activist and she shared the same belief that Mr. Iyer had adopted. Rukmini Devi was a Brahmin and her joint efforts with Ragini Devi and Mr. Iyer helped Bharatanatyam to gain its previous glory gradually.

CHAPTER – VI

THE POST-COLONIAL AND THE MODERN DEVELOPEMT - THE RE-EMERGENCE OF BHARATNAYAM DANCE DRAMA (1940 – 1990)

The discussion of re-emergence of Bharatanatyam in India is not complete without having a theoretical and critical discussion on the actions of British rulers during the early 1900’s. It is to be noted that even though there were several movements regarding the ban of Bharatanatyam, the prohibition was not lifted off by the British Empire. The movements essentially worked toward creating a separated identity of Bharatanatyam from the Devadasi culture but in the minds of the prejudiced society, it became quite hard. It has been identified that the shift of Bharatanatyam from the Devadasi culture to the normal flow of the society an early 20th century event, after more progressive and liberal ideas could be seen among the societies.

The modern era of Bharatanatyam is believed to be started in the late 20th century. Most scholars accept and agree that it is the end of the 20th century when British began to lose their grip on India. Thus, with low influence of the British on the Indians, Rukmini Devi along with Mr. Iyer took better grip at reviving the oldest dance forms in India. In the later part of the 20th Century, progressive and liberal mindsets started to grow amongst the elites of the society and a clear shift could be noticed in the movement of Bharatanatyam. It was not just the Tamil protestors who essentially identified the urgency to revive the ancient dance form of Bharatanatyam but several then Indian politician leaders of the country understood and accepted the need of such change (Dirks, 1992).

Even though Bharatanatyam was started being accepted in the society as an exclusive dance form, the old Devadasi reference could not be removed from the minds of Indians easily. As it has been postulated by Gaston, Indians essentially noticed Bharatanatyam to be part of the Devadasis lifestyle and it was only them who could perform the dance.

Thus, Rukmini Devi, Ragini Devi and Mr. Iyer joined in reforming such thoughts and during late 20th century, Indians gradually understood the concept of Bharatanatyam being a separate dance form, having no connection with the Devadasi system. During the year of 1960’s, the taboo of Bharatanatyam gradually started to wear off and people started to believe that a girl could practice Bharatanatyam liberally without being subjected to the Devadasi culture or married to Hindu deity.

6.1 THE CONTRIBUTION OF INDIANS IN REINSTATING BHARATANATYAM AS A MAINSTREAM DANCE FORM

The modern day Bharatanatyam revival demands a separate column to understand the journey of several Indians, male and female who hailed from the profession of dancers and women activists. While the name of Rukmini Devi Arundale is prominent in the pages of History, there are other men and women, who fought hard for the revival of the Bharatanatyam. Moreover, these Indians fought for the preservation of the heritage culture of India.

6.1.2 The Contribution of Krishna Iyer

Krishna Iyer, a lawyer who had no connection with Bharatanatyam, is the first person who questioned the stereotype of the ban that was put by the British on Devadasi and Bharatanatyam Dance Drama. He essentially questioned the relevance of banning Bharatanatyam along with the Devadasi system and she also questioned the relevance of killing one rich and traditional dance forms of India

From the research paper of O’Shea,it can be found out that due to the audacity of Krishna Iyer to question the ban on Bharatanatyam, he was arrested and jailed on several charges of sedition and nationalism and eventually the banning of Bharatanatyam got the colour of politics. Iyer persuaded several fellow prisoners to practice Bharatanatyam and the protest against Bharatanatyam ban continued.

The protests continued following the path showed by Krishna Iyer and many other Tamil reformists who protested furiously against the arbitrary ban that was imposed on Bharatntyam along with the dehumanization of the Devadasi system. The British government declared several laws to erase the tradition of Bharatanatyam from India and strict actions were taken against the protestors. It is to be noted that Iyer was the one of the inspiring protestors against the Bharatanatyam ban and it is his words that led Rukmini Devi to take the lead and start working on reviving Bharatanatyam in the year of 1940

6.1.2 The Contribution of Esther Sherman

In the year of 1930, famous American dancer, Esther Sherman moved to India and claimed the legacy of Bharatanatyam by learning the dance form and rigorously protested against the ban. She was one of the admirers of the classical Indian dance forms and when she move to India, she was mesmerized by the heritage dance forms of India. Being an ardent lover of the classical dance forms, Esther Sherman followed Bharatanatyam as well and the arbitrarty ban on the same made her protest against the then British rulers along with several Tamil protestors. Gradually, she became extremely involved in the movement that she changed her name to Ragini Devi and due to this, the movement to revive Bharatanatyam gained a new pace and perspective herein. However, the ban was not automatically lifted from Bharatanatyam even after the movement gained such huge follower in the 1930. The ban was loosened up in India as the British Empire had more important issues to attend to in the Colonial India. During this time when India was so close to its independence, true revolutionary movement was conducted by several classical dancers of India to gain new perspective on Bharatanatyam and revive this dance form as a separately from the culture of Devadasi

6.1.3 The Contribution of Muthulakshmi Reddy

In the revival of Bharatanatyam, the contribution of Muthulakshmi Reddy was of utmost importance. Mrs. Reddy was a women activists and a physician who fought for the eradication of the Devadasi system the way it was transformed after impose of the British ban. She was also a freedom fighter who fought against the British Empire.

It is essential to mention that Mrs. Reddy was not a dancer and had no connection with Bharatanatyam. However, during her fight against the eradication of the Devdadasi system, she was of the view that Bharatanatyam was a separate dance form that could exist without having to be affiliated with the Devadasi system. She identified the expression of Bharatanatyam to be a beautiful art and it is the tradition of India. According to Gaston, she was of the view to preserve the Indian tradition and Bharatanatyam is one of such dance forms that presents the heritage of India beautifully. Also, Bharatanatyam and several other ancient dance forms of India have influenced the architectures and temples of India. Thus, the banning of Bharatanatyam along with Devadasi system does not make sense.

In 1947, her relentless effort at educating Indian society regarding the current status of the Devadasi culture has provided her with the “Devadasi Abolition Act” of 1947. In this Act, there was no mention of the Bharatanatyam dance form and no such abolition measure was taken against the dance form of Bharatanatyam. Thus, this could be regarded as one of the first moves to perceive Bharatanatyam as a separated dance form and art from the Devadasi culture.

In the Act of Devadasi Abolition, the culture of Devadasi was made illegal without dehumanizing the women who professed such culture. It was never the choice of then girls to become Devadasi as it is the essentially the parent of little girls who gave away the girl to Hindu temple when they were not even at the consenting age. Thus, with the Act of 1947, such tradition was made illegal and jail term was announced against it. The Devadasi women were granted several rights and provisions to give up their current professional as Devadasi and come back to the mainstream of the society where they would enjoy the same status as any other woman and they were also given the right to marry.

Thus, it can be said that it was completely Dr. Reddy’s initial effort that stopped the Devadasi system in India and separated the dance form of Bharatanatyam from the stigma of Devadasi. She completely changed the purpose and aim of Bharatanatyam and reinstated Bharatanatyam indirectly in the Indian culture again. Thus, Bharatanatyam became an art that could be enjoyed by the girls around the world without having to be identified as a means of worshipping Hindu Gods and Goddesses.

6.1.4 The Contribution of Rukmini Devi Arundale

Rukmini Devi is one of the prestigious names in the field of Bharatanatyam and she is essentially famous due to her exceptional contribution towards reviving Bharatanatyam as a separated dance form in India. Born in the year of 1904, Rukmini Devi belonged from a well-to-do Brahmin Family of Tamil Nadu. She was the youngest of the eight children and since childhood, she has always been adapted to the environment of music and dance dramas. Rukmini Devi’s father was an eminent scholar in Sanskrit language and he was a member of the Theosophical Society. Thus, it can be deduced that it was the works of her father’s that inspired Rukmini Devi to take interest on the ancient Indian traditions and classical dance forms.

During she was working with her father for the Theosophical society, she came in touch with Anne Basant and her institutions. Rukmini Devi started taking interests being a women’s activist in the then British India. During her tenure as being a women’s activist, Rukmini Devi decided to adopt the dying art form of Bharatanatyam and established the Kalakshetra Academy where she reformed the dance form and gave it a new life

However, the contribution of Rukmini Devi was not easy and her journey of reviving Bharatanatyam had lots of obstacles. In the 1940’s, it was not just the British who looked down upon the Devadasi culture and the Bharatanatyam dance form associated with it, but the whole of the Indian society perceived Bharatanatyam as the same. Bharatanatyam was wrongly tagged as being vulgar and low-caste practice. The caste system of the society made such stereotypes against the untouchables practicing the Bharatanatyam and thus it was completely shut down from the rest of the societies

In her younger days, Rukmini Devi trained hard in the ancient classical dance forms of India and she also trained professionally with Pandanallur Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai. Rukmini Devi adapted the form of Bharatanatyam and presented the same on stage in the year of 1935. It was before the Theosophical society where Rukmini Devi first presented her public performance of Bharatanatyam.

Embracing the actions of Krishna Iyer and several other protestors who were raging against the Bharatanatyam ban during the late 1900’s, Rukmini Devi engaged wholly in restoring the lost and dying art and she also worked in the path of Mrs. Reddy who succeeded in passing the Devadasi Abolition Act of 1947. Since the year of 1940, Rukmini Devi dedicated her life towards removing the societal stigma from Bharatanatyam and makes Bharatanatyam an acceptable dance form which could be practiced by women freely and without having to be associated with the concept of Devadasi.

Her relentless efforts toward establishing Bharatanatyam in the eyes of the society paid off gradually and her Kalakshetra foundation took in several girls to teach Bharatanatyam and various fields of academic subjects as well. Rukmini Devi also aimed at making girls independent by teaching them several other skills such as weaving, sari dying and jewellery making. Being a women’s activisit, Rukmini Devi was quite active in the field of politics but she never actively participated in being on the forefront and she always kept the re-emergence of Bharatanatyam away from the touch of politics

She was a respected figure in the society as a women’s activist and with her strong personality, she had always found a special place in the minds of several political leaders of the country. In her memory, President Pranab Mukherjee said that:

“I was a Congress MP at the time and Morarji Desai proposed that Rukmini Devi fill the vacancy caused by the death of President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. The choice was very widely appreciated and if she agreed, she would have been elected unanimously. But her refusal spoke volumes of her character, wisdom and sagacity and exemplified the values of renunciation and sacrifice that India has traditionally inculcated.”

— Pranab Mukherjee

Her effort in reviving Bharatanatyam was recognized by the Government after the independence of India and in the year of 1990, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu considered to lift the ban from practicing Bharatnayam and let Bharatanatyam be displayed in several music festivals without any taboo being attached to it. The then Chief Minister of the State, Mr. M. Karunanidhi spoke in favor of the artists and those who practices Bharatanatyam during the late 20th century and gradually Bharatanatyam became socially acceptable.

Rukmini Devi passed away in the year of 1986, yet she is remembered as the icon of Bharatnataym till today. She was the epitome of charm and grace and she fought tooth and nail for the revival of Bharatnataym in the modern India. It is also important to note that while reviving Bharatanatyam, she never disrespected the Devadasi culture and always spoke about the Devadasis with respect. Along with Mrs. Reddy and Krishna Iyer, she also focused on the sufferings of the Devadasi in the post-colonial era and the corruption that has centered on the culture of Devadasis during the 20th century. Her strong personality and iron like personality are one of the reasons why she succeded in establishing Bharatanatyam back to its old glory. Apart from Bharatanatyam, she has worked a great deal in empowering women and work for the women’s right in India.

Apart from these eminent protestors and activists, there are other people who helped in reviving Bharatanatyam in the modern world as well. Along with Rukmini Devi Arundale, the names of Yamini Krishnamurti and Bala Saraswati essentially demands attention (Kar, 2013). During the same time period, these two dancers contributed and inspired greatly the Bharatanatyam dancer community and also influenced the society at large to accept Bharatanatyam better with their knowledge. Thus, in the history and development of Bharatanatyam, very few names might come on the surface but it was the collective efforts of the hundreds and thousands protestors for more than 30 or 40 years that has provided the oldest dance form with its accurate place of respect herein.

6.2 BHARATANATYAM IN THE POST-COLONIAL MODERN WORLD (1995-TILL DATE)

With Arundale’s contribution in reviving Bharatanatyam, the modern Indian society has witnessed a swift shift in Bharatanatyam being a dance form of the untouchables to a popular dance form of India that had high demands in the abroad as well. As of 2020, more than 10,000 students performed a joint Bharatanatyam dance drama in Chennai which broke the previous records of 7,000 students . Thus, it evident from the modern events that Bharatanatyam is recognized as one of the famous dance forms of India.

According to eminent scholar Kar , the late 20th century in India was the blooming time for Bharatanatyam. The collective efforts of Rukmini Devi Arundale and Bala Saraswati proved to be extremely useful in re-establishing Bharatanatyam and gradually the dance form was reclaimed by the Hindu temples. The political and religion turmoil of the British time also made Bharatanatyam extinct from the face of India but the early 21st century witnessed an unusual welcoming of Bharatanatyam by the modern girls and modern world. The ban of Bharatanatyam was lifted in the late 20th century and Bharatanatyam slowly earned the name of being a mainstream dance form. The old Devadasi label was almost erased (David, 2007).

In the 1947, when Arundale revived the dance form of Bharatanatyam by eliminating the erotic steps and the music that was attached to the Bharatanatyam Dance Drama and essentially provided it with a erotic touch, Bharatanatyam gained the respect of the Indian people and it was brough back to its spiritual root. Being a brahmin, she was able to remove the tag of untouchables from the practice of Bharatanatyam but she also encouraged everyone to practice the said dance form and dance dramas without discrimination

The caste issue was raised by Iyer and Mrs. Reddy as well. The caste tag attached to Bharatanatyam always seemed to be the root of all the stereotypes and stigma that was attached to Bharatanatyam Dance Drama and it seemed that once the same was removed, the upper caste people and every other person of the society easily adapted to the dance form. It is to be noted that the culture of Devadasi was rejected and thrown as being vulgar by the Indian people when the lower caste girls entered into the profession due to poverty. Hence the question arises whether the development and historical perspective of Bharatanatyam had a potential caste aspect along with societal, religion and political aspect to it.

In this segment, we shall discuss and critically analyze how the development of Bharatanatyam has went through a caste discrimination aspect and how the dance form of Bharatanatyam essentially fell victim in the hands of its own netizens.

6.2.1 Caste Dynamics and Bharatanatyam in India

In order to understand the complete development of Bharatanatyam in India, it is essential to reflect on the caste system of the Indian society and how the caste system has plagued the minds of Indian society since a long time. Also, the caste dynamics in Bharatanatyam will also clarify how it is not only the British who essentially escalated the path of banning Bharatanatyam but how it was partly the fault of the countrymen as well. In this segment, we shall discuss how Indians became blind to such extent as to slaughter one important heritage of India under the manipulation of the foreign ruler.

The American scholar Olcott,in his journal article has rightly observed and identified the caste system of India. In the ancient times, the caste system was discovered and implemented in society to establish an order according to the profession of the people of the society. However, with time, such professional division became social stratification structure and the ancient model of division of labor was thrown out of the window. Gradually, the caste system became more and more rigid in India and no scope was provided to the caste members to move from one caste to the other. During the British era, the caste system was active in Indian society and it ruled various parts of the countrymen as well

From the researches of Torri (2009), the caste system of India has four classes of hierarchy – Brahmin, Kshatriaya, Vaishaya and Shudra or the untouchables. According the caste system, the Brahmin resembled being of academically sound with a higher status in the society and the Shudras or the untouchables being the lowest strata of the society. The Brahmins usually served as the priests of the temple in the ancient times while the Shudras or the untouchables served the role of being the garbage collector. It was to be said that the Brahmins had a direct connection with the Hindu Gods and they were the messenger of Gods in the Indian society.

In the caste strata, the Kshatriyas and the Vaishyas resided at the middle part of the system and they were essentially entrusted with the keeping the society safe and economically sound. Every kind of public administration, law and order and business related jobs were in their hands. Also, shudras were again divided into two groups – Shudras and the untouchables. The Shudras were people who had the job of the farmer or peasants in the Indian society. But the untouchables were someone who was not to be touched at any cost by the upper caste of the society. The untouchables were mostly considered as being the outcasts and they had no power in the society. The men and women of untouchables were mostly exploited by the upper caste people

6.2.2 How Caste influenced the revival of Bharatanatyam in India – A reflection on the modern day development

In the previous segment, we have already discussed how Rukmini Devi, a Brhamin, re-established Bharatanatyam as a dance form in India and removed the taboo of Devadasi culture from it. However, as it has been mentioned multiple times in this research paper, the key element of such revival was that Rukmini Devi Arungale and other protestors who attempted at restoring the past glory of Bharatanatyam belonged to an upper-caste society. Thus, the question arises, was Bharatanatyam was discarded by the Indian society at large because it was portrayed by the Dalits of the society during the late 19th century? Or whether the labels of being vulgar and erotic were associated to Bharatanatyam because it was displayed by the Dalits during the early 20th century? Also, could Bharatanatyam be revived if the same attempt of restoration was made by a lower-caste woman?

The answer is simple – probably not. From the works of Olcott and Srinivasan it can be deduced that the caste system and the discrimination based on caste was quite prevalent in the India of 1940. It was not until 1950 when caste based ill-treatments were tagged as being unconstitutional in India. Thus, it is to be expected that in the case of Bharatanatyam, the same card of caste would play a big role herein.

From the critical discussion of the development of Bharatanatyam in the backdrop of Indian heritage, it can be noticed that Bharatanatyam has gone through so many struggles of being banned and being associated with sexual dance forms, almost no attention was paid to how Bharatanatyam had one problematic side alive – the caste based discrimination. Rukmini Devi and Bala Saraswati, the two eminent reformists of Bharatanatyam once engaged in a debate where Rukmini Devi Arundale confirmed to the facts that for Bharatanatyam to be acceptable in the modern India, the body of the dancer plays an immense role and it is the body of the dancer that decides the perimeter of Bharatanatyam. The debate between these two reformists also confirmed that for the purpose of Bharatanatyam Dance drama to be respectable, the dancer needs to be of fair-skin and size-zero bodies with subtle knee spin so that the dance form does not look voluptuous (Swaddle, 2021).

Apart from the comments made by Rukmini Devi Arundale, the case dynamic of Bharatanatyam can be traced from the normal parlance of development of Bharatanatyam. If we critically analyze the development history of Bharatanatyam, it can be identified that Bharartanatyam was discarded by the then Indian society because the dalits or the untouchables of the society started taking up the profession of Devadasi in the late 19th century.

From the research works of Medhuri (1988) and Chakravorty & Gupta (2012), it can be seen that owing to the caste aspect of the Devadasi during the late 19th century when the culture lost its previous glory due to poverty and several other religious and political aspect, Bharatanatyam was rejected by the Indian society as a whole. The more temple Devadasis belonged from the lower caste, the more patrons lost interest in funding them and making them their consorts. They were rejected by the royal clans for their caste and due to the weak economical condition of then India. In order to survive, the Devadasis eventually adapted to more sensual Bharatanatyam dance dramas and music to lure and attract men and make a living thereby.

It is clear from the researches form various scholars and the historical development of Bharatanatyam that if it is not for the ‘Brahmin’ or upper caste tag of Rukmini Devi Arundale, it would have taken another 50 years to revive Bharatanatyam. It can be critically analyzed from the discussions that held before that post colonial India, the dance drama form of Bharartanatyam could be restored gradually with several changes in its postures and expressions or Abhinaya because it was essentially given the tag of upper caste.

It is not a surprise that many of such traditional Indian heritage entertained caste based discrimination but the traditional and the oldest classical dance forms might be one of the many things that still carries the seed of caste dynamics till today. Eminent Bharatanatyam dancer Nrithya Pilla, who hailed from the Isai-Vellavar community, has publicly spoke about the ongoing trend of casteism in Bharatanatyam and how such caste based discriminations are still nurtured by the gurus or the masters of several Bharatanatyam schools in the South Indian States. Being hailed from the Devadasi community, Nrithya Pilla has faced several layers of caste based discrimination and slurs related to Devadasi during her career as a Bharatanatyam dancer. As she calls it the ‘Hypocrisy’ of the Bharatanatyam dance community, Nrithya Pillai’s public speech against the caste based discrimination has unveiled the modern day issue in Bharatanatyam Dance Drama hrein.

In a recent interview, Nrithya Pillai has candidly described how she has been discriminated by her peers as she belonged to a lower-caste Devadasi. Her skin tone, her caste and her culture are essentially questioned whenever she performs Bharatanatyam and to everyone’s surprise, such comments often come from her fellow dancers.

“….women were practically debarred from dancing. The only means to make money via Bharatanatyam was to teach upper-caste women. So, curiously, the feudal relationship between aristocrats and dancers changed to a patron/client-teacher relationship, where the clients were upper-caste women, and the patrons were their families. That change in the equation implied that women from my caste were denied access to the dance form. We had secondary access — our families had the celebrated teachers, and we watched the dance form being taught to upper-caste women. That is how my mother and I learned Bharatanatyam. Yes, I do believe that caste and class alignments were the basis of the beginnings of what is today called the world of Bharatanatyam,” – Nrithya Pilla, (Swaddle, 2021; The Hindu 2020)

In this interview, she talks about the whole debacle around the Devadasi culture and how the upper caste Indians stereotyped the Devadasi community as prostitutes and a culture that abuses children, which was not exclusive to the Devadasi culture. But this culture and community was targeted because the women of this community hailed from lower caste families since the late 19th century. According to Nrithya Pillai, the term Devadasi was never used in the South India before the reform debate which was further given recognition with the help of the Devadasi Abolition Act of 1947.

Nrithya Pillai also talks about how the upper caste of the society during that time in India presumed it is their duty to reform the society and essentially their point of view in reforming the society was biased. The upper caste people of the society such as Mrs. Reddy who succeeded in passing the Act of Devadasi Abolition of 1947, never acted against their own castes and the issues that involves the Brahmins or other upper castes of the society but only calculated the deeds of the lower caste.

Being hailed from the Isai-Vellavar community, Nrithya Pillai sheds light on how one traditional form, Vazhuvoor, is erased from the practice of Bharatanatyam as it was invented by the lower caste communities of the Devadasi during the late 19th century and as a part of reviving Bharatanatyam, the upper caste dancers exclusively ignored the forms that are attached to the lower class community to provide the dance form with better acceptance in society at large.

Thus, it can be said that when Bharatanatyam was started being revived during the 1930’s, the upper caste men and women essentially rejected and denied the parts of Bharatanatyam that are associated with the lower caste people or forms that were invented by the late 19th century Devadasis when untouchables and lower caste women already entered into the temples. For the purpose of restoring Bharatanatyam, the upper caste people felt it was necessary to cut out all the forms that had any slight association with the lower class women or Devadasis.

Also, as per the case of Dr. RLV Ramakrishnan, renowned Bharatanatyama and Mohininatyam dancer, the case discrimination is so high in Bharatanatyam that Ramakrishnan attempted suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills. Reportedly, he was denied a chance to showcase his talent and a public performance because of his caste and Kerala State Academy was the accused of such caste discrimination.

From the research of Lochtefeld (2002) and Olcott (1944), it can be gathered that the lower caste women could not be women activists as they did not have enough access to several privileges that the upper caste women were. So, supporting the statements of Nrithya Pillai, it was only the upper caste people who acted on their own and decided on their own what is good for the Dalits or the lower caste people and resolved their problems without their prior acknowledgment.

The caste dynamic of Bharatanatyam suffers from the same angle. While reforming the Devadasi culture, the women from the community was never discussed or none of the representatives from the community was ever on the panel of the Devadasi Abolition Act, 1947. The whole community and their profession was banned by the upper caste reformists without obtaining any opinion from them. Even though provisions were made legally for the Devadasis to rejoin the main flow of the society, it was nearly impossible as the community as a whole was labeled as being sex-slaves and prostitutes. The negative connotation was given to this community during the reform debates and since then the term Devadasi presents a controversy as we can see when Vairamuthu called Andal a Devadasi or T.M. Krishna called M.S. Subbulakshmi the same

Another perspective that come into play and which has been pointed out by Nrithya Pillai and several other caste discrimination cases in the sector of Bharatanatyam public performances, how women dancer from lower caste in Bharatanatyam are still tagged by Devadasi slurs even though the system of dedication in Hindu temples has long been abolished. It is true that Mrs. Reddy while playing an active role in passing the Devadasi Abolition Bill in 1947, essentially helped the Devadasi community who did not have enough to eat, enough hygiene or any particular shelter and the target of the Act was not high class or elite Devadasis.

The poor condition of Devadasi should never be considered as their vulnerability. While there were many Devadasis community who were susceptible to prostitution, it was not the story of all the Devadasis and during the proposal of the abolition bill, there were considerable amount of objection that came from the Devadasi community.

However, none of the historical perspective helps in establishing a Bharatanatyam sector that is free of any kind of caste based perception. In the words of Nrithya Pillai who has faced all sorts of discrimination while practicing Bharatnatyam, the dance in the modern world has become branding certain bodies and body types as provocative and immoral. The current caste-based discrimination of Bharatanatyam revolved on the ground that the dance form only becomes pure and pious only when all the bodies from the lower caste community has been excluded and it is then only Bharatanatyam becomes one true form for devotion and Bhakti.

6.2.3 Critical Analysis of Bharatanayam from Sadi-Attyam, caste and Devadasis – how the journey marks the development of Bharatnataym as a dance form?

“Plus, I choose not to believe in the dichotomy of the ‘older’ Bharatanatyam form versus the reformed version, as it does not acknowledge the generations of hereditary practitioners who havie taught both the old and the new. The reformers learnt the art form from traditional practitioners, and simply claimed to remove sensuousness, which they found to be problematic, and added what they thought were asexually appropriate.”

Nrithya Pillai (Swaddle, 2021)

The critical analysis of development of Bharatanatyam in relation to caste and Devadasi is complicated. While in the eyes of the some, the renovation or reemergence of Bharatanatyam from Sadir-attyam was essential in order to keep the dance forms of the traditional India alive, there are people who believe that the dance form has lost its true essence by eliminating all the traces of Devadasi community from it. It is true that almost the dance forms of India has gone through similar development due to the British era banning, Bharatanatyam has faced the major sufferings as a dance form among all of the other dance forms

In critically analyzing the development of Bharatanatyam, it can be said that the emergence of Bharatanatyam from Said-attayam, which has been mentioned in the earlier chapter, is one of the key essential in the development of Bharatnatyam from the Devadasi community herein. While Sadir-Attayam is recognized as being a solo dance form performed by elite Devadasis, the transformation of Sadir-attayam to Bharatanatyam is still unknown.

Bharatanatyam, being one of the famous and oldest classical dance forms of India, has a charming historical origin but it can be said that it does not have the charming development into the modern day world that we could hope for. The true development of change in the course of Bharatanatyam started during the middle 19th century when British rulers and the Christican religion interefered with the course of Bharatanatyam and the way it was presented by the Devadasi community in the Hindu temples of South India.

After Bharatnatyam along with many other classical dance forms of India was dissected in the hands of the foreign rulers and they made arbitrary imposition on it, Bharatanatyam faced the terror of being banned from the face of the lands of India and it became a dying art, labeled with the taboo of prostitution. The original dancer of this dance form or dance drama, the Devadasi community, could not save it properly. Even more, their association with this dance form only escalated the death of this dance. And the biggest reason behind the fall of Bharatanatyam is the caste based discrimination.

If we critically analyze the whole development course of Bharatnatyam, we can see that caste has always been one of the greatest bases for all of the things that are good or bad. The good chores of the society were dedicated for the upper castes and the professions or jobs that were considered as being dirty, were on the part of the lower caste or the untouchables. This is the basic conception that made Bharatnatyam get several tags like ‘vulgar’ and ‘dirty’ in the late 19th century when the Devadasi system fell due to the British era land distribution system and many lower caste Devadasi entered into the community.

Hence to critically analyze the caste association with Devdasi and Bharatanatyam, it can be identified that during the 1940’s time, everything that were associated with the lower caste people, were essentially considered to be dirty or vulgar. Thus, when Devadasis started to belong from lower class communities in the South India, the upper caste communities and patrons denied acknowledging their existence and many old Devadasis left the community as well. For this reasons, the Devadasi, who had lost their lands and property due to the British ruler’s arbitrary rules against land distribution, were stripped of everything materials and they were forced to live on the streets. Such vulnerability led to their exploitation. Thus, to have a critical analysis on this topic, it can be said that it was due to the discrimination that was created by the Upper caste Indians and the foreign rulers that Devadasi culture used Bharatnatyam for something other than worshipping deities.

As it has been rightly identified and pointed out by many scholar such as Medhuri (2004), Chakravorty & Gupta (2012) and Rao (2018), the resoration of Bharatanartyam needed to cling on to the caste card. Caste was the only thing that could appeal the minds of the Indians in the South and in the North to accept Bharatanartyam again as a classical dance form, separated from the controversial Devadasi culture. It was necessary for Brahmins like Rukmini Devi Arundale and Mrs. Reddy to take on the lead to be a representative of Bharatanartyam before the upper caste society.

Thus, we can critically ascertain that it is the association of Bharatanartyam to the upper caste back in the days of 1947 that essentially led to the acceptance of Bharatanartyam once again, in whole new form. It can be said that such measure was taken to appease the Indian audience and not the other way around. To reinstate Bharatanartyam and to keep this dying art form alive, the reformers clung to every available methods to do so and contrary to Nrithya Pillai’s comment on Devadasi’s objection was not considered, it can be said that to save the dance form at that point of time, it was necessary.

However, 1947 was long back and India has grown a lot since the year of Independence. In 1950, caste based discrimination was made unconstitutional by the maker of the Constitution and India was declared to be a secular country with no regard to discrimination of whatsoever form. But the caste system still exists in its full glory in every section of Indian society. Even though the situation has changed, it is still long way off from the desirable condition where caste system shall hold no meaning.

Hence, for a restored dance form which was reinstated in India by appealing the caste system in the British era India, caste based discrimination is expected to be a formal problematic aspect. The caste dynamic of Bharatanartyam is still following the old ways and no further revolution was introduced in this dance drama.

Thus, in this critical analysis segment, it can be said that in order to extricate Bharatanartyam Dance Drama from the caste-based discrimination or Casteism, it needs further methods and measures of development introduced where this oldest dance form could adapt to every possible aspect of its history, even the historical perspective that includes the Devadasi community. The unnecessary exclusion needs to be stopped and unlike before, it is the joint effort of both the castes that could bring about such change.

CHAPTER – VII

CONCLUSION

From the previous chapters, a well-established development course of Bharatnatyam Dance Drama can be identified with special reference to the Devadasi system and how the British era imposed a ban on Bharatnatyam Dance Drama which took about 50 years to get its former self back. Being the one of the oldest classical dance forms of India, Bharatnatyam Dance Drama has the tales of different stories to be kept under her wings. As we have discussed earlier, Bharatnatyam Dance Drama started with the South Indian temple and in the modern world, this dance form contains thousands of students, preaching and practicing this precious dance forms across the world.

However, this study essentially focuses on the historical part of Bharatnatyam dance drama and it can be said that in order to conclude the history and course of the Devadasi community, the mentioning of Bharatnatyam is inevitable. Formerly known as Sadir-attyam, Bharatnatyam’s historical trail can be found from the Devadasi culture in the ancient India and the association of Bharatnatyam Dance Drama to the caste dynamic herein.

The development of Bharatnatyam was not in solitude. As we have discussed in this paper, there are two very prominent aspect of the Bharatnatyam development that shows the picture of Indian society as a whole – the Devadasi culture and the caste dynamic. While the Devadasi culture and its relation to the Bharatnatyam dance drama was prominent enough to draw the attentions of several researchers across the world, the current day caste dynamic of Bharatnatyam Dance Drama is not widely talked about. In this paper, we have faintly concluded the caste based discrimination to several recent News and the interviews but no conclusive statistical data could be provided due to the lack of availability.

The caste discrimination in the Modern day India still goes a long way and the same applies in the case of Bharatnatyam but not many studies and surveys have been done to provide much proof to that effect. Most of the scholars and researchers only provide with the bright side of the Bharatnatyam development in reference to the Devadasi Abolition Act of 1947 and how the reinstating of Bharatnatyam separated from Devadasi is the good thing.

However, very few scholars shed light on the fact that the separation of Devadasis from Bharatnatyam Dance Drama has only negatively represented the whole community and the common conception of Devadasi of the modern India associates with prostitution and sex-slavery. The people hailing from such communities talks against it and speaks of how such representation has only made the Devadasi community in a negative light and dehumanize the community as a whole.

Thus, this study tries to represent such in-depth problem of Bharatnatyam and the origin of Devadasi in the context of the Modern day India. Along with the contribution of the upper caste men and women during the British era ban, this study also focuses on the how such contributions had its loopholes and how caste discrimination had been the base of Bharatnatyam since the inception of the re-emergence herein.

In conclusion, it can be said that in the path of development of Bharatnatyam Dance Drama, it is the caste based discrimination of the Indian society that leads to the destruction of this beautiful art form and due to such discrimination, many of the Bharatnatyam Dance Drama forms which were invented by the Devadasi community in the late 19th century, are lost now.

Although this study is still infancy, it necessarily provides a strong foothold towards the root problem of Bharatnatyam in the modern world and how the development of Bharatnatyam during the 1940’s has only discriminated people based on caste, class and creed and the essential dehumanization of the Devadasi community in the South India. Through this research paper, one can understand the underlying problems with the modern world Bharatnatyam and things that seemed to be glorious in reference to the past contributions, are not so much relevant in the present days. This study also sheds light on the important aspect of Devadasi culture or community and how such community became labeled as being sex workers. Bharatnatyam never needed saving from the Devadasi community but it was the casteist mindset that eventually led to the destruction of Bharatnatyam Dance Drama.

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