CHENNAI: “The complexity in the history of Bharatanatyam has led dancers, instructors and viewers to expect this art form to be traditional yet creative, authentically Indian and yet globally acceptable, respectable yet commercially viable,” said Davesh Soneji, who was in the city recently to launch his book Bharatanatyam: A Reader.
A few Bharatanatyam dancers, some scholars and many art aficionados gathered at Amethyst to listen to Davesh Soneji, who has compiled important writings in English related to Bharatanatyam in his latest book. An associate Professor for South Asian Religious Studies at McGill University, Canada, Davesh gave audiences a peek into one of the chapters that delves into javali, a genre in Bharatanatyam. He detailed how Javali originated and developed.
He also showed facsimiles of javalis written for Hindustani ragas and Javalis that had all four languages — Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi in a single lyric. “Not just in text, even the dance attires were largely influenced by the Parsi culture,” he said and showed images of javali dancers wearing modern attire.
He has also finished writing another book titled Unfinished Gestures: Devadasis, Memory, and Modernity in South India. When asked how women could perform for javalis that were written mostly by men, he said, “In those times, many upper class people who wrote javalis had these dancers as their mistresses and the lyrics were about their love, relationship and expectations. So the dancers knew well what the authors meant to say and performed easily on stage,” details Davesh.
The significant turn in the history of Bharatanatyam? “Two important changes have happened. Due to the societal reformation that happened during the 18th century after the intrusion of Westerners, the Devadasi system was completely oppressed.
While the so called upper class remained elite, it was those women who were at the receiving end. On the other hand, the art took a new dimension, as women from ‘higher’ castes started taking up this art form. They made this art respectable,” he says.
When asked what is new in his book, he said, “Whenever we talk about the history of Bharatanatyam, we go 2,000 years back in time. But this book chronicles the milestones of Bharatnatyam in only the last two centuries, during which radical changes have taken place. It’s a true reflection of history.”