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| Wednesday, 11 August 2004 |
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The role of Adavus in classical Bharatha Natyam by Subashini Pathmanathan
In classical Bharata Natyam the dance is divided into three main divisions - Nirtha, Nirthya and Natya. The adavus are confined to the Nirtha category in classical Bharata Natyam, Nirtha means pure dance, without revealing any meaning. All the basic aspects of dance such as leg positions, hand positions, hand movements, body positions, neck movements, body movements, eye movements and eyebrow movements are seen in Nirtha, and Nithya. Any dance, whether it is folk or classical or ritual dance, the adavus are common. The term adavus are used in Kandyan dance. Adavus are the basic units for any dance forms. The beautiful movements of these pure nirtha rhythmic patterns were called by Adiyarku Nallar (the 13th century commentator who wrote the commentary on Sillapathykaram) as chokam. Adiyarku Nallar considered pure nirtha as Chokam because he felt that those who see the pure Nirtha will be impressed by its beauty. That's why he called it Chokam. Standing positions Adavus comprises different body standing positions. This is called Isthana positions. Generally there are three basic body positions. One is Sama Isthana position, (straight standing position) and other is the Araimandi Isthana position, (half sitting position) and Mulu Mandi Isthana (full sitting position). All the adavus are based on these three basic positions. Other technical aspects in Adavus are Sari, Karana, Anga Karana and Desi Karana. The terms Sari and Karanas are generally referred to Sari Karana or Karanams. This means the leg movements and hand movements are used together in pure nirtha. Another term Angakaranam is often used in classical Bharatha Natyam. It means more than one Karanam together. After the sage Bharatha who is believed to have written the thesis 'Bharatha Sastra' several other writers have written numerous theses on dance, used another word Desikaranam. Desikaranams means the jumping positions in dance. Varieties Today in Bharatha Natyam altogether there are 18 varieties of adavus. These 18 varieties of adavus are based on three basic body isthana positions. But the basic total number differs from text to text. These 18 varieties of adavus have given rise to the so-called four different styles in Bharatha Natyam. That Adavu, Natt Adavu, Kutt Adavu, Sarukal Adavu, Kuthimedu Adavu, Meiadavu, Mandi Adavu, Marthitha Adavu, Pachal Adavu, Nadai Adavu, Pakka Adavu, Taddi Mettu Adavu and Thandava Adavu, are some of the common adavus in classical Bharata Natyam. Basically all the styles use the same categories of Adavus and sub Adavus, but the execution of the adavus differ from one style to another. The different styles arose because the gurus stationed in different areas used different techniques in the execution of adavus. In classical Bharatha Natyam there are four styles namely Pandanallur, Kaanchipuram, Thanjavoor and Vazhuvoor. The Adavus comprise beautiful movements, systematic rhythmic patterns and high technical factors in dance. Adavus are the basic foundation for the dance and it takes a lot of time to learn it. These pure Nirtha aspects of dance do not reveal any meaning. The hand muthras or the hastas, used in Adavus do not indicate any meaning. The muthras used in adavus are generally called Ellil Hands or Nirtha Hands. The Muthras used for Abinaya are called Tholil Hands. Ellil Hands means beauty hands to show the beauty of the Adavus. Tholil Hands are used in abinaya to interpret the meaning of the song. In the nirtha 13 muthras are used. These 13 muthras comprise some single hand muthras and some double hand muthras. In Adavus nearly ten foot positions are used. Use of adavus In Bharata Natyam one can see the use of adavus in all items. Allaripu and Jetheswaram are the two main traditional Nirtha adavu based items. Even adavus play major role in the Nattuwanga sollukadus and swras in the song or in other words the beautiful variety of sequence of adavus are compiled for nattuwangam sollukadus and swaras of the songs. Variety of adavus are called Korvai adavus. Korvai adavus are ended with theermana adavus. The adavus strictly adhered to thala (tempo), kala (speed), and laya (proper balancing between the thala, and kala). **** Back **** |
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