Influence of Indian dances

Subashini Pathmanathan

The South East Asian region comprises Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Java, Sumathra, Indonesia and Bali. From ancient times, India and South East Asian region have had close ties with each other. The immigration of Indian population to South East Asian region took place mainly for commercial purposes. Indian influences can be seen in many aspects of South East Asian life. This opened doors to Hindu and Buddhist influences. It also influenced linguistic and cultural expansion. Mainly in the classical dance forms, social ritual dances and folk dances, one discerns similarities. Very likely, the South East Asian dance forms must have been based on Natya Sastra.

Thai dance

One popular Thai dance was Lakon. This dance was, like the South Indian dance Sathir, essentially a temple dance practised in the temple courtyard. In Thailand, the dances were largely based on themes of Ramayana and Mahabharata. One remarkable feature in Thai dance, except the clown role, is that all leading roles are played by women. They wear masks only when they play the role of devas, demons and monkeys. It would appear that like Bharatha Natyam women’s movements in dance are sinuous movements. However, there are not facial expressions, but the meanings are expounded to some extent by hand gestures.

In Thai dances Khon is another form. It is preformed only by male performers; while they perform, they wear masks. The theme is based on Ramayana.

In Indonesia evidence is available to show that in the ancient Muslim regime rulers extended patronage to classical cultural dances. Like most Indian classical dance forms, Indonesia and Bali dance forms are deeply associated to religion. Firm religious influence could be seen in the Indonesian culture. Famous Indonesian dance dramas depict Ramayana.

Most Indonesian dances are not so brisk and generally the tempo is slow in such a way that it provides more opportunity to use anga, pirathi anga and upaanga movements gracefully (head, neck, eye movements, legs and hand movements etc). Yet beautiful postures and graceful stances resemble the stances and postures of various Indian classical dance forms.

Ramayana is the most popular dance theme in South East Asian dance forms. The Ramayana theme still plays an important role in most Indian classical dance forms, and in the annual Ram Leela festivals in the Northern Indian states. In Ram Leela, the actors wear masks or semi crowns.

Bali is not deeply influenced by the Islamic tradition. Nevertheless it is influenced by the Hindu tradition. Due to Hindu religious influence, the Bali dance forms are naturally based on Hindu themes. The Wayang Topeng is one dance form in which the dancer wears the masks. Such dance forms could be seen in the rural Indian folk dances or in the ritual dances of India. Another Indian folk dance is puppet show. The puppets are made out of leather; or clothes of these puppets are activated by twine. The theme of the puppet show must be based on some religious episode, or based on epics. The same type of puppet show could be seen in Bali under the name of Wayang Kuilt and normal drama is called Wayang Wong.

In Mayama, there are many classical dances, which show the distinct Indian influences. Javanese dances, like Indian dances, are firmly based on thala, laya and rhythm. After 15th Century most Javanese dances moved to Bali. One popular dance form was Wangang, which is based on Indian puranic stories, mainly Ramayana, Mahabharata and another dance itself based on the indigenous epic called Panje.

In Cambodia, like ancient Indian dances, dances were performed in royal courts. In Malaysia and Singapore classical Indian dances, music, cultural heritage and languages still exist.

Indian classical dance, folk dance and ritual dance forms have largely influenced the South Asian dance themes.

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