Know Your Classical Dances: Locating Kuchipudi’s roots and transformations in traditions of dance-drama

Indian classical dances – celebrated across the globe for their enriching and mesmerising virtuosity – can be traced back to centuries-old ways of storytelling, performed as much for entertainment as for the spread of cultures and knowledge. Each classical form is built upon layers of complex histories that often converge at the intersection of culture, art, politics and even conflict, readjusting its structures and boundaries in the light of revolution and reform. Consequently, varying styles of the art form find new homes and families to become gharanas, yet other dance forms are added to the ever-dynamic definition of what constitutes as classical.   This series is an attempt to reacquaint the connoisseur and engage the uninitiated in the vibrant facets of the eight classical dance forms of India by offering a glimpse into the history, performance, attire, comportment and musical accompaniments that give colour, form and rhythm to these cultural legacies. In the third essay, a glimpse into Kuchipudi’s exploration of the dance-drama. * The exceptionally exhilarating practice of performing the Tharangam perched atop a brass plate is a remarkable feat, with which Kuchipudi most often comes to be recognised. Nonetheless, embedded within this artform is a rich repertoire of storytelling and drama that emerges triumphant for its hypnotic and spellbinding effect on the audience. Kuchipudi is a classical dance form that evolved in the medieval ages in Kuchelapuram or the Kuchipudi village in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh as a medium of narrating stories and commenting on socio-political happenings. Largely performed within temple precincts, it was both a prayer to the deities and recreation for the gathered populace.   The audience would comprise of common village folk gathered in an evening in the warm glow of hundreds of burning lamps in an area adjoining the temple that served as a makeshift amphitheatre. Here, men clad in layers of drapes would assume different characters like Lord Krishna, his wives Satyabhama or Rukhmini, and narrate the enchanting lore of this God of music steeped in the shringara rasa  [emotion of love and desire]. This Kuchipudi recital brought forth by the troupes of male artists or the Bhagavatulu, unfolded as a dramatic, theatrical, and invigorating spectacle that was as thrilling as it was cathartic.   In its contemporary form, Kuchipudi continues to retain the elements of such bold, provocative storytelling interwoven in a movement vocabulary that is a blend of both the nritta  [technical] and the nritya  [emotive] aspects found in a formalised classical dance structure. Moorings in the Telugu Yakshagana Tracing the roots of Kuchipudi into 17th century Andhra Pradesh unravels a series of art forms that laid the groundwork for the emergence of this dance style. While the Vaishnavite school, particularly its proponent Siddhendra Yogi, is known to have developed a Kuchipudi tradition following the norms laid down in treatises like Bharat Muni’s Natya Shastra and Nandikeshvara’s Abhinaya Darpana, in its most rudimentary form, this was a blend of the Telugu Yakshagana or the Bhagvata Natya Mela recital performed by male artists in Vijayawada and Tanjore. For the longest time, it was only these travelling Brahmins or the Bhagavatars who performed the dance-dramas, and stringent caste structures made them near inaccessible to other communities. Gradually, the colonial onslaught which threatened a complete erasure of most Indian dance forms and the ensuing interventions by proponents of indigenous arts not only questioned these structures but also stretched the boundaries of the classical dance in an effort to make it more inclusive. For their part, the Yakshagana artists rendered a performance that showcased dance, music, and theatrical elements complete with folk influences, and connected with a prose delivered by the nattuvanar or the narrator. The dramas covered an array of subjects portrayed through the natya dharmi abhinaya or the structures of classical theatre. Other variants of the dance-drama like the Bhagvata Mela Nataka also followed similar patterns, and are together found in the rendering of Kuchipudi storytelling. Kuchipudi thus follows many aesthetics similar to the Yakshagana school, such as the use of a curtain held up by two dancers to introduce the characters of the play, and mark their entries and exists from the scene.  

Siddhendra Yogi, who incorporated such practices found in the erstwhile traditions of dance-drama into Kuchipudi, is also credited with composing one of the earliest musicals within its repertoire: the Bhama Kalapam. This narrative depicts the tale of Krishna’s beloved wife Satyabhama, and her desire to bring the parijata tree with its sweet-smelling flowers to her garden from the heavens.   Centuries later, Kuchipudi stalwart Vempati Venkatanarayana would portray the beautiful Satyabhama in a rendition of the Bhama Kalapam to an effect so mesmerizing that his performance would continue to be invoked within the Kuchipudi canon for years together. As with most traditions of classical theatre, the practice of men assuming female roles continued within Kuchipudi for centuries until the the emergence of the colonial era, the consolidation of the Madras Presidency, and the attack on temple arts like the devdasi tradition posed as major challenges to the dance form so that it began to redefine its contours, introduce solo recitals, and in light of changing patronage, redefine its structure of performance. Performance practice Of all the Indian classical dance forms laid down by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Kuchipudi is one of the few styles to have undergone extraordinary transformations as a result of multiple socio-cultural and political reforms. One of the most crucial shifts was the introduction of female artists into its performance practice. Following the tensions between policies of the British Raj and the devdasi tradition, there was a rise in the number of female Sadir artists gradually turning to Kuchipudi. Their training in classical theatre also led to the widespread popularisation of the Viti Bhagvata, akin to a street play, performed exclusively by female dancers within temples or under royal patronage. In its contemporary form, Kuchipudi continues to be taught to female dancers in both solo and the more conventional format of the dance-drama but distinct to its modern interpretation is the movement vocabulary, involving simply the nritta or the purely technical hastaka [gestures of the hands]. Presented in separate and independent but interconnected compositions often referred to as the ekartha, structured by Vedantam Lakshminarayana Sastri, Kuchipudi comprises basic adavus found in the choreography of the tillana or Tharangam, along with abhinaya recitals like ashtapadi, padam or javali. So also, while the kalapam or the group performance of the dance-drama continues to be in practice even in the contemporary age, introduced within Kuchipudi’s repertoire is the entry of the solo recital which features compositions like Varnam and Jatiswaram integral to the Carnatic school.

In each recital, Kuchipudi has retained at its core the flavours of the sensual, romantic, and erotic shringara rasa that have shaped its oldest renditions.

Herein lies a treasure trove of poetry and verse that form the subject matter of its abhinaya, particularly the ashtapadis of Jayadeva or the romantic odes of the great Telugu poet Kshetrayya addressed to his beloved Muvva Gopala.   In one such verse explicated by noted Kuchipudi artiste Prateeksha Kashi, the poet laments his separation from his wife as he traverses to another village and imagining her to be drowning in grief, describes the nayika’s    [heroine] predicament:   Ennitalacukondu namma! Yetlaamarapu vaccunamma… [How many times do I ruminate, O dear, how can I forget at all!] Evident in this Telugu poem are not simply the woes of the heroine but also the exploration of the vipralamba shringara, which dives into the sorrow of two separated lovers. It is such a deeper study of the rasa examining its several contours that in the hands of a skilled performer, fills the very air of a concert hall with longing and desire, producing a thoroughly engrossing effect, that is innate to the framework of the Kuchipudi repertoire.   Kuchipudi and Bharatnatyam – the conundrum A glance at the colonial history of South India indicates that the consolidation of the Madras Presidency was a major political shift that has led to distinct regional cultures being identified as identical, and therefore interchangeable. Kuchipudi and Bharatnatyam continue to be thus categorised under the same repertoire but these are two distinct styles with independent performance practices, despite the similarities in their regional, literary, and musical influences. One of Kuchipudi’s more distinct practices is the performance of the Kavutvam in which the dancer sways to the rhythms of the taal, performing footwork while balancing a pot on the head.   Sartorial differences emerge too, in the draping of the sari. While a Bharatnatyam drape consists of fans of several lengths, in Kuchipudi, the saree is draped in such a way that the fan reaches just below the knees highlighting the knees-bent posture of the danseuse, the footwork, and the ghungroos.  

Moreover, Kuchipudi has endured as one of the few dance styles that incorporate within its repertoire all the four abhinayas laid down in the Natya Shastra, namely the angika [movements of the body], vachika  [words and prose], aharya [costume and accessories], and sattvika  [emotions and rasa]. Today, although the vachika is taken over by the vocalist accompanying the recital to the beat of the mridangam, violin, veena, and the cymbals, the explicit verses and sharp rhythms translate on stage into a dramatic, even theatrical and majestic, recital that engulfs the audience in its ferocity and passion. The allure of Kuchipudi then lies in its ability to effectively employ angika abhinaya or the body language with which an artiste manifests extraordinary feats on stage and for the soloist, becomes a vehicle to hold forth a dramatic dialogue between multiple characters in keeping with the earliest interpretations of the dance-drama. Read more from the Know Your Classical Dances series here. [caption id=“attachment_10383621” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Know Your Classical Dances. Illustration by Poorti Purohit[/caption] Aishwarya Sahasrabudhe writes about art, culture, books, and entertainment. Currently, she has returned to school to study the intersections between gender, culture, and development. The writer is a Kathak Visharad practicing and performing the classical dance form for over a decade. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .