An Indian Analysis of Aesthetics- The Dance, the Dancer and the Spectator

Here is a peep into my first ever book.

What is it that makes a dance beautiful and what is the mechanism of reacting to dance in a spectator? Where does the onus for relishing aesthetic pleasure lie and how does it come about? These are the questions, which receive attention in my book.

Some of the best known critical-aesthetic thoughts and theories right from the ancient Greco-Roman philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Longinus, and Augustine, the ancient Indian aestheticians like Bharata, Anandavardhana, and Abhinavagupta to the much later Japanese aesthetician Zeami, and the later European theorists like Kant and Brecht, are discussed in the book and it is pointed out that they all speak of an element of the metaphysical in art.

Indian Dance and Music in the traditional classical format are ingrained in the psyche of every Indian as 'divine'. This nature of dance encompassed the myriad aesthetic theories on the existence of beauty in art, its universal nature and its portrayal that lead the spectator to experience the sublime. The ‘divine origin’ theory of Bharata in the Natyasastrawas propounded as a proof of the divinity inherent in dance. The excessive usage of pious vocabulary with reference to dance by one and all, its metaphysical content and the realisation of bliss as a spectator of dance is not uncommon. The primary Indian aesthetic theory ‘Rasa Sutra’ does not offer any explanation as to how the ‘aesthetic relish’ experienced is next only to the supreme divine bliss, brahmananda. It is also limited in the explication of the process/mechanism of its attainment in the spectator. While it applied to the poet, choreographer and the dancer and the process of production of the theatrical spectacle, the enumeration of the process of the reception of the beauty of the performance and attainment of aesthetic relish by the spectator did not receive much attention.

However, Abhinavagupta in his commentary on Natyasastra, the Abhinavabharati, does offer some insight into the subject. What is it that the spectator undergoes or ought to undergo in attaining the aesthetic relish? Can such aesthetic relish ever be equivalent to the supreme divine bliss of brahmananda, if at all such an experience is definable and is a possibility?

K. VasudevaSastri’s book on SangitaDarpanam, a 17th century treatise on music and dance, in an appealing section—sariraviveka—in its very first chapter, and the SangitaRatnakara  both describe a subtle metaphysical apparatus in the human body in the context of perception of dance and music. This, I think constitutes a theory or mechanism of spectatorship. Sariravivekaboldly proposes the presence of a metaphysical apparatus in the human body consisting of a primordial energy and an assortment of energy centres, which together appear to be an instrument for perceiving the essence of music and dance. This section of SangitaDarpanamaddresses the theory of spectatorship and thus contributes to the historiography of spectatorship.

Sahaja Yoga, a form of meditation propounded by Dr. NirmalaSrivastava, known to her followers as ShriMatajiNirmala Devi, has a vast body of research in medicine on the apparatus similar to the one described in the section sariraviveka in the treatise SangitaDarpanam.The subtle body similar to the one described by sariraviveka in SangitaDarpanam has been amply elaborated by the late U.C. Rai, an eminent physiologist of India in his book “Medical Science Enlightened —New Insights into Vibratory Awareness for Holistic Health Care” is of significance here.  He has explained the working of the metaphysical apparatus in the body and has supported it with research on Sahaja Yoga. Rai’s findings are collated with the apparatus described in the sariraviveka.

The book tries to examine the philosophy wherein the fine art over the ages has been propounded to have a ‘metaphysical’ aspect. An examination of various theories is to suggest that the age-old primary aim of the artistic process is not a mere expression of the self, as is popularly asserted by artists today. It is about relating the artistic process to self and striving for the elevation of the self by both the artist and the spectator. Fine art and its aesthetics have ever been intimately connected  with beauty, morals, ethics, spiritual uplift, education, and daily living. It was not seen merely as a skill or a knowledge intensive entertainment tool that happens to portray higher values and morals or merely as a tool of ritual in its religious context; its core purpose was always the discovery of self through the perception of universal truths.

The book stresses that an aesthetic theory ought not to focus only on the nature of art and its basic and formal principles but should also address the mechanism of the perception of beauty or the attainment of ‘aesthetic relish’ by the spectator.

It is generally argued that one cannot understand the classical arts without being thoroughly educated in the several forms and genres and acquiring a good knowledge of the fundamentals of aesthetics. Without being thus equipped, it is claimed that one cannot know what to look for in the high art of any ‘Great Tradition’. The book accepts this argument in the case of a scholar, teacher, performer and writer of art, but declares it incorrect in the case of a spectator.The book argues that one can lucidly perceive the arts even with a minimum of empathy and open-mindedness to one’s culture and with only a little knowledge about artistic pursuits. The indirect, implicit, and the universal in the arts portrayed successfully can be perceived, appreciated and even understood by the most ordinary of viewers through the innate subtle mechanism with which humans are equipped. This is the thrust of thought contained in the concept of sariraviveka. Thus this book proposes that the most highly encoded art can be perceived and appreciated by the most ordinary of viewers through an innate mechanism that all humans are equipped with.

The book also examines the various classical dance forms of India and dwells on the salient elements in their form, technique, and repertoire and also the content that contributes significantly to the important dimension of the experience of ‘the sublime’ through the art form.

The Mal Nourished Soul

I switch on the Television only to come across a feature which proclaims that the capital of India ranks first in mal nourishment of children followed by Bihar and Odisha. Atrocities against women, violence, poverty, corruption, the mediocrity of school and college education… the listless and tired souls all around and much more...

Art and culture seem to be alien in such a world, the existence of an intellectual showbiz and even a mafia not withstanding …the situation seems grim but the eternal optimist that I am… despite a million thrashings at the hands of life …. I believe that the future of humanity and culture still is bright and there is so much of happiness and good cheer… one only has to live and receive it with open arms… 

I salute all the upright, brave and modern day martyrs- men and women alike- who have had the courage to live by their convictions and have even laid their lives to a cause while most of the educated breed is only worried about making more and more money and be slaves to their careers… not that it is wrong…. But when one has no time for the happenings in ones immediate surroundings and one is not pro active to execute even the smallest of our duties as a citizen of the country, it worries me… of course most of us are involved in heavy intellectual discussions in elite drawing rooms over drinks and good food… maybe after all I am biased and we are indeed discharging our duty of being responsible citizens.

Today’s post is to celebrate a brave soul who has enriched me immensely during the course of my association with her. An abandoned woman who has fought the disease of alcoholism that her husband suffered for many years... and being very little educated, struggles to make a living to sustain herself. Today she has registered a small flat which she has bought in the middle of nowhere; for that is what her savings fetched her… The gold that her late father gave her at the wedding paid for it…. Maybe, dowry is not a bad idea after all… as for the years of service to the family she was married into, she had received no salary, no gratuity or insurance or provident fund and she found herself on the street without even an alimony, when she fell out of favor with the alcoholic husband…

My friend and senior writer, who is a British citizen of Indian origin laments the state of our country and its ruling elite even as his book on the martyrs of the independence of our country is published. In fact, I have come to admire his crisp, no nonsense writing which provokes me to introspect and reflect. Dr Reginald Massey (FRSA) is a writer I love to have severe intellectual differences with and below is the cover of his new book. Every word he says has a ring of reality and truth but I cannot digest his verdict. An acquaintance, who is an Indian of British origin pronounces that he has great faith in the country’s young and that they would be the saviors of the country. Even that, I find hard to believe…. watching the young and also my age group ( mid forties) which has nurtured these young. 

Do not the young learn when you live by principles and set an example for them? What example have we set for them? Of being practical, worldly wise, compromising on every value in the name of diplomacy and business acumen? We also have had the sagacity of sugar coating every digression we have made in the name of the system which compels us to do what we do; and against which one cannot hope to survive. 

Honesty today is rated on a relative grading scale. Once a senior government official in Kanpur was being talked about reverently as being very honest; his ticket to glory was that, once he took money he got the work done, come what may !!

A friend sent me a song by Paul Anka, a lovely number which spoke and reminisced of his father affectionately. Being a little down under due to over work, it was relaxing catching up with some music and poetry. I could not help but remember my “middle class” father, a modest scientist with the Defence Research and Development Organisation, who brought up his three children in a very modest, simple yet secure fashion. 

He was the most “unworldly wise” man I had ever seen and he called me one, when I grew up. We both lived by our hearts doing what made us happy oblivious to parameters of success. He never realized that may be, he had passed on this personality flaw to me through genetic make-up or just by setting an example. Dreaming big was not in his “dictionary”… a trait of a failure?

Art and culture was a part of growing up… but he could not afford to take us even by bus to the happening places in Delhi to watch cultural programs. He had the additional responsibility of a younger brother and sister too, for a long time, which drained out his finances. He did the next best thing; became the secretary of the Andhra Association and we tagged along with him watching dance and theatre. I do not even remember whom I watched but all I remember is that every activity and performance that I had watched was a joyful and beautiful experience. 

How big or popular the artist was; was not important…the experience was.

Another way of being connected to art and culture that my father invented was; to be a part of a local amateur theatre group and again, hanging around him, we children absorbed and enjoyed a lot. In no time we had our own group writing plays and enacting them only for ourselves…. We did not even need an audience… We painted to our heart’s content, wrote scripts, composed dance and once in a blue moon had the luxury of treating ourselves to a Samosa and Coca Cola.

No big arangetrams, or private classes or being sent to special classes in dance and music in chauffeur driven cars…. The teachers who came to teach dance and music at the Andhra Association changed frequently like the seasons; teaching a bunch of middle class children for modest fees could not be called lucrative….

Our reading appetites had to be fulfilled by the local lending library for which one had to save 25 paise per week...clothes we wore were modest and often stitched by mother; and again, hanging around her while she stitched, one got an opportunity to feel fabrics and think about design and fashion in one’s own small way.

“Sankoch” – a dash of reticence and shy demeanor was considered to be a weakness then; today maybe such a quality should be rated at a premium. For me, being harsh/ sarcastic with words and even being very vocal is a sign of aggression of which I am guilty of at times. Sharing emotions and a part of one’s life with people around was such a support system then; but today a part of being sophisticated and elite is living in your own ivory tower, lonely and even abandoned; no matter how successful you are …. 

What is the measure of happiness? Maybe greater achievements… professionally… or making more money…. The churning goes on…

What about ones conduct in day to day life? How many issues around us are ignored as we do not have the time to interfere, even though the matters tug at our civic/moral sense? We are busy professionals, artistes, writers. It is the government and the administration which has to take care of everything. One will not oppose a corrupt official or a goon for the fear of harassment or simply for the fear of wasting time.

Our driver quietly gave the official in charge of issuing death certificates, some money to expedite the process of obtaining my father’s death certificate. He felt that in the traumatic state of having lost my father recently I should not face the harassment of the application not coming through quickly.... He was trying to protect me; knowing my infamous persona of being a stubborn stickler for rules and having got into trouble often with many; including an errant builder, a road rage aggressor, government departments where I had to invoke the RTI to get to the base of the problem, etc. He has patiently driven me to a variety of these offices and has borne my emotional outbursts of exasperation and helplessness often when I had arrived at a dead end; and it was clear to me that my efforts cannot change the so called “system”, after all. I am a "common man" who can never dream to wield the power which could make a difference !!

The result is that my driver, my friends and my girls always worry for my safety; but I have not missed to notice that the girls have imbibed a streak of being upright with their morals and conscience. I am not an achiever or a "success" in any popular sense of the word. But yes, I feel no less successful than any of the so called “successful” celebrities. I take great pride and solace in the knowledge that I work very hard in my profession, do my best to be on the right side of my conscience and enjoy every person and every small bit of happiness that comes my way; I share my life unabashedly with all around me… and I still dare to trust and take every one at face value… 

I, for sure, am not a mal nourished soul.

Chicken Pox and Dance

This is one of the innumerable episodes from the travails of a misunderstood dance academician.

Researching on a variety of aspects of dance, especially to equip myself to efficiently execute my teaching responsibilities as a guest faculty at the Hyderabad Central University (HCU); I had often relied on videos of various dance forms sourced from across the world through friends and relatives. Being an independent scholar, I cannot afford to travel the world as much as I want to, for the purpose of studying dance. Financing one’s own studies most of the times is not cheap and free lance writing on dance in India barely pays for one's bread.  I wonder if the creed of independent scholars commands any credibility in India; a country whose academic portals at both school and college level reek of sedate and stagnant mindsets. Moreover, applying for grants from various bodies for studies in arts is an art in itself.

Even watching good recordings of dance is a delight; from the most sophisticated Russian folk dances of Moiseyev’s group to the classical ballet of Paris Opera Ballet and the Bolshoi Ballet Company; or the Japanese traditional theatrical forms like the Kabuki and No which were rescued from near extinction and are now well preserved; or the most ritual dances of Sri Lanka and of course the innumerable folk and classical dance forms of India; they all constitute a wide variety.

The incident I am recounting here is from the days when I used to teach a subject, “An Overview of International Dances” to the students of Masters in the dance department at the HCU. My young children were quite used to living with a mother who was an avid spectator of dance. They made sure to vanish from the room where I was watching the videos, lest I should decide to introduce them to the forms, in a bid to enhance their cultural awareness.

Many of the dance forms especially the traditional theater, folk forms and some of the classical forms of South East Asia and also of India have their origins in the performance of various rituals and ceremonies; based on the folk religion and beliefs which are centuries old.

In Sri Lanka the pre-Buddhist folk religion was based on the belief that a variety of afflictions and diseases were awarded by certain demons, who had to be exorcised from the suffering patient; and certain deities were responsible for awarding benefits and blessings who had to be propitiated. Exorcism ceremonies and masked dramas of Sri Lanka are replete with dramatic activity that employ mime, song, dance, acrobatics, and bits of prose dialogue. Thovil ceremonies to propitiate and exorcise demons are quite theatrical.  The Ruhunu dances of south Sri Lanka have interesting masks for various demons signifying various diseases which are exorcised in a variety of Sanni rituals. The priest negotiates with the demon to leave the patient after accepting some offerings and the patient is cured once the transaction is complete. (Some of the interesting masks of the demons causing a variety of diseases are illustrated here.) 

Mask of the demon which causes Sleep Disorders

Mask of the demon which causes Stomach Disorders

Mask of the demon which causes Paralysis

Mask of the demon which causes Whooping Cough

Rhythmic and frenzied dancing by the masked demon dancers holding twigs or small branches of trees, making noises, chanting and miming symbolize the exit of the evil spirit from the patient.  

One such video of Sri Lankan dances was quietly observed by my daughter and stored in her memory for future reference. Many years later she was afflicted with Chicken Pox.  In the south Indian households Neem leaves are used in a variety of ways; mainly for their antiseptic properties and especially during the treatment of such diseases.  However people who rely on modern medicine no longer bother with the traditional treatments which have now assumed more of a blind ritualistic/ symbolic status. However when my daughter was ill, the elders at home did not rest in peace till I arranged for some Neem leaves. Our chauffeur obtained some twigs from the Neem tree in the backyard and handed them over to me. Even as I was contemplating on how to make use of the twigs, I entered my daughter’s room with the twigs with the intention of placing them somewhere; and then consult the elders on its utility.

Even though she was running a high temperature, the young lady asked me impishly, “Mother, are you going to perform an exorcising dance to treat my Chicken Pox?”

PS - Even today, in the rural areas of India, Chicken Pox is believed to be caused by the wrath of the angry local god or goddess. Frenzied rhythmic dancing holding twigs or small branches of trees, making noises, chanting and miming is often seen in the little traditions of rural India.