Bharata Natayalila

Abstract

Bharata Natayalila", an academic article related to beliefs in the Hindu faith, shows the relationship between religion and Bharata ways of life from the past to the present. Religion has a critical influence on Bharata life from birth to death. The Lord Shiva, the principal Hindu god, is supposed to be the originator of dance. Dance performances from the early Bharata period worship the god and are performed by women only. These performers are known as "Devadasis". The Lord Shiva revealed 108 dance postures to humans and Bharatamuni recorded these postures in the Bharata Natayasastra scriptures. These scriptures make up the template for all Bharata perfor mances and remain a key influence on the performing arts across south-east Asia, including Thailand. Teaching Thai performing arts takes the Bharata Natayasastra pat tern into account, but is adjusted step by step in order to conform to Thai culture. 

Bharata Natayalila requires several important elements from a show; in particular, in expressing the emotions of performers known as "Nava Rasa" that can express the nine feelings associated with Bharata. These emotional components are composed of Bhava, Raga, Tala and Mudra. Bhava refers to emotion. Raga refers to music or musical composition; Tala refers to the rhythms. Mudra refers to non-verbal language focusing on the use of hand gestures. Basic Mudra has 24 gestures, but more than 500 exist. The original Bharata Nataya gestures come in four types: Bharat Natyam, Khathakali, Kathak and Manipuri. Bharat Natyam, the oldest, was a model for performances in later periods. The objective of all performances is to praise the respective Hindu gods.