written for the Society of Creative Anachronism

Northern Lights, AS 35

Hindu temple dance is not only a beautiful form of cultural expression, but also a spiritual experience for both the dancer and the audience. As such, it is a particularly difficult art form for an outsider to the Hindu culture to comprehend. To muddy the waters even further, the years of Muslim and British occupation have added layers of culturally biased interpretation, and drastic changes to the status of dancer. The changes have make it very difficult for even a Hinduism-practicing, native born Indian to form a concrete theory as to what place temple dance may have held in 16th century India and before. In light of this situation, this paper will not seek to draw a definite conclusion about the status of Hinduism, Hindu dance and dancers in this time frame, but, rather, it will seek to provide a modern European viewer with the background to appreciate and ponder this dance form.

As an eons old religion based on the teachings of many wise and enlightened sages, a full explanation of pre-1600 Hindu religion and culture cannot possibly be covered in this small paper. Instead, this text shall seek to provide the barest overview necessary for an outsider to gain some understanding of how and why this dance formed is performed, and how it might best be appreciated. Having introduced the reader to a general understanding of Hinduism, this paper will then proceed to discuss the possible role of art and dance within the Hindu culture. As dance is closely tied to religion, so is it also tied to temples. As such, while discussing the role of dance, it is also necessary to touch upon temples, and temple sculpture. As literature and temple sculpture provide the primary sources for understanding dance, it is necessary to understand what the goal of writers and artists might be and how it corresponds to dance. Ready, at long last, to discuss the actual dance form itself, this paper will wander through some of the basic movements, and themes of classical dance. Finally, this paper will conclude with a discussion of the role of dancers according to sacred texts, and sculptures along with commentary regarding dance and dancers in ancient mythology.

Let us begin by first discussing the term "Hinduism". This term is vague and rather misleading. "Hinduism" is the term given to those who practiced a native religion which could not be described by any other known religious label. The actual term was applied to those living in the Indian subcontinent by the colonial English as they were completing census reports. It is an evolution of the word "sindhu", which means sea, and also refers to the Indus river. The word traveled through Persia as "hind", and into Greek and Latin as "india", the geographical designation for this subcontinent. The word "hindu" was used by Muslims for those of this area who would not convert to Islam, but it was not used by those who actually practiced the ancient ways until much later than the 16th century.(Lopez, Religions of India in Practice, pp. 5-6)

The people of India do not have such a unified cultural identity that a generic term can easily apply to them in the time frame which is being discussed. The inhabitants have highly individual regional and religious identities. However, since this paper must refer to all of these ancient inhabitants, the terms "Hindu" and "Hinduism" will have to suffice.

Just as finding a unified term for the pre-Muslim religion of the natives of the Indus Valley region is difficult, it is even harder to find a simple, common set of beliefs. For the European medieval mind, it must be nearly inconceivable to think that a people might not only have multiple gods, but also that these people may not agree from area to area, or individual to individual, exactly who these gods are and what the ethical codes they dictate might be. It is an understanding that Hinduism is a massive collection of often conflicting laws, philosophies, and gods that is most crucial to comprehending it. The second part of this understanding comes when one realizes that this collection allows for many paths towards many end goals. Hinduism is both monotheistic and polytheistic. It is a religion of the aesthetic in his hermitage, the family man within his congregation, and the hedonist in his brothel. It allows for both infinite reincarnation, divine salvation into heaven, and even the achievement of godhead.

To avoid further contemplation of the Hindu spirit, which could comprise a paper in and of itself, let us focus on that which leads us, as artists and audience, to the place where Hinduism and dance meet. To do this, we must first take a look at one of the ways a Hindu views his deities and the world around him.

Indian mythology is a potpourri of gods, demons, abstract concepts, and other supernatural entities. The primary entities change as time passes, with new "sediments" of entities being added on while the lower layers dwindle in importance. The commonality among all these sediments is the general character of the Hindu gods and goddesses. Gods and goddesses are beings who far outstrip mankind in intellect, power, longevity, and, most importantly, spiritual insight. Divinities are beings who exist with perfect spiritual understanding. It is the achievement of this spiritual understanding, or ecstasy, that the "good-hearted" man is attempting to achieve through correct thought, action, and sacrifices.

Furthermore, divinities are known to be present in the material world. Vishnu is incarnated in two heroic human forms - Rama and Krishna - as well as 8 other, lower forms. The tales of Rama and Krishna form two of the most popular bodies of Indian literature, the epics named the Ramayana and the Mahabarata . In numerous other tales, the gods are noted to appear in divine form in the physical world to those who seek their aid and intervention.

Neither are the gods all powerful. They are surrounded by forces or abstract concepts which control them, and which they exist to maintain. Large among these forces is rta or dharma , the concept of cosmic order. This concept is an all encompassing idea that includes both fate, and the concept of cause and effect. It is this "force" that ensures that what should happen does happen. It is also this force that is responsible for ensuring that actions cause reactions. This concept affects the Hindu belief in ritual systems, most importantly. Starting from the earliest sacred texts, the Vedic hymns, there exists the idea that correctly performed sacrifice and ritualistic behavior will lead to positive outcomes both in the material and the spiritual planes. This concept lead to the development of a sophisticated priestly class, who existed to study sacred texts and assure that rituals were performed correctly. It is an arguable point as to whether this class began as a hereditary caste , or whether it began as a chosen vocation that only later became rigidly passed down from parents to children.

It is the combined ideas regarding the humanity of the gods, their presence in the material world, and the use of ritual to either entice or enforce positive results from these gods, that shapes the Hindu view of a temple and temple culture. A temple is home for the gods, as well as a place for man to seek spiritual guidance and salvation. To ensure that the gods remain present and content in the temple, the site is staffed by professionals responsible for the correct execution of rituals, the Brahmins. Since the gods have human qualities, it is assumed they also have human needs and desires. Therefore, most of these rituals involve interaction with icons of the gods that mimic the interactions of humans. Gods are awoken, bathed, dressed, offered food, offered gifts for their benevolence, entertained by dancing girls, undressed, and put to sleep. These dancing girls, known as devadasis , are more than simple entertainers. Their dance fills a divine purpose, and they are linked irrevocably to the temple as human wives of the god.

Most Hindu sages will agree that the goal of every human is to end the cycle of rebirth. Hindus believe that it is their fate, or rather dharma , to be endlessly reborn into material forms until they have achieve the spiritual enlightenment of the gods. At that point, they exit the material world, and gain access to the spiritual realm. What exactly happens when the spiritual realm is attained is debatable. The spiritually awakened may die and ascend to heaven to be with the gods, where the best of parts of the material world are awaiting. Others sources contend that the enlightened one will live forever, and become one with the highest of gods. Yet again, who this "highest of gods" is depends on one's viewpoint. There are two major sects of Hinduism - the Shaivates and the Vishnavites, the followers of Shiva and Vishnu, respectively. Each believes that its god is the superior, while the other is a secondary deity, perhaps even a lesser aspect of the greater god. There also exist numerous other sects each focused on its own primary deity or deities.

It is also arguable that all of these ends are one and the same, that going to heaven and achieving godhead are equal, and that all the gods and goddesses are but manifestations of a single divine essence who is more conceivable as separate aspects than as a single entity. In this way, Hinduism can also be seen as monotheistic, since it sees that all gods are one god.

Of note, this salvation is available to both men and women. Although men take the primary role in society, serving prominently as priests, rulers, and heroes, women are not necessarily subservient or lesser human beings. In the author's opinion, the view of women as subhuman was introduced to Hinduism by the Islamic conquerors who swept through India in the 15th and 16th centuries. Prior to that time, there are many stories of women as wise, brave, and determined rulers and heroic characters.

There are many paths to reaching this end of spiritual salvation. A member of any caste may leave worldly life and pursue a life of personal sacrifice and study of the Vedas (the most sacred religious texts). It is encouraged that only the old and those without families pursue this course of action. Mankind may also attain salvation by ardently pursuing one's dharma . Dharma dictates one's lot in life, and living up to one's duties within society is another way to approach enlightenment. Finally, man can experience spiritual ecstasy by participating in the beauty of life. This path to enlightenment is the most important when trying to understand any form of Hindu art.

The gods are separate from man and can exist on a plane that man cannot hope to reach in his unenlightened form, yet that which is divine is part of everything that exists. The world was originally created by the divine from the divine. While there are any number of creation myths, they all come down to the fact that some benevolent, enlightened being made of or from itself the material world which encompasses humanity. Thus, by appreciating the beauty of this divinity, man is becoming closer to that divinity. This concept includes the appreciation of both natural beauty and art created by man. They are both one and the same.

Furthermore, both the creator of beauty and the audience are involved in this spiritual communion. Whether the beauty is a sculpture, a piece of music, a dance performance, or all three at once, all that creates it and all that beholds it seeks to become imbued with spiritual ecstasy, which transforms one from something simply human into something divine in that moment of execution. This beauty is experienced ecstatically the forms of classical dance, music, sculpture and architecture, and also in the experience of love between human beings. Most particularly, the love most often described is sexual love, although it does not necessarily entail physical fulfillment. The love that men and woman feel for each other, requited or unrequited, felt from afar or felt during physical gratification, can transport one from mere human emotion to something better described as divine. Erotic love is considered the closest possible emotion to spiritual love. As a result of this view of love, art and sexuality merge as much of Hindu religious expression strives to bring man to this ecstatic state of mind both by its adherence to artistic principles of beauty and portrayal of nature, as well as through the subject matter of sexual love.

Having explored exactly how art in Hinduism is also a religious experience, the next step is to consider exactly what art is attempting to portray. If it were simply an attempt to render sex or sexual attitudes, classical Indian sculpture and dance would contain the same emotional resonance as any other cheap, pornographic image or display. It certainly would not comprise an art form which has existed for thousands of years, and captured the artistic spirit of an entire civilization. The resonance of Hindu art and literature, in all its varied forms is the attempt to depict rasa , or sentiment.

Rasa is an emotional state of being which is hard to describe, particularly to a newcomer to Indian culture. It exceeds and is comprised of emotions ( bhavas ) such as grief, despair, fatigue, or jealousy. The viewer moves through simple emotions into what can be called an "enduring sentiment" in experiencing the display of rasa.(Begde, Living Sculpure, pp.13) The rasa is an idealized sentiment, something which does not exist in actual life, but which can only be experienced by beholding a work of art or reading a piece of literature.

I have been able to find ten separate rasas : sringara (erotic, romantic), hasya (comic, humorous or contemptible), karuna (compassionate), vira (heroic, brave), raudra (fear or anger), bhayanaka (horrific), bibhatsa (repellant), adbhuta (wonderful), shanta (tranquil) and soka (sorrow). According to Begde, there are nine rasas , excluding soka , and the definitive classical text on dance, the Natya Shastra, delineates eight, also omitting shanta.(Begde, Living Sculpure, pp.13-14) Gaston's interpretation of dance and art includes soke , but excludes karuna.(Gaston, Bharata Natyam, pp.262) Of these, sringara is considered to be the greatest. It has received the most detailed, enthusiastic and frequent treatment by sculptors, writers, and dancers.

The sringara rasa represents the union of man and woman perfected into a spiritual ideal which also represents the union of god and goddess. In dance, this is represented by the union of the tandava (male dance style), and the lasya (female dance style). The tandava dance is rough, violent, and vigorous with an explosive sweeping energy, while the lasya is elegant, graceful and seductive, representing tenderness and love. Legend has it that Shiva originated tandava , while Parvati, Shiva's wife, danced lasya. Part of the mythology surrounding Shiva is that he is simultaneously both male as Shiva, and female as Parvati. Thus, Parvati is both Shiva's spouse and, literally, his other half. As such, Shiva is divinely qualified to perform both parts of sacred dance, and can display sringara as a single entity.

To further complicate the expression of sringara , there are eight distinct, idealized unions of heroes and heroines in different states or manifestations of sringara . They are, according to Anne-Marie Gaston in her work Bharata Natyam:

It is worthwhile to note that only joyous love is the last. The other seven states are love in torment due to some sort of separation. This is because separation is considered to heighten the sentiment of sringara. (Gaston, Bharata Natyam, pp.89) This fits well into the concept that the erotic love between two mortals is an echo of search for divine love and spiritual enlightenment which has not yet been obtained. Just as the focus of spirituality the search for union with the divine, so is the focus of love the search for reunion with one's lover.

In sculpture, sringara is depicted in a variety of ways. Indian art has numerous images of dancers in the process of dancing this sentiment. It is from these sculptures that most of our images of dance postures and techniques can be found. The females of all deities, dancers and other mortals of sculpture display an idealized feminine form which is also a part of the artistic convention. Lastly, Indian art contains a number of blatantly erotic depictions of males and females preparing to, or already engaged in sexual activity.

While it is not necessary to dwell on these images, it is worthwhile to mention that the idealized female form quite transcends that which is possible in a human woman. These figures are highly round with emphasized breasts and hips, narrow waists, firm arms and thighs, and expressive features. It is a standard of Indian sculpture that musculature not be shown. The female form is supposed to be rounded and curved, as sculpture seeks to refine the natural feminine beauty into its ideal form. The form is ripe with a sexuality that is neither forced nor uncomfortable, as this sexuality is precisely what the artist has sought to display.

In this single image, Shiva represents the divine creator and destroyer. The whirling gyrations of this dance expel the life energies which make up the universe. Simultaneously, he is destroying what came before, so that new might be created. In this, dance is the vehicle of the divine, while sculpture is its medium of execution and preservation.

Understanding Indian dance requires two crucial points of understanding - the dance sections and the aesthetics of the dance. First, this paper will cover the parts of dance composition that make up the entire performance. Then, it will cover the movements and postures which are used to enact these sections.

It is quite impossible to reach a definite conclusion about exactly how a temple dance performance would have appeared. However, through literature and the dynamically lifelike temple sculpture we can reconstruct an impression of what the dance might have looked like and how it was performed. Combining this with hereditary dance forms still in existence today, we can form a further concept of how one might prepare and train to actually perform this dance. This very aim is the goal of many of the modern dance forms in India. Students of the art approached hereditary performers, learned their art, and then sought to find how it related to surviving works from ancient times.

Dance can first be approached by dividing the performance into two parts: the sloka and nritta . The sloka , meaning prayer or hymn, is a combination of dance and chant without a set rhythm. It is generally of brief duration and contains a religious concept, generally one that also pertains to dance. A performance of a sloka generally consists of a single singer, with no accompaniment, singing the chant, and timing the music to the movements of the dancer. Simultaneously the dancer is using hand gestures, body movements and facial expressions to convey the ideas represented in the sloka . The sloka is generally slow and pensive in mood, as it seeks to put the audience into the right mind frame for a religious experience. It is also usual for a sloka to reference Hindu mythology, or mythological concepts which would be part of the shared cultural heritage of a Hindu audience.

Contrasting to the sloka , the nritta is fast, rhythmical, and energetic. It may be a simple expression of joy, a complex narrative, or even a description of a singular event. Generally the story or event portrayed utilizes figures and tales from Hindu mythology with gestures familiar to the viewer from the iconography of temple sculpture. In this way, having a more than passing acquaintance with Hindu mythology is a great asset to the would-be dance critic. The nritta section involves a full complement of classical musicians and vocalist performing the music to which the dancer will dance. Particularly common rhythms consist of 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9 beat measures, which are generally subdivided into groups of 2, 3 and 4 with pauses in between the subsections. The use of a measure in the standard Western sense of being a series of evenly spaced beats with emphasis on a single beat within each group is completely alien to Hindu dance. The rhythm may change within a piece or may evaporate completely while the singer and musicians hold a sustained note.

The rhythm, often complex and possibly even varied throughout the piece, is maintained by the playing of the tala . Tala are small cymbals, held one in each hand, which produce a penetrating ringing sound. Although in sound and general shape they resemble Middle Eastern zills, they are played quite differently, requiring two hands to play a single set. The intricacies of the dance rhythm and corresponding foot movements are noted by producing a variety of sounds with the tala . Tala have been noted in several ancient sculptures of dancers and musicians, suggesting that this is by no means a new technique. (Begde, Living Sculpure, pp.118) Other percussion instruments, including a variety of drums may enhance and give depth to the rhythm but the tala forms the center point of focus for the dancer.

To enhance this rhythm, the dancer wears ankle bells which ring as the dancer stomps her feet in time to the music. These bells are sophisticated enough that different methods of stomping and hopping produce noticeably different sounds from the bells. The movement is the core structure, and most readily identifiable feature of the dance, yet it is also the most simple and easy to understand. A good dancer brings far more to the dance than merely a good sense of rhythm.

The nritta requires both strength and stamina as it generally lasts over 10 minutes for a single song and an entire performance, often performed by a single dancer, can be hours in duration. The slokas provide a much needed resting point for the dancer to cool down before launching into another energetic song. Although it is difficult to tell what part each played in an ancient dance performance, the two were most definitely both present.

Finally, wrapped around the entire performance, the dancer performs a beginning and ending. Generally these two parts consist of the exact same set of gestures, which can vary from dancer to dancer, but always contain similar components. In this section, the dancer is thanking and blessing the earth which she is performing upon. In so doing, she enters majestically, squats to touch the ground with both hands, raises her hands to her eyes, rises and assumes a prayerful position of palms touching in front of her torso. This action is generally done facing either the teacher or the accompanying musicians as a sign of respect. There is, as yet, no conclusive documentation that this segment was actually performed pre-1600, but the concepts of sacred performing space, touching the ground as a sign of respect, and reverence of the earth as a deity most certainly exist in sacred texts. This action is performed when practicing as well as during a formal performance. It is not executed for the audience so much as for the dancer's spiritual well-being.

By the end of the sixteenth century, dance movement had been precisely codified into an ideal form. The goal was the graceful synergy of the entire body to produce a divine beauty in every movement. The elements of this synergy are more than simply the body ( aangikam ), but also the costumes of the dancers ( aaharyam ), the music and poetry ( vaachikam ), and the audience and surrounding space ( bhuvanum ). With respect the body, this beauty is embodied in a combination of artful poses alongside hand movements ( mudras ) and footwork ( gati ). The Nataraja pose, as described previously regarding Shiva Nataraja, is the most famous and one of the most profound of these artful poses. These three large parts of dance are assisted by facial gestures called rasadrshtis .

Mudras

Mudras , or hand gestures, are an essential part of Hindu art and dance. They are precise configurations of the hands which convey meaning. A mudra many have a single meaning, such as shiva-linga . Shiva-linga consists of placing the right hand in a fist with the thumb up on top of the left hand positioned with the palm flat and facing up. This gesture represents the lingum, or sexual image of Shiva and the male principle. By using this gesture in a dance, the dancer is making reference to Shiva, a particular lingum , lingum worship or even, perhaps, a penis. Other gestures are not so concisely summarized. For example, alapu,t a gesture consisting of a single hand with the fingers spread wide and tense may represent a flower, an abstract expression of joy, the hand holding half of a tala , or any other concept which the creative choreographer chooses to represent. The meaning of this hand gesture is all in the context.

A large part of dance training consists of learning the names and appropriate hand gestures associated with popular mudras. As these gestures develop and catch on, different regions and different schools emphasize different gestures and may even name them differently. The execution of these gestures clearly and precisely is an important aspect to being a good dancer. To assist in this effort, dancers who are giving a formal performance paint the tips of their fingers red to allow the gestures to be seen from a greater distance.

Goti

Although the basic idea of footwork has already been discussed as part of the Dance Sections, it is important to also cover some specifics of technique. Footwork grows out of three basic poses: standing, squatting, and sitting. The squatting, or aramundi , pose is by far the most common. It consists of placing the feet heel to heel with the toes pointing outward, while bending the knees over the toes in the form of what is known as a plie in ballet. From this position, the feet are raised and stamped in a variety of ways producing a variation in tones as they smack the earth. Also from this position a variety of leaps and spins are executed to provide different emphasises to the dance. The aim in stamping the feet is to make a slapping sound, much like that of clapping. This sound can only be made by a relaxed foot pad and a controlled release of energy which takes years to master. Even at its best, each dancer usually has a "weak foot" which does not make as rich a sound as the primary foot. For this reason, ankle bells are manufactured to make one louder than the other to compensate for the feet.

The standing position, samamundi, used more as an introductory position, consists of standing "at attention" with the feet together and legs straight. This position also allows for some stamping of the feet, but the sound is more controlled and the available positions are more limited. However, unlike the aramunda position, this position allows for graceful walking, so it is largely used for graceful entrances and exits as well as during times when fast changes in location are necessary. When walking in this position, the dancer attempts to dramatically bring her foot to her knee in a formalized step which is both deliberate and graceful.

The final position, sitting or puramundi, is by far the most physically strenuous. It involves sitting on one's heels with the knees outward, taking the aramunda position to the ultimate extreme. This position is achieved by slowly, and gracefully, lowering oneself from aramunda into it. From this position, frog-like hops are made and the dancer shows supreme physical control by lowering a single knee to the floor and bringing herself back to center again. These leg movements are interspersed with further mudras and graceful arm movements. This sort of floor work is not generally the major part of a dance, but rather a way of varying the position for a brief span of time, and then rising slowly and gracefully back to aramunda .

Practicing movement in these positions, particularly stamping and squatting into the sitting position, are the other large part of dance training and practice. A significant muscle structure must be developed in order for the dancer to perform these movements quickly and for long periods of time while still maintaining a facial expression of not only pleasure but something closer to sriranga. Formalized sets of practice movements, called adavus, are learned and practiced by the dancer to train muscle memory and to provide a basic set of movements that can then be easily combined into dances.

Rasadrshtis

Unfortunately, it is facial expression, which has been largely lost in modern dance. It is debatable whether the feminine suppression of the Mughal invaders, or the prudish Victorian morality of the English colonists did more damage to the reputation and image of a classical dancer. Either way, by the early 1900s, Hindu temple dance was considered obscene by the proper Indian population, particularly the Brahmin caste. In order for the dance from to survive, it had to be removed from the hereditary, male hierarchical temple culture and transitioned into a formalized dance culture performed by a well- financed educational elite. This transition took the form of several Brahmin women entering into dance study under the hereditary teachers that taught temple dancers. These women and their teachers then worked together to eliminate and refine the parts of dance that were thought to be obscene. Most of this refinement was done in the facial expression. Dancers educated since the 1950s are not taught how to perform the expressions of sringara so that they have the physically erotic qualities seen in temple sculptures. Dancers now attempt to perform an art which is more divinely focused and less sensual. Unfortunately, the remaining temple sculptures are merely stone and detailed depiction of facial features and minute muscle configurations is not a highly emphasized quality in temple sculpture, and the paint and detailed carving which would have elaborated the facial gestures has long since worn away.

Currently, Bharata Natyam dance has a notable emphasis on eye and head movement. Eyes are flicked right, left, up, and down as well as a circular movement tracing the pupils around the edges of the eye which can only be accomplished easily with practice. Kohl is used to outline the eyes with black, and pre-1600 pictures show heavy outlining around the eyes, suggesting that this technique is by no means new. There are eight distinct head movements: utvahitum (uplifted), adhomukum (lowered), arlolitum (rotated in a circle), du-tum (shake head), kapitumsha (nod), varahitum (look 45__ to the side), upshiptum (45__ to the side, raised slightly), parivahitum (slow head pivot side to side). Head, eyebrow and eye movements are combined to provide emphasis to hand gestures. Frequently the head and eyes will follow the hand currently performing an action, such as a change in mudra, or a movement to the front or to the side. At other times the head and eyes may follow the feet, changing focus to the side of the foot performing the more intricate footwork. At yet other times, a head shift side to side, combined with eye movements are used as a move in themselves.

The mouth is used very little in modern dance. Some sources assert that the mouth movements where considered the most obscene and, therefore, where omitted when proper ladies performed the dance.(Gaston, Bharata Natyam, pp.69) The ancient sculptures do not show any mouth positions that would be considered taboo in modern America, most show simply a placid, and contented face, often with a small hint of a smile. It is difficult to consider what might have been considered obscene by a Brahmin Hindu woman in the mid-1900s., the time when the dance was being revised. Perhaps it is not a worthwhile effort at all, and the attempt to show sringara could better be made by using facial gestures more in tune with the modern viewer.

The position a devadasi (temple dancer) held in ancient society is one of the singularly most contended questions currently debated in modern historical and dance circles. For certain, the degradation of Hindu temple culture by 1900 had reached the point where most devadasis prostituted themselves in order to get enough resources to live. Married to the god of the temple, the women were not able to take a husband to support them, so they were frequently at the mercy of the Brahmin priests who ran the temple. As a result, they either became concubines to the priests, often even living in priests' homes, or were completely unsupported, and forced to sell their bodies publicly. As a result, the tarnished view of the devadasi has forced the dance to be separated from temple ritual, and the tradition of devadasi-ism has been outlawed in India.

What role devadasis served in society is a far more difficult question. The Kama Sutra (circa 400A.D.), the Hindu instruction manual on love and its various expressions, lists dancers as part of the courtesan caste. However, the translation lists dancers by the term nati , rather than devadasi.(Danielou, Kama Sutra, pp. 481) Without a full understanding of Sanskrit, it is difficult to decipher whether this item refers to a temple dancer. The Dharma Sutras, the law codes of ancient India conjectured to pre-date the common era, also refer to dancers as people with whom the religiously minded student should not associate. They even go so far as to mandate that teaching dance is a sin punishable by loss of caste.(Olivelle, Dharmasutras, pp. 10, 81, 105, 136, 169) The sutra does define why dancers are viewed in this fashion. Perhaps because, as prostitutes, they are considered unclean. However, it is an equally valid opinion that because dance and music interrupt meditation, that it is not practical for someone involved in deep study and contemplation to put himself in a position where he can be distracted. The Dharma Sutras are largely concerned with the life and rituals of an ascetic and his student. It is easy to see that a set of texts focusing on enlightenment through sacrifice and privation might discourage the pursuit of a different, more worldly, path. It is also noted by Bana, an author writing between 600-650 AD, that courtesans in the royal court performed erotic dance as part of court ritual.(Begde, Living Sculpure, pp.133-134)

The Kama Sutra provides a contradictory viewpoint that vocal music, instruments, and dance are part of the sixty-four arts associated with cultural accomplishment.(Danielou, Kama Sutra, pp. 51) In addition, dance is suggested as part of the wooing of a new lover.(Danielou, Kama Sutra, pp. 202) Multiple sources agree that a devadasi was actually married to the god of a temple, who takes on the physical manifestation of his idol. Their primary function was to care for and entertain this god. As brides, devadasi where generally considered lucky, because they would never be widows or fall upon misfortune. Their luck was also transferable by a ritual known as arati , where the devadasi circles an individual's head with a lit lamp.(Gaston, Bharata Natyam, pp.31) Other historical sources suggest that dancers where not separated by secular or religious function, but could be transferred from status as king's courtesan to god's wife at the choice of the king. Since the king held a semi- divine status, this was not a massive leap of function. The same rituals provided to the god, could be easily modified for the king, without insult to the god.(Gaston, Bharata Natyam, pp.28-29)

Devadasis are always described as being female. Although sculptures and notes in the Natya Shastra also show and describe males dancing, as of yet, I have found no mention of how a man fits into Indian society as a dancer.

Alongside of mortal dancers and the previously mentioned Shiva Nataraja, there are a number of supernatural dancing entities which suggest that the status of a dancer was certainly not demeaning. Yakshis and yakshas are female and male tree spirits. They are associated fertility, both that of the land and of human beings. These spirits are frequent decorations on Hindu and Buddhist temples, and are frequently seen either dancing, or in dance poses among trees. They have an idealized human form, which is highly erotic in nature. Yakshis have enlarged, spherical breasts, slender waists and gracefully curving hips, yakshas have broad shoulders, slender waists, and strong thighs. It is believed that earth spirit worship predates early Vedic religion, and therefore is a forefather of Hinduism.

It is hoped that the reader will finish this essay with a clearer vision of exactly what temple dance has meant to the Hindu culture, as well as the impact that culture has had upon the dance. The dance, though sexual and erotic in content, is not necessarily meant to be obscene, it is simply the matter of a different viewpoint. Hinduism is a complicated and highly philosophical religion which readily admits to conflicting tenets within itself. Through this rather complicated religious system, a form of dance has grown which celebrates the sanctity of life and the divinity of human love.