In Bharat Muni’s Natya Shastra – which is one of the oldest treatises on Indian Performance Arts - no such mention is there about such division. However, since time immemorial there have been two prominent forms of dance and music – classic and folk. While classical music and dance got centred and developed around temples, … Continue reading Music, Dance, and Spirituality
Tag: folk dance
How we learnt our puranas
Hari anant hari katha ananta, kahahi sunahi bahu bidhi sadhu santa - thus goes a stanza in Ramacharita Manasa of Tulsidas. Hari is endless, so are his stories. The saint listens and speaks of it in so many ways. Mahabharata, the biggest epic of the world runs into hundred thousand slokas. Then there is Ramayana … Continue reading How we learnt our puranas
The Odyssey of Odissi Dance
The first time I saw Odissi live on stage was in 1999. It was Kargil time. I was in active defense service and was posted in a forward position. We used to receive the love of citizens in many forms, one of them being an Odissi dance performance. Sonal Mansingh with her troupe had flown … Continue reading The Odyssey of Odissi Dance
Nua Mahulia
Nua Mahulia - this word which has strange rhyming resemblance with the word Oumuamua* is not any interstellar object. Nor is it any Greek or Latin word for a legal term. It is the name of my native village. The theme of this present series of blogs being mera gaon mera desh, a post about … Continue reading Nua Mahulia
danda nacha- a religiocultural celebration since time immemorial
It is one of those few memories of my early childhood. Or it could be the first series of events of my life that I am still able to recall in bits and pieces. I am attending the famous Danda Nacha closing ceremony at a village named Gallery with my mother and my grandmother. The … Continue reading danda nacha- a religiocultural celebration since time immemorial
part 2: the sentinels of vishnu
Dying dance form Prahlad Natak staged during Kalua Jatra in Berhampur, Odisha. Image source: DNA India Continued from Part #1 Hiranyakha’s brother, Hiranyakashipu learns of his brother’s death at the hands of Vishnu in the form of a boar. It fills him with rage and he vows to take revenge. He thinks that the boon … Continue reading part 2: the sentinels of vishnu
PEBBLES AND WAVES 