Kathak

• 14 Jan 2022

Why in News

Recently, the famous Kathak dancer Pandit Munna Shukla died.

• His most noted works include the dance-drama Shan-e-Mughal, Inder Sabha, Ameer Khusro, Anga Mukti, Anvesha, Bahar, Tratak, Kraunch Badh, Dhuni, among others.
• His contribution to the world of dance was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2006), Sahitya Kala Parishad Award (2003) and the Saraswathi Samman (2011).

Key Points

• About:
  
  • The word Kathak has been derived from the word Katha which means a story. It is primarily performed in Northern India.
  • It was primarily a temple or village performance wherein the dancers narrated stories from ancient scriptures. It is one of the classical dances of India.
• Evolution:
  
  • Kathak began evolving into a distinct mode of dance in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with the spread of the Bhakti movement.
  • The legends of Radha-Krishna were enacted in folk plays called rasa lila, which combined folk dance with the basic gestures of the kathak story-tellers.
  • Under the Mughal emperors and their nobles, Kathak was performed in the court, where it acquired its present features and developed into a form of dance with a distinctive style.
  • Under the patronage of Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Awadh, it grew into a major art form.
• Dance Style:
  
  • Usually a solo performance, the dancer often pauses to recite verses followed by their execution through movement.
  • The focus is more on footwork; the movements are skillfully controlled and performed straight-legged by dancers wearing ankle-bells.
  • The tatkaar is the fundamental footwork in kathak.
  • Kathak is the only form of classical dance wedded to Hindustani or North Indian music.
  • Some prominent dancers include Birju Maharaj, Sitara Devi.
• Other Classical Dances in India
  
  • Bharatanatyam from Tamil Nadu
  • Kathakali, from Kerala.
  • Kuchipudi, from Andhra Pradesh.
  • Odissi, from Odisha.
  • Sattriya, from Assam.
  • Manipuri, from Manipur.
  • Mohiniyattam, from Kerala.

Bhakti Movement

• The development of the Bhakti movement took place in Tamil Nadu between the seventh and ninth centuries.
• It was reflected in the emotional poems of the Nayanars (devotees of Shiva) and Alvars (devotees of Vishnu).
  
  • These saints looked upon religion not as a cold formal worship but as a loving bond based upon love between the worshipped and worshipper.
• They wrote in local languages, Tamil and Telugu and were therefore able to reach out to many people.
• In course of time, the ideas of the South moved up to the North but it was a very slow process.
• A more effective method for spreading the Bhakti ideology was the use of local languages. The Bhakti saints composed their verses in local languages.
• They also translated Sanskrit works to make them understandable to a wider audience. Examples include Jnanadeva writing in Marathi, Kabir, Surdas and Tulsidas in Hindi, Shankaradeva popularising Assamese, Chaitanya and Chandidas spreading their message in Bengali, Mirabai in Hindi and Rajasthani.

Source: IE