Essay name: Arts in the Puranas (study)
Author:
Meena Devadatta Jeste
Affiliation: Savitribai Phule Pune University / Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute Pune
This essay studies the Arts in the Puranas by reconstructing the theory of six major fine arts鈥擬usic, Dance, Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, and Literature鈥攆rom the Major and Minor Puranas. This thesis shows how ancient sages studied these arts within the context of cultural traditions of ancient India.
Chapter 2 - Dance in the Puranas
32 (of 43)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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THE RASA DANCE
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The
The Puranas like the Vismu Purana Bhagavata Purana,
Brahmavaivarta Purana and the Harivansa do not provide us euch
echnical details about Indian Classical Dance but they
describe the famous Rasa Dance of Srikrana. The earliest
mention of the Rasa Dance is found in the Harivansa.
Visnu Purana gives many details; but it is very elaborately
described in the Bhagavata Purana. The five chapters viz.
29-33 of the tenth Book of the Bhagavata Purana are known as
the 'Rasapancadhyayi'. This is one of the principal incidents
in the life of rsna on which innumerable poets of India have
exhausted their skill and ingenuity. This has been recorded
in several Puranas.
The Rasa dance is danced by men and women, holding
each others' hands and going round in a circle, singing the
appropriate songs to which they dance. The basic word in the
'Rasa' is the Rasa (Sentiment). In this celestial dance only
ons Rasa Srigara manifests itself into many other Rasas.
The first reference to this Rasa dance is found in the
Harivansa by the name of HallIsaka. It is a circular dance
formation. Banabhatta in his Harsacarita referred to the
'Mandalinrtys' or Rasa. Hall墨saka is also a 'Mandal Inrtya'.
In this HallIsaka, Krsna dances in the circle of Gopis. King
Bhoja in his Sarasvati-Kanthabharana has described the dance of
Srikrsna and Gopis in the HallIsaka. 39
In the Rasa dance eight, sixteen or thirtytwo persons
