Navarasa- Expressions in BharataNatyam

Depicting Roudra[Anger].Lord Shiva's dance of fury when his penance is disturbed by Manmatha, the God of Love. Finally Shiva burns Manmatha to ashes

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The dancers presented NavaRasa-The Nine Emotions in BharataNatyam, the South Indian Classical dance, by selecting several scenes from mythology and literature. Concept and choreography by Usha Raghavan, founder-director of Kalasagara UK, in aid of a charity, Veerayatan, for their ongoing Sponsor-a-child programme to benefit the earth-quake hit areas of Gujarat.


{ Nava means "Nine" and Rasa is often translated as "mood", "emotion", "expression" or "sentiment". The Navarasa, in the dance scriptures refer to the nine expressions that humans often show. These are love ( shringaara ), laughter ( haasya ), kind-heartedness or compassion ( karuna ), anger ( roudra ), courage ( veera ), fear ( bhayaanaka ), disgust ( beebhatsa ), wonder or surprise ( adbhutha ) and peace or tranquility ( shaantha ). }

[Image above: Depicting Roudra [Anger].Lord Shiva's dance of fury when his penance is disturbed by Manmatha, the God of Love. Finally Shiva burns Manmatha to ashes ]

According to Nātya Shastra, the ancient indian treatise on dance, music and dramatic arts, Rasa is an emotion inspired in an audience by a performer.Rasas are created by bhavas: the gestures and facial expressions of the actors.

The concept of the event sounded quite interesting.. In fact, I have this sort of strange 'dormant fixation at the back of the mind which will easily rise to the surface', a 'deep but subconscious appeal', if you will, with this NavaRasa theme, ever since closely watching the gripping facial expressions of artistes with heavy colourful make-ups perform during the local temple festivals, back home during my childhood..

Now, for years, been waiting for a chance to watch professional artists performing with such a theme. For this event, dancers are not professionals, but the performance was quite impressive..
Though I enjoyed capturing it bacause I've been wanting to do it for long, didn't quite like the results ;-l

I so much wanted to capture each emotion portrayed, but that being the case, I had only very limited success with the camera [ though that's very much expected.. Well, you can always find excuses for doing a sloppy job and find fault with everything else other than your Holy Self! ;) So here goes my crib-list-- struggling to get the right angle and enough light, even after pushing to ISO 800 or 1000, and without wanting to use flash at all; also fighting the shake while hand-holding at >1/50 sec on 150~200mm range, and tracking the fast movements with spot-metering can be tricky.. ] Well, to be fare it's a great stage to learn!

'Hasta Mudras'(hand gestures) are the expressive as a way of communication,a distinctive feature of BharataNatyam."Mudra" literally refers to the gestures and postures.
There are two types of Hasta Mudras: 'Asamyuta' and 'Samyuta' 'Hasta Mudras'(with single-hand and combined, respectively). There are 28 Asamyuta Mudras and 24 Samyuta Hastas.
Many of these hand gestures are well known. For example, Anjali is often used as a salutation when a person greets another person [Namaste].

There were nine sessions/acts :
1. Sringara [Love]. Scene : Radha &Krishna

Radha waits for her beloved Krishna in anticipation. When Krishna arrives late Radha's delight turns into anger as she finds marks of other women on him. When Radha confronts him, Krishna tries to cajole her. Unyielding Radha shows him his way out. Realizing the depth of her sorrow, Krishna professes his true love for her and seeks Radha's forgiveness.

2. Hasya [Laughter]. Scene : Shoorpanakha, Rama & Lakshmana

Shoorpanakha, a demoness, comes to the forest for her daily meals. When she spots Lord Rama, asks him to marry her.Already married to Sita, he sends her to his brother Lakshmana. Shoorpanakha rushes to the short-tempered Lakshmana and proposes to him. He is bemused by all this.

3. Karuna [Compassion].
Scene : story of Nandanar (from a song in Tamil literature)

The dancer depicts the story of Nandanar, and "untouchable" in the song Varugalamo. Because of his class, Nandanar is barred by the society to enter the temple, pleads with the Lord to bless him despite his social status and allow him to stand near the altar to offer prayers.

4. Roudra [Anger]. Scene : Shiva &Manmatha

Lord Shiva is meditating in the forest. His penance is disturbed by Manmatha,the God of Love. At first Shiva is pleasantly startled, but upon seeing the cause of the disturbance, engages in a dance of fury. Finally he burns Manmatha to ashes.

5. Veera [Courage]. Scene : Rama at Sita's Swayamvara

King Janaka declares a contest, stating that the one who lifts and strings the divine bow of Lord Shiva would win his daughter, Sita, as his wife. One by one the invited kings and warriors try to lift the bow, and fail. Eventually it is Rama's turn. To everyone's delight and surprise, he lifts the bow effortlessly, and he strings it, and the bow breaks under his immense strength. He wins Sita's hand in marriage.

6,7. Bhayanaka [Fear] & Beebhatsa [Disgust]. Scene : Vyasa, Ambika, Ambalika.

After the King died childless, his mother Satyavati requested her first son Sage Veda Vyasa to visit the queens to sire sons- bestowing queens Ambika and Ambalika with heirs to the throne..Ambika's and Ambalika's reactions to Sage Vyasa's ugly and fearful appearance causes their children, Dhritarashtra and Pandu, to be born blind and pale/weak respectively

8. Adbhuta [Wonder]. Scene- Vamana &Mahabali.

The Demon King Mahabali is completing the Ashwamedha Sacrifice to become the king of the Three Worlds. In order to complete the sacrifice, Mahabali must give away any and all possessions he is asked for in alms and donations. Lord Vishnu comes in the form of Vamana, the Brahmin dwarf, to prevent Mahabali from achieving his goal

9. Shanta [Tranquility/Peace]. Scene : Enacting the song Shanti Nilavu Vendum, which calls for peace and harmony,as preached by Mahatma Gandhi, in this world of sorrow and turmoil.

Bharathanatyam has two important components - 'Nritta' (pure dance movements/footwork) and 'Abhinaya' or 'Natya' (dramatic art of story-telling with expressions to show emotion). A traditional Bharathanatyam recital starts with pure Nritta pieces and will involve more Abhinaya as the show progresses.

Apparently, according to the teacher who organised this show, Shanta was the most difficult rasa to do choreography for!. Incidentally, a bit of wikiing revealed that Nātya Shastra identifies the first eight rasas with eight corresponding bhava - Rati (Love), Hasya (Mirth), Soka (Sorrow), Krodha(Anger),Utsaha (Energy), Bhaya (Terror), Jugupsa (Disgust), Vismaya (Astonishment).

Ironically, that makes you think, that may be to evoke Shanta, we wouldn't need any effort, any bhava- special expressions or gesture.. and we can just BE. Is it because Shanta, being very peaceful, is our True Nature ?? ;)