Biography of Indian dances

When asked when and how Indian dances arose, you can answer in two ways. If you like Darwin's theory about the origin of a person, then everything is explained simply: labor made a person out of the monkey, a person took hunting, then agriculture, then began to accompany his activities with various rituals, tried to reproduce different sounds with the help of all kinds of improvised means, expressed his condition with one or another body movements, sometimes it became a form of spells or celebrating victories, and then all this called dancing and music.

Over time, these arts became more complicated and improved until we have turned into the fact that we now have another point of view: music and dances have a divine origin, they are given to a person at a certain moment in history. To begin with, we will tell a little about the gods and goddesses, who, one way or another, have any relation to dancing.

We will get acquainted only with the main ones, but in general there are much more of them, so the field for study is so great that you can devote all your life to this occupation. The gods and the goddess as the basis of the philosophy of dance distinguish the absolute truth of the same God, the supreme personality of God and the secondary gods, or, as they are correctly called, the demigods.

The latter occupy a very high position in the Ecumenical Hierarchy and act as ministers; They live on paradise senior planets. The demigods command various elements, control parts of the body, patronize different types of activity, etc. An individual living being, or a soul, in Sanskrit is called jiva. Jiva can be in different bodies: demigods, demons, various inhabitants of paradise planets, people, animals, plants, stones, bacteria, etc.

The demons of Asura or Danava, created as opposed to good forces, are opposed. Between Virgo and Danavas, disputes and battles constantly take place. The main God, eternal, original, immortal, in different parts of the world is known by different names that reflect its different qualities. In the classic Indian work “Brahma-Samhit” the Supreme Lord is called Krishna, which means “all-involving”.

He is a source of eternity, knowledge and bliss, unborn, eternal, and he is the cause of all reasons. A huge number of dances are dedicated to Krishna. In Krishna, the appearance of the color resembles a thunderstorm, so it is also called Shyamasundar Shyam - Dark, Sundara - beautiful, beautiful. His eternal monastery in the spiritual world is Vin-Davan, where he grazes cows and mischievrates with his friends.

He is dressed in yellow silk clothes, in his hands a flute, on his chest, the precious stone of Caustubha, in his hair - a peacock feather. Also, Krishna can be seen as a valiant hero warrior who came to defend religion and save those who were in trouble. He performs many wonderful, inimitable exploits, gives instructions and wise tips and tells the famous “Bhagavad-Gita” “Song of God” on the Kurkharchetra battlefield, in which he explains how to live in this world with dignity.

Krishna is like a "god at home." There is also "God at work." This is Vishnu. Vishnu is Krishna, but busy with various important matters: he stores the universe, destroys demons, restores justice and instructs the demigods and people on the true path. Vishnu controls the quality of the gun of goodness, knowledge, happiness, purity. The monastery of Vishnu are the planets of Vaikunthi.

Vishnu has many expansions and avatar, and, accordingly, there are a lot of names. Often in dancing, ten basic incarnations of Vishnu are depicted, descending to the ground with a specific purpose. Vishnu has four hands. In his hands he holds his eternal attributes: a disk, a sink, a club and a lotus. Vishnu is powerful and invincible, it is dressed in yellow silk clothes, with a diadem on the head and stone of Caustubha on his chest.

Often Vishnu sits on a huge box - the rings of the Ecumenical Snake of Anant Sheshi in the ocean of milk on a special planet of the universe; A lotus grows from his navel, in which the first living creature, Brahma is born. At Stop Vishnu is always Lakshmi. Lakshmi is the goddess of happiness, good luck, wealth, prosperity, beauty and chastity. Its indispensable attribute is a lotus.

As a rule, it is portrayed by a four -armed, but if she is next to Vishnu, she usually has two hands. In both upper hands, the goddess holds the lotus. Gold coins roll from her lower palms, but it also happens that one of her hands is in a blessing gesture. Dressed in lakshmi in gold or red with gold clothes; She stands or sits on a lotus. It happens that it is drawn with elephants that are in the water.

Lakshmi appeared from the ocean, which the demigods and demons of Pakhtali to get the nectar of immortality from it. This plot can also be seen in dancing. She is one of the most popular goddesses in India. The riding animal of Vahana Vishnu is the king of the birds of Garuda. And in Lakshmi, a sled animal is an owl. Wahana is usually a sled animal, but sometimes an inanimate object. The Wahans, as a rule, are placed near the temples, and by the wahans you can determine who this temple is dedicated to.Brahma appears on a lotus, grown from the navel of Vishnu.

Brahma is the creator of the material world, he populates him with living beings and is therefore considered the progenitor of mankind. He gives advice, blessings, enlightens, leads different enterprises as the oldest, wisest and most important among all living things. Brahma is depicted with a lotus, with the eyes, half -closed in meditation, it happens that with a beard; He has four heads, respectively, four faces, four bodies and eight hands, in which he holds his attributes: Vedas, a rod, a vessel with a ganged water, a sacrificial spoon, a lotus flower and a pearl necklace.

Brahma moves riding on a swan. The spouses of Brahma are Savitri, Gayatri and Sarasvati. Dancing is most often depicted by Sarasvati. She is the goddess of knowledge and scholarship, the patroness of arts and spiritual practice. Most often, she has a white robes, she stands or sits on a water lily or on a lotus, she is four -armed, in one of the hands she has a lotus, in the other hand she holds a book from palm leaves, a symbol of scholarship, and in others squeezes a thread of pearls, a clearing or a small vase.

The hand can also demonstrate a gesture bringing good luck. It is also depicted playing on a string tool. Poetic inspiration comes from her. She is the goddess of eloquence, the power through which knowledge acquires a verbal form. The gods who are often depicted in dancing also include Shiva, the lord of the dance, his wife Parvati and their son Ganesh. In Shiva and Parvati, two opposites are combined: on the one hand, asceticism, abstinence and spiritual practice, and on the other, eroticism, sexual attraction and energy of carnal, earthly life.

They patronize yogis and ascetics, as well as a happy family life and home comfort. In them - the principle of creation and creativity and, at the same time, destruction. Shiva controls the Gun's quality of ignorance, the word “shiva” itself means omnivorous, it patronizes the most fallen - ghosts, spirits and other suffering. Shiva and Parvati have many names and different hypostases, sometimes they are kind, sometimes destroying, angry.

Shiva is easy to recognize by the third eye located on his forehead, which he opens during the destruction of the universe. Shiva has tangled long hair, on top they are tied into a knot, a crescent rests in the plexus of this knot. The waters of the sacred river Gangi flow on the head of Shiva. She was so powerful that she threatened to destroy the whole earth, and Shiva took her stormy stream on her head and reassured her water.

You can meet the images of Shiva with two, four hands or more, in one of which is a trident, Trishula, its indispensable attribute. Usually Shiva is dressed in a tiger skin. Since Shiva is a yogi, he sprinkles himself as ash, and his neck, body and hands wrap the snakes. Shiva lives on Mount Kalys. Shiva's riding animal and his servant is Nandi's bull. In the hands of Shiva, there may also be an ax, the skin of an antelope or Damara Baskchik.

She is worshiped as a great mother of the world. She is often asked about blessings: to protect children or get a good husband. Depending on its hypostasis, it is portrayed with different attributes and with different number of hands. In her hands she holds a trident like Shiva, as well as a variety of weapons, a mirror and a lotus. Most often, it is depicted on a lion or tiger.

One of the most popular characters in Indian dances is the son of Shiva and Parvati, Ganesha. His other names Ganapati, Gananatha, Beng-raja, Vi-Tyka. It is revered, first of all, as a deity of wisdom, wealth, business and eliminating obstacles. Ganesha is called to help with any undertaking. He is a skilled dancer. It is portrayed in the form of a dense man with a large round stomach, four hands and an elephant head with one tusk.

It moves on a small mouse. In Indian literature, “Ramayana” is considered one of the most important epics, which tells about the earthly life of the Lord Rama and his virtuous and chaste wife of Sita. The word frame means “all -rating”, “source of joy and bliss”. Rama, or Ramachandra is the embodiment of Vishnu. He comes to Earth as an ideal king and a family man in order to give people an example of a righteous life.

Sita is the embodiment of Lakshmi. Their abode is the city of Ayodhya. The frame has the body of the color of young grass, in his hands he always holds onions and arrows, he is dressed in royal clothes. Often the frame is portrayed with his brother Lakshman, the wife of Sita and their faithful servant and assistant Hanuman sitting at their feet. Hanuman is an unusually strong son of Vyu by the Lord of the Winds; His teacher was Surya Sun.