A North Indian Classical Dance Form: Lucknow Kathak

Journal for the Anthropological Study of Human Movement, Spring 2003 by Lalli, Gina

The Aesthetic Theory of Lucknow Kathak

As in other forms of classical Indian dance, the Lucknow Kathak dance form can be divided into two parts: 'abstract' or 'pure' dance movements called nritta (dancing that is devoid of flavor) and nritya-dancing that possesses flavor, mood and suggestion (see Coomeraswamy and Gopalakrishnayya 1936: 32). Although there are items in a Kathak dance suite that belong distinctly to one type of movement or the other (as between tatkar (nritta) and gats (nritya), there is also an area where the two subtly blend. For example, in the midst of a 'pure' rhythmic figure, Krishna might momentarily appear holding his flute to his lips, or wearing a peacock crown. Perhaps he holds Mount Govardhan on his little finger. Or, Radha appears, turning away from an unseen, but approaching, Krishna, or she looks for him from behind her veil. Radha, the milkmaid, and Krishna, the divine flute player, like dream images instantaneously take shape, then vanish. They move in and out of the abstract figures of the dance. They are reminders of the masculine and feminine elements of the dance that are seen now separately, now fused into a single abstraction of vigorous footwork and flowing bodily movements. These momentary poses of Radha and Krishna fit naturally into the flow of the dancing, thus enhancing the unity and singleness of emotional mood that suffuses all the parts of a Kathak suite.

Among traditional theories of aesthetics in India is the idea of rasa: that is, any single work of art must be united in all its parts by a pervading emotion called sthayi-bhava, which in turn gives rise to a particular mood in spectators. It is this intense aesthetic mood that is called rasa. In the Natya Shastra (Ghosh 1950: 31-33), the experience of rasa is likened to the tasting of well-prepared food (hence the word rasa, i.e. flavor), the 'food' in this case, is the sustained emotion (sthayi-bhava) of the actor-dancer. The purpose of watching a dance or looking at a painting is to experience a mood, "a kind of enjoyment which is self-forgetful and transporting" (see Coomerswamy 1952, and Hiriyana 1954).

Eight principal emotions (stayi-bhava) and the moods or flavors from them are categorized in the Natya Shastra:

from Love (Rati) arises the erotic (Sringara)

from Mirth (Hasya) arises the Comic (Hasya)

from Anger (Krodha), the Furious (Raudra)

from Astonishment (Vismaya), the Marvelous (Adbhuta)

from Energy (Utsaha), the Heroic (Vira)

from Disgust (Jugupsa), the Odious (Bibhatsa)

from Sorrow (Soka), the Pathetic (Karuna)

from Fear (Bhaya), the Terrible (Bhayanaka).

Added to these moods by later aestheticians is a ninth rasa, the Serene (Shanti), arising from Dispassion (Nirveda) (see Raghavan 1937a: 16).

The Natya Shastra describes in great detail how only one sthayi-bhava (emotion) should occupy the stage at any one time, but that one is almost always colored by other lesser emotions, or transitory states (bhava), thus is capable of infinite variation and nuance. Kathak can be said supremely to reflect the idea of rasa as the goal of art.