ಇಂದು ನಾವರಿತಂತೆ ಭಾರತೀಯಮೂರ್ತಿಶಿಲ್ಪದ ಇತಿಹಾಸವು ಸುಮಾರು ಐದು ಸಹಸ್ರಮಾನಗಳಷ್ಟು ಪರಂಪರೆಯನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿದೆ. ಸಿಂಧು-ಸರಸ್ವತೀಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಯಿಂದ ಮೊದಲ್ಗೊಂಡು ಮೌರ್ಯ, ಕುಷಾಣ, ಸಾತವಾಹನ, ಗುಪ್ತ, ವಾಕಾಟಕ, ಮೌಖರಿ, ಚಾಲುಕ್ಯ, ಹೊಯ್ಸಳ, ಪಲ್ಲವ, ಚೋಳ, ಪಾಲ, ಸೇನ, ಪರಮಾರ, ಚಂದೇಲ, ಕಳಿಂಗ ಮುಂತಾದ ಅನೇಕಶಾಖೆಗಳನ್ನು ವಿಭಿನ್ನಕಾಲಘಟ್ಟಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಣಬಹುದು. ಇದಾದರೂ ಒಂದು ಸ್ಥೂಲವಿಭಾಗ ಮಾತ್ರ. ಇವುಗಳೊಳಗೆ ಮತ್ತೆಷ್ಟೋ ಅವಾಂತರಶಾಖೆಗಳೂ ಶೈಲಿಗಳೂ ಇರುವುದು ತಜ್ಞವೇದ್ಯ.
"I offer a hundred thousand salutations to the donor who extended his hands to guard the flame of pure traditional classical music, fluttering under the assault of the tornado of Western music," says a visibly moved Shankara Sastri, moments before he can begin the final classical music concert of his life.
ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಂದು ಕಲೆಗೂ ತನ್ನದೇ ಆದ ಶೈಲಿಯಿರುತ್ತದೆ. ಅಷ್ಟೇಕೆ, ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಬ್ಬ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗೂ ಜೀವಿಗೂ ಅಸ್ತಿತ್ವಕ್ಕೂ ತನ್ನದೇ ಆದ ಶೈಲಿಯಿರುವಾಗ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಜೀವನಸಮಷ್ಟಿಯೆನಿಸಿದ ಸಮಾಜವೊಂದರ ವಿಕಸಿತವೂ ಮನೋಹರವೂ ಆದ ಕಲಾಪ್ರಕಾರವೊಂದಕ್ಕೆ ಶೈಲಿಯ ಅನನ್ಯತೆಯಿಲ್ಲವೆಂದರೆ ಹೇಗೆ? ಹೀಗಾಗಿಯೇ ನರ್ತನಕಲೆಗೂ ಶೈಲಿಗಳ ಅನನ್ಯರೂಪಗಳುಂಟು; ಮತ್ತಿದಕ್ಕೆ ಭಾರತೀಯನೃತ್ಯಗಳು ಅಪವಾದವೇನಲ್ಲ.
I don’t deem it inappropriate to concisely present a collection of my musical experiences over the last sixty to seventy years.
Let us focus on shrngaaraabhinaya (expression of shrngaara – love) that is based on graceful dance (laasya). Like mentioned in the previous article, delineation of female characters has been the focus of most dance forms for centuries. We are familiar with love-poems related to women and their depiction in dance. When men started performing dance based on shrngaara, some difficulties probably arose. In fact, it is rather apt for dancers to put on the roles described in the lyrics, regardless of the actual gender of the dancers.
Art scholars say that the two seemingly different modes of dance known as ‘maarga’ and ‘deshi’ are essentially the same. ‘Maarga’ is the realization of dance and ‘deshi’ is its application in practice. A well defined art, with a set of rules governing it is ‘shaastriya’, i.e., subscribed to a shaastra. (‘Shaastriya’ can be roughly translated as ‘classical’). It belongs to the heritage that was founded by Bharata and his predecessors such as Shilaali and Krshaashva.