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STOLEN GODS OF HIMALAYAS

Up in the Greater Himalayas, more than 10,000 feet above sea level, lies one of the oldest monasteries of Lahaul valley, the Guru Ghantal. Founded by legendary Buddhist mystic Padmasambhava, this eighth century gompa has recently added another item to its treasure-house - a lock. Like priests of other ancient temples scattered all over Himachal Pradesh, the monks at Guru Ghantal know that the gods are no longer safe is the state - not as long: as smugglers of antique idols continue to operate in the region. So, they have placed the white marble head of the Guru Ghantal, installed centuries ago by Padmasambhava himself, under lock and key.

Their fears are not misplaced. On record, around 20 idols have been stolen from various temples in the state since 1990. The locals say the number is much more. In the last 20 years, over 200 idols and antique objects have been stolen from Himachal. Their value would run into billions.

Temples in Kinnaur, Chamba, Bharmaur and Lahaul-Spiti are particularly vulnerable, officials of the Himachal government say. Some of these places of religious and historical significance date back to the 5th or the 6th century and house idols that cost s crores, they add. While the locals are not aware of the value of these antiques, they have vital information that can make the smugglers’ job easier. The masterminds, who are often from outside the state, exploit this information and with the connivance of the locals, manage to steal the antiques.

IDOL TALES

Officials in the government allege that valuable idols had been disappearing from the state for years now, sometimes with the knowledge of and at other times with the active involvement of police and administrative officials. But these rampant thefts hit the officials in the face when the idol of the Chungraj deity disappeared from Kamru Temple in the tribal Kinnaur district in 1993.

Amid outraged protests from locals, it was learnt that the idol, believed to cost several crores in the illegal international market, had been shipped off to Italy. The Italian then accused of smuggling the idol out of the country denied it in a letter to the Himachal authorities. His Delhi-based partner later gave an assurance that the idol would be brought back from Italy and on a given date and time, left in the lawns of Himachal Bhawan in Delhi.

On the set date, when the officials searched the lawns, lo behold, they found the idol. No witnesses, no questions. A quick k check and the antique sculpture was reinstalled at the temple. And the preposterous story was accepted.

But not all are satisfied. There are still questions on whether this really is the genuine idol or a fake. How the idol disappeared in the first place, how it was shipped out of and then brought back to the country with such ease is also anybody’s guess. The matter has since been raised in the Himachal assembly twice. Meanwhile, one person was declared a proclaimed offender, and another was convicted in the case. The local court, however, acquitted seven other accused, including the Italian resident. The government has filed an appeal in the state high court.

Despite the apparent pressures to crack a whip against such smugglers, thefts continue. Earlier this year in May, the police recovered three precious-metal idols of the area’s ruling deity, Mahasu, from the nearby forests of Dunnu village in Solan. The 250-year-old idol is worth crores of rupees.

Last February, a 1,100-year-old Ganesha idol was stolen from the courtyard of the Hatkoti temple, about 100 km from Shimla. A police official said the professional manner in which the eight-armed, two-feet high, 22kg stone idol was stolen appeared to the handiwork of international smugglers.

Last year, also in February, 11 antique ashtdhatu idols were stolen from the temple of Chohag deity in Madhok village. The same year in October, the Himachal police and the Delhi Police Special Cell busted an international gang of antique smugglers and recovered two idols of the Kunzum goddess. The idols were stolen from the 15,500-foot-high Kunzum Pass in Lahaul-Spiti The gang was operating through a chain of middlemen.

Up in the remote areas of the hills, almost every village has an ancient temple, often unguarded. Most of these villages are now accessible to tourists and thus, exposed to thefts. Today, there is no telling how many of these places have already been targeted and are now housing fakes instead of a originals.

Though the Himachal government has registered about 200 ancient temples and some 300 antique idols, this is only a small portion of the state’s antique treasure.

The guardians of the temples and gompas have now become wary. Temple premises sealed after darshan and the keeper of the key is chosen with care.

INDIAN DANCES: Classical Dances

Indian classical dances have their origin in Bharat’s Natyashastra. They are based on three basic concepts ‘nritta, nrittya and natya’. Nritta follows the tala beat in an eloquent expression of pure rhythmic movements. In Nrittaya, abhinaya is the main element which is full of suggestions and expresses rasa and bhava, flavour or mood. Natya is dance as used in drama. Each of these three has the soft and the vigorous aspects, the ‘laya’ or ‘tandava’. The folk or tribal dances do not follow any particular rule. Its nature and forms vary according to the culture and norms of each region of India.

Bharatnatyam: developed in South India particularly in Tamil Nadu in its present form about two hundred years ago. It is a famous classical dance of India. While its poses are reminiscent of sculpture of the 10th century onwards, the thematic and musical content was given to it by musicians of the Tanjore courts of the 18th-19th centuries. It is essentially a solo dance and has close affinities with the traditional dance-drama form called Bhagvata Mela performed only by women; nonetheless, its chiselled sophistication and stylization make it a unique form of art-dance. Noted Artists: Rukmini Devi, Bala Saraswathi, Shanta Rao, Mrinalini Sarabhai, Yamini Krishnamurthy, Kamala, Vaijyantimala, Sonal Man Singh, Samyukta Panigrahi etc.

Kathakali: Originated in the state of Kerala, Kathakali is a musical dance drama. Unlike the others, it is dramatic rather than narrative in character Different roles are taken by different actors; the dancers are all men or were so, till recently. It makes epic mythological themes as its content and portrays them through an elaborate dramatic spectacle which is characterized by another-worldly quality, a supernatural grandeur, a stylized large-size costume to give the impression of enlarging human proportions and a mask like make up on the face which is governed by a complex symbolism of color, line design. Noted Artists: Ragini Devi, Shanta Rao, Mrinalini Sarabhai, Rita Ganguly, Krishna Nair, and Gopinathan.

Mohiniattam: is one of the distinctive dance styles of India. It originated in Kerala. This form had almost become extinct when it was revived by poet Vallathol Naranyan Menon early this century. Since then dancers have striven to reclaim the lost repertoire of Mohiniattam. The main features of Mohiniattam are its exquisite feminine charm and its graceful swaying movements. It is a solo dance performed by women only. In technique, Mohiniattam somewhere between Kathakali and Bharatnatyam. The technical structure of Mohiniattam is fairly similar to that of Bharatnatyam, but its gesture language is fusion of elements from both Bharatnatyam and Kathakali. And again, like Bharatnatyam, Mohiniattam too has items of NRITTA, pure dance, as well as nrittya, expressional dance.  Mohiniattam is mainly a LASSY dance performed strictly according to the rule laid down in the Natya Sashtra. Noted Artists: Bharati Shivaji, Vaijyantimala, Shanta Rao, Kanak Rele etc.

           
Kathak: from north India, is an urban, sophisticated style full of virtuosity and intricate craftsmanship. Commonly, identified with the court traditions of the later Nawabs of northern India, it is really an amalgam of several folk traditions, the traditional dance-drama forms prevalent in the temples of Mathura and Brindavan known as the Krishna and Radha Leelas, and the sophistication of the court tradition.
 Its origins are old, its present format new, attributed to the genious of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and the hereditary musician dancer, Pandit Thakur Prasadji. In technique, Kathak is two-dimensional, always following a vertical line, with no breaks and deflecting the footwork is the most important part of the dancer’s training, where she or he is taught innumerable rhythmic patterns with varying emphasis so that the 100 odd ankle bells can produce a fantastic range of sound and rhythm. Noted Artists: Birju Maharaj, Uma Sharma, Gopi Krishan, Kurnudini Lakhia, Damayanti Joshi, Durgalal and Devilal, Saswati Sen etc.

Manipuriis a lyrical dance form from the eastern region of India. Although many forms of ritual, magical, community and religious dances were known to Manipur before the advent of Vaishnava faith in the 18th century, the dances known as the Rasa dances evolved only as a result of the interaction of the Vaishnava faith in the 18th century, and the several highly developed forms of ritual and religious dances which were prevalent in the area.
The origin of the Rasa dances is attributed to the vision of a king. Be that as it may, five different types of ballets, with a well-conceived structuring of Corps de ballet, solo pas de deux revolving round the theme of Radha-Krishna and the Gopis (milkmaids) comprise the large part of the classical repertoire. The second group of the classical dances is known as the Sankirtanas, performed generally by men with typical Manipur drums called pung or cymbals (Kartals) or clapping. At large variety of intricate rhythmic patterns is played on the drum and the cymbals. The Nata Sankirtana often precedes the Rasa. Like Bharatnatyam and Odissi, Manipuri can also be broken into pure dance pattern sections and mime. The latter is also lyrical, subtle and, unlike Bharatnatyam and Odissi, there is no dramatic extrovert expression. Noted Artists: Jhaveri Sisters, Charu Malhar, and Bipin Singh.

Odissi is a close parallel of Bharatnatyam. It developed from the musical play (Sangita, Nagaka) and the dances of gymnasiums known as the akharas. Sculptural evidence relating to the dance goes to the second century B.C. A 12th century poetic work called Gita Govinda has dominated the poetic and musical conent of the dance styles. The dance was performed by women called maharis in the temple of Jagannath, later, men dressed as women, called gotipuras, performed these dances in the courtyard of the temple. The present Odissi as a solo form evolved out of all the above. It has been revived during the last two decades. Its technique is built round a basic motif in which the human body takes the thrice deflected (tribhanga) position of Indian sculpture. The lower limbs are in a demiplie, the upper torso is broken into two units of the lower waist and upper chest, which move in counter opposition. The repertoire comprises numbers which are built on pure dance (nritta) design recalling sculptural poses of the Orissan temples : the poses are strung together within several metrical cycles (talas) and dances performed to poetry ranging from the invocations to  Ganesha to the verses of the Gita Govinda.
Noted Odissi Dancers: Sanjukta Panigrahi, Sonal Man Singh, Madhvi Mudgal, Kiran Sehgal, Rani Karan.  

Kuchipudi:A dance drama of Andhra Pradesh originated from Kuchipudi village. It combines lasya and tandana element and classical shades and strictly follows prescribed costumes and ornaments. Manduka shabdam (story of frog maidun), Balagopala Tarango (dancing with the feet on the edges of a brass plate) and Tala-Chitra- Nritya (in which dancers draw pictures on the floor with their dancing toes) are other remarkable features of this magnificent dance form. Noted Dancers: Jamini Krishnamurthi, Swapna Sundari, Shobha Naidu, Raja and Radha Reddy.

Folk Dances of India

For untold centuries India, with its vast variety of ethnic groups, races, and cultural groups, has been a veritable treasure house of dance and music. There is not a region, a valley or mountain, a sea coast, or a plain, which does not have its characteristic folk dances and songs.

Dances of the Plains: The richest amongst the dances of the plains are the dances of the Hos and the Oraons of Jharkhand, the Marias of Bastar in Chhattisgarh and the Santhals of Bengal and Jharkhand. Kaksar is a typical festival dance performed by the Abhujmaris before reaping a harvest. First, the deity is worshipped and then the dance is performed. The men appear fairly attired with a belt of bells around their waists, so do the women, in short brief saris, but richly be jeweled. The dance provides the occasion for choosing life partners. The marriage or marriages which so emerge are enthusiastically celebrated. The rhythms are complex, the chorographical patterns varied. The bell belts of the men dancers and the jewels of the women add to the variety of rhythmical patterns of the dance. The instruments used are dhol (cylindrical drum), timiki (bowl shaped percussion instruments) and bansuri (a kind of flute). Close to the lush marshland of Madhya Pradesh and yet very different, are the tribes of Jharkhand. Amongst these, the Hos and Oraons are rightly famous for their vigour and vivacity.

Himalayan Dances: From the northern Himalayas region, come many dances which belong to the village communities. Himachal and northern Uttar Pradesh are the home of many interesting and colourful dances.
Two popular favourites from Jaunsar Bawar in Uttar Pradesh. The musical instruments resemble those used by the dancers of Himachal Pradesh comprising narshingha (a large trumpet), brass bells, barrel shaped percussion instruments and bowl-shaped drums.

Bhangra of Punjab: In the Punjab, a virile agricultural dance called the Bhangra is popular and is closely linked with the ritual importance which is given to wheat. After the wheat crop is sown, the young men gather together in an open field under the light of the full moon in answer to the beat of the drum.

A skilled Bhangra dancer may even perform some highly complex acrobatic movement with the torso touching the floor, through a spinal back bend or another dancer stand on his shoulders, while he dances on his knees.

Since there are no rigorous rules of the Bhangra, it leaves an overwhelming impression of fresh spontaneous vigour and vitality. Its movements are nevertheless characteristics of the masculinity of the Punjabi and cannot be mistaken for anything else.

Rouf of Kashmir: Further north in Kashmir, the occasion of dance are many. Rouf is a typical dance of the women at spring time with across interlocked separate rows made, and each singing a different line of the song, almost as question and answer. The steps are light moving backwards and forwards with slight swings and sways.

INDIAN DANCES: FOLK DANCES OF STATES

• UP: Nautanki, Ras Lila, Kajri, Karan etc.
• Gujarat: Dandiya, Ganpathy, Raslila, Garba.
• Goa: Dhakto, Shigmo, Goll, Talagadi, Tongamel, Mussal Khel, Corridinbo etc.
• Daman: Gherba (during Diwali)
• Pondichery: Poorakkali, Kolkali, Mascarada etc.
• Tamil Nadu: Peacock dance, horse dance, Rope, Bamboo dance, Karagam, kavadi
• West Bengal: Kathi, Chhau, Baul, Kirlan etc.
• Karnataka: Suggi Kunita, Kola, Yakshagana.
• Maharashtra: Dahikala, Tanassa, Dasaratar, Lezim, Dandanlya, Gala, Kathakeertan, Lovani etc.
• Bihar: Jata Jatin, Gadur, Chhau, Kathaputli, Bakho, Ghijhiya, Samochakwa, Karma, Natna etc.
• Orissa: Ghumara Sanchar, Chadya, Dandanata.
• Andhra Pradesh: Ghanta Mardala, Veedhi Natakam, Burrakatha.
• Himachal Pradesh: Nati, Gurkhali, Bhangra and Ras Leela.
• Punjab: Bhangra, Giddha, Jhummer, Ludi Sami
• Haryana: Phag, Loor, Dhamal, Jhoomer, Daph.
• Rajasthan: Dhumer, Rai, Babajee, Garba, Ger, Lari, Dhokri, Gorba, Talwar, Natch, Shankaria.
• Chhattisgarh: Panthi, Danda, Sarhul, Raul, Suaa, Karma.
• Uttranchal: Jagar, Chaufulla, Jhumaila, Jhoda.
• Jharkhand: Karma, Jhumri, Panwaria, Jogida.