History of India1

HISTORY

Subject: History

(For under graduate student)

Paper No.: Paper - I

History of Ancient India

Topic No. & Title: Topic - 11

Peninsular India

Lecture No. & Title: Lecture – 2J

Fine Arts in Pallava Period:

Music, Dance & Painting

FAQs

1. What is the Tevaram?

The Tevaram was a distinct development in music in the Pallava period. They were verses composed by the Saivite saints made famous by the trio Appar, Sundarar and Samundar.

2. How were the Divyaprabandham recited?

Divyaprabandham i.e. the Vaishnava versus were recited in Udatya, Anudatya and Swarita Swaram.

3. What is the controversy regarding the Sankirna Jatih?

Gopinath Rao the epigraphist was of the opinion that Sankirna Jatih which means ‘born from a mixed caste’, is a reference to Mahendra Varman’s low birth. Krishna Shastri another epigraphist was of the opinion that Sankirna Jatih meant ‘a different type of musical time’ and was not a reference to Mahendra Varman’s birth but to a ‘taal’ which was invented by Mahendra Varman.

4. What are the different taals according to Talalakshana?

According to Talalakshana which is the earliest treatise on the tala (the musical time) by Nandiswara there are only four types of musical time i.e. Caturasra, Tisra, Misra and Khanda.

5. What does ‘Atodya’ mean?

Atodya generally means proficiency in four types of musical instruments in veena, murajya or drum, vamsha or flute and taala or cymbals. In a more restricted sense it could also mean the veena.

6. What are the two important divisions of the Tamil dance forms?

The traditional indigenous dance form in the Tamil region was Kuttu. There were two main types of Kuttus, - the Santikuttu and the Vinodakuttu which were then sub-divided into many different types.

7. Describe the Kuttu dance form.

The Kuttu dance forms were basically group dances and pastoral types of dance, prevalent among the pastoral people. It was accompanied by music played on a yal or a kind of veena or lute along with drum and kural.

8. What are the salient features of the dance form according to Bharata Natya Shastra?

According to Bharata Natya Shastra there are four different types of Abhinaya. A very important aspect of this Abhinaya is the Angikya Abhinaya i.e. through the movements of the body parts different types of emotion and meanings are being represented to the audience. There is also the Hastabhinay i.e. expression of different meanings through exposition of the hand poses.

9. Why was the classical dance form taken into the temple?

The classical dance form according to Bharata Natya Shastra was taken inside the temple because of the belief in the Pallava period about the divine origin of the dance. The attachment that they show to the Natesa or Nrittyamurti or Nataraja form of Shiva shows that they believed in the divine inspiration or the divine origin of dance.

10. What was Mahendra Varman’s contribution to the paintings of the Pallava Period?

Mahendra Varman had the title of Chitrakarapulli which means ‘tiger among the painters’. So it is possible that he was very proficient in painting. Another cognomen among his titles is Dakshina-chitra possibly because he was an author of a treatise which demonstrated the distinctiveness of South Indian painting.