Hasta as Discourse on Music: T. Balasaraswati and Her Art

Abstract

The late T. Balasaraswati (1918–1984) is considered one of the foremost exponents of the south Indian dance form known today as Bharata Nātyam. Her mother (Jayammal) was a well-known singer and her grandmother (Vina Dhanammal) was a great vina artist who was a descendant of a dancer and musician (Papammal) in the Tanjore Court in the eighteenth century. Balasaraswati was trained by Kandappa Pillai, the brilliant dance master of the highly codified Tanjore Court style of Bharata Nāṭyam. A supreme artist who dominated the field for a generation and enriched the tradition, Balasaraswati was particularly noted for her interpretations of themes dealing with human striving for union with the Divine.In the Bharata Nāṭyam concert repertoire the padam has been considered by connoisseurs to be the litmus test for a dancer's artistic range, especially in the Tanjore Court style. This performance item is a rhapsodic song with a poetic text that is used as a medium for the creation of mood through drama, with the dancer using primarily hand gestures, facial expressions, and stylized walking. Critical to this “drama” is the use of hand gestures, known as hastas. Dance gestures are most often referred to as hastas, but are occasionally called mudrās, which is the Sanskrit word used for temple ritual gestures. To eliminate confusion regarding these two words, the hand gestures described here are called hastas. In padams each text line is repeated any number of times with different vocal and dramatic interpretations. The expectation is for the dancer to transcend the given poetic text (sāhitya) and sophisticated music conception of the padam in order to bring life to the hidden meanings and moods.