ASSAM
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The Ecstasy of Monsoon ! Mrs. Pranamee Sarmah Bhagawati .......
….
The days of monsoon
Has come my love,
With sparkling thunder
And dark clouds above;
The flower of passion
Has bloomed in my heart,
Leaving the senses to gather
Love in passionate desert …. - Pranami
Monsoon is the season of love, passion and gist of emotions. It brings along with the aureate passion of love and spreads the note of splendid beauty everywhere. It touches the core of the heart and establishes an eternal bond with all living creatures. This divine relation leaves the lust for love and sensuality in the entire surrounding.
This lust is acquired by all beings in some way or the other. When the cool breeze whirls around, the trees shower its leaves and rain drops on the mud ground and thus welcomes the nature to enjoy the enchanting moment.
When the monsoon caresses the earth, the blooming buds blossom to embrace the pearl drops of the first shower and thus fragments the heavenly atmosphere with romantism. The peacock spread out its plumage and effuses its mood, by stepping his feet and creating his own etude through dance. The tiny chirpy birds unfold their little wings and try to hug the shower of monsoon forever.
With streaming clouds trumpeting like haughty tuskers,
with lighting banners and drum beats of thunder claps,
in towering majesty, the season of rains welcome to lovers,
now comes like a king, my love.
- Ritusamharam.
In India, monsoon is regarded as the king of all seasons.
It has always been an inspiration for the poets and artistes, to create
the expression of their imagination through their respective art forms.
The poet expresses his feelings through words and fuses his notes
of creative eloquence that rhymes with the thundering rainfall. The
painter strokes his colored brush on the canvas, inspired by that
of his mental picture of the cool atmosphere, depicting the vivid
image of an intimate affair between a nayaka and nayika below the
shade of a large blossomed tree.
The purple clouds are gathering,
the thunder rolls and rain pours in torrents
pray
leave me not in the month of Bhadon
for separation pains like poison.
- Keshava Das in Kavipriya
This nostalgic season, floods the heart of the love-struck
damsels, who step out in the heavy downpour in extremely pitch dark
thundering nights, for the tryst, after a long impatient wait for their
beloved. Such mood can be found through dance, in the abhisarika nayika,
who belongs to another man but is in love with another. The vassaksajja
nayika is portrait as to be waiting for her lover with tormented soul
because of the heavy black clouds that smashes all her dreams.
The musician blends himself with the rainy romantism and tunes his
mood of Malhaar raga to the beat of the droplets on leaves and petals.
His rendition collate with the shower while ambling the fusion to
create a fresh ambience.
These months of Shravana and Bhadon, enchants the nature with emollient softness. All the passion flowers like - champa, lotus, and nagalata - make the entire surrounding thirsty for intense desire and sensuousness.
The artiste adorns the beauty of the lady, with a water pot on her head amidst the spell bound rain, on his portrait. Her sensual beauty is more enhanced with the wet sari wrapped around her. The sight of her eyes reflects the pain and trouble, she undergoes in the fierce monsoon.
A source of fascination to amorous women,
The constant friend to trees, shrubs and creepers,
The very life and breath of all living beings
May this season of rains rich in these benedictions fully
Grant all desires accordant with your well-being
-Kalidasa.
From the very ancient time, the swing is related with the rain. Kajri is the folk song of longing, where the singers focuses the emotions, overwhelmed by desire. This songs of Indian monsoon, relieves the people from the piercing and hot sizzling summer and hence refresh the parched earth, into green meadows. The song "sada bhavani dahini…." reflects the emotion of a girl who insists and pleads her mother-in-law to let her go to her mother's house, to celebrate the festival of Kajri.
"Ras dhire dhire...", "Rimjhim bares re..." "Sawan men hamaar...", "Rimjhim bares badra..." all such musical songs depicts the intensity and vigor of the rain laden clouds which forcefully shower upon the sensitive heart of the singers, who anxiously wants their dear ones to be with them.
The Varsha ritu casts a magical spell on the nature; it charms the mind and soul of the creatures and invents a utopia on earth. The children roguishly play with their mates in the briskly rain, the mother bird flies to her nest to feed and protect her tiny babies, the village damsels would rather amuse themselves by swinging or splashing water to each other in their village ponds.
The monsoon is awaited and welcomed by all. It refreshes the mind and endows a feeling of togetherness. It blends an ecstatic rapture of love and joy in the nature. It is the magic of monsoon that binds us all together and inspires us to spread our imagination through an artistic way.
The Expressional Part- The Natya Shashtra is an ancient text on dance, written by Saint Bharata around 300 B.C. – 500 B.C. This text deals with each and every detail of Indian Classical dances; on the contrary the very base of the Indian Classical dances is the Bharata’s Natya Shashtra. This part especially emphasizes on the nine emotions known as nava rasa and the permanent and temporary feelings associated with it. The nine emotions that a human being possesses are-
1. Shringaar Rasa (love), 2. Hashya Rasa (laugh), 3. Karun (pity), 4. Raudra (anger), 5. Veer Rasa (strong/courageous), 6. Bhayanak Rasa (Terrifying), 7. Bibhats Rasa (Ugly), 8. Adbhut Rasa (Surprising), 9. Shaant Rasa (Peaceful) The nine emotions mentioned above involve a number of expressions during performing like the facial expression (mukhaja abhinaya), eye movements (netra abhinaya) & eyebrow movements (bhru sanchalan). These various expressions make the facial muscles flexible and energize the blood circulation. It is a kind of exercise in itself that is responsible for the movements of lips, chin, forehead, cheeks, eyes, eyebrows and nose. This part also deals with the four different types of acting (abhinaya) – Angika abhinaya, Aharya abhinaya, Vachika abhinaya, Satvika abhinaya .
These four abhinayas provide immense help and support to the dancer regarding acting, stage presentation, stage settings and props, how to develop a theme into a musical dance-drama, etc. Such performance builds confidence, courage, leadership qualities, a sense of timing, team spirit in the performer who can ultimately move the entire audience into his imagination. He can also acquire knowledge about lights, music, costumes, props, etc. that is to be used in the play.
Most of the gestures of body and hands has a close relation with yoga. The body postures have a fine alignment and grace. The different body movements, facial expressions and hand gestures used in Indian classical dance deals with every organ and other systems like the autonomous nervous system, respiratory system, central nervous system and the digestive tract in detail. There is an adjustment of the fine neuro muscles and the co-operating nerve fibres through a connection of the autonomous nervous system and the involuntary organs like heart muscles, blood vessels of the respiratory system and the muscles of the digestive tract. As dance creates a connection between the autonomous and the central nervous system, the exercises of the skeletal muscles influences both these nervous systems thus heightening the balance between the reciprocal nerve fibres regulating the heart muscles, blood vessels and the intestinal tract.
The dancer while performing displays kinesthetic skills in coordination of movements, balance, synchronization, dexterity, strength, speed, and flexibility, interpersonal intelligence in communicating with an audience; intrapersonal intelligence in feeling the emotions of the performance; logical-mathematical skills in analyzing musical structure upon which he/she is performing and creating an imaginary object that practically does nor exist. The individual expertly uses the entire body to relate thoughts and feelings. Movement plays a vital role in human activity and it is a central feature of early learning. The individual develops an ability to manipulate objects skillfully, using both fine and gross motor movements. In the learning process or in the classroom, as the learners use their body to answer the trainer’s gestured questions, they develop quick mental action, good coordination and balance in physical movements. home
