The role of Adavus in classical Bharatha Natyam

by Subashini PATHMANATHAN

In classical Bharata Natyam the dance is divided into three main divisions -- Nirtha, Nirthya and Natya. The adavus are confined to the Nirtha category, in classical Bharata Natyam. Nirtha means pure dance, without revealing any meaning. All the basic aspects of dance such as leg positions, hand positions, hand movements, body positions, neck movements, body movements, eye movements and eyebrow movements are seen in Nirtha, and Nirhya. Any dance, whether it is folk or classical or ritual dance, the adavus are common. The term adavus are used in Kandyan dance also. Adavus are the basic units for any dance forms.

The beautiful movements of these pure nirtha rhythmic patterns were called by Adiyarku Nallar (the 13th century commentator who wrote the commentary on Sillapathykaram) as chokam. Adiyarku Nallar considered pure nirtha as Chokam because; he felt that those who see the pure Nirtha will be impressed by its beauty. That's why he called it Chokam.

Adavus comprises different body standing positions this is called Isthana positions. Generally there are three basic body positions. One is Sama Isthana position, (straight standing position) and other is the Arimandi Isthana position, (half sitting position), and Mulu Mandi Isthana (full sitting position).All the adavus are based on these three basic positions.

Other technical aspects in adavus are Sari, Karana, Anga Karana, and Desi Karana.

The terms Sari and Karanas are generally referred to as Sari Karana or Karanams; this means the leg movements and hand movements are used together in pure nirtha. Another term 'Angakaranam' is often used in classical Bharatha Natyam. It means more than one Karanam joined together in Angakaranam. After the sage Bharatha, who is believed to have written the thesis 'Bharatha Sastra', several other writers have written numerous thesis on dance, who used another term 'Desikaranam'. Desikaranam means the jumping positions in dance.

Today in Bharata Natyam altogether there are eighteen varieties of adavus.

These eighteen varieties of adavus are based on three basic body Isthana positions. But the basic total number differs from text to text. These eighteen varieties of adavus have given rise to the so called four different styles in Bharata Natyam.

Thattu Adavu, Naattu Adavu, Kuthu Adavu, Thattu Mettu Adavu, Sarukai Adavu, Sutru Adavu, Kuthu medu Adavu, Mei Adavu, Mandi Adavu, Marthitha Adavu, Parchal Adavu, Pakka Adavu, and Korvai Adavu, Thandava Adavu, are some of the common Adavus in classical Bharata Natyam

Basically all the styles use the same categories of Adavus and sub Adavus, but the execution of the adavus differ from one style to another.

The different styles originated because the gurus stationed in different areas, used different techniques in the execution of adavus. In classical Bharata Natyam there are four different styles namely Pandanallur, Kaanchipuram, Thanjavoor and Vazhuvoor.

The Adavus comprise beautiful movements, systematic rhythmic patterns, and high technical factors in dance. Adavus are the basic foundation for the dance and it takes more time to learn it.

These pure Nirtha aspects of dance do not reveal any meaning. The hand muthras or the hastas, used in Adavus do not indicate any meaning. The muthras used in Adavus are generally called Ellil hands, or Nirtha hands.

The Muthras used for Abinaya are called Tholil hands.

Ellil hands mean beauty hands, to show the beauty of the Adavus. Tholil hands are used in abinaya to interpret the meaning of the song. In the Nirtha thirteen muthras are used. These thirteen muthras comprise some single hand muthras and some double hand muthras. In Adavus nearly ten foot positions are used.

In Bharata Natyam one can see, the use of adavus in all items. Allaripu and Jetheswaram are the two main traditional Nirtha adavu based items. Even adavus play major role in the Nattuwangam sollukadus and swaras in the song, or in other words beautiful variety of sequence of adavus are compiled for nattuwangam sollukadus and swaras of the songs. Varieties of adavus are called Korvai adavus. Korvai adavus are ended up with theermana adavus.

The adavus strictly adhered to thala (tempo), kala (speed), and laya (proper balancing between the thala, and kala).