Dance of the Weave 0670087203, 9780670087204

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DANCE of the WEAVE

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DANCE of the WEAVE A Dialogue between Traditional Textiles and Dance in India

BRIANA BLASKO Foreword by

DONNA KARAN

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Introduction by

LEELA SAMSON

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PENGUIN ENTERPRISE Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110 017, India Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia), 707 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3008, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, Block D, Rosebank Office Park, 181 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parktown North, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London W

C2R 0RL, England

First published in Penguin Enterprise by Penguin Books India 2013 Penguin Enterprise is the custom publishing imprint of Penguin Books India Text and photographs copyright © Briana Blasko 2013 Foreword copyright © Donna Karan 2013 Introduction copyright © Leela Samson 2013 The copyright for individual pieces vests with the authors or their estates Page 149 is an extension of the copyright page All rights reserved 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 While every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain permission, this has not been possible in all cases; any omissions brought to our attention will be remedied in future editions. ISBN 9780670087204 For sale in the Indian Subcontinent only Art direction and design by Justin Peters, New York Printed at Pragati Offset Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser and without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above-mentioned publisher of this book.

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For Linda, Peter and Andrei

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CONTENTS

Foreword DONNA KARAN

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Introduction: The Fabric of Dance LEELA SAMSON

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Blue Gold RATNA RAMAN

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The Dance and the Cloth AMBA SANYAL

109

A Note on Indian Dance Forms

145

Acknowledgements

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Copyright Acknowledgements

149

Glossary

151

Notes on Contributors

155

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FOREWORD

DONNA KARAN

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abric has always been my passion. Not just any fabric, but the rich, textured, soft, luxurious fabric that bears the imprint of an artisan’s hand. I have spent countless hours moulding, sculpting and draping fabric on the human body, but even now, there is nothing more incredible to me than seeing seemingly two-dimensional, lifeless material morph into an outer expression of the spirit within. When I first saw Briana Blasko’s photographs from her Dancer series, the conjuring up of the intensity, strength and beauty of the dancers struck me as extraordinary. As a designer, I am intrigued by the human—particularly the female—form. I feel intensely aware of every nuance, curve and movement of a body. Briana’s subtle, poetic images show the power that dancers hold in their bodies while also revealing their fragility. She is able to capture women as I have always seen them: strong, yet vulnerable; powerful but also gentle; and blessed, above all, with a wisdom that enables them to take care of our whole world.

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This ability to reveal the hidden essence of womankind is a key element in Briana’s work. I first encountered it when she took photographs for one of our Urban Zen Foundation collections—a project that merges philanthropy and creativity. There, too, Briana used dancers to photograph the series, beautifully capturing the heart and soul of our vision through their performance. Looking at her more recent photographs of dance and textiles in India, I am reminded of her particular artistic gift: to capture the movement of a soul within the silence and stillness of a photograph.

Today, our world is filled with technology. Our culture is permeated with the idea that everything needs to be bigger, brighter, faster, cheaper. The special body of work that Briana has created in this book opens up a different space, giving all of us a chance to inhale deeply, exhale slowly and take in the beauty that is this sacred life.

The loveliness of these images in the book you are holding resides in their ability to share the restless conversation between body and fabric. At times, the dancer and the dance blur into one, and it becomes hard to separate the two art forms—the weave and the rhythm—from each other. At other times, we can trace how fabric and dance are inseparable from the narratives of ritual and belief. Fabric is not fetishized or held apart, but is a part of life—every ordinary pleat and fold of cloth seems to tell a living story in these photographs. I fell in love with Briana’s Indigo series, the churning beauty unleashed by the indigo plant.

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INTRODUCTION: THE FABRIC OF DANCE

LEELA SAMSON

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t is the privilege of the dancer in India to gradually grow into a consciousness of the many other arts and intellectual processes that inform the dance. It never fails to amaze how varied these other arts are, and how their particular fragrance enhances the art of dance—so much so that without their presence the dance is simply incomplete. These arts were meant to be expressed together, as a single and whole offering. This does not take away from their individual merit or distinction or ability to stand on their own.

Philosophy, religion, customs and rituals, mythology, architecture, sculpture, iconography, textiles, weaving and dyeing, jewellery, languages, prose, poetry and recitation, vocal and instrumental music, the language of drums and rhythmic patterns, the crafts of copper, brass, silver and bell-metal ware, physiology, anatomy, health, land, property, and sampradaya or propriety— the list of these interdependent knowledge systems is truly endless.

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It was the dancers and musicians who seem to have set the tone for trends in dressing and attire in different social milieu. The jewellery and costumes that draped and shaped the body of the dancer were particular to different time periods. What they chose to sheathe their bodies in on stage was and is important, if not vital, as this continues to be their public demeanour and their personal expression. It was so in the past, and is so now. In south India, the villages around Kanchipuram produced the finest silk saris for the deities in the temple and for the general public. Typically, a woman possessed only a couple of these exquisite six-yard saris that were part of her dowry when she married—she did not need more, for they lasted a lifetime, and were not tucked away, but worn daily. They were not meant to be passed on to daughters, but to be worn soft through decades of wifely and motherly duties, till one could not tell the person from the garment. We all have vivid memories of what our mothers, and even grandmothers, wore.

Apart from the deity in the temple, the dancer too wore the colours of Parvati and Lakshmi, Saraswathi and Andal, Valli and Devayani. Parrot greens and leaf greens, the colour of the rice fields in the Thanjavur district; deep purples and baingani purples; arakku, a deep maroon; reds, the colours of the kumkumam worn by women on their foreheads; mustard like the fields of sarson in the Punjab, a mellow and gentle lemon yellow, and all the shades of the earth—these were the colours that were woven by the simple Kanchipuram weaver. And the designs for the borders and the pallu cannot be described in words—the motifs of the temple walls reflecting the waves and eddies of the rivers and sea; the beauty of the serpent represented in the curved line; the circles, squares and triangles representing the five elements—earth, fire, water, wind and space—as well as the chakras and mandalas of ancient philosophies; the weavers wove birds from the forest that were real, as those from mythology were imaginative. But most of all, they spun the fabric of their fingers into the yarn, and the gentle love of their homes and hearts into the sari, creating six yards and many decades of pure joy!

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Conservatism saw the dancer of the early 1900s wear a clumsy pyjama under these gorgeous saris, which made the sari look bulky and untidy. The 1950s saw a carefully pleated and overly tailored ‘pyjama costume’, which although more complimentary to the dancers’ figures, was not a draped garment by any stretch of imagination, in the way a sari was meant to fall and flow. Some dancers wore the ‘sari-type’ costume, which was made to seem as it is usually draped, but at a level above the ankles to allow for some movement. But, alas, this too does not have the natural flow that a draped garment—like the dhoti or the sari—enjoys. Every dancer, for the past six decades has been cutting up this painstakingly made, beautifully crafted material. It is conceived to suit the dance he or she is choreographing. What has resulted is every concoction and permutation of ‘the drape’. Yet, except for the Manipuri and Odissi dance forms and a few male dancers of south India, the costumes for the stage are rarely, if ever, draped.

To hold the fabric, to knot it and drape it, to pleat it and twirl it around the body, and then to feel the fabric fall around one’s limbs in a way that enhances the beauty of the fabric and its designs, its border taking on special significance when it holds within itself the araimandi posture, and falling gracefully around the ankles when in swastika, is a feeling one cannot adequately describe. It is unadulterated pleasure! And from the point of view of comfort, tailoring stands little chance by comparison. When you watch Bharatanatyam performed on stage, it would seem as though the sari worn by the dancer is, in fact, made for the Gods! Deities like Shiva and Vishnu, Kamadev and Sri Krishna, and a host of other mythological characters come to life in the many different dance representations of them on stage. In terms of the fabric, design and texture of the Kanchipuram silk used, they deserve no less.

of the pallu, can make or ruin a performance. The temple precincts were grand enough to carry the weight of these considerations, but halls differ in size and in weight of performance. It is also true that the personality of the dancer, his or her age and comfort level with the garment matter in how it will be appreciated and look on stage, especially under heavy lights. Textiles, the world over, are markers of the creative genius of a people. To preserve them means to enjoy them and wear them, love them for what they are and celebrate their existence in our lives. The dancer has the added opportunity to showcase the garment as a symbol of a culture.

Some actor-dancers possess the sensitivity to know what colours serve to enhance the strength of their personality and the dance, and how another tone of colour can and cannot highlight an expression of love or despair. The right colour, and the balance between how ornate the zari is, the width of the border and the length

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Pages v–vi, 157–58: Bharatanatyam dancer Roja Kannan rehearses with a handwoven cotton sari with a silk border from Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu. It acts as a prop in her dance, which depicts a quest for the nilotpalam. The dance represents an esoteric, metaphysical concept, and the cloth creates a magical screen distancing her search from the viewer and heightening its mysterious nature. Bharatanatyam, a south Indian dance form, has ancient roots in the movements of temple dancers. CHENNAI • TAMIL NADU • 2010

Opposite Page: Kuchipudi dancer Govinda Rajulu Garu unfurling a length of cotton fabric, handwoven at Mangalagiri, Andhra Pradesh. Named after a coastal village on the Bay of Bengal, the Kuchipudi dance form is almost twenty centuries old and has its roots in Andhra Pradesh. HYDERABAD • ANDHRA PRADESH • 2008

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Opposite, and page xxi: Sattriya dancer Maniram Gayan shapes eight metres of unstructured white cotton fabric into a pagri. UTTAR KAMALABARI SATRA • MAJULI • ASSAM • 2010

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Opposite page: Kathak dancer Vijay Sahani wears a white cotton dhoti and a gamcha, both as a waistband and turban. Kathak has its centuries-old roots in the travelling storytellers of north India. One of the three gharanas of Kathak dance originated in Varanasi. TULSI GHAT • VARANASI • UTTAR PRADESH • 2008

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When we speak of the weaver, we speak of his craft. When we speak of art, we look in the direction of the dancer, still in the complex interplay of our understanding of aesthetics—where would the dancer be without the weaver’s yards of spun, coloured and meshed fabric to which weaving fingers danced obedience first? RATNA RAMAN • Academic • Delhi University

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Pages xxiv–xxv: Sattriya dancers wearing handwoven dhotis, seleng sadars and gamosas with white cotton pagris. The dance is called Gayan Bayan, meaning ‘singing the raag’. UTTAR KAMALABARI SATRA • MAJULI • ASSAM • 2010

Pages xxviii–xxix: Gotipua dancers getting dressed for a performance. Traditional white cotton dhotis handwoven in Orissa adorn these young male dancers who perform the roles of female characters on stage. This dance form is the precursor of the Odissi dance form. RAGHURAJPUR • ORISSA • 2012 Opposite, and page xxxii: Gair dancers at the Sheetala Saptami Mela before the festival of Holi. The male dancers are wearing white cotton jammas with coloured safas and long orange scarfs tied to their bodies. BALOTRA • RAJASTHAN • 2009

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A swirl or a chakkar would not be the same if the fabric was heavy and opaque. Both dance and fabric have a strong vocabulary—they are visual, tactile and structured; they are driven by passion and complement each other. SANDHYA RAMAN • Costume designer • New Delhi

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Opposite, and pages xxxiv–xxxv: Kathak dancer Namrata Pamnani, who received her formal training under Bharati Gupta and Pandit Jai Krishan Maharaj, the elder son of Pandit Birju Maharaj from the Lucknow gharana, rehearses in a cotton angarkha tailored with an extra flare that enhances the dancer’s movements. DEFENCE COLONY • NEW DELHI • 2011

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Opposite page: A worker prepares warp threads at Rehwa Society, a cooperative weaving establishment that continues the tradition of handwoven saris from Maheshwar. MAHESHWAR • MADHYA PRADESH • 2008

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Opposite page: Bharatanatyam dancer Prithvija Balagopalan holds up the talappu of her Kanchipuram silk sari. Said to have descended from the weaver of the gods, Kanchipuram weavers create intricate saris, rich in colour, texture and motif, that are often embellished. KANCHIPURAM • TAMIL NADU • 2008

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Pages xlii–xliii: An indigo maker preparing to enter a vat of indigo to begin the oxidization process.

Opposite, and page 4: Indigo makers oxidize the dye by using a technique of vigorously kicking their legs in a water-filled vat. TAMIL NADU • 2010

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1

BLUE GOLD

RATNA RAMAN

P

hotographs enthral through both movement and colour. They capture journeys through India and frame the discovery of elements of joyous movement in our regional dances, in the secluded lives of different communities and in the vibrant colours and textures that are produced under the Indian sun. They also establish a connection between older stories and the present, and allow us to see how some of these have travelled into time and been rewritten, entirely anew. One such old Indian story is about indigo. The production of indigo has unique historical associations. I refer not to the indigo which is produced as a synthetic dye, but to its earlier existence as an extract derived from vegetable sources. At a time when synthetic dyes were being mass-produced at the close of the nineteenth century, indigo workers in Champaran revolted against their harsh working conditions. These growers of the indigo plant lived in conditions of extreme poverty, and were being forced to cultivate indigo as a cash crop in lieu of food crops.

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Great damage was suffered by the self-sufficient systems of subsistence agricultural production. The exploited indigo workers sent a representative to speak of their sufferings, and the person they sought help from was Mahatma Gandhi, who personally travelled to Champaran to see the abject conditions of the indigo farmers. Despite the disapproval of the British rulers, the Champaran crusade went on to play a role of crucial importance in India’s freedom struggle. Its place in the history books of India aside, what has not been dwelt on as much is the narrative of the production of indigo—grown in the earth, soaked and shaken up in water, and then collected and dried under the sun. Synthetic dyes did, for a long time, replace the urgent need for indigo production from vegetation. Yet, as the dangers of synthetic dyes continued to be discovered, a small but steady market of discerning, eco-friendly clientele created a need for the production of natural indigo dye. Today, in parts of India—Tamil Nadu, in this case, under conditions very different from the deplorable state of the Champaran workers—indigo dye is being produced.

The camera captures a large tank filled with clear water in which twigs bearing leaves of the indigo bush are manually submerged. Once the leaves and stems have drunk their fill of the water, it is time for the humans to aid in this cosmic transformative churning. The event itself harks back to a primeval act. The feet and legs are used to beat the green of the plant and the white of the water into foam, and a deep rich colour is threshed out. The movement of sploshing feet and swivelling and swinging legs generates froth and energy and allows turquoise blue and green waves to be created. The sight is bewitching, and the small water tank seems to be touched by an unexpected eternity.

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Looking at the foam and the swirling, rushing water and the synchronized limbs of the indigo workers, one feels as if one is witness to an ancient timeless narrative. By the time the men have finished their day’s work, their clothes and limbs are dyed in shades of deep blue and violet. Now they will let the water rest, and this will soon be drained off. Eventually, blocks of blueblack dyes will find their way to the market for other craftspeople—the dyers and block printers—to be used on a range of fabric.When we see the workers spinning their limbs in water, their synchronized movements are rather like those of a group of dancers and their strenuous labour mimics the energy of an elaborate ritual dance.

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The skills of the weaver or the indigo maker often go unrecognized. Human hands and feet that give of themselves with energy, with enthusiasm and with great aesthetic grace, very often do not receive due credit for the beauty they create and selflessly sustain. We live in a global culture that puts a low premium on most physical labour. Are the men and women who toil to create this exquisite colour ever paid adequately?—nor is this ceremonial ritual dance that defines their labour a part of the larger collective imagination. These photographs highlight the need to engage with the grander, vibrant and effervescent activity of the production of indigo.

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Page 6: Indigo cakes are cut into cubes to be dried in the sun in the final stage of production. TAMIL NADU • 2010

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Page 7: A dyer prepares hanks of silk yarn for a temple cloth which will have the words of the Gita Govinda, a twelfth-century composition depicting the story of Krishna and Radha, woven into the fabric. NUAPATNA • ORISSA • 2009 Opposite page: Typically, women are the spinners in the process of handloom weaving. Here, silk threads are set before being stretched on to a loom at Mangalagiri. MANGALAGIRI • ANDHRA PRADESH • 2008

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Opposite page: A woman laying warp threads on a handloom at Maheshwar. MAHESHWAR • MADHYA PRADESH • 2009

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Opposite, and pages 14–15: Uduthukettu of the Kathakali character, backstage in preparation for a performance. Manikandhan constructed the many-layered costume. Tailoring and costume design is by Balan T.P. KERALA KALAMANDALAM • CHERUTHURUTHY • KERALA • 2009

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Opposite, and pages 18–19: Manipuri dancers preparing to perform at the Ras Leela festival. A white cotton thabak yet is stitched over a velvetsleeved resham phurit. The stiffly flared poswan is assembled over the kumin. The koktumbi is placed on the head with the jewelled koknam. SRI SRI GOVINDAJI TEMPLE • IMPHAL • MANIPUR • 2011

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I grew up feeling textiles between my fingers. The roughness of a Rabari wool shawl, the bumpiness of a tussore sari, the uneven feel of handloom and khadi, the lusciousness of old gajji, the freckles in a fine bandhani—these were things I loved. As a child, I would see my mother, Mrinalini Sarabhai, sit on the floor of our home with the dyer Toofan Rafai—who was trying to revive organic dyes—as he opened up a huge cloth-wrapped package that he had carried with him in a rickshaw. And with fascination, I learned to recognize the smells of indigo and supari used by him. Embroideries fascinated me. The fine Swat work, the rougher Maldhari work. I would watch as my mother put colours and fabrics together, and then adapted classical shapes to suit the new dance drama she was creating. MALLIKA SARABHAI • Choreographer, and Kuchipudi and Bharatnatyam dancer • Ahmedabad

Opposite page: Bharatanatyam and Kathakali dancer and choreographer Mrinalini Sarabhai, draped in a silk sari from Kornad, Tamil Nadu. AHMEDABAD • GUJARAT • 2009

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Opposite page: Odissi dancer Madhavi Mudgal, draped in a silk Sambalpuri sari from Orissa. These saris are made on a handloom, in weaves and motifs typical of the Sambalpur tradition. Odissi dance is characterized by the striking of a series of sculptural poses. GANDHARVA MAHAVIDYALAYA • NEW DELHI • 2009

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Opposite page: Mohiniyattam student Jyothis is draped in a kasavu–mundu set in pale cream cotton. The mundu is an unstructured garment worn by both men and women in Kerala. Men wear the mundu in lieu of the dhoti. The unstructured fabric covering the lower body recalls the mekhela chador traditions of Assam. MAYFAIR GARDENS • NEW DELHI • 2011

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Pages 26–27: Silk thread on a handloom is weighed down to ensure it remains taut and stretched. KUTHAMPULLY • THRISSUR • KERALA • 2008

Opposite page: Kathak dancer Vartika experiments with subtle dance movements on the steps of the ghats in Varanasi, wearing a locally woven silk sari patterned with butis in zari thread. Varanasi has one of the oldest and finest weaving traditions in India. VARANASI • UTTAR PRADESH • 2008

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Opposite, and pages 30–31: Kathak dancer Ashavari Majumdar wearing a cotton angarkha kurta with a handwoven dupatta from Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh. Kathak performers often use layers of sheer fabric to enhance the dancer’s movements. KOLKATA • WEST BENGAL • 2008

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Fabric for me has been a divine dance partner. I have explored the way that fabric can metaphorically emulate so many natural forces—rivers, oceans, lagoons, flames, clouds, mountains, oil, vapour, flowers, blood, molten lava . . . I created an evening-length concert of works based on the image of huge dresses that dancers wore, sometimes filling the whole stage with fabric. These became, in part, symbolic of the weight, the awkwardness, the struggle, the immense grace of the female experience. FIONA MARCOTTY DOLENGA • Choreographer and dancer • Colombia and New York

Opposite page: A dancer using heavy silk brocade woven in Varanasi as a prop in her choreography. VARANASI • UTTAR PRADESH • 2008

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Weaving yarn into cloth, and using that cloth as a drape to clothe the human body, Gandhi taught us, was a liberating occasion that highlighted joy and self-sufficiency. The photographs in this book capture the coloured yarn against the backdrop of the earth, the lines echoing and reflecting the colours of our world to the more complex gossamer weaves of fine cotton and silk. The connections between the weaver whose fingers dance on the loom and the exquisitely draped dancer who weaves magical narrative through dance, slowly unveil and reiterate this ancient relationship. RATNA RAMAN • Academic • Delhi University

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CLOTH, AND LOVE. A LOVE OF CLOTH ‘When you ask me about rhythm in textiles, I think of he who learnt to know a loom from its sound—as a textile designer and curator, and through his many meanderings in Indian villages in search of the most beautiful fabrics, he learnt to sense the math of a handloom, the utterances of its geometry, even from a distance. As the beats of a reed against a shuttle form myriad patterns, I hear the exactitudes of triangular motifs taking shape, a square there, and the perfect circle inlaid in a gossamer Jamdani! The incessant noise of hundreds of looms filling a village at dawn, their slow drone in the afternoon, their fading lull at dusk . . .’ MAYANK MANSINGH KAUL • Textile designer and curator • New Delhi

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Page 38: Mohiniyattam dancer Nayana B. wearing a white cotton mundu set, edged with black. The two-piece draped garment is handwoven in white or cream with coloured or gold edges. KERALA KALAMANDALAM • CHERUTHURUTHY • KERALA • 2008 Page 39: Dancer Devaki Rajendran poses behind a loom in the Kerala Nadanam style, which combines both the Kathakali and Mohiniyattam dance forms. She wears a khadi mundu set draped in the traditional blouse-less style of earlier times. BALARAMAPURAM • KERALA • 2008 Opposite page: A woman guides spun cotton yarn on to spindles at Women Weave, a charitable organization in Maheshwar. MAHESHWAR • MADHYA PRADESH • 2009

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‘In the Rig Veda—the first hymns that echoed in these fabled lands—the warp thread of the loom is the sun, and the weft, the moon. The sun is gold, man. The moon is silver, woman. The fabric of our everyday lives is woven in their continuing repartee. In ancient Greek mythology, Clotho was the youngest of the three fates, spinning the thread of life, and with her sisters Lachesis and Atropos, and their brother Hermes, they together created the alphabet for their people . . .’

Opposite page: Mohiniyattam dancer Vidyamol T.P. wearing a white handwoven Kerala mundu set edged with gold, with an extra shawl of the textile draped over her shoulders. KUTHAMPULLY • THRISSUR • KERALA • 2008

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‘Cloth, and the human experience. That single spun yarn—the emergence of something out of nothing—and its journey onwards, as ritual thread, as plaited braid, as finished cloth. As a quilt for the newborn made by the midwife, to mark a young girl’s first step into womanhood, the gilded odhana of her wedding, and the white sheets which wrap her in death—her disappearance into the ultimate, back into the nothingness she came from . . .’

Opposite page: A woman helps a weaver settle the muga silk yarn on to the handloom frame. Boko is an important centre for the production of muga silk in Assam. BOKO • ASSAM • 2010

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Opposite page: Contemporary dancer Shilpika Bordoloi, trained in the dance traditions of Manipuri, Bharatanatyam and Mayurbhanj Chhau, uses a part of her costume to enhance her movements. She wears a draped Gadwal cotton sari with a silk border. MAYFAIR GARDENS • NEW DELHI • 2012

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‘The incessant throbs of these threads melt into one large universal fabric. As Goddess, she is Katyayani, bathed in red—she appears to start a new day. With the first swara, the singer sets the tone. The dancer ties a knot on his waist. And drums beat their way into the day. In procession, her idol is upheld on a velveteen cushion, fine edges in gold. Under a yellow canopy she roams the streets, showering shreds of fine Chanderi on the worshipping multitudes. Silken ropes pull her palanquin . . .’

Opposite page: Haldi and kumkum are auspicious powders used in temple prayers. The colours are repeated on many south Indian textiles. THALAGIRISWARA TEMPLE • PANAMALAI • TAMIL NADU • 2008

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‘O Rai Shrimati, Prem tant shikheche shyam Tanti Oh Radha, Krishna the weaver has learned to weave Love. He can weave even an unprepared thread with Love, And Maya Bhagabati is raising the shuttle. The Love loom is divided into three. The Jaku of Ananda Chinmay, pure joy of higher consciousness Is held in his hands, And the thread is moving in the Rasa of Love. The Love loom has five poles, The charming smile, beauty, the flute, the colour blue And the posture of Trivanga; They are celebrating the give and take of sweet loveliness. Goshai Gour tells Podo, You threads are tangled, How will they find inner flow of Love Perhaps it was lost at the cotton flower ...’ Poddolochon (Podo), circa seventeenth century

Opposite, and pages 54–55: Baul singer Parvathy Baul wearing a Bhagalpur tussore silk sari in atpoure drape. Her muga silk blouse has a woven Assamese border design. Baul belongs to the mystic minstrel tradition of Bengal. Bera Pak Nach is a spinning dance step Parvathy learnt from her master, Shoshanko Goshai. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM • KERALA • 2012

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‘When you ask me about rhythm in textiles, I think of she who sees a white spider every time she embarks on a textile yatra. The Padmashali weavers, whom she often works with, trace their own myth of origin to the spider. A web of protection formed, a sign of good omen, her journey will go well. She carefully inscribes new words on milk-soaked fabric, the reed sharpened to a perfect slant. With every crescent, she starts the next story, never-ending as Draupadi’s sari. And as the full moon approaches, the ink seeps in, but lighter than on other days . . .’

Pages 57–59: Dancer Sharmila Desai, trained in Bharatanatyam and Kalaripayattu as well as Ashtanga Yoga, pushes traditional forms of movement into the realm of the contemporary. She is wearing a silk kurti and cotton dupatta from Kerala. Opposite page: Dancer Sharmila Desai experiments with a handwoven blue silk Kanchipuram sari. UNION SQUARE • NEW YORK • 2010

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Opposite page: Odissi dancers Jaya Mehta and Swaati Vivek are draped in Khandua dhotis in the tradition of the region of their gurus, Surendra Nath Jena and Pratibha Jena Singh. The handwoven saris have ‘temple’ borders in the form of stylized triangles, with scattered motifs on the body. The style of drape does not use a decorative fan piece as most Odissi dance costumes do. The sari is taken between the legs, both to emphasize the negative space and for comfort of movement. SANSKRITI FOUNDATION • NEW DELHI • 2010

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Opposite page: Odissi dancers Bijayini Satpathy and Pavithra Reddy in handloom cotton ‘half-saris’ woven at Kalakshetra, the national academy of dance and music in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The weaving centre at Kalakshetra was founded by Rukmini Devi Arundale to revive the traditional sari designs of Tamil Nadu that are preferred by dancers. NRITYAGRAM • HESSARAGHATTA • KARNATAKA • 2012

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‘Cloth, and love. Love for god. The fifteenth-century poet-saint-weaver’s songs of light: “Knowing not Rama, they went to weave/The cloth’s length cannot be measured in yards/Should the warp get wet it is of no use/Says Kabir/Renounce the spreading Mirage of him who made this world visible.” Discreet love. Against his blue skin, in ochre garb, Krishna appears, to meet his beloved Radha in a forest grove at night. Only the intertwined jasmine creepers are witness . . .’

Opposite, and pages 68–69: Bharat Sevashram Sangha members wearing their coloured robes, sing and dance while performing aarti, a Hindu ritual of worship, during Durga Puja, when the Hindu goddess Durga is celebrated. VARANASI • UTTAR PRADESH • 2008

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‘Earlier, in the last century, a short Indian man in a small loincloth walked the streets of London in the height of winter to negotiate freedom for his country. In the long saga of a non-violent revolution, he impressed upon his people the selfless momentum of the spinning wheel, to make their own yarn, to make their own cloth, to first win the wars within. Those marching armies of people, the unarmed troops of an entire nation, young and old, bound by a mere fibre. Battles won with cloth!’

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Opposite, and pages 74–78: Dancers practise Kalaripayattu, the vigorous south Indian martial art. They tie the red kacha over the black unstitched tharu. C.V.N. KALARI SCHOOL • CALICUT • KERALA • 2011

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‘And so, it goes on. Waves breaking on rocks under raging clouds, she skips through neat rows carved on the sand by long fingers, the folds of her skirt swaying in the wind. She beckons; a drowse in one eye and a twinkle in another, a scarlet hibiscus tucked in her hair, the blush of her wet lips, she removes a silver anklet. She takes the water in, a line of kohl in her eye spreads . . . Tears and Triumph. The blackness of the night, the lostness of being found. A smile as old as time. And the lilting, slow, emerging tune of a whistle, in the silence after the storm . . .’

Opposite, and pages 82–83: Kalaripayattu dancer Sujith S. has draped a piece of cotton cloth in the form of a minimal undergarment. This provides ease of mobility during vigorous movements. C.V.N. KALARI SCHOOL • THIRUVANANTHAPURAM • KERALA • 2008

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Opposite page: Sattriya dancers in preparation for their performance based on the Vrindavani Vastra, a historic Assamese tapestry depicting Krishna, woven under the guidance of Mahapurusha Madhabdeva and his guru Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankaradev in the sixteenth century. This dance group, Satraranga, was founded by Bhabananda Barbayan in 2007. Pages 86–87: The Vrindavani Vastra, woven by Assamese weavers, is considered a craft masterpiece. Dancer and choreographer Bhabananda Barbayan expresses his hope that this rich tradition of weaving fabric replicating the Vastra continues throughout Assam. He wishes that all actors and dancers of Bhaona would use such fabric for their costumes. This would go a long way towards promoting and providing supply chains for all those weavers who weave Krishna’s mythological stories into fabric. UTTAR KAMALABARI SATRA • MAJULI • ASSAM • 2012

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Pages 88–90: Kartal Cholom guru N. Shyamchand Singh draped in a handloom cotton phaijom, khwangyet, and a loosely stitched koyet. The kartal is decorated with silk and wool yarn and is played during the Sankirtana performances. IMPHAL • MANIPUR • 2008 Page 91: Sattriya dancers from the Uttar Kamalabari Satra fold a cotton tangali. They are standing inside their home, the baha, which displays a variety of uses for locally woven textiles. Opposite page: Sattriya monks at the Uttar Kamalabari Satra prepare for a performance of the Anika Bhaona, a story based on Krishna’s life. They wear a combination of cotton, silk and artificial silk costumes, some in intricately woven handloom traditional designs. MAJULI • ASSAM • 2010

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Opposite, and page 96: Contemporary dancer Shilpika Bordoloi, trained in many dance forms, choreographs movement with the pallu of a Gadwal cotton sari with a Pochampally design on the silk border. MAYFAIR GARDENS • NEW DELHI • 2012

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Bharatanatyam brings in a genre of symmetry, with its sharp angles; the rhythm is powerful and the beats pound the heart, the speed is built and the audience is drawn into a mesmerizing soul-searching experience. The basic understanding of this geometry can be seen in the Kanchipuram silks and cottons that the dancer drapes. The softness and the tenderness of the abhinaya are captured through the supple drape of the material. SANDHYA RAMAN • Costume designer • New Delhi.

Opposite page: Dancer Lavanya Ananth, trained in the Vazhuvoor Bharatanatyam style, dances in the Kapaleeswarar temple in Chennai draped in a cotton Kanchipuram ‘half-sari’. Her costume reflects the auspicious shades of haldi–kumkum. ARULMIGU KAPALEESWARAR TEMPLE • CHENNAI • TAMIL NADU • 2008

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Opposite, and page 102: Mayurbhanj Chhau dancer Susanta Behera wearing a yellow cotton dhoti with a red cummerbund from Orissa.

Page 103: Mayurbhanj Chhau dancers Gopal Yadav and Susanta Behera wearing white cotton dhotis with handloom cummerbunds from Sambalpur, Orissa. BARIPADA • ORISSA • 2008

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Page 105: Sattriya dancers wear cotton dhotis of unstitched cloth. The young monks practise the Gerowa Sowa position from the Matiakhara.

Opposite page: Sattriya dancers in cotton dhotis draped for maximum flexibility. The backbend is called the Thia Lan from the Matiakhara. UTTAR KAMALABARI SATRA • MAJULI • ASSAM • 2010

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THE DANCE AND THE CLOTH

AMBA SANYAL

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t is not often that sensibilities across mediums inform a unified perception—that too in an intuitive manner. The flow of response to the sensuality of form as predicated by the body in movement and the stillness of inner movement concentrated into the bindu of energy radiating into motion is what has been captured in these images— the cloth being the materiality of the play of energy. The oneness of body and cloth is the essence of this perception. The dance forms and dance-like movements of the body demand their specific response in the way the energy displays its patterns, its twists and turns, at full play and repose. The nature and texture of cloth as extension of the body in material form translates into moving images of heaviness or lightness, colour and intention. Motifs accenting the contour of the body and extension of gesture are supported by a basic mood of tonalities and contrasts of silk and cotton dyed in brilliant hues; or the undyed purity of raw materials

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in off-whites of cotton, beige tones of tussores or the different tones of gold of muga silk highlighted by undulating borders of pure gold or of bold colours. The froth of beaten indigo holds the frenzy behind movement while the deep Manjistha Alizarin (red) reflects the heart. The haldi–kumkum (turmeric– vermilion) combine holds within it a deeply significant spiritual memory, a cultural signifier. This continuum is the expression that is so particular and also so transient that to capture it requires a rare lucidity of temperament. The beat-establishing rhythm is the core spirit of dance as impassioned, incessant movement of time, defined by these regional patterns of response, as seen through the cloth. These images trace an internal journey that aspires to imbibe the sublime nature of unity in the moment, and are as such, nothing more, nothing less. They simply are a moment in time.

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Opposite, and pages 112–14: Bharatanatyam dancer Nimmy Raphel draped in a Kanchipuram khadi sari performs at the Thalagiriswara Temple built in the Chola dynasty. Bharatanatyam originated in the temple traditions of performing arts. THALAGIRISWARA TEMPLE • PANAMALAI • TAMIL NADU • 2008

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In my dances, I don’t want the audience members to just see the fabric; I want them to sense what goes beyond the material. The fabric’s purpose is to help create and convey a quality in both movement and in visual design, and in doing so, it extends the dance’s effective reach. Fabric occupies an important position because it helps audience members identify a narrative. The types of fabric, their differences in weight and composition, create various moods, and in some ways, also help form characters within the dances. SHEN WEI • Choreographer, stage director, set and costume designer, and painter • New York

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Opposite, and pages 120–122: Bharatanatyam dancer Justin McCarthy and his students choreograph contemporary movement inspired by the flow of Kanchipuram silks. NIZAMUDDIN WEST • NEW DELHI • 2011

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The unique beauty of unstitched cloth . . . wrapped, folded, fabric origami! Practice saris and dhotis in simple cotton give way to sumptuous silks on stage. The hours of sweat and toil over ascetic physical geometries are suddenly rewarded with royal finery. When I tie blazing orange or regal purple silk round my waist, my body tingles, and I feel like a prince in a fairy tale. JUSTIN McCARTHY • Choreographer and Bharatanatyam dancer • New Delhi

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Opposite, and pages 126–28: Seraikella Chhau dancers Kuna Samal and Rajesh Gope wear five-metre-long tribal dhotis and cummerbunds from Jharkhand. The characters wear papier-mâché masks and perform the role of a boatman and his wife. The masks are made by Acharya Chhau Nrutya Bichitra. KHARKAI RIVER • SERAIKELLA • JHARKHAND • 2008

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Page 130: A Kathakali dance guru teaches in a handwoven cotton mundu. KERALA KALAMANDALAM • CHERUTHURUTHY • KERALA • 2009 Page 131: Contemporary dancer Navtej Johar in a Bharatanatyam dance posture, wearing a handwoven cotton veshti from Tamil Nadu. HAUZ KHAS • NEW DELHI • 2011 Opposite page: Bharatanatyam dancer Priyadarsini Govind practises in a cotton Kalakshetra ‘half-sari’ worn over cotton pyjamas. CHENNAI • TAMIL NADU • 2011

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What would a Bharatanatyam dancer be without her pallu pleated into a fan, a classical ballerina without her long white tulle, a flamenco dancer without her ruffled train—each of these swirling in the ‘wake’ of a flip of the foot, a leap through the air? A dancer dances, and the movement lingers in the drape of her fabric. RAJIKA PURI • Choreographer, and Bharatanatyam and Odissi dancer • New York

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Page 134: Bharatanatyam dancer Prithvija Balagopalan drapes the cotton Kalakshetra ‘half-sari’ tightly against her body for a practice session. CHENNAI • TAMIL NADU • 2008 Page 135: Dancer Shloka Vaidialingam wears a nine-yard Kanchipuram silk sari that is draped between the legs in the manner required for the Kuchipudi style of dance. BARAKHAMBA ROAD • NEW DELHI • 2011 Opposite page: Detail of a Varanasi cotton sari worn by Namrata Pamnani, with a silver zari border and circular flowers or butis. Classical dancers from all over India use Varanasi weaves in their costumes. MAYFAIR GARDENS • NEW DELHI • 2012

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Page 140: Bharatanatyam dancer Prithvija Balagopalan displays the pallu of her cotton Kalakshetra ‘half-sari’ while standing against the wall of a temple. KANCHIPURAM • TAMIL NADU • 2008 Page 141: Manipuri dancer Radhamanbi Devi covers her upper torso in a cotton inaphi with patterns using the Jamdani technique of handloom weaving. IMPHAL • MANIPUR • 2008 Opposite page: Kuchipudi dancer Amani wearing a Ponduru khadi sari sits underneath warp threads with a yellow dupatta over her head. This young dancer lives and trains at a local dance academy in Kuchipudi village. MANGALAGIRI • ANDHRA PRADESH • 2008

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A NOTE ON INDIAN DANCE FORMS

SATTRIYA DANCE Sattriya dance has evolved out of performances that took shape in the vast network of the satras (monasteries) that were established in Assam from the sixteenth century onwards, when the Vaishnava movement led by Shankaradeva (1449–1568) swept the land. Dramatist and composer as much as social and religious reformer, Shankaradeva was the fountainhead of this great array of performance forms, and created a corpus of songs and dance dramas that constitute the core of the edifice. It has subsequently been built up by the service of generations of artists at the satras, whence a theatre art of the present day has emerged in recent times. The non-monastic Sattriya dance today is mainly the preserve of the laity. BHARATANATYAM Bharatanatyam of Tamil Nadu in southern India has grown out of the art of dancers dedicated to temples, and was earlier known as Sadir or Dasi Attam. It is the first of India’s traditional dances to be refashioned as a theatre art and to be exhibited widely both at home and abroad. Bharatanatyam rests on principles of performance and on aesthetics set down in classics such as Bharata’s Natyashastra. It has a rich repertoire of songs in Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit. The present-day format of a Bharatanatyam

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recital as well as a valuable part of its musical compositions were created by the famed ‘Tanjore Quartet’ of the nineteenth century: the brothers Ponniah, Chinnaiah, Sivanandam and Vadivelu.

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KATHAKALI

Mohiniyattam, which emerged from Kerala in southern India, takes its name from the mythic enchantress Mohini. It is a dance of feminine grace, and has grown out of performances connected with Kerala’s temples. The prince Swati Tirunal of Travancore, a patron of the arts and an artist himself, was one of the chief architects of the dance in the nineteenth century and composed a large repertoire of songs which accompany the performance. Characterized by femininity, Mohiniyattam has no heavy steps or rhythmic tension—the footwork is gentle, soft, and sliding. The dancer’s body rises and falls with an easy grace, with emphasis mainly on the torso. Restraint in movement is the hallmark of the dance.

Kathakali is a highly evolved traditional dancetheatre, an amazing synthesis of dance, drama, music; vocal and instrumental. It has, since its evolution in the seventeenth century, been performed within temple yards or within the compound walls of Hindu temples. A traditional brass lamp is on the stage before the performance begins. Kathakali is known for its overnight performances of plays composed from the great Indian epics, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavatha. The make-up and costuming in Kathakali is intricate, intriguing and is an elaborate process. It takes three to four hours for an actor to transform himself into a Kathakali character which is technically called, ‘Aharya Abhinaya’. Kathakali came into being gathering influences from a host of classical, folk and ritual art traditions in Kerala. Its colourful masks and costumes representing noble, villainous and demonic characters have won universal attention and acclaim.

KALARIPAYATTU

MANIPURI

Kalaripayattu is the martial art of combat and self-defence. For more than three centuries, it was a regular part of the education of all young people in Kerala. The ‘Guru’, known as the Gurukkal of the Kalari is also an expert in the traditional system of medicine for the treatment of injuries, dislocation and fractured bones. The Kalari technique of massage, and also some of its movements, are used in Kathakali.

Manipuri dance, which evolved in the state of Manipur in north-eastern India, is anchored in the Vaishnava faith of the Meiteis—the people of the Manipur valley. The temples of Manipur are still among the principal staging venues of the dance. Therefore, the predominant theme

MOHINIYATTAM

of Manipuri dance is devotion, and the rich lore of Radha and Krishna lends it episodic content. Over a period of centuries, the traditional art has gone through various stages of development to become the sophisticated theatre art it is today. Manipuri dance is introverted and restrained compared to most other dances of India—the artist never establishes eye contact with the audience. The movements are circular and continuous, each merging into the other. Mudras (hand gestures) are subtly absorbed in the flow of the movement overall. The facial expression is subdued and never exaggerated. These features are evident even in the more vigorous masculine dances. Kartal Cholam refers to the playing of the kartal (cymbals) during a performance of Sankirtana of Manipur. Sankirtana is a unique composite form of art which combines the elements of dance, mime, chanting and the playing on drums and cymbals. Often performed with a large number of performers, it is presented on religious occasions, births, weddings and as part of death anniversary rituals. This congregational devotional singing is an indispensable part of the social life of the Manipuri Vaishnavas. The Sankirtana dancers first stand with kartals in their hands in the basic pose and thence commence the rhythmic movements of playing the cymbals. While executing various graceful movements and steps, the dancers play the cymbals with intricate rhythms.

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KATHAK Kathak is the principal dance of northern India, and is today widely practised in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and even parts of western and eastern India. It is believed to be connected with the narrative art of Kathakaras (storytellers) who have expounded the scriptures, the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, and Puranic literature, to the lay masses since ancient times. Expanding and refining its movement and vocabulary of expression, this art possibly transited to a courtly milieu in medieval India, and achieved its finest flowering under the Mughal rule. During the twentieth century, choreographic work involving groups of dancers has claimed more space in Kathak practice. Kathak’s thematic content today straddles various worlds, even though the lore of Krishna still has a special place in its repertoire. ODISSI Odissi dance belongs to the state of Orissa in eastern India, where it was performed in its rudimentary form as part of the temple service by maharis (female temple servants). It was also influenced by the Gotipuas, a class of boys who dressed themselves as dancing girls and danced in the temple and also for the general

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entertainment of the people. This traditional dance was remoulded as a theatre art towards the middle of the twentieth century, incorporating elements from various other forms of dance in Orissa and also representations of dance in Orissa’s medieval sculpture, painting and literature. The Vaishnava faith of Orissa is at the heart of the Odissi dance, and the lore of Krishna and Radha supplies its episodic content. CHHAU The Chhau dance in its origin is the dance of indigenous peoples inhabiting a broad tract of land that today spreads over the states of Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal in eastern India. In its content and technique, it bears the impress, successively, of the life of a hunting– gathering people in awe of nature; martial arts that evolved as the land was colonized by native rulers; and wider contacts in the modern period assimilating Chhau dance in the broad Indic tradition of natya. Of its three variants, the Chhau of Purulia (in West Bengal) has remained a people’s art widely practised in the countryside, adapting freely to changing times with little deference to ‘tradition’. The Chhau of Seraikella (in Jharkhand) and Mayurbhanj (in Orissa), on the other hand, evolved into theatre arts under princely patronage in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Chhau today enacts episodes from the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana, the Puranas, traditional folklore and local legends; it also takes on abstract themes.

KUCHIPUDI The small village of Kuchelapuram in Andhra Pradesh lends its name to this dance form. Kuchipudi has a strong and vibrant dramatic tradition dating from the fifteenth century. Once upon a time, Kuchipudi was part of a collective village activity and boasted a dramatic tradition where male dancers performed around religious themes. Modern day Kuchipudi has travelled a long way from the early community theatre dance to the twentieth-century practice of stylized stage dance. Today, the solo dancer or a small group of dancers dominates the presentation on stage. In costumes that recall those of the Bharatanatyam dancer, the Kuchipudi dancers perform on stage accompanied by a long list of musical accessories and vocal singing.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, my special thanks to Sandhya Raman, Ratna Rama, Amba Sanyal and Uma Haimavati Prajapati for their invaluable contribution to the book. An enormous thanks to all of the dancers and musicians who contributed to this book: Amani, Govinda Rajulu Garu, Mrinalini Sarabhai, Priyadarshani Govind, Parvathy Baul, Madhavi Mudgal, Arushi Mudgal, Vidyamol T.P., Justin McCarthy, Sharmila Desai, Rama Vaidyanathan, Lavanya Ananth, Jyothis, Navtej Johar, Bijayini Satpathy, Sujith S., Namrata Pamnani, Nayana B., Preethi Athreya, Jaya Mehta, Swaati Vivek, Shilpika Bordoloi, Gopika Varma, Abril Gomez, Professor Alekha, Roja Kannan, Prithvija Balagopalan, Uday Pratap Acharya, Avyaktha, Nameirakpam Ongbi Hemolata Amaibi, Dhoni Amaibi, Bhabananda Barbayan, Veena Basavarajaiah, Bineesh M., Susanta Behera, Janhabi Behera, Lokesh Bharadwaj, Mallika Bhargava, P. Chandrika, Uggina Hemanaga Chakra, Kabita Chand, Sneha Chakradhar, Shri Pankaj Das, Arunima Das, Uma Durga, Y. Durga Devi, B. Ramya Durga Bhavani, Bidya Das, Ngasepam Meneka Devi, Konjengbam Monika Devi, Akham Ongbi Lakshmi Devi, Rajesh Gope, Mudita Gupta, Kanika Gupta, Sundeep Kumar Kabi, Abhinash Kumar Kabi, Nepal Kisku, Penumudi Swathi Kiran, Dr Ananda Shankar Jayant, Aditi Mangaldas, Aruna Monhanty, Madhusmita Mohanty, Lucky Prajna Pratisthita Mohanty, Gandhi Ram Mahato, Govinda Rajulu Nadu, Dr Neena Prasad, Nidhin P., Bharathi Penneswaran, Dr Alekhya Punjla, M. Pachaiyappan, V.N.V. Satya Prasad, Deepika Reddy, Devaki Rajendran, Pavithra Reddy, Jishnu Revi, P. Sandhya Rani, Baburam Saikia, Niranjan Saikia,

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Pratima Sagar, Anita Sharma, K.N.M. Surekha, Gulabo Sapera, Vijay Sahani, Master N. Shyamchand Singh, Kuna Samal, Rishanlang Syiemlieh, Yippili Sravani, S. Sudarshan, Divya Saluja, Anjana Seshadri, Thoudam Hemchandra Singh, Pragya Tiwari, Pradeesh K. Thriuthya, Alarmel Valli, Vartika, Rashmi and Shloka Vaidialingam, Anjali V., Gopal Yadav, Jayaprabha Menon and the International Academy of Mohiniyattam, Geeta Chandran and Natya Vriksha, Ashavari Majumdar and Anahata Performance and Arts Research, and the Gotipua dance community in Raghurajpur. For everyone that helped bring this book to life: the Craft Council of India, Dr Shoba Misra and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, O.P. Jain and the Sanskriti Foundation, Vadehra Art Gallery, Sally Holkar and Women Weave, and Weavers Service Centres.

and Sandeep Madan for their research on the dancerelated aspects of this book. Dr Dipti Singh, Gitto, Aziz and Suleman, Elana Dickson, Rahul Jain, Chandan Keshob, Vijay Khan, Jesus Ciriza Larraona, Mr Anbalagan, Kashmir Loom, Mr S.K. Patra, Ann Riquier, Inga Corsden, Sonika Soni and family, and Vijay Sharma for their research on the textile-related aspects of this book. Marina Bang, Mandakini Dubey, Shyama Warner, Rajni George, Rajyasri Rao, Alok Rai, Carrie Grossman for their help with editing the earlier drafts of the book. Bonita Vaz, Akila Seshasayee and Haitenlo Semy for their design contributions, and Ranbir Nerwal and Mike Racz for retouching the photographs.

To Jaya Jaitley for her contribution to the photography captions; Ashutosh Bhupatkar, Samir Saran, Kate Prentice and Asha N. Basu for their legal assistance; Ankur Surendra Verma and Ankur Acharya for the Glossary and ‘A Note on Indian Dance Forms’, respectively; Robert Pledge and Anando Dutta for their photo critiques; and Bob Candela and James Lambertus, my early dance photo mentors in New York.

Justin Peters for shaping the creative direction of the book. I am so grateful for your remarkable insight into this work.

Helen Acharya, Theba Devi, Sharodi Saikia, Viswanath Kaladharan, Divya Kumar Bhatia, Dr Omprakask Bharti, Methil Devika, Dr Debabrata Das and family, Seema Majmudar, Anungla Longkumer, Anup Rajan Pandey, Rajika Puri, Anita Ratnam, Pooja Ratnakar, Oliver Rai, Bijulee Devi Yumlembam, Avi Casshyap, Aiyyelu, Mrs Aneja, Gopika Varma, Jaya Chandran Surendran

My thanks to Penguin Books India: Gavin Morris and Chiki Sarkar for their incredible support, and Rachita Raj and Rakesh Chander for helping put the book together.

Fiona Marcotty Dolenga, V.R. Devika, Catherine Miller, Donna Karan, Leela Samson, Mallika Sarabhai, Mayank Mansingh Kaul, Elizabeth Streb, Harsha Dehejia and Shen Wei for their written contributions to the book.

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To my dear friends who supported and guided me along the way: Mark Kroeker, Ranjeev Bhatia, Laurence Fayol Bornet, Betsy Barnett, Clarissa Block, Alice Cicolini, Pradip Krishen, Aparna Nadiem, Lola MacDougall, Melissa Roberts, Reuben Abraham, Amy Smith Ainscough, Karan Aneja, Rhea Zimmerman, Michael Fisher, Sabrina Buell, Amanda Scdoris, Kimberly Strouse, Sonam Dubal, Carl Heule, Sanjib Chatterjee, Teuta Formica, Tsering Gellek, Chamsai Menasveta, Alam Srinivas, Anne Gorrissen, Rajjen Maharaj, Vanda Marlow, Gillian Newson, Diana Oberlander, Camilla Franks, Radhanath Swami, Jogini and Jess Walker. With gratitude and love to Radhamanbi Devi, Ipsita Sarkar, Anuska Tata, Anju Khanna, Sharmila Nagraj, Amit Dasgupta, Punam Chopra, Sylvia Rascon, Usha Prajapati, Nimmy Raphel, Mata Amritanandamayi, Sri Aurobindo Ashram and all of the weavers that were an integral part of this entire project. Lastly, a very special thank you to Ashmeet Singh and Cocoon Exports, and V-Weave for their kind contribution to this book.

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COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following for permission to reprint copyright material: Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi for ‘A Note on Indian Dance Forms’. All information on India’s performing arts published in the book has been put together with material made available by Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi. The Fuschia Tree for excerpts on pages 41, 44, 47, 51, 61, 66, 71 and 80, taken from ‘The Sun and The Moon, The Weft and The Loom’ by Mayank Mansingh Kaul, The Fuschia Tree, Issue 23, Rhythm: Ordering Time, 2013, http://thefuschiatree.com/.

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GLOSSARY

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aarti Hindu devotional song or ritual of worship of deities

butis A type of traditional design pattern, resembling a leaf, in Varanasi silk

gamcha Waistband; also serves as a multipurpose towel

abhinaya Sanskrit term referring to the art of expression in Bharatanatyam and other Indian dance styles

chakkar A word in many Indian languages and dialects, translating to ‘a swirl’

gamosa Red-and-white woven shawl or towel

angarkha A long collarless shirt Anika Bhaona A one-act play in Sattriya dramas araimandi A posture in Bharatanatyam resembling a half squat with open legs Ashtanga Yoga A yoga system; term derived from the Sanskrit asht meaning ‘eight’, and ang meaning ‘limbs’ atpoure A way of draping a sari baha Monk’s house baingani Purple; derived from baingan, the Hindi word for eggplant bandhani A tie–dye technique practised in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan; the cloth is tied, before dyeing, with thread at various points to form loose bulbs (left empty or filled with kidney beans, etc.), so as to leave various patterns in the end product Bhaona Sattriya dance drama bindu Sanskrit word meaning ‘point’ or ‘dot’; refers also to a point at the back of the head between the last two chakras

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chakras The seven centres of vital energy along and around the spinal cord leading up to the crown of the head in human body, according to Hindu scriptures on yogic practices Chanderi A town in the Ashoknagar district, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh dhoti Traditional garment for men of the Indian subcontinent comprising unstitched rectangular cloth, worn on the lower half of the body. It can be simply wrapped around the waist as in southern Indian states, or worn in a more complex fashion to look like a baggy pair of trousers dupatta An unstitched piece of cloth, usually around two metres in length, worn by women in various regions of the Indian subcontinent, as an accessory to the main dress; worn in various styles (from covering only the head to covering the entire torso), the material varies from khadi to silk to net, and can be plain or highly decorated and embroidered gajji A kind of silk produced in the Indian state of Gujarat

gharana Literally translates into ‘clan’; any distinctly recognizable style of and/or ideology pertaining to music or dance, named after the clan that developed and helped it evolve through generations of practitioners, teachers and apprentices haldi–kumkum Turmeric and vermilion half-sari A two-piece traditional dress comprising a pavadai (long skirt) and an oni (a cloth worn over the top), worn by young girls in southern Indian states inaphi Shawl; a traditional handloom weaving style practised in the north-eastern states of India, especially Manipur Jamdani A Bengali muslin-like cotton handloom fabric

Kalari Term translates to ‘threshing floor’ or ‘battlefield’ in Tamil and Malayalam; the training for Kalaripayattu is traditionally undertaken inside the Kalari Kalaripayattu One of the oldest martial arts in the world, currently practised in the southern Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu kartal Cymbal embellished with silk and wool kasavu Broad, golden zari border of specially designed mundum Kerala Nadanam Dance form that combines Kathakali and Mohiniyattam khadi A handwoven cloth traditionally made of cotton khwangyet Waistband koknam Headband koktumbi Pointed headgear

jamma A collarless shirt, much like a kurta

koyet Turban

kacha Waistband

kumin Main skirt

Kalakshetra A cultural academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, dedicated to the preservation and promotion of traditional Indian dance and music forms, especially Bharatanatyam and Gandharva Veda music

kumkumam Vermilion kurta A long collarless shirt worn by men in the Indian subcontinent, with either a pair of pyjamas, a dhoti or a mundu

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kurti A version of the kurta worn by women of the Indian subcontinent, usually with a salwar or pyjamas, and a dupatta

nilotpalam Blue lotus odhana A piece of cloth used to cover the head

Maldhari Nomadic tribal herdsmen found in Gujarat; term literally means ‘owner of animal stock’; notable as the traditional dairymen of the region

Padmashali A Telugu-speaking, Hindu artisan caste residing predominantly in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu; traditionally engage in the weaving and textile businesses

mandala A symbol of spiritual and religious significance in Hinduism and Buddhism

pagri Turban

Manjistha Alizarin An organic compound found in the roots of the Manjistha plant (Rubia cordifolia); used to give red colour to a textile dye known as rose madder

pallu End piece of a sari worn over the shoulder and sometimes tucked in at the waist during a dance pavadai Long skirt

Matiakhara Basic exercises for Sattriya dance

phaijom Dhoti

mekhela chador An embroidered silk garment worn by Assamese women on festive occasions

Ponduru A village in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh

muga A kind of wild silk produced in the Indian state of Assam

poswan Upper skirt

mundu A white or light-coloured cotton garment worn around the waist by men in south India (like a dhoti) natya Refers to the performing arts of dance, theatre and stagecraft in traditional Indian music and performing art culture

raag A melody constructed of various welldefined arrangements of musical notes in Indian classical music Rabari A community in Rajasthan resham phurit Velvet or silk blouse Rig Veda One of the oldest existing sacred texts, originating in India, comprising Sanskrit verses safa A long strip of colourful cloth wrapped around the head to form a turban; used by men in the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent and many Middle Eastern regions

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sampradaya A group of people or a community that shares a common belief system/demography

thabak yet Bustier/lower blouse in white handloom cotton

sari Unstitched cloth, ranging between four and nine yards in length; traditionally worn by women in the Indian subcontinent, it is wrapped around the waist with one loose end draped over the shoulder

tharu Dhoti

sarson Mustard, referring to the seeds or the colour satra Monastery seleng sadar Large cotton shawl worn by Sattriya dancers set mundu, mundu set, or mundum neriyathum Two-piece traditional clothing of women in Kerala and other south Indian states. supari Betel nut swara Sound; also a note in the octave in Indian classical music swastika A symbol of prosperity widely used by several religions, including Hinduism; a dance mudra

tussore Silk from the tussore worm, produced mainly in the Indian states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal; sometimes also referred to as ‘Bhagalpur silk’ uduthukettu Skirt worn during the fourth stage of the elaborate dressing process of Kathakali Vaishnavism One of the major branches of Hinduism focused on the veneration of Lord Vishnu and his ten incarnations veshti See dhoti yatra Journey zari Traditionally used clothing embellishment in the Indian subcontinent; saris and other apparel are decorated with fine, even thread made usually of ductile lustrous metals like gold and silver

Swat Embroidery from a region in Pakistan also called Swat talappu See pallu tangali Cloth tied around the waist

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NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

LEELA SAMSON is a performer and interpreter of Bharatanatyam. She is a teacher, choreographer and writer. She received the Sanskriti Award in 1982, the Padma Shri Award in 1990, the Nritya Choodamani Award in 1997 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2000. She served as director of the Kalakshetra Foundation from 2005–12. Since 2010, she has served as chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi—the apex body of dance, drama and music in India. In 2011, she was appointed chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification. DONNA KARAN is an iconic American fashion designer and humanitarian. Her desire to address people, not just dress them, led her to establish the Urban Zen Foundation in 2007. Forever inspired by the philosophies of her late husband, Stephan Weiss, she has incorporated his ‘connecting the dots’ art theory into her philanthropic approach by partnering with

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established organizations such as the Clinton Foundation, Grief and Nomad Two Worlds. In 2004, Donna was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America. AMBA SANYAL has published on the traditional saris and draping styles of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, and coordinated the documentation project ‘Saris of India’ under the Development Commission (Handlooms). Amba has worked with rural communities in craft development and design intervention and also helped in imparting art education to village schoolchildren. For her contribution to Indian theatre as costume designer, she received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2008.

DR RATNA RAMAN is associate professor of English at Sri Venkateswara College, New Delhi, and has been teaching since 1984. She is fascinated by the textiles, art, music and dance traditions of India. Ratna has shared the stage with Anita Ratnam, as a speaking actor in Anita’s avant-garde Bharatanatyam interpretations. UMA PRAJAPATI HAIMAVATI is a product of the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi. She is the founder-director of the Upasana Design Studio, and heads many social development projects. Her passion lies in using the creative power of design on a grass-roots level. Uma has lived in Auroville since 1996.

SANDHYA RAMAN has been actively involved in training, developing and upgrading the skills of artisans to enable them to better reach urban markets. Her passion for arts and crafts has taken her across the country. She firmly believes that there is tremendous design in the Indian way of life. She jointly runs a design house called Desmania Design and is also a dance costume designer.

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