Pancanrtyasabhas

Dancing Halls Five

Authors

  • R.K.K. Kesava Rajarajan Gandhigram Rural Institute – Deemed University Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v8i2.197

Keywords:

Ālaṅkāṭu, Ālavāy/Maturai, ānandatāṇḍavam, Cidambaramāhātmya, Kālī, Kuṟṟālam, Kūttaṉ/Naṭarāja, Nelvēli, nṛtyasabhā, Tēvāram, Tillai/Citamparam, ūrdhva­tāṇḍavam

Abstract

The convention among art historians is to begin Nataraja studies with Citamparam. Historically and mythologically, this is a misconception. The earliest mention of Kuttan/Nataraja appears in a fifth- or sixth-century ce literary work, the Alankattumuttatiruppatikam of [Karaikkal]-Ammaiyar, and the theme continued to persist through the ages, being particularly exalted in the hymns of the Tevaram, the first seven compilations of the Saiva canon. The Cidambaramahatmya is a work of the fourteenth century ce or later. Scholarly research has depended more on Sanskritic sources (e.g. Sivaramamurti 1974; Smith 1998) than on the earlier Tamil material. This article says why studies pertaining to Nataraja should begin with Alankatu, the earliest sthala extolled in the Tamil hymns, considered the original base of the Nataraja tradition. It cursorily reflects on the available epigraphical sources. The other dancing venues of the Lord, Tillai/Citamparam, Alavay/Maturai, Nelveli and Kurralam, were added in due course, making with Alankattu a list of five dancing halls (pancanrtyasabha). The article examines a group of five stucco images that appear in the frontal projection of the mandapa to the Alankatu temple.

Author Biography

  • R.K.K. Kesava Rajarajan, Gandhigram Rural Institute – Deemed University

    R. K. K. Rajarajan is Assistant Professor in Fine Arts, Gandhigram Rural University. He was Assistant Professor of History in the Eritrean Institute of Technology, Asmara, Eritrea, and Alexander von Humboldt Post doctoral Fellow, in the Institut für Indische Philologie und Kunstgeschichte, Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany. His publications include Art of the Vijayanagara Nāyakas (New Delhi: Sharada, 2006), and (with Jeyapriya Rajarajan) Mīnākṣī-Sundareśvara: Tiruviḷaiyāṭaṟ Purāṇam in Letters, Design and Art (New Delhi: Sharada, 2013).

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Published

2014-11-27

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Rajarajan, R. K. (2014). Pancanrtyasabhas: Dancing Halls Five. Religions of South Asia, 8(2), 197-216. https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v8i2.197