Art & Culture Classical Dance and Music

Classical Dance and Music

Indian Classical Dance "..abstraction of Upanishadic thought which is assiduously translated in to well designed concrete language of artistic media."

It all started with Natya Shastra

Said to be written 2000 years ago by Bharata Muni, it is the seminal source book for dancers and performers. The mammoth book covers all technical and aesthetic aspects of the art of the Indian Theatre and Dance.

From the purpose of natya, to the architectural format, stage rituals, Rasa, Bhava, Abhinaya, gestic communication, music, types of instruments. 37 chapters that together form the nucleus of this fascinating performing art. Later century works like Abhinaya Darpana, Abhinaya Chandrike, also have great relevance to the dancer today.

Legend has it that the Devas (Gods) had vanquished the Asuras (Evil) and were relating the happenings to Brahma, the God of Creation. The Asuras thought this was a renewed attack and retaliated. Brahma intervened - "This is only a performance, hence forth it will only be held on earth".

And Brahma passed on all the information on Dance and Drama to Bharata Muni who compiled it as the Natya Shastra.

Sculpture Comes To Life

Temples were raised to the house the Gods and became the focal point for the community. They also became centres of learning and contributed to the advancement of such arts as sculpture, painting, music and dance. Mostly built by Kings, who were also the patrons of

arts, encouraging a continuity and enriching rituals of worship, the earliest basis of the classical performing arts.

It was from the temple that the Devdasi cult (Temple Dancers who performed for the Lord) began. Once a practice countrywide - Kulvantalu in Andhra Pradesh, the Maibi in Manipur, the Devdasi in Tamil Nadu and the Mahari in Orissa, all trace their roots to the temple. The countless sculptures of dance poses in the temples, hint at the potency of dance as a path to spiritual exaltation and lays out a complete lexicon of dance techniques.

For instance, it is said that the greater part of vocabulary of Odissi dance is preserved in stone.

A rich heritage to be brought alive by the artist.

Feel It

Bodhgaya

Top

80 foot Buddha Statue	80 foot Buddha Statue
Bodhgaya Temple under Renovation	Mahaboddhi Tree
Bodhgaya Temple at Night	Buddha's Walkway (Bodhgaya Temple)
Mahabodhi Tree	Monestary Bodhgaya
Muchlund Sarovar (Where a serpent sheltered Lord Buddha from rains)	Renovated Bodhgaya Temple-1
The Main Image of Lord Buddha in Bodhgaya Temple	Women Doing Chhath Puja Near Bodhgaya

Bihar Tourism

Bihar is one of the oldest inhabited places in the world with history of 3000 years. The rich culture and heritage of Bihar is evident from the innumerable ancient monuments that are dotted all over the state in eastern India. Bihar is home of many tourist attractions. Bihar is visited by large numbers of tourists from all over the world all the year round.^[1]. Around total 6 million tourists visit Bihar every year.

Connectivity and access

Main article: Transportation in Bihar

A schematic map of the Indian Railway network

Bihar is also an important transit point of Bihar for the tourists dropping in from the other states of India. Bihar is well-connected by air, rail and road transport.

• By air

Patna has its own airport known as Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Airport or Airport Patna. It is an national airport and it is connected to all major city of India via daily flights. Gaya Airport is the only international airport in Bihar and Jharkhand which 96 km from Patna. It is an international airport which is connected to Colombo, Sri Lanka through two airline operators- Bangkok, Thailand, Singapore, andBhutan.

• By rail

Bihar is strategically located in the main line of the East Central Railway and therefore connected with important cities of India and most cities within Bihar.