Role of Women in Indian Dance and the Impact of Social Change

Abstract

The earliest references to dancing in Indian texts indicate the secular nature of this art form. In course of time, dance in India developed in another direction, where dancing featured as an integral part of ritualistic practice of religion. This ritualistic dancing brought about a new tradition, which found their way into the temple premises of various parts of India. Dance was now performed as an expression of devotion and for the appeasement of Gods and also used as a means of aesthetic pleasure. Participation of woman became an essential feature too.

A significant feature of Indian Classical dance tradition is the existence of its distinctive gender forms namely Tandava and Lasya.  Presence of women dancers in India can be traced to pre-historic as well as Vedic age. Mythically too, the creation of dance is associated with women. Natyasastra has a detailed description of the creation of nymphs from the minds of Brahma for the sole purpose of practice and performance of Kaisiki (graceful) style of dance. The nymphs or the Apsaras thus created were the first known female dancers associated with the mythical dance history of India. Special importance attached to women's role in Indian dramatic production, which includes dance, is evident in several other references in the Natyasastra. Indian dance and music were known to have undergone a gradual transformation to attain a classical form during the epic period, which continued in the Purana days too. Thus a large number of evidences furnished by literature, epigraphs, sculptural relics and paintings testify to the prevalence of a flourishing tradition of dance and music in India down the ages in different environment and in different forms. This paper attempts to trace the impact of social changes on the role of women in Indian dance tradition as depicted in literary sources belonging to different periods.