Dancers and Musicians at Belur M. KRISHNAN Thecelebrated shrine of Chennakesavaat Belur isthe finest example ofthe irrepressible exuberance of Hoysala sculptors. Elsewhere too, at Halebid and Somanathpur, their art is profusely ornamental, but not rococo. The figuredepicted doesnot mergepassivelyintoitselaboratelycontrivedbackground, butdominatesit:stylizedanddecorativelyconceiveditself,itlacksthe morphologi calrectitude and realism offiguresinearlierstone,asof Pallava or Chola art, but stillhasapresence, apatentidentity. At Belur, as at other Hoysala shrines, the elevated plinth and outer temple wallsare crowdedwithdiversedepictions inbands andfriezes- elephantsoryo/is in tandem, intricate floral motifs, gods and demigods and other mythologicalen titiesand varied humanity. On these wallsthere are dancers, drummers and in strumentalists,butitisnotofthemthat Iamwriting.The templeroofoverhangsthe wallsand columns rise from outside to meet the eaves : atop each column isseta panelat an outwardslant, withafigure init carved sodeepasto be mainlyinthe round andwith atrellisedornamentalsurround,withitsfeet on the columnandthe lattice-workaboveitshead touchingthe roof. Itisthese bracketfigures(astheyare termed) that arethe feature ofBelur. A few bracket figures are masculine, or merely grotesque like the one that displays a woman with a donkey's head, .but the overwhelming majority are feminine.Many are dancers and musicians,but thereare otherstoo- a huntress with a bow, a woman admiring herselfinahand-heldmirror, anotherattending to an elaborate coiffure, still another standing idly with a parakeet perched on one hand,and thelike. Each ofthese hasaspecificname atBelurbut, surprisingly,not in the literature available on Belur. The picture postcards of the Archaeological SurveyofIndiarefertothem as'afemalebracketfigure' ora'femaledancer'.Inhis monumental treatise, TheArtofIndia, CalamburSivaramamurtidenotesthemby these legends- 'Girltalkingtoaparrot','Belle withamirror',and 'Danseusewith a drum'. Louis-Frederic terms them 'madanikas', which only means they are female. Allthese bracketfiguresaretopless, sotheirfeminityisblatantlydisplayed. AtBelur,eachofthesehasitsspecificorgenericidentityand name.Theprof~ sional guides refer to them unhesitatingly by their names, and even without their guidance, they can be known merely by looking at them, being well-defined portraitsforalltheirredundantflourishes.IspentthefirstdayatBelurlearningthe identitiesof these bracketfigures, getting theirlocal Sanskrit names from aguide, and studying camera angles and lighting to photograph them the next day. An~ whileItookmypictureswithalonglens, takingcaretotiltthe negativeplanetosUit SangeetNatakNos.105-106:July-December,1992 DANCERSANDMUSIOANSATBELUR 25 the outward lean of the figures to avoid foreshortening their faces, a Sanskrit scholarwhom I befriended told me why they are what they are called. In thisac countIshallreferto thembytheirgenericand specificBelurnames. At the base of each panel holding a bracket figure, around itsfeet, there are subsidiaryfigures which, followingestablishedconventions inouriconography,are showntoamuchsmallerscale,indwarfeddepiction.Theseareimportantinprovid ingadventitious support to the identities of the main figures. For instance, inthe depictionof a woman dressing her hair in a tasselled smoothly combed cylinder (Fig. 1), the two subsidiary figures merely stand around, without aiding her depictionsofcoiffuredressing (thereare more than one), termed Keshashringara, featurepassivelesserattendantfigures. But when the subsidiaryfiguresareshown playingon a drum or a flute, it isclearthat the main figure isthat ofa dancer or . musician.Note the care devoted by the dancers and musiciansto their hair, the trainingofthe locks into ringletsabovetheirforeheads. Thepassion ofthe Hoysalasculptorsforexquisite three-dimensionaldetailhas been the undoing of their creations in places. A flute-player's hands have been carvedwhollyintheround, wellclearofherbody, withthefragileinstrumentheld betweenthem, butwhile herhandsstillremain the fluteitselfisgone, broken off. Adrummer'shandshave got amputatedat the elbowsandinevitablythedrumheld betweenthe handshas disappeared"Theheavy, longnecklacesthatcoverthetorso hang clear of the body and have been broken off short. However, these minor detailsdonot obscuretheevidentidentitiesofthemain figures. .. Now for the dancers and musicians. The illustrations are representative photographs ofthem.Learned musicologists, consulted, couldnot tellwhatclassi calanddancemusicprevailedinKarnatakaveryearlyinthe12thcentury,whenthe Chennakesava temple wasbuilt byVishnuvardhana- onlyfromabout thetimeof Purandaradasa (15th to 16th century) can webe reasonably certain ofthe musical modesestablished insouthIndia. However from the poetry and sculptureofear ~er ~ercuss~on timestwothings are evident. First,sung'musicwastotherhythmof ~struments, and usually thesinger alsokept timewithcymbals: themain musical mstrumentsofthosefardayswereprototypesoftheVeena;andtheflute,thelatter alsoemployed to supplement the voice. Second, dance wasalwaysto the vocal renderingofsongs and thebeatofdrums and othertime-keepingin~truments... . Thefigure termedGanamanjariat Belur(Fig.2)isofasingerWithparted lips, subsidi~ry keepingtime to hersong with bell-shapedcymbals: the figuresaroun.d herfeetaretwodrummerstoher rightandacymbalistandaflautisttoherleft.This ~sanimportantfigure assingersare soseldomfeaturedinourclassicalston.e.Gana ISsongallright butwhymanjari'lApparentlyitisanindicationofherconsiderable , di sal Noother repertoire, of the bunch orassemblage ofsongsshe hasat her ispo . depictionsofasingeristhereat Belur. Th . ·ts tructure to e Veena as now perfected is comparatively recent, owmgI .s on~ Raghunatha Nayaka chieftain of Thanjavur in the 17thcentury. ItIS of the instru~ents .oldestmusical ofIndiaand formerlyobtainedinagreatmanydifferent fretI~ t~e forms,andwasevolvedfrom thestillearlierYazhwhichwas - modem Veenahas24frets, whereas the olderversions had less.The mUSIcolOgistP. Sam- 26 M.KRISHNAN bamoorthywrites :"Theone Indianinstrumentwiththe largestnumberofvarieties istheVina.Vinainancienttimessimplymeantastringedinstrument.Itcomprised the plucked, bowed and struckvarieties."Helistsover30different kindsfroman cient texts. Twoobsoletetypesofthe instrumentareonviewat Belur,bothhand-heldbya female figure and both obviously used, not as accompaniment to the voice, butto provide pure-toned melody by themselves, to the beat of drums - as in Veena recitalseventoday. TheNagaveena,sonamedsinceitsheadisshapedlikeacobra's,' hasnobowlbuthasfrets (indistinctlyseen inFig. 3)andisplayedwithashortstick directed by the forefinger placed on it. A drummer and a cymbalist are shown keeping time to the music. The Rudraveenaismore evolved, with 11well-definedfrets andtwo bowls,In thefigureatBelur(Fig.4), apparentlythemusicianisnotshownactuallyplayingon it, for her hands are well clear of the frets and where the strings should be; two drummers, acymbalistand asubsidiaryfigure are the accompanists. There are other figures of instrumentalists at Belur - a male player of the Nagaveena, drummers of both sexes beating the drum with a short stick and also withtheirhands, and flautists of both sexes. The depictions of the musicians are specific and clear. Not so the dancers. However, two ofthese are free from ambiguity. Oneis called Guru-Shishya(Fig. 5) and portrays an accomplished dancer instructing her disciple in the art. The'.' brokenhands ofthe preceptressleave one inignoranceofany mudra she mightbe demonstrating; the student, whose lesser status is indicated by being carved toa smallerscale, isevidentlypractisingsomedance movement. Theotherdancefigure " that isunambiguousisthatofadrum-dancerinthetribhangipose (Fig. 6),holding herselfbent inthreeplanes- notehowthe drum isfastened to herlefthand witha belt-like band. Thereare afewotherlessnotabledancersinthebracketfigures. , The favourite dance figures of the guides at Belur are the two Mobinis.The • term 'Mohini' denotes only one mythological entityin Indian sculpture :itmeans, the form ofan irresistibly attractive woman assumed byVishnu to save othergods ' from a rampantasura. Mohini ismuch featured in post-Vijayanagar art. Inlitera- .' ture it may be applied, as a figure of speech, to a beautiful woman, but neverin iconographicnomenclature. The mythological story isas follows. Shiva, recklessly generous in the grant of boons, is moved by the stem, sup plicatorypenanceofBhasmasuraintograntinghimhiswish- whichisthat whom- . soeverhe toucheson thehead shouldbe reducedto ashes. Armedwith thisdeadly power, Bhasmasura sets out to try and test it, and fleeing from him his would-be victimsseektheaidofVishnu tosavethemfrom theperil. Vishnuassumes theform of the irresistiblyvoluptuousMohini,and dances beforetheasura,who fallshead- long for hercharms, and isled byastratagemto place hispalmon hisowncrown, " and isinstantlyreducedto aheapofinnocuousashes. ' _ AsIhaveheardthe story,and astwopunditsIasked haveheardit, itisbybeing ' inducedto performthe sandhyavandanam rite(in whichwith the last divinename (Textcontinuedonp.35J- Fig.1:Keshashringara Fig.2:Ganamanjari Fig.3:Nagaveena Fig.4:Rudraveena Fig.5:Guru-Sbisbya Fig. 6:Drum-dancer Fig.7:Bhasmamohini