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Photo: V. Ganesan
Intensity While perspiring is not an unusual phenomenon for a dancer, it is, in dramatic portrayal, one of the eight satvika bhavas — involuntary emotions that can’t be faked.
Dance
Satvika bhava: There are eight satvika bhavas enumerated in the treatises related to dance and theatre. These emotions are bodily reactions to an event, or to a rasa. Though they are reactions, however, they differ from anubhavas (Learn the Lingo, 29 February 2008). Satvika bhavas are those which occur in the body involuntarily. They cannot, in other words, be enacted. The eight satvika bhavas are tears, motionlessness, change of colour, change of voice, fainting, perspiration, trembling and horripilation (hair standing on end).
We often hear of film actors praised for their not having to use glycerine in a tearful scene. By identifying closely with the character, performers can enter the satvika states. This can be described as a state in which they forget they are performing and identify totally with the character and the situation.
Any number of situations could be apt for a portrayal of satvika bhavas, provided the performer is immersed in the mood and able to perform with concentration. Here we are not differentiating between actors and dancers, because both employ the art of abhinaya, or acting, though the style is different. When it comes to the concept of sativika bhava, however, the two are not intrinsically different.
In the Ramayana, which provides fodder for innumerable dance compositions, a typical situation in which the nayika would cry would be the abduction of Sita by Ravan.
Also, when Sita is kept captive in Ashoka Vana, the person playing the role of Sita might actually cry. Motionlessness is a phenomenon that occurs due to shock. It could also occur due to extreme happiness. Shabari, the ascetic who had been promised moksha when she met Ram, waited all her life for his advent.
In the depiction of their meeting, Shabari is sometimes shown as standing motionless with joy at espying Ram and Lakshman near her hermitage.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
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