Pañcanṛtyasabhās: Dancing Halls Five
Issue: Vol 8 No. 2 (2014)
Journal: Religions of South Asia
Subject Areas: Religious Studies Buddhist Studies Islamic Studies
Abstract:
The convention among art historians is to begin Naṭarāja studies with Citamparam. Historically and mythologically, this is a misconception. The earliest mention of Kūttaṉ/Naṭarāja appears in a fifth- or sixth-century CE literary work, the Ālaṅkāṭṭumuttatiruppatikam of [Kāraikkāl]-Ammaiyār, and the theme continued to persist through the ages, being particularly exalted in the hymns of the Tēvāram, the first seven compilations of the Śaiva canon. The Cidambaramāhātmya 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 Naṭarāja should begin with Ālaṅkāṭu, the earliest sthala extolled in the Tamil hymns, considered the original base of the Naṭarāja tradition. It cursorily reflects on the available epigraphical sources. The other dancing venues of the Lord, Tillai/Citamparam, Ālavāy/Maturai, Nelvēli and Kuṟṟālam, were added in due course, making with Ālaṅkāttu a list of five dancing halls (pañcanṛtyasabhā). The article examines a group of five stucco images that appear in the frontal projection of the maṇḍapa to the Ālaṅkāṭu temple.
Author: R.K.K. Kesava Rajarajan
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