The monograph offers, for the first time, a collection of path-breaking writings of Kapila Vatsyayan, published as research papers in various journals during the last fifty years. Published as seventeen independent but interwoven chapters, the present work relates to the methodogical problems and future course of dance scholarship, the intricacies of sculptural representations of dance forms in ancient Indian art, and goddesses and women in Indian Myth and art. The readers will be delighted by a lucid introduction of Manipuri dance, and thrilled by the breath-taking story of the re-entry of woman in the domain of the performing arts and of music and dance in the first half of the twentieth century. From Kathak to the advent of modern Indian dance with Uday Shankar, the state of performing arts in rural/tribal post-Independent India, the corporeal movement patterns in the pre-historic cave paintings of India show the amazing span of time over which Kapila Vatsyayan has an unparalleled mastery. The last three chapters lead the reader beyond the frontiers of India to Pagan in Burma, Champa in South Vietnam and Lara-Djonggrang on the island of Java. The scorpionleg, one of the 108 cadences of movement (karana) is the last leg of the wonderful journey into the depth of Asian dance traditions.
The monograph, compiled by Professor Sachchidanand Sahai, eminent scholar on Southeast Asia, offers a very insightful and indispensable reading for the researchers on dance traditions as well as for the general readers. |
