मोहिनीअट्टम

Mohiniyattam is an Indian classical dance form originating from the state of Kerala. The dance gets its name from Mohini—the female enchantress avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu, who helps the devas prevail over the asuras using her feminine charm. Mohiniyattam's roots, like all classical Indian dances, are in the Natya Shastra—the ancient Hindu Sanskrit text on performance arts. However, it follows the Lasya style described in Natya Shastra, that is a dance which is delicate, eros-filled and feminine. It is traditionally a solo dance performed by women after extensive training, though men also perform the dance in the contemporary period. The repertoire of Mohiniyattam includes music in the Carnatic style, singing, and acting a play through the dance, where the recitation may be either by a separate vocalist or the dancer themselves. The song is typically in Malayalam-Sanskrit hybrid called Manipravalam. The earliest mention of the word is found in the 16th-century legal text Vyavahāramālā, but the likely roots of the dance are older. The dance was systematized in the 18th century, but was then ridiculed as a Devadasi prostitution system during the colonial British Raj; it was banned by a series of laws from 1931 through 1938, which was protested and partially repealed in 1940. The socio-political conflict ultimately led to the renewed interest in and the revival and reconstruction of Mohiniyattam by the people of Kerala, particularly the poet Vallathol Narayana Menon. ¹

Mohiniyattam, also referred to as Mohini-attam, is derived from "Mohini" – a famous female avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu in Indian mythology. Mohini refers to a divine enchantress or a supreme seductress. She appears in Hindu mythologies during a battle between Devas (good) and Asuras (evil), after the evil had won control of Amrita (nectar of immortality). Appearing in her youthful bloom, dressed rapturously she uses her charms to seduce the Asuras, who seeking her favors, give her the Amrita to distribute among the evil forces. Mohini after gaining the Amrita gives it to the good instead, depriving the evil from gaining immortality. The details of the Mohini story varies by the Purana and region, but she is consistently an enchantress avatar of the supreme in Vaishnavism. Aattam is a Malayalam language word, and means rhythmic motion or dance. Mohiniyattam thus connotes "a dance of an enchantress, a beautiful woman". ¹

Mohiniyattam is a classical Indian dance, which by definition traces its repertoire to the foundational text Natya Shastra. The Natya Shastra text is attributed to the ancient scholar Bharata Muni. Its first complete compilation is dated to between 200 BCE and 200 CE, but estimates vary between 500 BCE and 500 CE. The text describes the basic elements and the structure of two types of dance: the vigorous, high energy Tāṇḍava dance (Shiva) and the gentle, calmingly graceful Lāsyā dance (Parvati, Shiva's lover). Mohiniyāttam follows the structure and aims of the Lāsyā dance in Natya Shastra. According to Reginald Massey, Mohiniyattam's history is unclear. Kerala, the region where this dance genre developed and is popular, has a long tradition of lasya style dances whose basics and structure may be at the root. The earliest evidence of Mohiniyattam, or a Mohiniyattam-like dance tradition is found in temple sculpture of Kerala. The 11th century Vishnu temple at Trikodithanam, and the Kidangur Subramanya temple, have several sculptures of female dancers in Mohiniyattam pose. The textual evidence from 12th century onwards suggest that Malayalam poets and playwrights included Lāsyā themes. The 16th century Vyavaharamala by Nambootiri contains the first known mention of the term Mohiniyattam, in the context of a payment to be made to a Mohiniyattam dancer. Another text, Gosha Yatra, from the 17th century too mentions the term. The 18th century Balarama Bharatam, a major secondary work on Natya Shastra composed in Kerala, mentions many dance styles including Mohini Natana. In the 18th and 19th century, Mohiniyattam grew as dance arts received patronage of competing princely states. ¹

With the spread of colonial British rule in the 19th century India, all classical dance forms of India were ridiculed and discouraged, leading to their severe decline. This was in part the result of the Victorian morality of sexual repressiveness along with Anglican missionaries who criticized Hinduism. ¹

The seductive gestures and facial expressions during temple dances were caricatured in The Wrongs of Indian Womanhood, published at the start of the 20th century, as evidence of "harlots, debased erotic culture, slavery to idols and priests" tradition, and Christian missionaries demanded that this must be stopped, launching the "anti-dance movement" or "anti-nautch movement" in 1892. This movement affected all classical dances in India and contributed to their decline, including the stigmatization of Mohiniyattam in the princely states of Travancore and Cochin in the British Empire. According to Justine Lemos, the conventional stereotype has been to label the temple dancers as prostitutes and that Mohiniyattam was banned by the Maharaja under pressure from the British rule and his citizens, but an examination of historical evidence suggests that neither did any law or proclamation ban Mohiniyattam nor is there any evidence that dancing girls of Mohiniyattam were devadasis, temple prostitutes or even menial servants of the temple. ¹

The ridicule and bans enacted during the British colonial era contributed to nationalist sentiments, and impacted all Hindu performance arts including Mohiniyattam. It too was revived and reconstructed, particularly in the 1930s by the nationalist Malayalam poet Vallathol Narayana Menon, who helped repeal the ban on temple dancing in Kerala, as well as established the Kerala Kalamandalam dance school and encouraged Mohiniattam studies, training and practice. Other significant champions of Mohiniyattam in the 20th century have been Mukundraja, Appiradeth Krishna Panicker, Harichand and guys from Vishnavam, Thankamony, as well as the guru and dancer Kalamandalam Kalyanikutty Amma. Kalamandalam is a very known institution for teaching and learning the art form Mohiniyattam, but notorious for the discriminations faced by the artists and students based on their caste and colour. Adding spice to this, Kalamandalam Sathyabhama Jr entered the media scope recently with racist and gender slam statement against male and coloured artists earning their space in the art form gala of Mohiniyattam. ¹

Mohiniyattam is a lasya subgenre of dance, performed in the Kaisiki vritti (graceful style), as discussed in ancient Indian performance arts texts such as the Natya Shastra. More specifically, it is a dance that excels in Ekaharya Abhinaya form, that is a solo expressive dance performance aided by singing and music. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Mohiniyattam”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Mohiniyattam is a classical Indian dance, found in Kerala, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 4 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²