Wy have much pleature in bringing the present, vokimo to the reading public in general and the lovers of music and dance in particular.
ASSAM deservedly well-known for her dances. Her folk-dances, in parti- cular, bave become very popular in the Indian Capital during the pit twenty-five years or so. But a few forms of dance with the classical pattern in them are also in existence; and these have not so far been properly studied. Deogharar Nati (Devadasi) dances are almost extinct now, only one such single form having been reclaimed sometime back. There are two other styles namely, Sattriya and Oji-pili, which still have a some- what active existence. Sankaradeva, the saint-poet of Assam, was born in a family of scholars and artists, and in the wake of the great renaissance that he initiated were evolved different beautiful forms of dance and dance- drama. These are still very vigorously practised in the Sankaradeva type of establishments, namely, sattras. We have also in the western part of the State a form of dance attached to the institution of choral singing, namely, Opali. All these dance-forms await the investigation of scholars and their resuscitation by modern artists. It is a matter of great pity that not much has been found done in that direction. It is, however, heartening to nots that mainly through the single-handed efforts of Dr Maheswar Neog of Gauhati University. Sattriya and Oja-pali dance-styles have been recbg- mised by our National Sangeet Akademi for the National Awards. They have also taken up Ankiyä Nät and Bargit as forms of Traditional Drama and Traditional Music in the categories of the Awards, and have just extended their Fellowship scheme to reach out these two art modes.
THE Bargit Research Committee, set up by Asam Sangget Natak Akademi. took up the work of studying the dance rhythms in sattras. The investi- gation was conducted under the guidance of Dr Neog, known for his work on various aspects of Assam's culture. He has written the Introductory Essays in Part I of this book, while Part II contains notations of the tālas employed in the dances of the Kamalabari-sattra, and of the Devadasi by way of comparison, all rendered by Shri Keshav Changkakati, Vadyavisharad.
THIS is the first attempt at rendering into notation all the rhythms of a sattra used in the dances and dramas, including the preliminary dhemälis and at a scientific reporting of the dance-forms themselves.
DR MAHESWAR NEOG is one of the outstanding scholars of Assam who have given us their studies of the language, literature and culture of the State, which have enabled not only Assamese people but also outsiders, both in other parts of India and abroad, to form a just and proper estimate of the contribution of Assam to the civilisation and culture of India. Dr Neog particularly is a scholar with a very wide horizon of knowledge and view- points, and whatever he writes is worthy of respectful attention. He is a versatile scholar who has made not only language and literature and history but also many other branches of the cultural expression of the Assamese people his very own, and these are very close to his heart. In the present work, the introductory article on 'Classical Dance Tradition in Assam and Sattriya Dances' has been a contribution from Dr Neog in a subject in which I did not know he had given so much time and attention and has so much to say. And all that he has said is based on facts, culled both from historical tradition, from Assamese and Sanskrit literature, and also from the Assamese dance as it is still performed in the State-dances of various types which he has enumerated and fully described. In the intro- duction, he is interested only of course in the classical tradition, and herein we have a rich harvest, at least with very promising suggestions. Hindu or Indian culture in general in Sanskrit-oriented, and we have used the term 'Sanskritisation' to an all-embracing, a pan-India movement which has been going on for the last 2,500 years or more to bring all forms of Indian culture under a standard form, gathering within its umbrage and linking up all the various expressions of culture (including the fine arts-musio and the dance and the rest also) into one integrated type. Treatises in Sanskrit were written, and in this way Sanskrit tradition grew up, embracing the whole of India, from Kerala in the South and Manipur in the North-East, Nepal and Kashmir in the North and Panjab, Sindh and Gujarat and Maharashtra in the West.
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