Stories Of Tamil Devadasis & Dance Dramas In Rig Veda

By London Swaminathan

The book titled STORIES OF TAMIL DEVADASIS & DANCE DRAMAS IN RIG VEDA has two parts. The first part deals with the Tamil Devadasis of India and Sri Lanka. I came across a rare Tamil book in the British Library in London. The authoress herself was born in a Devadasi family and had published a book in Tamil about 100 years ago. When I featured the book on Facebook, one research scholar approached me to translate it into English. I did a translation giving the gist of her writing. My thanks are due to that woman Ms Anjukam. She had collected the life stories of about 30 courtesans.

The second part of the book contains my research articles on the origin of dance and dramas. We have ample evidence for dance performances in the oldest book The Rig Veda. There are about 20 Dialogue Poems in the Rig Veda. They are actually dance dramas enacted after the Yagas and Yajnas. What we have got in those poems are the plots or themes of those dance dramas and the actors would have built full length dance dramas over those plots at that time. There are interesting articles on Bharata’s Natya shastra. Since it is a technical work, that too in Sanskrit, not many people know the contents. There are very interesting details about the origin, stage, colour of the theatre seats and actors, jewellery etc in the book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pustaka Digital Media
• Release date: Jul 30, 2022
• ISBN: 6580553508938

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Stories Of Tamil Devadasis & Dance Dramas In Rig Veda

Author:

London Swaminathan

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CONTENTS

Foreword

1. Rare book on 30 Devadasis of Tamil Nadu

2. STORY OF TAMIL DEVADASIS -PART 1;

3. STORY OF TAMIL DEVADASIS -PART 2;

4. STORY OF TAMIL DEVADASIS -PART 3;

5. STORY OF TAMIL DEVADASIS- PART 4;

6. STORY OF TAMIL DEVADASIS - Part 5 :

7. STORY OF TAMIL DEVADASIS – PART 6;

8. STORY OF TAMIL DEVADASIS- 7;

9. STORY OF TAMIL DEVADASIS- 8;

10. STORY OF TAMIL DEVADASIS - Part 9,

11. STORY OF TAMIL DEVADASIS- PART 10;

12. STORY OF TAMIL DEVADASIS—PART 11 ;

13. STORY OF TAMIL DEVADASIS - Part 12;

14. Dance in the Vedas!

15. More about Bharatanatya in the Vedas!

16. Interesting titbits about Natyashastra of Bha-rata Muni

17. More Interesting Titbits about Natyasastra of Bharata

18. Colour for Actors and Ornaments in Natyashastra

19. Matavi’s 11 types of Classical Dance

20. How Dance & Drama came to Earth?

21. Watching Dance is Equal to Studying Vedas;

22. Origin of Drama in India, No connection with Greece!

23. The Ideal Dancer: Kalidasa

24. Classical Indian Dance Vs Dance in the West

25. Deva Dasis: Dancing Girls of Hindu Temples

26. Nineteen Dance Dramas in the Rig Veda

27. Bharata Muni statue unveiled in Delhi

28. Origin of Drama in Ancient India and Egypt

29. Drama, Puppet Show, Folk Theatre in Tamil and Sanskrit Literature

Conclusion

Foreword

The book titled STORIES OF TAMIL DEVADASIS & DANCE DRAMAS IN RIG VEDA has two parts. The first part deals with the Tamil Devadasis of India and Sri Lanka. I came across a rare Tamil book in the British Library in London. The authoress herself was born in a Devadasi family and had published a book in Tamil about 100 years ago. When I featured the book on Facebook, one research scholar approached me to translate it into English. I did a translation giving the gist of her writing. My thanks are due to that woman Ms Anjukam. She had collected the life stories of about 30 courtesans. The second part of the book contains my research articles on the origin of dance and dramas. We have ample evidence for dance performances in the oldest book The Rig Veda. There are about 20 Dialogue Poems in the Rig Veda. They are actually dance dramas enacted after the Yagas and Yajnas. What we have got in those poems are the plots or themes of those dance dramas and the actors would have built full length dance dramas over those plots at that time. There are interesting articles on Bharata’s Natya shastra. Since it is a technical work, that too in Sanskrit, not many people know the contents. There are very interesting details about the origin, stage, colour of the theatre seats and actors, jewellery etc in the book. I have culled out the interesting titbits only. Tamil Epic Silappadikaram also has a lot of details about folk dance and proper Bharata Natyam. I have included those details.

Over the years I have collected a lot of information on dance and music. I have already published a book on music. Since I wrote the articles at different times, some of the matter might have been repeated. But it would help anyone to read any of the articles separately. One need not start from the beginning.

Each article has the original date of publication in my two blogs. I have given my contact details and welcome your comments. I want to pay my respects to great Rishi Bharata Muni and the temple dancers who helped to preserve this beautiful form of art.

London Swaminathan

July 2022

1. Rare book on 30 Devadasis of Tamil Nadu

Icame across a very rare TAMIL book on Rudrakanikas or Devadasis of the Tamil Speaking World. It was written by Anjukam of Colombo, capital of Sri Lanka in 1911. I consider this book not only rare but also valuable for future researchers. Devadasis were women dedicated to temples and they devoted their full time to dance and singing at the temple. It was part of daily worship. Dance and music were part of honours offered (Upachars) to God every day. Nowadays devotees don’t do this like olden days.

There are no books written by Devadasis available now. Miss Anjukam also belongs to the community of Rudrakanikas alias Devadasis. She collected details from Tamil literature starting from Tamil Epics Silappadikaram and Manimegalai to the modern day. Her mother Kamalambikai was also a Rudrakanika serving a Siva temple in Colombo.

Old women writers are not recognised. They are completely ignored by the male dominated literary world. I come across a new woman writer every week at the British Library who found no place in the later Tamil writings. Tamils knew only Karaikal Ammaiyar, Andal and Avvaiyar and the later writers were not listed.

Rig Veda, the oldest religious book in the world mentioned at least 20 poetesses. Sangam Tamil literature which came 1500 years after the Vedas also had the poems of over 20 poetesses. Several souvenirs released by the popular Tamil magazines and World Tamil Conferences forgot to mention the contribution of 19th and 20th century women writers. Lot of novels and poems were written by them.

Anjukam is one of those forgotten writers. She was bold enough to write about a subject which no one else would dare to touch. She was well versed in Saivite literature and knew very well about the Devadasi system that existed in Shiva temples of ancient Tamil Nadu. Anjukam has consulted Saivite scholars and took references from 45 Tamil works. RAJARAJAN, one of the greatest Choza Kings, inscribed the beautiful names of all the 400 Devadasis employed by him in the Big Temple in Thanjavur.

Anjukam had collected the profile of 30 temple or Royal dancers and had written in a high style. Stories of Madhavi and Manimegalai are known to many Tamils. She had collected more names who were famous in the regions where they lived. She divided them into two groups of good and bad women. Epic woman Madhavi earned a bad name because she lived with a married man Kovalan. Paravai, wife of the Saivite Saint Sundaramurthy Nayanar and others lead a decent life.

Several Unknown stories or locally known stories in the book are very interesting to read. One of them is the story of Kondiammal of Tiruvarur. She was a devoted dancing girl attached to the famous Shiva temple there. Tiruvarur chariot (Ther) is one of the biggest chariots in Tamil Nadu. During the Panguni Uttaram festival it will be pulled like the chariots of Puri Jagannath. During Chola period the chariot festival day was celebrated on a grand scale. During one year they met with a problem. In spite of the efforts of thousands of devotees assembled there the chariot did not budge forward even an inch. The king tried all the tricks, but it did not work. He went to bed with the worries, and he