Dr Deepak Mazumdar talks about going beyond eight aspects of Rasa Theory of Bharata Muni

In the Natyashastra treatise, which forms the crux of every Indian classical art form, sage Bharata Muni put forth the Rasa theory — eight aesthetic flavours that define the arts. The eight rasas that the sage propounded are shringara (love/beauty), hasya (laughter), karuna (kindness), raudra (anger), veera (heroism/courage), bhayanaka (terror/fear), bibhatsya (disgust) and adbutha (surprise/wonder). To these eight, the great scholar Abinayagupta, added a ninth flavour that of shantha (peace or tranquility). Much later, other scholars and experts started to question why the rasas were limited, and could there not be a number of rasas, or vyabhichari bhavas i.e. transitory states of emotions?

Explaining what these transitory states of emotions are, renowned Bharatnatyam dancer Deepak Mazumdar gave the analogy of a frothy cup of cappuccino. “Think of the vyabhichari bhavas as the many ingredients that have come together to make this coffee inside this cup, which can be thought off as the body. From this, I pour into the heart of the spectator. As the viewer, you only view the final product, that is, the coffee that I'm enjoying or, the fact that I am emoting the desired emotion (during a performance),” said Mazumdar. “It was ersha, jealousy, a vyabhichari bhava, on which the Ramayana was created... When Kaikeyi wanted her son Bharata to become king, she ensured that Rama was banished to the forest.”

Mazumdar reiterated the significance of these fleeting emotive states in addition to the Navrasa at the Utkarsh-Kanak Rasa Dhara lecture-demonstration at Mumbai's NCPA recently. “Dance with abhinaya (expressions) is much more exhausting than nritta (dance sans expressions) because the dancer has to understand words and the hidden meaning in them,” he said. In a fitting demonstration of the various bhavas, he transformed from the coy, love-struck Parvati to the majestic Shiva on the night the two are betrothed to depict shringara rasa; from the playful boy-child Krishna who having realised his Vishnu avatar transforms into the concerned mother Yashoda to depict vatsalya — the bond between a mother and a child; and from Laxman to Rama upon learning of Sita’s abducted by Ravana and finding her garments to depict viraha (separation).

“Dance takes the most (effort and time to master) and gives away the least (during a performance), because by the time your body understands what you have to do during a performance, your body has aged and begun to wither,” he said, while adding that the attire and make-up of a male Bharatnatyam dancer communicates in a subtle manner. “The makeup is lighter and the garments are mostly pastel. Occasionally it may have royal purple if the role is of royalty,” said Mazumdar, who prefers to don a short kurta and dhoti on stage. “Young men, as the ancient sculptures portray, look nice topless with just a sash. At my age, I prefer exposing my dance form, not the body.”

At 60, Mazumdar conducts dance classes through his institute, Bramhnaad, at Dadar’s Rachna Sansad School, and brings out a quarterly magazine, Brahmabodhi, on Indian classical performing arts. He choreographs for actress Hema Malini’s performances and has been a guru to Nita Ambani for the last 15 years.

Incidentally, Mazumdar's own relationship with his guru has endured for more than four decades. Mazumdar and Nalanda Dance Research Centre founder Dr Kanak Rele have nurtured the guru-shishya parampara for the last 42 years. Theirs has been a relationship where she has had to teach him to dance like a man. “She'd tell me that, 'Rama will never walk like Sita. Sometimes a woman is so strong that she will not cry. And a man might cry more than a woman'.”

Dance like a man

Deepak Mazumdar's father was a businessman and his grandfather was the city's first paediatrician.

After clearing class 12, he enrolled at the Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya, which was affiliated to Mumbai University. Dr Kanak Rele, founder of the parent body Nalanda Dance Research Centre, became his guru.

He was taunted by relatives and friends over this choice, but he had the support of his father. Mazumdar was the first man to do the Masters of Fine Arts in Bharatanatynam from Mumbai University.

During the four-year degree course, he learnt Bharatnatyam as well as how the art form referenced from paintings, sculpture, iconography and literature. It is thanks to this reservoir of knowledge that he considers learning Bharatnatyam or any other classical art form through platforms such as YouTube as blasphemous. “Valmiki could criticise Rama, because Rama was his contemporary. Purushottam, or the best among men, and Tulsi, who came later, viewed Rama as god. One must know not to combine these compositions.”