Drama

Rhythm
Math
Speed
Power
Beauty
Delicacy
Poetry
Kathak

A write-up by:
Rithik.R
Grade 7A
The making of regional cultures
Social Studies
 Kathak Dance

“Kathak journey of a thousand miles begins with one step Dha”.

Kathak – one of India’s most popular classical dances is a type of dance which is
used to enact stories and tales about Hindu scriptures, Mahabharata and
Ramayana. The word Kathak is derived from the Sanskrit word ’Katha’, which
means story. Kathak was originally a way of telling stories through dancing,
singing and facial expressions. After the Bhakti movement, Kathak turned into a
form of dance used for telling stories. This dance is said to have
originated from a group of travelling bards in Ancient Northern
India known as Kathakars, which mean storytellers. This dance
gives emphasis on facial expressions, poses, body movement,
Mudras, etc.

The hand movements by the Kathakars are called Mudras. The

word Mudra is Sanskrit for ‘seal’ or ‘mark’. Each Mudra
expresses a set of meanings which change depending on the context of the story.
There are 2 types of Mudras –“Asamyukta Mudras,” which are mudras that
use only one hand and “Samyukta Mudras,” which are mudras that uses both
hands. There are 24 Mudras based on Nayashastra’s list and 28 Mudra based on
Abhinaya Darpana’s list. Pataka is the most common Mudra in Kathak. It can
mean a blessing, the air, the sky, the water and many more.

The last ruler of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah revived Kathak

as a major form of Indian classical dance during his
short reign of 9 years. He was a poet, dancer, singer
and patron of arts. He wrote 40 works including

poems, prose and plays.

There are many popular kathak dancers in India. One of the greatest
Kathak dancers was Pandit Birju Maharaj. He was a descendant of the
Maharaj family of Kathak dancers. His father Acchan Maharaj, his uncles
Pandit Shambu Maharaj and Pandit Lacchu Maharaj were also well
renowned Kathak dancers. He started dancing very early at the age of
four and performed for the first time at his father’s concert. He has received
many awards including the ‘Padma Vibhushan’ 1986 and the ‘Sangeet Natak
akademi award’ in 1964. His ancestral home at Wazirganj, Lucknow was
converted into Kathak museum by the government in 2016.

Another well known Kathak dancer is Shovana Narayan. She trained

under Birju Maharaj. She has performed in India and many other
countries. She has also received the ‘Padma Shri in
1992 and the ‘Sangeet Natak akademi award’ in 1999
and 2000.

Kumari Kamala also known as Kamala Lakshman is

another great Kathak dancer and actress who has acted in almost a
hundred films in various languages like Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and
Telugu.

There are many other popular Kathak dancers like Sunanyana hansari Agarwal,
Prerana Shrimala, Rani Karna Devi, Sitara Devi and Durga Lal.

There are multiple Gharanas in Kathak. Some of them are the Lucknow gharana,
the Jaipur Gharana and the Banaras Gharana.

“Dance has to unfold with the grace of a tree giving out leaves, flowers and then
tiny fruit. Nothing so beautiful can be”. - Birju Maharaj