A Sin called Love
– Anasuya Avadhanam
SY BSc. Economics (2023-27)
Estimated Reading Time ~ 4 minutes
Image Source: Pinterest
Centuries ago a man, passionate about art, dance and Hindu Sanskrit literature had set out on a quest to understand the hatred for those in love. “Is it wrong to love? Is it wrong if it’s romantic, sensuous and materialistic? Can love even be materialistic?” He asked around in his regularised schools the very same questions. Some said that it is nothing but natural and instinctive and should be overcome for eternal peace, some said that is the duty (dharma) of prakrithi (females) to find her ultimate truth in allegiance to the purusha (man). Our guy wasn’t satisfied. While all of this continued in his professional realms as a scholar, he also had a beautiful wife he was made aware of much later in his life (those times marriages were decided at the tender age of 5 and the man and wife would live together once they attained puberty, post puberty to be specific). A woman longing for his presence, someone who was meant for him invoked a sense of curiosity in him rather than the regular feeling of love and affection. This young man set out to meet his beautiful wife but the river in its full force wouldn’t let him, he then makes a promise to remain a celibate and renounce material ways of life in exchange for his safe journey to the shore. It so happens that this very promise he had made to the authorities above was quickly forgotten when he reached the shore. The sign of a celibate in search of god and higher, meaner questions of life was the absence of the sacred thread around them and the wife notices this in her new husband immediately when she meets him eye to eye. She screams in horror and sobs till she faints. The man continued to wonder about the sway sensuous love had over every other human being. He read and read and read till he figured, “Oh if something that leads to the every existence of life and reality is considered sin, then what even is a good deed?”. He had concluded that love and the pleasure that comes along when enjoyed within the ethical bounds was nothing wrong and in fact would lead a being closer and closer to divinity.
This man was Siddendra Yogi, the mastermind behind the artform Kuchipudi. He emphasised on the importance of love being a way to reach godliness, what is also known as Madhura Bhakti. There is no Indian Classical Dance that exists without Sringara. Sringara loosely translated refers to romantic love. Most dances, especially down south that run down from Kaisiki Vritti focus on Sringara. There might be 9 emotions, the navarasas, but without Sringara there are no Sapthavarnas (the rainbow colours), there is no grey without love, there is no justification to insanity without love or lack of it. The most famous play in Kuchipudi, Bhamakalapam, circulates around Sathyabhama, one of Krishna’s eight wives. The entirety of the piece is woven around her search for her beloved Krishna (she pisses him off) and her struggle with separation anxiety. This play deals with such subtle nuances of love and its allied emotions and slightly touches upon “the men are from mars and women are from venus” thinking. It is said that humans always look for something larger than life at least once in their entirety of existence, a search for purpose, a search for peace, happiness and what not. Love in any form, well more so if it’s romantic (because Sringara is romantic), is the easiest and the best way out of this cycle of endless quest for something beyond.
When I tried to learn a Sringara filled choreography, I used to be extremely uncomfortable and fidgety or maybe too giggly. I thought one has to be in love to live it on stage but my guru had once spoken about how the idea of love in itself is so beautifully captivating that it almost becomes a reflex to dance like you feel what the nayaka in love feels like. She used to tell us various tales of these mighty gods and goddesses in love who shed everything they knew to continue to love each other, how even the most powerful of men wouldn’t last a second in front of cupid’s love induced arrows. It is sad that we as society don’t love love. I am pretty sure I sound like Rekha right now but yeah how can the society tell us that love is bad and sinful when all our mythologies circulate around love or betrayal in the name of love. Heck, Miranda (from the tempest) who was trapped on an island for 15 years fell in love with Ferdinand and wasn’t even thinking about love as is. Love is beautiful in every package it decorates itself in, friendship, paternal, maternal, romantic or platonic. Dance taught me to embrace love as it comes and my guru’s words still ring in my head to this date.
“There is some beauty in affections found beyond blood, when it happens you just know it, you’ll want it, you’ll work for it and there’s no one but yourself who can decipher its meaning. It is beautiful to say the least.”
(The essence gets lost in translation but yeah)