Hasta’s mentioned in the commentary of Cilapatikāram by Adiyārkku Nallār

(Arankētru Kādai)
Part One
By
Uma Nagaswamy

Author’s Note

It is my great pleasure to take up research on Cilapatikāram under the able guidance of my father Kalaimāmani Dr. R. Nagaswamy, a renowned Sanskrit and Tamil scholar. Without his encouragement and insight, this work would not have been possible.

Cilapatikāram has wealth of information on Dance, Music and the way of living of a commoner in ancient times. The first comprehensive commentary on Cilapatikāram available to us was written by Adiyarkku Nallār, a brilliant scholar in the early 1200 CE. Although the original text by Iḷango Adikaḷ is not available, majority of the commentary for the first canto and a part of the second canto by Adiyarkku Nallār in palm leaf manuscript has been recovered and made available to us by Dr. U.Ve. Swaminatha Iyer, a great Tamil scholar. But for him, this master piece would have been lost for ever. It is known that Adiyarkku Nallār wrote commentary for the whole text but they have not survived. An earlier commentary by Arum-pada-urai-āciryar which is available for the whole text is also given by Swaminatha iyer.

In his commentary on Arangētru Kādai, Indra viḷa and kānal vari Adiyarkku Nallār explains the technique of Dance and Music in great detail. He cites extensively from the then existing Tamil sources and it is found that some definitions vary from the Sanskrit sources. Otherwise most of his work shows the Dance and music tradition was mainly based on Sanskrit school. This article quotes texts and explanations from the book “Cilapatikāram” critically edited and published by U. Ve. Swaminatha Iyer.


Introduction

The Sangam era spanning between 200BCE and 200CE had an explosion of literary treatises by many learned poets and scholars. Among them, Cilapatikāram considered a post Sangam text enjoys a unique place as the most popular of the five epics (Aīnperum kāppiyam) and is assigned to about the 3rd century CE. The author of this epic is Iḷango Adikaḷ and is mentioned as the brother of the Chēra king Seguttuvan. Cilapatikāram is a story of a commoner unjustly accused and murdered for stealing the Pandya Queens anklets and his wife taking extreme measures to clear his name.

The story beautifully unfolds at an extremely fast pace into three Cantos describing
• Kovalan’s marriage to Kaṇṇagi
• Kovalan deserting Kaṇṇagi for Mādavi, a court dancer
• Kovalan returning to Kaṇṇagi
• Kovalan and Kaṇṇagi relocating to Madurai to start a new life
• Kovalan being unjustly accused of stealing the Pandya Queens anklets and being murdered
• Kaṇṇagi taking extreme measures to clear her husbands name

Numerous translations and commentaries are available for interested readers to explore, the most authentic and comprehensive among them being the publication by U. Ve. Swaminatha Iyer.

In this article I will explore the sections pertaining to Dance in Arangētru Kādai, a subsection of the very first Canto Pukār Kāndam. Arangētru Kādai beautifully explains the rigorous training that Mādavi undergoes before her debut stage performance and the rituals that she is required to perform on the day of her initiation. In his explanation, Adiyarkku Nallār interprets Iḷango Adikaḷ’s description of Mādavi’s training in the following way:

Avinayathodē nāṭti ceiyumidattu ceiyum muraimatān nāngu vagai padum
Kaiyum karuttum midarum carīramumena

There are four methods of performing Nātya which includes hand gestures (Hasta’s), meaning (karuttu), neck movements (midar) and bodily movement (karaṇā’s). He then explains the two types of hand gestures; Iṇayā-Iṇai Kai (single hand) and Piṇayal Kai (double hand) in great detail. In part one of this article, I have tried to map each hasta to the best of my understanding to what we know and use currently according to Abinaya Darpana. It is very evident that some of the Hasta’s do not match the method that is explained in Abinaya Darpana despite having the same names. In fact this deviation from the Sanskrit meaning of a few hasta’s is mentioned by U. Ve. Swaminatha Iyer in his introduction.

Iṇayā -Iṇai Kai (Asamyuta Hastas) – 33 single hand gestures

1. Patākai (Patāka)
2. Tiripatākai (Tripatāka)
3. Katirikai (Kartarīmuka)
4. Tūpam (Kartarīmuka variation bending index and snake fingers)
5. Arālam (Arāla)
6. Iḷampirai (Ardacandra)
7. Sukatuṇdam (Ṣukatuṇda)
8. Mutti (Muṣti)
9. Katakam (Katakāmukam)
10. Sūci (Sūci)
11. Padumakōsikam (Padmakoṣa)
12. Kāngulam (Kāngula)
13. Kapittam (Kapitta)
14. Virpidi (Sikaram)
15. Kudangai (Sarpasiras)
16. Alāpatiram (Alapadma)
17. Piramaram (Simahamuka)
18. Tāmiracūdam (Katakāmuka)
19. Pasāsam (Candrakalā)
20. Mukuḷam (Mukuḷa)
21. Piṇdi (Ūrnanāba/Hamsapakṣa?)
22. Terinilai (Karkata half)
23. Meinilai (Hamsapakṣam?)
24. Unnam (Triṣūla)
25. Mandalam (Tamracūda?)
26. Caturam (Catura)
27. Māndralai (Mrigasīrṣa)
28. Sangam (Sangu half)
29. Vaṇdu (Mayuram)
30. Ilattai (Katakāmukam?)
31. Kapōdam (Patāka variation thumb extending out)
32. Makaramukam (Candrakalā?)
33. Valampuri (Kūrma half?)

Piṇayal Kai (Samyuta Hastas) – 15 double hand gestures
1. Anjali (Anjali)
2. Putpānchali (Sarpasiras facing each other)
3. Padumānchali (Padmakoṣam facing each other)
4. Kapōdam (Kapōda)
5. Karkatakam (Karkata)
6. Savutikam (Swastika)
7. Katakāvarutam (Katakāvardana)
8. Niṭatam (Muṣti in both hands at the wrist)
9. Tōram (Dōla)
10. Urcangam (Ardacandra and Arāla at the wrist)
11. Putpapuṭam (Puṣpaputam)
12. Makaram (Matsya)
13. Sayantam (No explanation is available)
14. Abayavattam (Ṣukatuṇda in both hands against the chest, similar to ṣakata, this matches Avahitam in Bharata’s Nāṭya Sāstra)
15. Vartamānam (Mukuḷa and Kapōda facing each other)

Remarks:

Through out his commentary, Adiyarkku Nallār reveals himself as a brilliant Scholar on literature, dance, music and drama. He quotes extensively from other texts that must have existed during his period as references and directs the readers to refer to specific works for further details. Unfortunately these earlier texts are lost to us.

In Part Two of this article I will explore the remarkable details that Adiyarkku Nallār provides for each and every Hasta. In future parts I will compare the Hasta’s mentioned in Bharata’s Nāṭya Sāstra with Cilapatikāram and Abinaya Darpanam.