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Krishna - Krishna in the performing arts

Krishna - Krishna in the performing arts: Encyclopedia II - Krishna - Krishna in the performing arts

The earliest mention of any performance based on the Krishna story is mentioned in Patanjali's Mahabhashya. But it is not clear what kind of dance/drama it was, nor the occasion it was performed on. The fact that all the incidents related to the Krishna story are presented as a playful activities in which he is fully aware of his divine nature made him a difficult subject for the classical Sanskrit playwrights. These play usually had scenes where the hero is deep in sorrow before the customary happy ending. While Vishnu's other major ...

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Krishna: Encyclopedia II - Krishna - Krishna in the performing arts

Krishna - Krishna in the performing arts

The earliest mention of any performance based on the Krishna story is mentioned in Patanjali's Mahabhashya. But it is not clear what kind of dance/drama it was, nor the occasion it was performed on.

The fact that all the incidents related to the Krishna story are presented as a playful activities in which he is fully aware of his divine nature made him a difficult subject for the classical Sanskrit playwrights. These play usually had scenes where the hero is deep in sorrow before the customary happy ending. While Vishnu's other major incarnation Rama could be made into the protagonist of the plays, it was virtually impossible to make such plays about Krishna. Perhaps Bhasa's Balacharita is the only play by a major classical dramatist. This incidentally, dwells only on his childhood exploits.

The problem faced by classical play did not crop up in other arts like music, dance and narrative enactments of the Krishna legend. From the 10th century BCE, with the growing Bhakti movement, Krishna became a favourite. The songs of Gita Govinda became favoured across India and had many imitations. The songs composed by the Bhakti poets added to the repository of both folk and classical singing.

The classical dances of India, especially Odissi and Manipuri, draw heavily on them. The 'Ras-Lila' dances performed in Vrindavana shares elements with Kathak and the Krisnattam performed now exclusively at the Guruvayoor temple was the precursor of Kathakali.

Medieval Maharashtra gave birth to Hari-Katha that told Vaishnavite tales through music, dance and narrative sequences and Krishna’s story became a rich source. This tradition then spread to Tamil Nadu and other southern states.

Narayana Thirtha(17the century CE)'s Krishna-Lila-Tharangini provided material for the musical plays of the Bhagavata-Mela by telling the tale of Krishna till his marriage to Rukmini. Thyagaraja(18the century CE) wrote a similar piece called Nauka-Charitam.

Innumerable movies in all Indian languages have been made based on these tales. These are of varying quality and usually take much liberty with the story to add songs, melodrama and special effects.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Krishna in the performing arts", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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