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Religious Dance
- Thread starter Thief
- Start date
Thief
Rogue Theologian
Nagasita - Temple Guardian - YouTube
this I found even more interesting
no lyrics
so......is the choreography a display with a message?
again.....soory for the advertisement
this I found even more interesting
no lyrics
so......is the choreography a display with a message?
again.....soory for the advertisement
Jay ShArade VAgeshwari
A beautiful glorification and call to Goddess Saraswati, Goddess of Spiritual [ and material] knowledge by calling Her ShAradA, and most aptly VAgeshwari -- because from Her emanates all speech (vAk),
Musical performances, especially those that include religious or divine bhajans, typically start with this invocation.
Basically Saraswati ShAradA is that aspect of God that facilitates knowledge, learning thru speech, eloquence. expression and music, the sciences and arts, and finally leading to spiritual knowledge and realization.
I will be back with translation of the song - Jay ShArade VAgeshwari,
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So... this beautiful prayer to Goddess Saraswati is fortunately in the Marathi language, my Mother-Tongue, and I will try my best to translate it.
*NOTE: The shloka (verse) in the beginning of the performance, is an invocation is Sanskrit to MadAlasA - an incarnation of Saraswati. The song begins after that.
The BharatnATyam composition is done well by adopting this prayer and the classical dancer is depicting and expressing it well. At the end the pose is Goddess Saraswati sitting cross-legged holding and playing the Vina
jay shArade vAgeshwarI
vidhikanyake vidyAdhari || [repeat chorus]
Dear Goddess Sharada (Saraswati), the Lordess of Speech (language)
Victory be Yours, O One who holds (in charge of) the entire knowledge in the Universe - spiritual
and material
jyotsnepari kAntI tuzi
mukha ramya shArada chandrmA
Your complexion is like that of a bright golden flame
Your face is blissfull like the autumn Full Moon (Sharad season)
[So the autumn is named after Her (Sharad Rutu) , or Saraswati gets described as ShAradA for this reason]
ujaLe tuzyA hAsyAtuni
chAri yugAnchi pourNiMA
Your radiant smile is like the best full moon of all 4 eras
tuziyA krupeche chAndaNe
nita varshu de amuchy shiri || 1 || [chorus - vAgeshwari..]
May the stars of Your Grace shower on our heads eternally/ always
viNewari phiratA tuzi
chaturA kalAvay anguli
sangeet janmA ye nave
Jadata matichi bhangali
unmesh kalpataruvari
baharuna AlyA manjiri || 2 || [chorus - vAgeshwari..]
As soon as Your transcendental fingers, from which emanates the four-fold art,
play deftly on the ViNA (Saraswati's musical string instrument), resulting in music,
the grossness and ignorance of our minds gets destroyed [due to that music]
By Your Grace the celestial wish-yielding tree
has suddenly blossomed - is bursting full of flower-blossoms (manjiri)
sparshAmuLe nava devate
sAkArati ruchi Akruti
O Ever-New Goddess OR the Adi Shakti Who takes 9 forms (NavaDurgA),
by Your mere touch
The Veda ruchis (verses praising the Divine) take beautiful forms! [as evident in Dwapar Yuga - Vraj - Rig Veda ruchis]
shAstre tulA vasha sarvahi
vidyA kalA wA saMskruti
All the scriptures are under Your control, You have mastery over them
Be they about knowledge of Brahman, material knowledge, art or culture
lAvaNya kAhi AgaLe
bharale dise viswAntari || 3 || [chorus - vAgeshwarI..]
Your transcendental beauty is different, one of a kind,
Its effect is seen and clearly evident in the entire material universe
Jaya Sharade sung by Asha Bhosle
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Thief
Rogue Theologian
yeah
the performance was well done
even to the subtle facial expressions
a true work of art
Thief
Rogue Theologian
I totally hear you
I think it is a fusion of tribal cultures around the world, and not necessarily about faith, religion or spirituality.
-- In this particular video the theme appears to be "A guard outside a Cave Temple" - however super-imposed with belly-dancing that is not native to the tribal culture it is depicting. Beyond that I cannot tell.
If you want my honest opinion,
--the artist and art are excellent as art in this world.
However, when super-imposed on religious themes, it may be too sensual and not necessarily spiritual or divine, and she may not be claiming it is , in each performance,
but is it sending wrong messages and misinforming the audience?
I mean it is not her fault if the audience mistake a "dancer" , "guard" a "tribal" or an "apsarA" for a Goddess, but the fusion opens the door to generalizations and confusions.
--What she seems to do is keep her Belly-dancing base and mix and match dance steps from cultures around the world, as well as a mix-match of cultural topics e.g. Celtic, BharatnAtyam, Odissi, Chinese, etc.
They are calling this "Temple Tribal dance" and this is great service to introduce modern society to the tribal cultures.
-- What happens is that at least the Belly-dancing base keeps the performance sensual, and rooted in the material world
-- One has to be very careful doing fusion because some people think Goddesses are an object of sensual art and the more "sexy" their poses the more Goddess they are!
-- At least in the Hindu pantheon, Goddess is Mother, and bestows Grace on you, She is extremely pure, and sensuality has no place.
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I edited post #5 - for accuracy in the sanskrit pronunciation - e.g. words we may take for granted, kanti , as kAnti
Plus, a major edit -- is the above in green.
The poet is addressing Her as "nava devate" , devate = O Goddess.
nava can mean Ever-New
OR
nava = 9 = nava-DurgA = the Adi Shakti, Primordial Goddess DurgA who takes 9 forms (KAtyAyani, Shailaputri, SkandamAtA...) each form has a day in the NavrAtra festival
Hence I am DurgA and I alone am ShAradA. => Goddess is One. All forms are Her forms.
This also has a cycle reference (of more interest to the Hindus here) -- in the BhAgvat PurAN, Lord VishNu tells YogmAyA,
"In the upcoming Kali Yuga, people will worship You as Bhagavati, ShAradA, AmbA etc."
This means there is only one Bhagavati - and She alone is Parvati, Lakshmi, Saraswati.