Ghungroo or salangai is an integral half of Indian classical dances
The clouds create a blanket of darkness as the rain pours. Covering her head, the abhisarika nayika traipses by way of the woods, lit solely by occasional flashes of lightning. A snake makes an attempt to wrap round her ankle, however she bravely shakes it off. Nothing can cease her from assembly her beloved. Her solely companion — the anklets.
Ankle bells, also called gejje, salangai, muvva, or gejjalu in South India and ghungroo up North, have captured the fancy of poet and king alike. The decoration, in its most delicate type as a golusu or payal, is indicative femininity and is a prescribed decoration for ladies in historic texts reminiscent of Tiruvempavai of Manickavasagar.
The ankle bells add to the magnificence of a dancer’s actions
| Photo Credit:
JOTHI RAMALINGAM B
While historical past could give it a number of prescriptive makes use of, how can we acquire a sensible sense of the anklet? Temple sculpture could include the solutions. The earliest documented anklets emerge from the repertoire of Buddhist terracottas and sculptures, with a consultant instance discovered on the well-known Mauryan Didarganj Yakshi, dated to the third century BC. This beautiful sculpture, now at the Patna Museum, sports activities thick, tyre-like anklets which can be extra reminiscent of ankle weights at our native fitness center than of the delicate nupura described in the texts. In reality, foot ornaments as depicted in temple sculpture throughout India appear to distinction their delicate and inventive descriptions in the literature and scripture. In Belur, we’re confronted with swish and languorous darpanikas sporting a number of sorts of layered, chunky anklets. Even in images of courtesans from Tanjore and Mysore, we observe a number of, stacked anklets.
Some students are very specific about the distinction between ornaments. The manjira, it’s argued, is clearly distinguished from the prakshepya by the former’s thinness. If one have been to collate all of the phrases utilized in Sanskrit alone for the anklet, it’s seemingly that the survey would yield greater than 24 phrases for various nuances of the decoration. If vernacular languages have been to be thought-about, the rely would sail properly over 100. What was the perform of a lot variation inside the idea of the anklet? Why was it necessary to distinguish between a salangai, a golusu and a silambu?
The sound of the ghungroos units the tempo of a Kathak efficiency
| Photo Credit:
FARUQUI AM
Perhaps the reply lies in the meant impact of the ankle decoration in the Indian creativeness. Each of the varieties of anklets definitely had a unique aesthetic worth, however, extra importantly, every had a unique sonic worth. In his e-book Nupura, S.P. Tewari means that it was the chiming of anklets that indicated feminine quarters in the palaces of yore. Epigraphs from the Edilpur Copperplate of Bengal clearly delineate the enjoyment of the “dulcet music arising from the anklets of courtesans every evening” by the 12th century Sena monarch, Lakshmanasena. It is well-documented that favoured courtesans would usually obtain anklets in treasured metals, typically studded with gems, as imperial items.
The ethereal sound of the ghungroo wasn’t restricted to the court docket, nevertheless. Literature usually makes use of the sound of the anklet as a personality in itself. In Jayadeva’s 12th century magnum opus, the Gita Govinda, Radha says to her pal, “Take off these dangerous enemies, your ankle-bells. They talk loudly when you walk and enjoy union.” Saint-poet Meera refers to dancing in abandon (possessed by her affection for Krishna) with anklets on in the well-known track ‘Pagh ghungroo baandh Meera nachi re’.
Balasaraswati’s ankle bells have been stored in a glass case in an exhibition by the Museum of Performing Arts in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu Archives
While these tales have been instructed from the perspective of having an intimate relationship with the divine, the temple was a vital web site of the anklet’s historical past too. An important side of the devadasi custom was the gajjela puja or salangai puja, which marked the preparedness of a younger dancer to takeover the ritual performances at the temple and consecrate her formal dedication to the patron god. While the context of this ritual was rooted in an historic system that has little relevance to classical dance as we speak, many consider that they’re persevering with the custom of anklet puja by making it a compulsory factor of a dancer’s debut (arangetram). Furthermore, the devadasi custom documented the fashioning of anklets out of a number of totally different supplies — particularly gold, silver and bronze. Dancers of as we speak depend on brass bells to serve a metronomic perform on stage, however what might have been the hereditary dancing neighborhood’s motive for utilising anklets of totally different supplies? How did it change?
In an exhibition by the Museum of Performing Arts, legendary dancer Balasaraswati’s ankle bells rested inside a glass case. Tiny motifs have been engraved on every brass bell, and the viewer might get a way of the weight of the decoration simply from taking a look at it. Balasaraswati was one of the final hereditary dancers to follow the type in its genuine context. She often mentioned the want to tune her ankle bells. The sruti, she claimed, was an necessary side of the efficiency at giant. She hailed from a convention the place the dancer offered vocal assist for her personal performances and thus we should ask whether or not the unique goal of the ankle bell was to function an instrument in its personal proper.
Perhaps the anklet is a research in itself — steeped in custom but fully customisable.