"Mohiniyaattam" redirects here. For the 1976 film, see Mohiniyaattam (film).
Mohiniyattam
Native name
മോഹിനിയാട്ടം
Genre
Indian classical dance
Origin
Kerala
Performer at a Kannur district school dance festival, 2009
Mohiniyattam (Malayalam: മോഹിനിയാട്ടം) is an Indian classical dance form originating from the state of Kerala.[1][2] The dance gets its name from Mohini – the female enchantress avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu, who helps the devas prevail over the asuras using her feminine charm.[1][3]
Mohiniyattam's roots, like all classical Indian dances, are in the Natya Shastra – the ancient Hindu Sanskrit text on performance arts.[4][5] However, it follows the Lasya style described in Natya Shastra, that is a dance which is delicate, eros-filled and feminine.[2][6] It is traditionally a solo dance performed by women after extensive training, though men also perform the dance in the contemporary period.[7][8][9][10] The repertoire of Mohiniyattam includes music in the Carnatic style, singing and acting a play through the dance, where the recitation may be either by a separate vocalist or the dancer themselves. The song is typically in Malayalam-Sanskrit hybrid called Manipravalam.[2]
The earliest mention of the word is found in the 16th-century legal text Vyavaharamala, but the likely roots of the dance are older.[11] The dance was systematized in the 18th century, was ridiculed as a Devadasi prostitution system during the colonial British Raj, banned by a series of laws from 1931 through 1938, a ban that was protested and partially repealed in 1940.[12] The socio-political conflict ultimately led to renewed interest, revival and reconstruction of Mohiniyattam by the people of Kerala, particularly the poet Vallathol Narayana Menon.[2]
^ abCite error: The named reference Lochtefeld2002p433 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abcdCite error: The named reference mohiniybrit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Reginald Massey 2004, pp. 131–133.
^Cite error: The named reference lochtefeld467 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^James B. Robinson (2009). Hinduism. Infobase Publishing. pp. 103–105. ISBN 978-1-4381-0641-0.
^Cite error: The named reference shivaji6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Viswanathan, Manoj (7 October 2020). "Renowned classical dancer attempts suicide, alleges caste, gender discrimination". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
^"Muslim man becomes first male dancer to get PhD in Mohiniyattam". 13 January 2015.
^Anand, Shilpa Nair (3 March 2020). "RLV Ramakrishnan's love for Mohiniyattam". The Hindu.
^"What stops men from performing mohiniyattam? - Times of India". The Times of India. 7 October 2020.
^Cite error: The named reference shivaji44 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Justine Lemos (2016). Maratt Mythili Anoop and Varun Gulati (ed.). Scripting Dance in Contemporary India. Lexington. pp. 35–43. ISBN 978-1-4985-0552-9.
Mohiniyattam (Malayalam: മോഹിനിയാട്ടം) is an Indian classical dance form originating from the state of Kerala. The dance gets its name from Mohini – the...
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