#odissi

Odissi - the temple dance ✦ ⋆ ࣪.

Tribhaṅga or Tribunga is a standing body position or stance used in traditional Indian art and Indian classical dance forms like the Odissi, where the body bends in one direction at the knees, the other direction at the hips and then the other again at the shoulders and neck.

The pose goes back at least 2,000 years in Indian art, and has been highly characteristic for much of this period, found repeated over and over again in countless examples of Indian sculpture and painting. Indian religions carried it to East and South-East Asia. Like the equivalent contrapposto and "S Curve" poses in Western art, it suggests movement in figures and gives "rhythmic fluidity and ... youthful energy".

The history of the stance is often said to reach back to the famous Dancing Girl from Mohenjo-Daro, of about c. 2300–1750 BCE. Versions of the stance can be seen in (Buddhist) yakshi at Bharhut, c. 100 BCE, and the classical form of the stance at Sanchi, around 10 CE.

The pose is used on many coins of the Gupta Empire (c. 319 to 543 CE), by both the kings on the obverse and the deities on the reverse, and in Gupta sculpture. During this period it became very common in both Buddhist and Hindu art (as well as Jain art).

The style of the stance changes somewhat over the centuries, and between different regions inside and outside India, as it was carried abroad, mainly to the east and south-east, in the art of both major religions. To simplify considerably, the earlier depictions in Gupta art and Post-Gupta art show major figures in mildly-bent stances, with more pronounced poses in minor figures and especially female ones such as apsaras and yakshini.

By perhaps the 9th century the stronger version of the stance spreads to most types of figures, and becomes even more marked. This tendency begins to reduce from about the 13th century. The Buddha only ever has a slight tribhanga stance and the Jain tirthankaras are almost never depicted in the pose. Vishnu and Brahma also only usually have slight versions of the stance; the famous temples of Khajuraho, which provide a profusion of tribhanga poses, include examples for both of them.

Krishna playing his flute is very consistently depicted in a version of the pose with one lower leg crossed over (or behind) the other and on tip-toe, and he and Shiva are more often given stronger versions of the stance.

In the Buddhist and Hindu art of East Asia and South-East Asia, the stance tends to be a mark of recent Indian influence in early periods, and figures, especially major ones, then gradually straighten as time passes.

the demands of respect, the unquestioning obedience to your teacher, the subtle casteism, general entitlement, the lack of space to explore any other expression apart from devotion, the moral policing and character assassinations. i just do not want to go through that again.

In the expanse of this dance, every movement tells a graceful tale woven with the threads of tradition and spirituality. Each step, like a delicate brushstroke on the canvas of eternity, paints a picture of devotion and reverence. The dancer, adorned in resplendent attire, becomes a vessel of expression, her every gesture an offering to the divine.

With rhythmic precision, her feet glide across the stage, evoking the ancient rhythms of the earth herself. Like a river flowing effortlessly through time, her body undulates in seamless harmony with the music, carrying with it the echoes of centuries past. Her eyes, sparkling with emotion, mirror the depths of her soul as she channels the essence of existence through the art of movement.

As she gracefully unfurls her hands, her mudras and her eyes speak volumes. Through the language of her body, she narrates tales of love, of valor, of gods and goddesses, invoking the collective consciousness of a civilization steeped in myth and legend. In her presence, time stands still, and the audience is transported to a realm where beauty reigns supreme.

The mundane fades into oblivion, and the ethereal takes center stage. It is a celebration of life, of love, of the eternal dance of creation and destruction. To witness Odissi is to be enraptured by its ineffable charm, to be swept away on a journey of transcendence and enlightenment.