ONE HUNDRED and twenty years after the death of King Bhagyachandra, the poet Rabindranath Tagore encountered Manipuri dancing in Sylhet district, a Manipuri enclave that is now part of Bangla Desh. He was so entranced by the dancing that he brought a dance teacher from that community to help establish a dance department at Shantiniketan, his fledgling center of artistic study in West Bengal.

From 1919 to 1941, when the poet Tagore died, several Manipuri teachers served as faculty members at Shantiniketan, and gradually Manipuri dance became well known in Calcutta, then later Ahmedabad and other parts of India. The last of these teachers was the well-known Guru Atomba Singh.

This is the period during which Manipuri dance came to be catalogued together with Kathak, Bharata Natyam and Kathakali as one of the "branches" of the Natya Shastra tradition.

When using the Manipuri style to choreograph his dance-dramas, Tagore often borrowed facial expressions, dramatic poses, and "hasta mudras" (hand gestures) from other Indian dance styles, to aid in telling his story.

In this way he developed one of India's modern dance styles, now known as "Rabindrik" or "Tagore Dance". Gradually, some of these borrowed gestures may have been carried back to Manipur and absorbed into the style.

But the use of dramatic facial expressions has never been adopted by Manipuri dancers, and this is one of the quirks which identify Manipuri dance. The dancer's face in Manipuri style is serene, meditative and smooth.

IN RUBBING shoulders with dancers from other parts of India, the Manipuri dance teachers found much to admire in their differing styles, which are more vivid and dramatic than the subtle and refined Manipuri style.

At the same time, teachers of other styles recognized some similarities between Manipuri hand positions and footwork patterns and gestures and steps described in the Natya Shastra. They then took it upon themselves to ascribe the origins of the Manipuri dance to that treatise.

In a classic example of wishful thinking engendered by the political impulse of the era, which was the desire for a unified Indian nation, the notion took root that once upon a time, Indian dance had been a single art form, but slowly the different styles had diverged, with each geographical area developing its trademark technique, having forgotten or lost some of the elements of the original art form.

This kind of superficial scholarship led to statements such as the following by Rukmini Devi, one of the first modern-day revivalists.
"Even other forms of dancing, like Kathakali and Manipuri, are obviously variations of Bharata Natyam, though they have changed in character in accordance with environment and the atmosphere of their surroundings."[6]

IT CAN definitely be stated that during the renaissance of Indian dancing, which began in the 1920's and still continues, Manipuri dance has been influenced by the Natya Shastra tradition.

It is also probably true that ever since the Hindu religion was brought to Manipur, the Hindu or Sanskrit artistic heritage has influenced the people of Manipur intensely, so that it is difficult to unravel the threads of the fabric of Manipuri life and say, "This one is Meitei, this one is Hindu."

But other statements about the Natya Shastra influence on Manipuri dance, which place it at some very early juncture now obscured by mists of time, cannot be used as a basis for scientific commentary.

When highly respected scholars, such as Kapila Vatsyayan, make these pronouncements, one feels that the Indian national predilection for glorifying the Aryan-Dravidian tradition has clouded their perception.

Dr. Vatsyayan stated in her influential treatise, Classical Indian Dance in Literature and the Arts; "Whenever the contemporary forms of Bharata Natyam and Manipuri and Odissi evolved, two things are clear: first, that they were broadly following the tradition of the Natya Shastra and were practicing similar principles of technique from their inception and, second, that the stylization of movement began as far back as the 8th and 9th century." [7]

THIS STATEMENT is actually a reverse projection, in which the analyst has looked at a present-day dance form and, seeing similarity to other forms, whether contemporary or historical, has projected into the past the idea of a common origin.

It is extremely confusing to the student of Indian dance forms, who must constantly sift through the available literature on the subject for such imaginative analysis presented in the guise of history.

IN POINT OF FACT, the appeal of Manipuri dancing for the non-Manipuri audience lies not in its points of congruence with other Indian dance styles, but in its points of contrast.

Not only the dance researcher, but general audiences as well seem fascinated by the unique flavor of Manipuri dance. In bringing Manipuri dance to the world outside, it is the opinion of this researcher that one can highlight its special qualities and status as a kind of anthropological microcosm.

Several Indian dance styles look so similar to the general audience as to be indistinguishable, namely Bharata Natyam, Kuchipudi, Odissi and Mohini Attam.

On the other hand, Manipuri dance is so extremely different in its appearance that a local dance critic was once heard to comment on a performance of Manipuri dance at Washington, D.C., that this was not Indian dance because the dancers did not wear ankle-bells and did not slap their feet on the floor.

In a sense, we may say that he was correct in his perception. Manipuri dance is really India's "non-Indian" style, and the fact that Manipuri dancers have Indian passports does not change that simple truth.

In bringing Manipuri dance to a wider audience, it is essential for the performers and presenters to emphasize the purely Manipuri qualities over the generally Indian character of the dances.

WE NOW come to the question that lies behind a discussion of how to present Manipuri dance on the world stage.

That question is, "Why?"

When the dance is, at heart, strictly an expression of Manipuri culture and religion, not intended for performance, but for participation by the Manipuri people as a way of reinforcing and handing down their traditions, why interfere by imposing alien presentation requirements and artistic standards?

To be continued ...