The Relevance Of Aḍavu-s In Sanskrit Treatise 'Saṅgīta Sārāmṛta' To The Contemporary Aḍavu-s Of Bharatanāṭya

‘Saṅgīta Sāramṛta’ authored by Marata King Tulajaji – I of Tanjore written in the 18th century AD., names and describes 16 Aḍavu-s, which were done in Sadir Natch, the dance done during the period the treatise was written. This is the only available documentation on Aḍavu-s. The word Aḍavu and the names of many are found in two Tamil treatises and many Kannada poetic works but there is no description as to their execution. Evolution of Aḍavu can be traced to Karaṇa-s of Bharata’s Nāṭyaśāstra and many Dēsī techniques which came into vogue after Nāṭyaśāstra. The current Aḍavu-s taught by the the Gurus of Bhartanāṭya are off shoot of the practicing traditions developed over many generations. The paper is based on author’s MPhil dissertation “Tracing the Aḍavu-s through Dance Literature and Practicing Traditions” and PhD Thesis “Study of Influence of Mārga Karaṇa-s on Aḍavu-s from the perspective of Structure and Aesthetics”. The author video graphed Aḍavu-s being done in the eight Bāni-s of Bharatanāṭya at present, for her MPhil dissertation and studied them to see how many of them were similar to the description of Aḍavu-s mentioned in the treatise Saṅgīta Sāramṛta’. It has been concluded that many of the Aḍavu-s that are described in the treatise, written around 300 years ago, are prevalent even today with small changes.