Empowering men through Bharata Natyam? We have male dancers throughout the world, some in the modern dance field, others in hip hop, and many in popping and locking. Whenever I watch a talent dance show, the male dancers, all in their muscular cast will be presenting those modern dance styles, and the audience as well as the jury members will be enthralled with their vigorousness. But again, what about empowering men through Bharata Natyam? Let us first start with defining the term.

Empowerment! A word often used, but tedious to define. It seems like every individual or party has defined the word by basing it on their personal experiences. To shed light on the matter, the Division for Social Policy and Development (DPSD) of UNDESA created an online survey to ask people all around the world about the definition of empowerment (Department Of Economic And Social Affairs Division For Social Policy And Development, 2012). Sandra Lincoln, a Province Leadership Team Member of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus quotes: “Empowerment is to give a person the confidence and education and where-with-all to be all that they can be.”. Kenneth Schadt, a History and Literature tutor defines the word as “Power to achieve political, social, and economic equality…”, and Donal Horowitz from the Federation of Jewish Men’s clubs explains that “Empowerment means that people, individuals have a voice in making decisions for themselves and for society.”. To summarise, it can be said that empowerment is the ability that possesses an individual or a community to exercise control and power to attain a certain target, and in the process, they are helping themselves and other people (Adams, 2008).

As per my observations, if we go through the news and other informative channels, the word empowerment is often used in connection with women. It is a ‘weapon word’ to defend women on many frontiers: the right in decision-making, sexual harassment, politics, domestic violence, amongst others. My first acquaintance with the word was on International Women’s Day, where many radio channels were debating about ‘Women Empowerment’. In fact, Luttrell et al. (2009) states that the term ‘empowerment’ was first regularly used in women’s movement. She further explains that in the mid- 1980s, the ‘empowerment of women’ was a fundamental part in propelling the inclusion of women in decision performances and development purposes.

However, the society is made up of both genders. While many are working on empowering our girls and women, why should it be different for our boys and men? Both men and women are needed in their complementary nature to contribute to the world (Correia, 2017). According to Voice Male Magazine, there is the paradigm that men are generally strong and independent. There is a pressure that it is a ‘quality’ that is inborn in the male gender, hence they need no formation as women do (Correia, 2017).

But, have you ever pondered about the black-skinned man who is associated with discrimination (Monk, 2015), the men with tattoos, or ripped jeans who are stigmatized as being uncivilized (Mehta, 2018) and the homosexuals who suffer from social isolation (Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, 2016)? How do they feel in this society? Maybe not empowered?

Out of the various ways to empower men, I believe that one of the strategies is to use the Indian classical dance Bharata Natyam. As per Hindu mythologies, this dance is performed by Lord Shiva (Cartwright, 2015), Lord Krishna (Suresh, 2019), and even Lord Vishnu as Mohini- his female form (itimes user, 2014). Moving from mythology to contemporary, we have male ambassadors of Bharata Natyam like Professor C.V. Chandrashekar, VP Dhananjay, Praveen Kumar, Christopher Guruswamy amongst many who are leaving no stone unturned to carry the beauty of this art across the world (Nair, 2017). According to The Times of India, Rukmini Devi Arundale, a Bharata Natyam pioneer, has always campaigned for male dancers to train and keep their vigorous and masculine form in their dance (Pandey, 2017). Moreover, Kumar, a young and dynamic dancer explains that when performing Bharata Natyam, he sticks to the male roles. He quotes that: “There has to be space in dance for how men emote too…” he stated. “I mean men pine too, but they do it differently. Men wait for their lovers too, but again very differently.”

Indian mythologies overflow with stories portraying the valor of Indian Gods. And these stories are often narrated to dance students and put in a dance form.

Yashomati maiya se bole Nandalala, Radha kyu gori? Mai kyu kala?

In this song, Lord Krishna asks his mother Yashoda, why is he dark-skinned while his love lady, Radha, is so fair. The mother then explains that Krishna has been enchanted my Radha’s dark eyes, which philosophically means that Krishna is the consciousness (black) while Radha is the material existence (white). Just like all colors when mixed create black, in the same way, Radha is the light that reveals consciousness is that solid, unchanging, and beautiful color (Vijayasri, 2009). In many stories of Lord Krishna, he is described as a handsome and flirty young man (starr, 2015). In no way is his dark skin an obstacle to him. His beauty lies in his complexion as well as in his demeanor. He is loved by everyone as a lover, a son, and a protector. He dances the Kaliya Mardana (Nivedita and Coomaraswamy, 2001) on the hundred-headed serpent, to push the latter away from the village’s cattle, saving the villagers’ income. The dark lord, not Voldemort from Harry Potter, but the handsome one from Hindu mythologies can ingrain in our youngsters how beautiful it is to have a dark complexion, and how to draw power from it. 

According to the Shiva Purana, Daksha, Sati’s father describes Lord Shiva as uncivilized and uncouth due to his unruly appearance (Pattanaik, 2016). Similarly, many men who have adopted the rowdy looking fashion today, like ripped jeans, or tattooed body are seen as deviants of the society, and they face the prejudiced eyes of their surroundings (Mehta, 2018). In the mythological story, the Ananda Tandava, Lord Shiva dances to destroy the arrogance of sages, who sends a tiger, a snake, and a dwarf demon to kill him (Pattanaik, 2006). Macho in character and notwithstanding wrongness in the society, he metaphorically ‘kill’ arrogance. That same masculine figure, takes in the ardhanareeswara form, where he is half man and half woman. This phenomenon represents the equality of men and women in the society, yet complementary in nature (Viswanathan, n.d. ). Lord Shiva is the protector and the equal partner who sometimes steps back to let his wife take over. Imagine our boys learning how to be strong and yet charming, to be responsible and yet free to choose their fashion, to be both alphas and secured of their partner’s success.

Mohini, the Goddess of Enchantment, is the female form of Lord Vishnu. She appears in various mythological stories to distract demons from creating havoc. One of the famous stories is the Amrita Manthana, where she lures the demons away from getting the nectar of immortality. Mohini and Shiva shares a love relationship narrated in various ways in different stories. In the Kanda Puranam, Lord Shiva falls in love with Mohini, and the result of their love gave birth to a dark boy with red locks named Hariharaputra (Sivaraman, 2006). In the Agni Puranas, Lord Shiva is enchanted by Mohini and they gave birth to Lord Hanuman (Pattanaik, 2006). This relationship figuratively brings forward LGBT. Whether it is a homosexual or a heterosexual, both can feel love and create a family, as the soul is the same, which is what makes us human (Saahil, 2020). These stories carry delicate messages, yet a societal truth, which can be explained to our boys, at a maturing age, to understand and respect this veracity.

Thus, when the boy act as Lord Shiva- all-powerful, or Lord Krishna- the handsome one, and Lord Vishnu- the courageous, they have to imitate these characters and empathize with them. They have to become these characters, and in the process, they forge their mind, emotions, and body to imbibe these stories and take decisions that will help themselves and other people they connect with. In comparison to learning the modern dances, Bharata Natyam offers vigorous manly movements as well as impacting male stories that help the male gender to reflect and have compassion. Consequently, inculcating Bharata Natyam in the education of young men can make a difference. One dot of a person can cause a wave of difference in a village, state, or country.  

Reference

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