The government has taken a great step with its decision to include Kuchipudi as a part of the educational curriculum in schools. From the following academic year Kuchipudi will be offered in all government and government aided educational institutions, providing employment to several Kuchipudi teachers across Andhra Pradesh.
Kuchipudi dance form originated in Kuchipudi village of Krishna Dist which was formerly known as Kuchelapuram or Kuchelapuri. Kuchipudi traces its roots to the ancient Hindu Sanskrit text of Natya Shastra, a foundation treatise on the performing arts attributed to the ancient scholar Bharata Muni. The existence of Kuchipudi, in a rudimentary version have been found in copper inscriptions of the 10th century.
By the 15th century, there have been several mentions of this dance form in texts such as the Machupalli Kaifat. Kuchipudi tradition believes that Tirtha Narayana Yati – a sanyasin of the Advaita Vedanta persuasion and his disciple an orphan named Siddhendra Yogi founded and systematised the modern version of Kuchipudi in the 17th century. Kuchipudi largely developed as a Hindu god Krishna-oriented, Vaishnavism tradition and it is most closely related to Bhagavata Mela performance art found in Tamil Nadu .
Its first complete compilation is dated to between 200 BCE and 200 CE, but estimates vary between 500 BCE and 500 CE. The most studied version of the Natya Shastra text consists of about 6000 verses structured into 36 chapters. The text describes the theory of Tāṇḍava dance (Shiva), the theory of rasa, of bhāva, expression, gestures, acting techniques, basic steps, standing postures – all of which are part of Indian classical dances.
By this good gesture let us hope that students have fruitful results. It will be grateful that Govt has to taken this kind of steps for the encouraging of students in cultural and creative forms. Thankfully, this ancient tradition that is one of the pillars of Telugu culture will not be dying out any time soon.
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