Gestures and Bharatanatyam

Gestures and Bharatanatyam 

Bharatanatyam consists of a set of systematized hand gestures called "hastas". While hastas and their usages have been prescribed in the texts, there is considerable scope to create gestures of our own as well.

Gestural communication has been suggested to come before spoken language in human brain evolution; although we need more evidence to definitley prove the "gesture-first" hypothesis of language origins [1]. Whatever the case may be, we do know that we often use our hands while speaking [2], and that in infants, gestural learning is important as they learn to communicate [3]. 

The video below is an excerpt from a lullaby depicting a timelessness of a mother's love for her child. Using gestures, she describes the child's beautiful lotus-like feet, and the sound her anklets make as she lulls the baby to sleep. I performed this piece as part of Guru Vandana in December 2024. 

• Ragam: Neelambari; Talam: Khanda Chapu  
• Music: Sri. Jayan Nair (voice); Krishna Nair: nattuvavgam; Manav Nair (mridangam); Sri. Rajendran Nair (flute).
• Gurus: Smt. Maheshwari Nagarajan, Smt. Vanitha Jayan, Nritya Kala Kendra, Ahmedabad 
• Location: Aaron Davis Hall, City College of New York
• Video credit: Libby Lussenhop

Literature cited:

1. Kendon A. Reflections on the "gesture-first" hypothesis of language origins. Psychon Bull Rev. 2017 Feb;24(1):163-170. doi: 10.3758/s13423-016-1117-3. PMID: 27439503; PMCID: PMC5325861. Link here. 
2. ​Kendon, Adam. (2004). Gesture: Visible Action as Utterance. 10.1017/CBO9780511807572. Link here.  
3. Goldin-Meadow S. How gesture promotes learning throughout childhood. Child Dev Perspect. 2009 Aug 1;3(2):106-111. doi: 10.1111/j.1750-8606.2009.00088.x. PMID: 20228883; PMCID: PMC2835356. Link here.