Bharatnatyam and Hindu Inconography in the Temples of Tamilnadu (The Singnificance of the Mula Beras)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Dr. Marie Stella, the Founder and Director of Kalai Aalayam, is the Assistant Professor and Research Supervisor for Dance and Music holding a Doctorate in Dance and a Doctorate in Philosophy. She has an experience of 23 years in the field of Fine Arts. She has the pride of having completed 450 Arangetrams and 1800 Salangail Poojais to her students. She has presented more than 40 articles in Seminars, Conferences and International Lectures. She is the recipient of noteworthy Awards namely BEST WOMAN ENTREPRENEUR, SIGARAM THOTTA MAGALIR, NATYACHUDAROLI, KALAIKAVALAR, NATYA SIRONMANI, KALAGNANAMANI and many more.

Dr. Marie Stella has been invited to France, United Kingdom, Germany, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Switzerland as Examiner and Chief Guest. She is the recipient of the Chief Minister's and Lieutenant Governor's Rolling Trophy for BEST CULTURALS from the Government of Puducherry during the Independence Day and Republic Day Parade for her excellence in Fine Arts.

The book entitled "Bharatanatyam and Hindu Iconography in the Temples of Tamil Nadu: The significance of the Mula Beras" is an exclusive attempt to study the relationship between Bharatanatyam and Hindu iconography with Hindu temples as their common platform. The author of this book brings out the idea that the deities with perfect iconometry have a deep spiritual significance for the devotees as each position of the hands, feet, head, and the body as a whole bestows a loving grace to the devotees. It facilitates the readers to obtain a deeper understanding of the religious significance and aesthetic evocation of the various postures of the icons in the garbhaghas and how it brings the devotee to come closer to God.

India is an ancient land with a unique civilization and culture. The uniqueness of her culture is self-evident in her aesthetic evocation, creative intelligence, philosophy and religion as is expressed in and through her literature and arts. The magnificent Hindu temples in the country stand as the epitome of ancient Indian civilization and culture. The icons of gods and goddesses installed in the temples manifest the transcendental presence of the Divine among the devotees. The divine blessings bring moksa or liberation to the devotees.

India is known for her traditional culture, which includes her sublime artistic and religious belief systems. Being a home for several world religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, and others, India is a deeply religious country, Hinduism is one of the oldest surviving religions in the world and is the general term for all the forms of worship in which the Hindu religious consciousness has found expression. It has had a significant influence on the structure of Indian life. More significantly, Hinduism teaches Indian aesthetic and emotional culture for spiritual understanding and character development through fine arts like music, dance, drama, painting, and sculpture.