Sunday, January 3, 2016

Brihadeeswarar Temple – Devadasi Traditions

Brihadeeswarar Temple – Devadasi Traditions
When the Brihadisvara Temple dedicated to Shiva was completed in the capital of the Chola Empire in the early 11th century, its priests went around the country to seek unmarried pretty girls to make them Devadasis, which means God’s servants.
They belonged to the temple with the role of dedicating dances to the main god Shiva, for the purpose of which they had to be virgin and come from a good family, for they would hold the matrimonial ceremony with the God after finishing their education.
These selected Devadasis entered this great temple before puberty, mastered dancing, and entertained the God by singing and dancing every evening, revering their future husband.

The wall paintings, from the age of the foundation of the temple, discovered in the 1930 at the Vimana of the Brihadisvara Temple, depict Apsaras (celestial nymphs) dancing in the heavens with Vishnu, the preserver of the universe. The famous dance of Bharata Natyam performed by Devadasis, just as in these well preserved wall paintings, is now danced not only in the Tamil region but also all over India.