Tandava

“Tandavam Laasyariteta Dvayamdveda Nigadyate”:

Nrutta and nrutya have been classified into 2 parts namely Tandava and Lasya. These are again categorized in to “Deshi” and “Maargi”.

Tandava is mainly the combination of Angaharas and ferocious movements. This form has been preached by Lord Shiva. This is a male dominated form of dance which includes the expressions of Udhaam, Dheera, Veera and Bhayankara .It gets its name from the word Tandu who is considered as the attendant of Shiva. He again instructed the usage of karnas and the angaharas to Bharata (author or founder of “Natya Shashtra”).

It is said that while performing Sandhya Tandava Lord Shiva taught Tandava to his student/disciple Tandu who in turn preached this form to Bharata. This has been defined in the Lakshana Grantha. Tandava is basically divided into “Prerani” and ”Vahalita”.