Gaudiya Nritya



Gaudiya Nritya (Gaur̤īẏa Nṛtya or Gour̤īyo Nrityo) is a dance tradition. This dance expressed religious stories through songs written and composed to the ragas & talas of Gaudiya music by ancient poets, especially Vaishnavism. Gaudiya Nritya performances have also expressed ideas of other traditions related to the Hindu deities Shiva and Ganesha, as well as Shakta concepts. It was reconstructed by Mahua Mukherjee in the 1980s and a research scholarship has since been awarded for it by the Indian Ministry of Culture.

Etymology
On 21 September 1994, The name Gaudiya Nritya was adopted on the advice of Indologist Bratindra Nath Mukhopadhyay. Reasons for this designation include: in ancient times – the reign of Shashanka and the Pala and Sena eras – the whole of Bengal was referred to as Gauda and the presence of the Gaudiya style in Indian music and literature. Also, in the fifteenth century, Sangeet Shastrakar Maheswara Mohapatra of Odisha mentions seven types of dance styles in Abhinaya Chandrika including Gaudiya dance.

History
The theoretical foundations of Gaurika dance can be found in the ancient Sanskrit text Natyashastra; Its existence in ancient times is attested by dance poses in sculptures of the Gaudiya style temple and archaeological sites associated with Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism and it is mentioned by ancient poets of Bengal. After India's independence from colonial rule, it underwent revival, reconstruction and expansion in the 1980s.

It has been reconstructed by Mahua Mukherjee, a Bengali researcher and dancer. A research scholarship was awarded by the Ministry of Culture for this dance-based research, which is mainly offered to recognized Indian classical dances. Rabindra Bharati University and University of Oklahoma have recognized it as a classical dance form.