We are a people of the gathering
12th July, 2024Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).
Think Kerala and this iconic image of a Kathakali dancer immediately come to everyone’s mind. The extraordinary splendor of a performer in a brilliant costume and a mask-like face-do, who brings to life Gods and Goddesses, Demons and Spirits, swirling around with amazing energy in a dark and somber stage. Accomplished Kathakali dancers can move their eyeballs in 17 different ways, their eyebrows in 8 different ways, and their eyelids in another eight. For the uninitiated, Kathakali is a dance form indigenous to Kerala, colorful and dramatic in content and character. Scenes from Indian epics and mythology are the themes for the dance. But here is the interesting twist – each Mudra (ritual hand gesture) of Kathakali has a specific health benefit. And today I am going to talk about 10 such Mudras with terrific health benefits which Sarath Kumar, a Kathakali Maestro taught me during my trip to Cochin some years ago.“Eat light and you would need to wear a Mundu,” he had warned me. Just so you are aware Kathakali has over 1000 Mudras. There is a lot to take away from this interactive session; concepts behind the Mudras (ritual hand gestures), Eye & Facial movements as well as the colorful costumes of Kathakali and its distinctive face painting. I leave you with some photographs of my amazing 2 hours with the Maestro. Try it out. They are very simple and can be done by anyone, anywhere; in the bus, in the car while waiting for the traffic light to go green, on the train to work, while on the flight, office, or at home.
Mudras- Ritual Gestures of Kathakali and their health benefits:
Hamsasya hasta
The ‘Hamsasya Hasta’ in Classical Dance represents the shape of a ‘Swan’ and is also similar to ‘Gyan Mudra’ in Yoga which increases the memory power, enhances concentration, and prevents insomnia.
Trishula Hasta
The ‘Trishula Hasta’ depicting ‘Trishula/ Trident’ matches with ‘Varun Mudra’ which is claimed to balance the water content in the body and prevent pain caused by inflammation or shrinkage of muscles.
Mayura Hasta
The ‘Mayura Hasta’ symbolizes the ‘Peacock’ resembles ‘Prithvi Mudra’ that improves the complexion of the skin and helps to increase weight.
Simhamukha Hasta
The ‘Simhamukha Hasta’ typifying a ‘lion head’ is similar to the ‘Apana Mudra’ which regulates diabetes and helps to cure constipation and piles.
Kartarimukha Hasta
The ‘Kartarimukha Hasta’ represents ‘Scissors’ and tallies with the ‘Prana Mudra’. It removes vitamin deficiency and fatigue, improves immunity and power of eyes, and reduces eye-related diseases.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
