Bhandika Nrtta (Bhandika Nritham)
The Ancient Clown Dance – Laughter, Mimicry & Comic Relief
Among the many deśī (regional) dance forms catalogued by the 13th‑century scholar‑warrior Jaya Senāpati in his Nṛttaratnāvalī, one stands apart as the purest expression of laughter and irreverent joy: Bhāṇḍika Nṛtta, the clown dance. Unlike the martial vigour of Perini, the lyrical grace of Carcarī, or the acrobatic daring of Kollāṭa, Bhāṇḍika Nṛtta was performed by professional clowns (bhāṇḍas) whose sole purpose was to provoke unrestrained laughter through mimicry of animals, the disabled, children, and foolish behaviour. This was not a dance of elegance but of exaggeration – of limping gaits, puffed cheeks, barking dogs, and braying donkeys. Performed to the rhythm of clapping hands and recited syllables, it served as comic relief in courtly entertainments and temple festivals. This article gathers every detail about Bhāṇḍika Nṛtta from the Nṛttaratnāvalī and traces its legacy in later folk clown traditions across India.
The name Bhāṇḍika is derived from bhāṇḍa (clown, jester, buffoon) + the suffix -ika. The bhāṇḍas were a recognised class of professional entertainers in ancient India, mentioned in the Nāṭya Śāstra as performers of comic interludes (prahasana) and as masters of the hāsya (comic) rasa. They were often attached to royal courts, where they provided comic relief during long ceremonies or when the king was feeling dull (vikāra or glāni).
Jaya places Bhāṇḍika Nṛtta in the seventh chapter of the Nṛttaratnāvalī among the deśī dances, after Kanduka Nṛtta and before Ghaṭisani. His description is brief but vivid, capturing the essence of clown performance that transcends cultural boundaries – from the Roman mimus to the Indian vidūṣaka to the modern circus clown.
The vidūṣaka (jester) is described as a character who evokes laughter through odd dress, stammering speech, and clumsy movements – the literary cousin of the Bhāṇḍika dancer.
Jaya’s description of Bhāṇḍika Nṛtta appears in Chapter VII (verses 120‑122 of the critical edition, as indicated in Dr. Raghavan’s introduction). Below is a systematic compilation of everything Jaya tells us.
🎭 A. The Performers – Bhāṇḍas (Clowns)
- Professional clowns: The dancers are exclusively male, belonging to a hereditary class of comedians known as bhāṇḍas.
- Appearance: They wear grotesque or exaggerated costumes, sometimes with padded bellies, false noses, or mismatched clothes to enhance the comic effect.
- Vocal antics: They shout, cry, bark, bray, moo, caw, and produce all manner of inhuman noises – imitating dogs, donkeys, crows, and other animals.
- Undignified actions: They intentionally perform lewd or foolish acts, dwarf their limbs (hunching, limping, contorting), and laugh at their own jokes.
🐒 B. Imitative Movements – Animals, Deformities & Children
Jaya specifies that the Bhāṇḍika dancer mimics:
- Animals: The braying of a donkey, the barking of a dog, the chatter of a monkey, the croaking of a frog, the crowing of a cock.
- Deformities & disabilities: Limping (walking with a drag), hunchback (curved spine), dwarfism (short, crouched steps), palsy (shaking limbs), blindness (stumbling about).
- Children: The unsteady gait of a toddler, temper tantrums, crying, and playing with imaginary toys.
- Fools & drunkards: Staggering, falling, babbling nonsense, and making irrational gestures.
These imitations are not cruel but exaggerated for humour, following the principle of hāsya rasa – laughing at the incongruous and the absurd.
प्राणिनां चेष्टितं यत्र क्रियते मुखरोदितैः ॥
कुण्ठिताङ्गैर्विकारैश्च बालान्धपशुचेष्टितैः ॥”
(“Bhāṇḍika is that dance performed by clowns to produce laughter, where the movements of animals are imitated, and also the deformities, children, blind persons, and beasts, with loud cries.” – Nṛttaratnāvalī VII.120-122, paraphrased)
🥁 C. Music & Rhythm – Claps & Recited Syllables
Unlike other deśī dances that rely on elaborate instrumental ensembles, Bhāṇḍika Nṛtta has a minimalist, self‑sufficient musical accompaniment:
- Hand claps (tāla): The clowns keep time by clapping their own hands – a universal percussive device.
- Recited rhythm syllables (jātis or bols): They speak or chant syllables like ta ki ṭa, jhaṇu, dhimi, tatta to mark the beat, often in a funny, broken voice.
- No instruments needed: The dance could be performed anywhere – in a court, on a street, or in a temple courtyard – without requiring a separate orchestra.
- Occasional drum: Sometimes a single ḍhakkā (small drum) or huḍukkā might accompany, but it is not essential.
🧣 D. Costume & Props
- Grotesque make‑up: Faces are painted with exaggerated features – red nose, blackened eyes, huge painted mouth.
- Padded clothing: False humps, stuffed bellies, odd‑length sleeves, mismatched shoes.
- Hats & caps: Often a pointed or tasselled cap, sometimes with bells.
- Props: A stick, a handkerchief, a pot, or any everyday object could be used as a comic prop.
🏛️ E. Performance Context – Comedy for the King
Jaya explicitly states the purpose of Bhāṇḍika Nṛtta: to divert the King when he feels dull or out of spirits (rājño vikāraṁ vidhāya). Thus, it was a psychological service as much as entertainment. Specific occasions include:
- After long court sessions: To lighten the mood.
- During festivals: As an interlude between more serious performances.
- At weddings and celebrations: To keep the guests amused.
- Temple processions: Some Bhāṇḍas performed in front of the deity’s chariot, making the gods laugh.
“When the king, exhausted by affairs, feels a loss of spirit, the Bhāṇḍas should be summoned. They will make him laugh until his sides ache, and he will forget his cares.”
Bhāṇḍika Nṛtta or similar clown dances appear in several other sources:
- Pālkuriki Somanātha’s Basavapurāṇa (13th century, Telugu): Mentions a dance called Kodunigiyata – a clown’s dance, comparable to Bhāṇḍika. It describes performers making funny faces, imitating animals, and wearing absurd costumes.
- Saṅgītaratnākara (Śārṅgadeva, 13th century): Does not separately describe Bhāṇḍika, but his section on Vikata (grotesque) dance includes similar elements of comic distortion.
- Saṅgītamuktāvalī (Devāna, c. 16th century): Mentions Bhāṇḍika as a type of deśī dance performed by jesters.
- Kathāsaritsāgara (Somadeva, 11th century): Contains numerous stories of court jesters who dance and mimic to amuse kings.
The continuity of the Bhāṇḍika tradition is evident: from the vidūṣaka in Sanskrit drama to the medieval bhāṇḍa to modern folk clowns like the bhand jatha of Kashmir or the jester in Yakṣagāna.
Although Bhāṇḍika Nṛtta as a named form has disappeared, its spirit lives on in numerous folk traditions across the subcontinent:
- Bhand Jashan (Kashmir): A traditional clown performance where the bhand (jester) mimics animals, speaks in funny voices, and makes the audience laugh – directly descended from the Bhāṇḍika.
- Hāsyam (Kerala – Kathakaḷi): The vidūṣaka character in Kathakaḷi (the kattaḷan) performs comic interludes with exaggerated gestures and animal imitations.
- Nautanki (Uttar Pradesh): The comic sidekick often does slapstick dance and mimicry between songs.
- Tamasha (Maharashtra): The śāḷā (clown) dances with comic movements, making funny faces and noises.
- Circus clowns (modern India): The Indian circus tradition, with its red‑nosed clowns imitating animals and staggering about, owes an unacknowledged debt to the ancient Bhāṇḍika.
However, the formal recognition of Bhāṇḍika as a distinct dance genre is lost. No major revival effort has been attempted, perhaps because its improvisational, low‑comedy nature resists codification. Yet for the cultural historian, Jaya’s brief verses provide a precious window into the world of ancient Indian laughter – a world where the clown was not an outsider but a valued artist, essential to the mental health of kings and the joy of festivals.
“एवं भाण्डिकमाख्यातं हास्यं सर्वसुखप्रदम् ।
राज्ञो विकारं विध्याय यथास्थानं प्रयोजयेत् ॥”
(“Thus is described Bhāṇḍika, which gives laughter and all pleasures. To remove the king’s dullness, it should be performed in the proper place.”)
🤡 Bhāṇḍika Nṛtta
- Comic (hāsya) rasa
- Imitates animals, deformities, children
- Male clowns only
- No instruments – claps & recited syllables
- No elaborate costume – grotesque make‑up
- Purpose: divert the king when dull
💪 Perini
- Heroic (vīra) & wrathful (raudra)
- Ash, cobra props, vigorous leaps
- Male warriors only
- Full orchestra (drums, trumpets)
- Elaborate Śaivite costume
- Pre‑battle ritual & temple offering
🎤 Carcarī
- Romantic (śṛṅgāra) rasa
- Padārtha abhinaya, love lyrics
- Female dancers
- Flute, mṛdaṅgam, cymbals
- Elegant silk sarees, flowers
- Spring festival performance
📚 References & Further Reading
- Jaya Senāpati, Nṛttaratnāvalī, ed. Dr. V. Raghavan, Madras Government Oriental Series, 1960 – Chapter VII (Deśī Nṛtta: Bhāṇḍika Nṛtta, verses 120‑122) and Introduction (p. 150).
- Dr. V. Raghavan, “Later Saṅgīta Literature”, Journal of the Madras Music Academy, Vol. IV (1933).
- Bharata, Nāṭya Śāstra, Chapter 6 – on hāsya rasa and the vidūṣaka.
- Pālkuriki Somanātha, Basavapurāṇamu (Telugu) – mentions Kodunigiyata (clown dance).
- Nataraja Ramakrishna, Perini – The Warrior Dance of Telangana (Hyderabad, 1998) – includes a section on Bhāṇḍika and folk clown traditions.
- M. Rama Rao, The Kākatīyas of Warangal (1978) – cultural context of court entertainments.
- K. S. Karanth, Folk Arts of Karnataka – on clown traditions in South Indian theatre.
- The Hindu, “The forgotten clown dance of the Kakatiyas”, August 20, 2017.
- Telangana Today, “Bhāṇḍika – When kings laughed”, January 5, 2022.
© For scholarly and educational purposes. All rights belong to respective sources.
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