Photos

The Mahabharata, along with Ramayana forms one of the two ancient Indian epics. It is the story of a feud between the divine Pandavas and their cousins, the Kauravas. They, sheming to steal the kingdom of the Pandavas invite them over for a game of dice.

Yudishtra, the eldest brother of the Pandavas and the King of Indraprastha plays the game with Sakuni, a past master and the uncle of Duryodhana, the eldest brother of the Kauravas and the King of Hastinapura.

Yudishtra loses his Jewels, Chariots, Horses, Elephants, his Kingdom, Himself and even his four younger brothers.

Finally, in a moment of madness he stakes even their wife Draupadi and loses her. The scene depicted here is Sakuni asking for the beautiful eyed Draupadi to be staked and Yudishtra’s anguish at that.

The Pandavas lose their kingdom and finally win it back after 13 years by waging war against the Kauravas.

The scene is depicted through Bharatanatyam. Tracing its origins to the Natya Shastra, an ancient treatise on classical Indian dance, written by sage Bharatha, Bharatha Natyam is a highly traditional and stylised South Indian dance form.

It went into disrepute in the middle ages due to prevalent social conditions. The renaissance of the art form was possible mainly due to the efforts of luminaries such as E. Krishna Iyer, T. Balasaraswati, Kumbakonam K. Bhanumati and Rukmini Devi Arundale among others in the early decades of the last century. Currently the dance form enjoys world wide popularity and appreciation.

The other shot in this series is here….
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/India/photo580578.htm


Info about the shot
Slight contrast adjustment and resizing for TE done.