The Colas c12.56

c12.56

That the arts of music and dancing were highly developed becomes clear from the celebrated third canto, the *Arangēṟṟukādai* of the *Śilappadikāram* which gives a full account of the technique of the theatre and the dance, and of the music and musical instruments accompanying the dance. If we may trust the earliest glossator to whom we have access on this highly abstruse section of the *Śiḷappadikāram*, the dancing and music, of which hetaerae like Mādhavi were the exponents in high society, comprised at least two strains which had come together to form a complex scheme. These were the *dēśi* and *mārga*, the former doubtless as its name implies the strain indigenous to the country, and the latter an exotic Aryan mode. We may also infer the existence of an 'extensive literature' on these arts most of which has been lost to us. Eleven scenes⁵⁸ from Aryan mythology seem to have been selected for standardised presentation and formed the classics of the arts. The *Maṇimēkalai*,⁵⁹ like Vātsyāyana's *Kāmasūtra*, indicates that the nāḍaka magaḷir, the hetaerae, underwent a regular course of instruction extending over a number of years and comprising royal dances, popular dances, singing, lute-playing, flute-playing, cookery, perfumery, painting, flowerwork and so on. Several varieties of the *vīṇai* and *yāḻ* are mentioned; it is not easy to understand their exact forms now, though it is clear that a high stage of development had then been reached in these arts, apparently after a long evolution.