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Kathak Dance History, Dress, Costumes, Heritage of Kathak Lucknow Gharana
Classical Dance Kathak from Lucknow Uttar Pradesh History, Founder, Dress, Costumes, Culture and Heritage
Kathak is one of the main genres of ancient Indian classical dance and is traditionally regarded to have originated from the travelling bards of North India referred as Kathakars or storytellers.
These Kathakars wandered around and communicated legendary stories via music, dance and songs quite like the early Greek theatre.
This performing art that incorporates legends from ancient mythology and great Indian epics, especially from the life of Lord Krishna became quite popular in the courts of North Indian kingdoms.
Three specific forms of this genre that is three gharanas (schools), which mostly differ in the emphasis given to footwork versus acting, are more famous names, the Jaipur Gharana, the Benaras Gharana and the Lucknow Gharana.
The Lucknow Gharana of Kathak was founded by Ishwari Prasad, a devotee of the Bhakti movement. Ishwari lived in the village of Handiya situated in southeast Uttar Pradesh.
Ishwari Prasad taught the dance form to his sons Adguji, Khadguji, and Tularamji who again taught their descendants and the tradition continued for more than six generations thus carrying forward this rich legacy that is well acknowledged as the Lucknow Gharana of Kathak by Indian literature on the music of both Hindus and Muslims.
