Ethnographic analysis reveals how classical dance aesthetics symbolize diaspora-homeland longing in Malaysian-Indian practitioners, highlighting cultural evolution and self-sustaining traditions.
In Bharatanatyam recitals, the dancer takes on the central role of nayika (heroine), who pines and longs to be united with her nayaka (the Supreme Lord, who is usually God). In the end, whether she unites with her Lord or not is secondary, but the narrative highlights a spectrum of separation and longing (viraha). This paper brings to the fore a Malaysian Bharatanatyam performance, Saayujya… An Eternity of Longing, presented by a leading dance exponent, Ajith Bhaskar, to discuss the portrayal of the nayika and her viraha in the performance, but here, it is done purposefully to interrogate the ambiguous relationship between the Indian-Malaysian diaspora (the metaphorical nayika) and its homeland, India (the metaphorical nayaka). This paper explores the ‘home-diaspora’ connection through a historical and ethnographic writing, examining how Bharatanatyam emerged through the longing amongst Indian-Malaysians and the subsequent emergence of self-sustaining practices of Bharatanatyam in Malaysia.
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Premalatha Thiagarajan (2026) studied this question.
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