Is there any other music so starkly simple, yet so quintessentially Indian, like that in an alarippu -- where there is no melody sung, just the spoken rhythm syllables, accentuated by the nattuvangam and the mridangam? The crisp sound of the consonants executed like a drum machine, exact to the T (pardon the pun): Dhi tam taiyum taka tam, tat tai taiyum taka tai, or some rhythm like that. It is the sound of pure rhythm, manifesting in dance as some of the simplest yet most precise movements: the atami, head movements to the right and left, a subtle contraction of the shoulder, rotating the straight arm and turning the palm out. Is there any other dance in the world like that, exalting the elegance of pure mathematics through such minimal but precise movements? For sure in terms of sophistication in musical rhythms, there are other cultures in the world to speak of, most notably polyrhythmic African music played on various instruments simultaneously, which allows one to dance freely to any beat as one likes. But that's a different kind of dance, emphasising more on the torso and lower limbs, something more instinctive than decorative. There is of course also Balinese dance, with dazzling fast movements involving the head, the arms and the hands. But nothing is so deceptively simple like how an alarippu unfolds in Bharata Natyam, going increasingly demanding from first speed to second and third speeds, from standing and half-sit to positions on the knees and toes. It is so much more than just a warm-up for a dance recital. From the rhythm syllables alone it may all sound simple. I was trying recently to learn an alarippu in a cycle of 17 beats, or kanda jathi druva talam to be more accurate; I got so confused along the way I did not know when I should be doing the right side or the left side. After that I wondered if somebody had invented such a rhythmic cycle just to make life difficult for an Indian dancer.

Well I wouldn't really want to complain that Bharata Natyam is too mathematical. But I would take this opportunity to say the way we learn theory in Carnatic music is sometimes too obsessed with mathematics. For example, do we really need to learn the names of all 72 melakartas, just because a man by the name of Venkatamakhi told us there are 72 schemes of ragas theoretically possible? Apparently he himself dealt with only 19 of these 72 melas. The 72 melas are mathematical possibilities but that doesn't mean all are of aesthetic interest to us! Similarly, we would learn according to theory that there are 175 talas. This is derived from the sapta talas, multiplied by the 5 varieties of jathi, and then multiplied by 5 nadais. But how many of these talas would we really use? And it is not as if 175 are all the rhythmic possibilities existing in our universe since the world was created. Prior to this 'classification according to the suladi sapta talas popularised by Purandaradasa, there were other schemes of classification like the 108 classical talas. Another classification had 5 Margi talas and 120 Desi talas. Margi music for religious rituals and Desi music for the masses were ancient traditions that eventually blended into one classical system. Ultimately the rhythmic patterns used in music and dance are just a matter of convention and popularity, much like the form of metre used in poetry. Certain forms become less popular and are all but forgotten, for example the Navasandhi talas from as early as the 6th century, used in dance rituals in temples for nine directions, namely Brahma at the centre and above, Indra in the East, Agni in the Southeast, Yama in the South, followed by Niruthi, Varuna, Vayu, Kubera and Isana.