The connection is Thanjavur. The chapter states it directly: under Serfoji II, the Maratha ruler of Thanjavur, ‘modern Carnatic music took shape, as did the early stages of the famous classical dance form of Bharatanatyam’. In other words, the dance we know today was shaped in a court ruled by Marathas in the Tamil country.
How the connection came about
- Ekoji, the half-brother of Chhatrapati Shivaji, conquered the Thanjavur region in the late 17th century, beginning Maratha rule there.
- The Thanjavur Marathas were great patrons of the arts — many of the rulers were themselves poets and dramatists, and Serfoji II wrote a Marathi play, Devendra Kuravanji.
- Serfoji II patronised many talented musicians. Working under that patronage, court musicians and dance-masters organised the temple dance tradition of the Tamil country into an ordered sequence of items.
- That ordered sequence — the way a recital is built up today — is the direct ancestor of the modern Bharatanatyam concert.
What your research will turn up. The four brothers Chinnayya, Ponnayya, Sivanandam and Vadivelu — known as the Thanjavur Quartet — served at Serfoji II’s court in the early 19th century. They are credited with arranging the dance repertoire into the order still followed: alarippu, jatiswaram, shabdam, varnam, padam and tillana. The dance was then known by other names, such as sadir; the name ‘Bharatanatyam’ came into general use only in the 20th century, when the form moved from temple and court to the public stage.