in a gauzy barelythere costume her face lit by a dazzling grin mata hari appears to be playfully taking a stab at someone prone on the floor of musee guimet in paris with a staff while a stoic nataraja looks on this was mata haris brahmanic dance and it was anything buteven striptease passed for spiritual in the early 1900s when everything indian was mystical and magical for a warravaged europe dutch dancerturnedspy mata hari who claimed to be a devadasis daughter was not the only one to light up europes theatres in the modernist years with a wild mishmash of choreographic effects that passed off as hinduhindouehindou dance a selective synonym for indian there is olive craddock roshanara sariclad all bindi and bangles in incense dance 1913 which very likely imitated the dhunuchi of bengalat a time when religious identity is being furiously debated in india the latest marg anthology of essays a mediated magic the indian presence in modernism 18801930 presents an insight into the clichs about the greatwiseancient land that became the rage in the avant garde cultural and intellectual circuits of europethese fantastical typecasts of an otherworldly land were a salve for a continent grappling with the horrors of war and the dehumanising effect of industrialisation says art scholar naman ahuja coeditor of the book india as the land of ancient wisdom religious and spiritual discourse located in forests populated by yogis gurus valorous aryans and destitutes with no more want than the upholding of their tradition this was the typecast that was cherrypicked for the arts in europe in these 50 years a period of discovery and experimentation says ahuja but it was a stereotype indians didnt let go of it is this same reduction we see around us today when we think in terms of religious identity we are now this hindu of the caricaturethe artists behind these indian works dance music and theatre were not uninformed they were enlightened widelytravelled often socialists deeply concerned about indias subjugation by the empire and critical of colonialism and racism many of them were performing travelogues of their own impressions while travelling in india drawing from impressions of streets kothas markets and temples points out ahujagerman theatre director and manager carl hagemann who described tanjores temple dances as the most pure and refined art in the world staged classic sanskrit play vasantasena in mannheim in 1915 drawing on his own memories of the indian landscape scenery architecture dance and music again these were interpretations of his impressions not strong on authenticity says writer peter maxthere was russian ballet legend vaslav nijinsky playing the blue god shivakrishna in the hindu ballet le dieu bleu 1915 here again was a ghoulash of hindu myths a woman is punished for seducing a priest both chained to a cliff and attacked by monsters from the sea which are fought off by a fluteplaying god and lotus goddess mysticism mystery and horror go no further dance critic