Covenant with the Attic

He was the most illustrious of his dynasty. The moment we hear his name our minds will wander to the temple city of the South- Madurai 

He ruled from Madurai between 1623-59. This mighty king was not just a great ruler but also a very keen connoisseur of the various arts. It was in his court that the legendary Nilakanda Dikshita, nephew of the celebrated advaitin, Sri Appaiyya Dikshita was. He was also patron to Sri Kumara Gurupara Swamigal who wrote the beautiful Maduraikalambakam describing the various lilas (acts of playful deliverance) of Lord Sundareshwara, the presiding deity of Madurai.

According to the traveler's accounts of Taylor in the Oriental Historical Manuscripts "He was seated on a the beautiful gem studded throne placed at the natakashala where he would spend his evenings watching dancers sing, dance and perform the various dances in the light that glows from the torches that would illuminate the room"

He was a great patron to Tamil scholars, painters and sculptures. Speaking of sculptures, did you know that there are several sculptures of this famous King in the Madurai temple which depict him as a young lad (as a Prince), a youthful king in his prime and then also as a middle aged man (with a paunch) and a beard! 

When you walk around the Aarukaal Pitham  of the Minakshi amman temple at Madurai do not forget to see Him standing majestically with his reigning Queens in tow!!!

When I was shooting for a production of Mr.Bharathiraja called "tekkatti ponnu" I was travelling every month for several days to Madurai, Dindugal and Theni. To me that was God sent time to spend with my "heroes" I would wander around these palaces and temples for hours in between my shoots, staring at each of the stones, sculptures and paintings. In my research, when ever I would have doubts, pauses in thought process, a hiatus, I would go back to stare at these faces, places and take a waft of the atmosphere in...and there I would somehow find an answer, a solution, some what like a covenant between them and me! Will tell you more in detail

watch out for more 

https://www.facebook.com/fromtheatticcomingsoon

Dr.Swarnamalya Ganesh

Covenant with the Attic

Tekkatti Ponnu stealing her moments with her
heroes

Nataka shala- covenant 

swooning at the Chutzpah, in awe at the Attic

They waltz in together. Two women adorned with beautiful nose rings, toes rings, chutti, Jadai billai, naagar, their silken pallus sweeping the floor, thick braided hair swinging from side to side, they walk into the room. Every eye turns towards them. The air is filled with the scent of the champaka, punnaaga, mallika and jaati flowers sewn into their long dark tresses. Holding her heads low, they take a bow. While doing so, one of them looks up at Him and gives an ever so slight,  faint smile that no one but Him and her are aware of. They steal glances as the women bring their palms together for a ceremonial Namaskaram. Then slowly they move their hands up above in a ceremonial salaam!

While every man in the room stood transfixed by the sheer grace of their moving fingers, their hearts suspended in mid air only to be jolted back to real time with His resonating voice. Oh learned sire! ask them the questions. Test them. Show to the world what they possess! Nervously, the scholars chime together

"Ayyaiyaa swami...nagara lakshmi saraswatilu saakshaatkarinchi andaga parikshaleenaiya?!!!"
 "Aiy aiy our great master! these are the incarnations of Lakshmi and Saraswati standing before us here, how do we quiz them?!!!"
 HE was mighty pleased with this response, however coaxed the scholars to ask a few questions, only to gloat their prowess in the presence of the men of his world.

Just then entered a hurrying page boy. He was carrying a palm leaf letter. "Excuse me master. I am ordered by the sovereign's first lady to hand this over immediately to her" Saying so, he pointed the leaf in the direction of one of the women. Unfazed, she reached for the leaf and deftly swirled in open. She read it  and let out a small chuckle. Slowly she walked across to the other corner of the room and gently stood on a low raised stool whose legs were adorned with the golden lion motifs. Lions with pearls hanging from their wide open mouth. She placed one foot delicately upon the lion's mouth and spoke thus,  "Oy! boy" she said and  paused dramatically, looked around to ensure that her voice was echoing through the room. "Tell her, the first lady, that if she has the talent, she may keep Him engaged and retracing back to her chambers often. No point grudging my skill" and with that she waved her hands for him to dismiss. She swayed across the room towards Him and found a smile playing at the corner of his lips. She had
won. Her friend hid her amusement behind the edge of her pallu. They looked at each other, nodded, bowed down  and made a triumphant exit from the room, leaving jaws dropping.

What chutzpah, this woman!!!! who is she? who is HE? who is the other lady?

Coming soon....FROM THE ATTIC

https://www.facebook.com/fromtheatticcomingsoon

Dr.Swarnamalya Ganesh
Swooning at her chutzpah in awe!

P.S: No. the woman is not me! the photo is here only to promote the event "From the Attic". Just in case you all were wondering:-)

The Tales of From the attic- Fascinated with the fingers that sing!

This  blog is inspired by another blog written by the renowned Danseuse and scholar Lakshmi Viswanathan ji as part of her column "seen and heard" in Narthaki.com ( see below for the link to her blog). Her article is titled "hasta mudra".

The concept of using finger signs for communication is age old. Man, from his most primitive times must have identified this as a very effective method to communicate with the world. I distinctly remember my teacher, S.Ramachandran sir teaching me on the first day of my chola tamil epigraphy class some of the symbols that were used by early man before he created the first Brahmi letter.

He was a trader and was importing/exporting cows and products of a cow. In Aramaic a cow is called Aalif. To denote a cow he created a symbol that had two "U" inverted towards each other. The upper U denoting the horns and the lower U denoting the body of a cow. I was so fascinated by this. It was from this symbol that the Brahmi "A" and later the Nagari "A" developed. The term Aalif lending it's first phonetic Aa. It is this very same concept we hold even today in dance while showing a cow. The simhamukha mudra ( middle and ring finger showing the body, index and little finger the horns).

As a dancer, even as a child, I was taught to think of everything as gestures. All my thoughts had to be communicated without words, just as effectively. After a bit of training, this starts coming naturally to most dancers. We begin to use our hands and eyes to speak. In fact they speak sooner than our words, most often. Simple words like go, come, sit, me, you etc start getting complex layering through what I call as intonation or dhvani. Now, one may wonder what intonation can gestures have, after all intonation is associated with words. But, it does. What kind of a go, whom are
 you asking to come, when are you asking them to come, are you ordering that they sit, or
are you begging them to sit down a moment, are u addressing yourself arrogantly, pitiably, sweetly,
sensuously, is the person your addressing a man, woman, man who is your lover, secret lover,
husband, human husband, God-husband, friend, your mother so on and so forth lend this complexity
of intonation to the gestures. The more experience one gains, they will be able to differentiate and delineate these subtle changes through simple gestures. The brilliance of dance gestures are that, apart from the ones that are used for decorative purposes (Nritta or pure dance) gestures, we use mostly gestures that are drawn from everyday life for abhinaya. illangoadigal in silappadikaram calls them ezil (beautiful) Kai (gestures) and tozil (meaningful or used in depiction) Kai. It is the appropriateness of the gesture for the particular emotion combined with the artistic flourish with which a dancer uses them that makes it look exotic and dance-like. This beautification is also perhaps why we often hear commoners say that they can't seem to understand the gestures and what we are communicating with it. I think, if the gestures are not merely done with flourish or simply reproduced as taught but are done with the appropriate intonation, it will surely communicate itself without
explanation to even a novice.

Having said that, I must write about what Lakshmi ji has raised and spoken about in her blog. The
importance of dancers holding the mudras clearly. Using proper, well held mudras is considered
almost unfashionable and un-senior like by many dancers off late. Infact, in the name of abhinaya exclusives several have dispensed with well held out gestures and resort to loosely held hands in positions of easy ( hardly any difference between a pataka saying come/go, to a say a Chatura which can mean little or konjam in tamil) or folded/cupped together near the navel. It is wonderful to read a lovely blog on the importance of hasta mudras in dance (BN), a need of the hour. I say so because, abhinaya is not merely mukhaja (facial) alone. Neither is it just Angika ( body) alone. Resorting to too much of eyes alone or just a lot of body language while simply not using hands or minimal usage of hands is a new trend.

I wish to recall a performance of this same senior dancer (Lakshmi Viswanathan ji) at The MusicAcademy well over a decade ago. I was there as a mere teenager in the audience. She presented a Kshetrayya padam. It was about the devotee being witness to the Goddess, walking
back to her apartments in the wee hours of the morning after a night long union with The Lord at His
bed chamber. She was tired, she was weak in the knees, she wore a crumpled saree, disheveled hair
and needed the help of her sakis to walk back. I remember all this, not from the descriptions that were announced but from the gestures of the dancer. She did use her body language, her facial expressions
and move languidly across the stage. But, it was the subtle gestures that captured the essence of this most erotic poem that lent it beauty and piety,  all at once. The rati mudras she used, the mudras for Union, for kissing, for making love, for heavy eyelids, the heavy breasts of the heroine that made her walk slowly, underscored the erotic so gracefully yet allowing no room for unwanted overdoing that could have easily led to vulgarity.

The on going debate as to whether erotic padams/javalis etc are approtriate for concert stage, respectable audiences, can they be taught to young girls etc can be effectively addressed with proper understanding of the significance of hastas in the delineation of such compositions. Many modern Dancers do away with much of the traditionally used mudras and adopt body movements to express the erotic sentiments for example: some twirls instead of say an alapadma that can be rounded above the head to show the same intoxication in love.They also use strategic lighting to heighten the effect. They add more intimate details (not thought through gestures) in the name of sancharis with long drawn pre-story and after story which go often beyond the purview of the actual poem at hand, addt to this the word for word English explanation- we have successfully effected a culture shock in some, distaste in some others of the audience. They are are all torn between judmental gander, appreciation for the portrayal and  admission to mild tickling of the senses.

Using strong mudras Was the technique that the devadasis used in their  abhinayam.  a very strong set of mudras, hasta that represented all poetry, including the most erotic of sentiments. They never did away with it. Even while they sang, they have held their mudras perfectly. what makes for good abhinayam is not these mudras alone. It is the aforesaid intonation that the dancer lends to each hasta that will allow the fingers to speak a language that everyone can understand. Her eyes, body etc are only aiding this process. A very good textual example of what am saying can be seen in the documentation of the hastas for padams done by some devadasis in a work titled abhinaya navaneetam. This documentstion is a mere capture of what can be apparently noted but in performance these mudras, along with music would transform into real emotions at the deft hands of each of the dasi, each time !

The contrary of lack of clear mudras is also a dangerous trend. Over rigidity in the name of
perfection, cleansing of the system without any space for the the body and mind to speak is an over simplificatio of this very complex, intelligent system of communication. Some institutions and schools do tend to do that as they are learning by the book and hence are devoted to the system.

When K.P.Kittapa Pillai restructed the navasandhi kautuvams, he has used simple Adavus (movements) and hasta to denote esoteric dances like the kamala nrittam, urdhva nrittam. Simple as they are, deviating from the treatises and sculptures that elaborate on the various karanas (
units of dance ) involving the entire use of the limbs, these Adavus and the kamala mudra (lotus)
hand gestures etc do effectively communicate the dance form of that particular deity symbolically, albeit as a eulogy.

Recently in one of my lectures, someone asked me about the performance of Ajapa Natanam. It is
such an esoteric dance concept that is cosmic in nature and so sukshma that a sthula representation of
it, using music, movement etc would be an enthusiastic attempt but never in its entirety. I have several times enjoyed portraying this Ajapa Natanam in my Varnam (mohamana en meedil) as my imagination of Tygaraja dancing on the chest of Narayana upon his Pranan of inhalation and exhalation. But after a few minutes of this portrayal, I would come back to the gesticulation of dancing as it would render a completion to my thought process.
I also distinctly remember what Nandhini Ramani ji said about the padams of Balamma. She said, while Balamma improvised every time, she did have clear mudras for each line that she performed and taught. It was again the intonation that perhaps gave it it's depth every time and that's what made each performance of the same composition unique.

Dancers are taught to speak through our hands. Lakshmi ji ' s understanding of the importance of hastas has made her talk to us about it. It is imperative to assimilate the importance of hasta abhinaya
 and hasta dhvani (my coinage) before we loose a little more of it to trends and fads. I second her.

The Italians are known to be by nature highly articulate with their gestures. They are loud in their hand movements and therefore theatrical. We dancers, are better Italians! we sing poems with our fingers! If we speak it with clarity, conviction and commitment, all of us can hear it and enjoy it!

thanks to Lakshmi ji for mooting this inspiration to share my thoughts about hastas through her writings.

Dr.Swarnamalya Ganesh
Fascinated with the fingers that sing!

This the link to Lakshmi Viswanathan ji's blog
http://narthaki.com/info/sh/sh6.html

RAM LALA walks into the attic and I hear him-finally

Namaskarams,

I am guilty for my long silence. I know I can blame it on my work load, travelling and much more, but all that would be lame. When we are aware of the body of work people like Dr.Raghavan, TNR Sir, M.Goplakrishna Iyer and others have done, writing, working and writing more I hang my head in guilt. However, Bharati said "yamakku tozil kavidai..." I therefore say "yamakku tozil kootu". I dance before I write the process. But friends, in the last several months I have had so many experiences, each worthy of a blog! I have shared them with friends with whom I have conversed and upon their insistence, I choose for this writing my experiences with Ramayana. 

Although, chronologically (in my life) Ramayana has featured much late, it has occupied a prime place. As a child I grew up, like most Indian children with tales and stories of and from Ramayana. We are taught to look up to Rama as God. He is mighty and gracious, strong and kind at the same time. He is ideal and therefore adorns our pooja rooms as an idol ! Being tamil Iyers, in my family Rama was not the prime deity. But as a young child, I watched Ramayana on TV. Strangely, I never learnt any dance composition on Sri Rama for several years (did Sarasama intuitively sense my lack of understanding and connection with Rama?) except for the stray Bhavayami Raghuramam which I learnt musically but never cared to dance to, on stage. 

I never paused a second in life to wonder why I had never willingly chosen any composition on Rama. Ofcourse, I did learn and perform the mandatory Pancaratnams (which by the way are very unsuited for dance, according to me). I learnt several Tyagaraja kritis in my paatu class and practiced them steadfastly, but never was I ever moved by any of these songs on the Rama level. To me they were symbols of Tyagaraja's devotion to Rama, his God and epitome of musical genius. 

As a young student of S.V.Venkatachalam sir (principal of Rishi valley school), mentor who taught me vedic chanting and bhajans for over a decade, I learnt several Tulsidas Bhajans. "Tumaka chalata ramachandra bhaajata peenjaniya", a beautiful composition on baby Rama walking around with his anklets tinkling. As sir explained the song, I was visualizing "kaalalandige gejja....Krishna nee beegane baaro..." of baby, blue krishna walking towards me with his anklets tinkling away, to sing and enjoy Tumaka chalata ! 

As a young soloist, during the early days of my performances, I have never performed many compositions on Rama. One fine day, my guru was to teach me Yaro ivar yaro, the Arunachala Kavi song. Glancing at Sita, stopping at her sight, Rama, the charmer? I just couldn't put a face to the name. He was to be Rama, the man who let Sita go. He was the man who ambushed and killed Vali. He was to me a man who waged a war, killing many for a personal vengence (even though Sita is Bhumija, she was one man's wife). Maybe Sita was better off with Ravana who atleast wanted her bad enough to fight for her. Maybe Rama was no God. How is this itihaasa an ideal for the world? Why is a man exalted when he has deserted his wife who had gone through much? Swarnamalya, the strong feminist had emerged.  

To me Rama was the name of a God I use a million times a day as an axiom in adages and an absurdity in sheer desperation, example "aiyo Rama ! or Raaaama chandra murrrthi!!!(sigh)" I didn't hate him but I wasn't exactly a fan.

Sometime during the middle of 2012, my students and I were planning our Ranga Mandira's Anniversary. It was a very special occasion and we wanted to stage a production that would involve all our students. During discussions, all my students unanimously screamed "Akka! the Ramayana!". I was startled by the roar and conviction in the voices of even my 3 1/2 year old tiny tot. I made weak attempts at alternative suggestions but was promptly shot down with un controllable over enthusiasm. They were bent upon the Ramayana and I had to choreograph. 

As a dancer and choreographer, I have always felt the need to comprehend and identify with the protagonist, the principle characters, the theme, the context and construct of any composition or story. To me, that is the first step to searching for the internal source knowledge  through which I seek the spiritual. How do I confess to my young students that I have no empathy towards Rama. How do I tell them that Sita was more of a hero in the Ramayana, according to me. How was I to depict Ravana as a villian while I infact admire him for his artistic prowess. How can I reinterpret the Ramayana and infuse my feminist ideas in the minds of young children for whom the epic was a story of good men winning over the evil ones? How am I to not be sacrilegious to The Ramayana and still perform it?

I needed a quick fix devotional trip into Rama's life. And I needed it now. I was desperate. Even as my entire school was preparing to meet the coming Saturday to start choreography on Bhavayami Raghuramam, I toiled with these uncomfortable personal confrontations. The day arrived. All my students filed in and waited for my instructions. I searched every corner of the room, every nook, every face in front of me, all the paintings and portraits that hang on our walls for some help, I needed to know that I was embarking on a journey (actually leading about 50 people along with me) that made sense to my conscience. 

When all eager eyes and faces were reverted towards me, I, in order to gain some time to orient myself, I asked everyone to close their eyes for a while. I called it meditation for creativity.

If only hearts could be heard, everyone in the room would have heard mine. It was screaming. Was I Rama impaired !?!!? Am I an un -devout Rama-atheist? I shut my eyes and called out to Sita. Believe me when I say, I was very melodramatic (drastic situations can call for drastic measures). I called out to her saying " you are a woman, you are a strong woman. I have never understood your Rama. Did he deserve you? Today, more than ever, I need to know some answers. Please help me. You will be my guide".

"Sri Rama rama rameti ramerame manorame

  sahasra nama tattulyam rama nama varanane"

My bold voice was echoed with 40 other voices. The second and the third time in unison. 

Suddenly, the dance hall was filled with silence. quietus. Every child opened her/ his eyes and looked me in the eye. The agarbatti fragrance filled our nostrils. The breeze from the ceiling fans were cooler. Our hearts felt something, a stir. A stranger had walked into the room. He was tall, dark and handsome. He was smiling and as he walked he swayed gently. We felt him. He was a feeling. He was presence. He was a singular thought. 

Vaanarootama sahita vaayu suno kararpita 

Bhanushata bhasvara bhavya ratnaaguliyam...

as I sang these lines, I had goose bumps. I was visibly in tears, choking. I was stunned. Was I moved for what Rama felt for Sita? What was so touching about their separation while he dumps her again after their union? I was truly puzzled. But my tears were damn real. It was there for everyone to see. Was I crying for Rama or Sita. I checked, and damn again, I was crying for Rama. Was he mortal or God? Did he manifest to show me his power?

Dr.A.K.Sharma, the archaeologist who along with J.P.Joshi, site inspected the excavations at Ayodhya and drew the following conclusions in a long affidavit and a 19 working days long cross examination by the Supreme court says, here are some of his arguments based on archaeological findings

1. Rama's birth place was Ayodhya. He was raised as a child there and a temple in commemoration of this was built here.

2. Any temple or Rajdhani, according to agamic sastra, if near a river,  has to be built on the north eastern direction of it. At Babri-ayodhya site the river flows at 19 degrees North Eastern direction to the site.

3. The walls of the temple but be constructed parallel to the river and here, the base walls that were excavated run parallel to the river.

4. Every mosque must face the direction of Mecca. But here Babri does not. The pillars will always face N in a way that they can offer prayers to the South. Here at babri the pillars are not N facing.

5. No exacavations have found minarets and Vaju tank, which are salient and are mandatory features in a mosque construction.

6. There are remains of "miharab" art found on the mosque walls which may lead archaeologists to believe that this was a site of Islamic worship all along. But, the concept of miharab for Islam was inspired frim hindu art and this has been noted in works like Tarikh-I- Farista (1452 CE, pg 70)

7. There is visibility of green sist pillars. There is no availability of green sist in UP but only in Sikkim.

8. There are so many animal figurines, human figurines on the walls at babri. These are not common sights we see in any mosques. 

9. Not a single full brick has been used for the construction of the mosque. The blocks and their measurements match exactly to that of the temple remains that have been unearthed.

10. There were four levels of flooring that were found. Each belonging to a temple. 

11. A circular Siva temple towards N. Its called pranal, a Rama temple, a Nandi temple  and one more. The last temple was perhaps in 1228 CE.

12. There is the Sita Rasoi (if excavated will unearth more reveling facts), a Buddhist monument on the southern side and more.

Thanks to these archaeologists, the ASI established the following and Justice D.V.Sharma wrote

"the disputed site is the birth place of Lord Rama and is personified as the spirit of divine worshipped as the birth place of the Lord Ram as a child. The disputed building was constructed by Babar, the year in uncertain but built against the tenets of Islam, thus cannot have the characters of a mosque".

Although the ASI has proved that this was infact the Rama janma bhumi and the temple of Ram lala was demolished and built over by Babar, we as Indians and heritage enthusiasts feel equally strongly about a mosque. That's our heritage and history too and we respect that part of our history as much. When we can't build, we have no right to demolish, even  though  Babar had done it. 

Now back to Rama. Rama therefore was a human being. He was born and raised as a child at Ayodhya.  Tumaku chalatu ramachandra indeed. But my questions about Rama as a stita-pragnya, udharana purusha were unanswered. 

If the Ramayana is an epic about human values and ethics, is deserting Urmila acceptable in order for Lakshmana to be a phenomenal brother? I do realize that the Ramayana is an epic that was in a  different place at a different time. But as an epic, it must have the ability to transcend time and stay relevant. 

Swami Dayananda Saraswati says, Rama is not a mandate of Dharma but its manifestation. If Rama stood as a manifestation of Dharma, then, shouldn't the basic tenets of righteousness remain unchanged through time? How are we going to appease the questioning minds of our generations? How are we to defend Rama's manifesto of Dharma at the wake of sending Sita to fire?

Rama was a stita-pragya. He was steadfast in his approach to life. He was doing his best under all trying circumstances to follow this mandate of Dharma. The Ramayana is at the fulcrum of tribal-feudal   change. It was a story that brought the two worlds together in both camaraderie and conflict. Rama was a man who stood at the center of this large social operation. His story was not a single man's anger and revenge towards his wife's kidnapper. But, it was a war of social power and more importantly a war of personal conflicts, introspectively. Rama is exalted in the eyes of Sita. She was the foster daughter of Valmiki after she was left in the forest. She brought up Lava and Kusha in his hermitage. If Valmiki documented the life of Rama, no doubt, he would have heard much about him from Sita. Therefore, to see Rama as a virtuous man was through her eyes. Sita was a very strong woman. She was pragmatic and saw and focused on the Rama who was at the center of ethical and political operations. Ramayana being at the tribal-feudal fulcrum, even to Sita, Rama's vision to uphold Dharma of that time, was understandable in many ways. Its harder for us. Very hard for some of us. 

But the Ramayana is retold because it is absorbed into several cultures as their own. It has the ability to manifest. and to a large extent,Valmiki has provided for that in his earliest version.

Ramayana is not a story that juxtapositions desire, anger, greed against righteousness, patience etc, told me Dr.Nanditha Krishna. How true, for if we attempt a very plain black and white understanding we may end up like me, rooting for Sitayana. It is a story of man with nature. Man exploring his nature. His psyche and its deepest darkest moments. A stita pragnya wins over that darkness but the traces of his falls are there for all to see. It is human and it ought to be. It is not Lord Rama who wins our hearts its Rama, the human who is gentle, brave, worldly wise, loving, compassionate, stupid, irrational and flattering who is of our interest, He is one amongst us. He is human. He is exalted because his strive for righteousness won him the appreciation of Sita, the one person to whom he was not always dharmic. If we can win over the people we hurt and if they can recall us as righteous and as victims of situations that call for dharma to be manifested, then we are Rama. 

I am all for Sitayana, but it seems to me that she wanted Ramayana. 

Why else will I shed tears of unknown joy and sorrow for Rama every time I sing 

Bhanushata bhasvara bhavya ratnaaguliyam...

Why else will I feel the presence of a tall, dark, handsome, compassionate man whose presence I have never known or been sure of, when I summoned Sita, the Goddess whose voice as a woman I thought I represented. She made me realize that, her voice speaks the words of Rama because that is Dharma manifested for all of mankind, centuries ago, now and for centuries to come.

Bhaagayanaiya nee maayanento, Brahmakainakoni aada taramaa indeed !!!

DR.SWARNAMALYA GANESH

finally not so hearing- impaired to listen to Ram lala's gejja :-)

                                                 Ranga Mandira performs Srimad Ramayanam

                                                              The Udharana Purusha- Sri Rama

Dikku teriyada Attic !

Dear all,

I realize this blog is also quite not as immediate to my previous on as I would have desired. But a lot of travelling had me on my toes, literally. But here I am, to continue the journey.

Im sure you all remember my eulogy to a great mentor in Dr. T.N.Ramachandran sir of Tanjavur. He is a saiva siddhanti and a great scholar, thespian of academia. Now,  I need to talk about how my journey continued from his home (home in this context is his protection  and shelter to my ameteur  and rigid views:-). In Shakespearean terms I was  "Sighing like furnace...sudden and quick in quarrel..." I was very much a young researcher with a lot of ideas of right and wrong, of who's views are credible and who's aren't and who's writings should shape my own understanding of history, art etc. He would patiently hear several of my emotional ramblings. Most of his responses to my childish queries were/are by themselves worthy of publishing. Here is one such from a random interaction with Sir on a sunday afternoon. Him seated and swinging on his oonjal and me seated on a plastic chair opposite him at the mutram of his tanjavur home.

Swarnamalya (childish and argumentative): Sir, Aasai mugam marandu pooche of Bharatiyar is about a young girl having forgotten her beloved Krishna's face. But if she loves him so much why would she even forget him in the first place?

TNR Sir: Do u understand the entire meaning of the lines "
Aasai mugam marandu pooche idai yaar idam solven adi toozi, neesam marakkavillai nenjam enil ninaivumugam  marakkalaamo?"

Swarnamalya: O! sure 
O! friend I have forgotten his beloved face, how can I explain this? my heart hasn;t forgotten the love yet the face has been consigned to oblivion by my mind, is it fair?

TNR Sir: The mind is our most reliable ally and our trusted source. It's very function is to bring memories update whenever required. Because it is the process of budhi, chit, manas and ahankaaram that creates every thought and therefore every memory.

Budhi is the intellect of man. It is the first place which processes a thought. All thoughts. This is the "arivu". It then passes it to the next keeper.

Chit: this is understood as the rationale of a person. We rationalize the received thought which is why it is called "chintanai" where we ponder upon it and take it to the next level.

Manas: this is the heart, Up until now what the head was doing, now the heart takes over. This is where we develop emotions, attachments, detachments, likes and dislikes etc. It allows the thought to become personal, subjective and closer. That is perhaps why love and other emotions are always an appeal to the manas or heart. 

Ahankaaram: This is the ego or the self. The processed and curated thought is now well stored and also acted upon. If I love someone I confess love, if I am angry I show that emotion, if I miss someone I evoke memories about that person willingly to soak in that moment. It is independent, very individualistic and uses the other faculties in aid to represent itself. 

"Dear friend", in this case could be even a soliloquy by the girl to her mind, which is supposed to be her friend and ally. I have been failed by you. I have no capacity of anamnesis. For the lovely face of my Krishna, I am unable to recapture. Who can help me from this state of amnesia? To whom can I complain about this internal malfunction of my system? The system that  never is supposed to fail a person?

I do remember (thankfully / unabashedly) the love he showered upon me. I am unable to still conjure up the face, the lines or the smile". 

There are three aspects to all consequences in man's life. There is the present that happens to him over which he has no control at all. There is a bundle of piled up consequences he has to face as an accumulation of his past deeds and then, there is what he can do based on his present experiences. These are the Prarabdha, sanchita and aagaamya karma-s. When her mind, heart stops listening to her, when she is unable to control them to retain a memory that she so wants to, she blames her mind of treachery, as if it's not her own. This is due to the fact that no matter want we will, our prarabdha is a consequence we have to endure. What a pool of greater memories of his touch and love that the heart  (her heart or nenjam) chose to remember is perhaps her predestined sanchita. A girl who's consequence was that she meet Krishna and become the object of his love and desire for a while, is her bundle of experience of her life. "What can I do?" Her lament of how to handle this predicament is her aagaamya karma. Do I rely upon my faithful, unfailing heart which savours his embrace and loving words or do I still allow my mind which duely failed me? How can I trust now? Whom can I trust now? What can I trust now? What use are my external eyes that can never work without the help of my mind? what use is this life if  my own preceptions were to fail me this way? (kankal irundu payan undo?)

When I heard this...U can imagine how silent, introspective and "shut up" I would have become. So introspective that, from then on, this argumentative researcher became a searcher. He made this haughty head pause to begin to look within.

I have always believed that the characters that we reflect through our arts viz-a-viz these Nayikas (in viraha or seperation, anger- Khandita etc) is not just a representation or encounter of their emotions but an interaction too. I once wrote a research article on Sigment Freud's Psychoanalysis and Bharata's Rasa theory. I found so many parallels and a constant interaction between the seeing and being seen. 

In this case, the girl is lamenting the failure of one of her own trusted faculties. She is desperately trying to use her heart to see if she can glimpse through the visages of what she remembers as feelings but forgets as memory. She is unable to hyperventilate upon any of her memories that bind the libido to the object. Her ego (ahankaaram) hopes to conjure up the image of him which is a lost memory to the mind but a yearning to her body and heart. 

This poem of Bharatiyar according to me is an oblique reference to the death of one's own power over their mind. She laments this failure. But she also knows fully well that this powerlessness is due to the agony of  seperation from Krishna. 

 The only way she can recognize him now is by touching his lips with hers perhaps? It is only the encounters that can come to her rescue. She has to distinguish her and the other within herself to identify Him.

Bharati's words TNR sir thus continued are,

"aasai mugam marandu poche idai yaar idam solven adi toozi

neesam marakka villai nenjam enil ninaivu, mugam marakkalaamo?"

not ninaivumugam (face from memory) but ninaivu mugam. Ye ninaive (O! mind) how can u fail me?

As a dancer, some where between the dance and imagination I  interact with her. I am her. This her is several characters, several women whom I understand, empathize with, absorb, imitate, interact, imagine and thus become. In this process my "self" is emancipated. 

The explanation for these two lines and how it has allowed me to find my thinking roots and wings is testimony to Sir's teachings. As I said, I was to be a mere spectator of my own self who' s perspectives to art, thought and literature changed after every interaction with Sir.

This is how he slowly nudged me towards my own space, even as I staggered cluelessly.

SWARNAMALYA GANESH

Dikku teriyaada attic !

P.S: I wish to share here a small video of my performance of a nayika in separation. But she is different from Bharati's woman, she is haunting herself with memories of him and loves the self imposed torture. 

this video's 7.20 th min is when the pallavai of the padam begins

P.P.S: didnt have the time to edit it to the exact start. 

In all,being a Women: difficult, tedious and absolutely joyous!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0eMEmQLN6A&feature=player_embedded#!

It was laundry day at the Attic !

Hi everyone, I know I have been silent for too long. I was first silenced by the loss of my dear Guru. I then took upon myself to throw that melancholia into finishing much of my research work that was pending. That done, now I am finally back to filling these pages. I have to say. So much to share. I was wondering where to begin. I was pondering if I should continue from where I left off or have a new take off point for the narrative. Then my talk at the ABHAI- Association for BHaratanatyam Artistes of India happened. It was part of a seminar on "socio-economic issues of bharatanatyam dancers-then and now". I was invited to speak for "now". Just as I was preparing to address some of the issues that they had specified to me, I realized there are so many cob-webs around us. I wish to share the paper I read out there with all of you. This is a growing concern for not the dancers alone but to the entire society, I believe. I have also made some suggestions as possible steps solutions. Read on...

"1. Bharatanatyam is a very inclusive art. In a trans- national environment that it is being nurtured now, it would be almost prudish to strongly advocate classicism, allegiance, orthodoxy, or even parameters of performance for, these very terms are themselves still in a rediscovery and redefining stage.

 2. Is Bharatanatyam over inclusive? We must know one thing, a classical practice cannot be over inclusive and still remain classical.

 3. Dancers of the 20th and 21st centuries are constantly facing issues of understanding and accepting the immediate histories and identity. Therefore performing allegiance to them is always questioned. If that allegiance will ensure quality, rigor and a certain accountability to classicism then it is for the dance practitioners to engage in such a deliberation. At an alpine level it would require a clinical approach to ring in and weed out elements of a classical form using academic history but more importantly performative historicity of the 18th, 19th centuries which are essentially our immediate past. But that is a topic for serious academic discussion and I shall keep it for later.

 4. With audiences and their tastes changing, funding structures for performances changing, even their very objectives, supply being enormously higher than demand, dancers have to come to terms with the fact that BN has become a global art. We are no longer dancing to aficionados and discerning rasikas (no, not even in the sabhas). We need newer reflective, critical updating of performative rules and values, as I said earlier, in the understanding of dance techniques and also the discourse that surrounds it all.

 5. There was a time a little over half a century ago when BN might have been endangered due to the cross roads it was at, precariously positioned between the disengaged devadasis and the pre occupied non-hereditary dancers. We have certainly come a long way from there. Today the problem is not whether it will continue as an art of prominence and identity but in what direction? Until a few decades back, questions of respectability were being asked. Will a dancer continue dancing after marriage etc? But today that is not the problem at all. Everyone is dancing, all the time. We are at a time when newer problems have arisen.

 6. What is the direction of this continuum? Where is sustainence? Will merit ensure you reach far and deep into the various performance arenas of national and global repute? What is the purpose of this maddening competition?

 7. There is Darwinism at play here. Nothing wrong. That is a universal rule. BN in the past too has always operated on the survival of the fittest. Therefore, we need to quickly address the question of “fittest”. In a world where e-invites, facebooking, twittering and public relations stands paramount it is passé to stick to old world norms of “waiting in the wings for your turn”. Truth is there are no wings and certainly not a turn. BN today is a commodity. Are we to buy what is sold with amazing publicity employing tremendous marketing skills or are we to look for quality. I am not suggesting that quality is available only in thrift shops and so give up upscale mall shopping. That’s not pragmatic. Its alright let us embrace the popular, but the climb there must be fair and based on certain universal principles.

 8. It is futile to ask for cleaner scrupulous standards in offering platforms from organizers, you will be in solitude if you remain in your “shell”, not socialize, “know” the “people”, you will be damned if you do not send out a million request letters, applications, photos, phone calls, house visits and the jazz. So what do we do?

 9. I know of dancers who don’t want to do these things and then some who cannot do these things at all for genuine economic reasons. Then what?

 10. I have been asked to address some issues concerning one, my being an actor. I think India and Indians came of age a long time ago. The concept of stigma of multiple careers or roles has long vanished. There is a healthy example in Dr.Vyjayantimala Bali to show that entertainment business and classical dance will go hand in hand and stay parallel. I am a dancer from the age of five while I became an actor almost a decade later. With my comprehension of the perfomative history that is handed down to me and with my own research I work on principles that stay within the abuttal of classical BN. But that is for dancers, funding and platform agencies to see and recognize. If anyone is to have pre-conceptions about multiple career choices of dancers, especially when that choice is entertainment and media related then they are not only short sighted but also in denial. Personally, I believe that using that as a reason to debate on a dancer’s adherence to classicism (if at all that’s the concern) would be begrudging of that dancer’s vantage to media attention and other public absorptions rather than issues of adherence and classicism. Let us not forget that devadasis at the turn of the 20th century started appearing in cinema and also in stage plays like harischadra natakam, pavazakodi etc. Therefore cinema is not a bad word, actress is not a dirty word and popularity is not a cuss word!

 11. The second issue is me being a researcher. The problems of a research student, scholar trying to reconstruct older dance forms etc and the difficulties in that realm, are for another discussion. But in general BN for the longest time now has largely separated scholarship and practice. I have seen a lot of eye brows being raised when I used to say I am a researcher. I have seen scholars and dancers schuff at me when I went ahead to do my masters in Bharatanatyam seven years ago. The other issue I have noticed is that age is a huge factor. The pre-conception that younger people really can’t be scholars is also seen. Dancer/ scholars are far and few. It is too primitive to discuss the issues they face yet. But scholarship for dancers will encourage a comprehension of historicity and enable a firm identity. To that extent it is a social issue. Also isolated scholarship in dance without practice sometimes throws the art and science of BN vulnerable to angled, partisan-ed and even jaundiced views and constructions. Therefore, it will be great to have a generation of scholar/dancers who can put in perspective the art in entirety. This is of course not to take away anything from exemplary scholars who contribute to dance history.

 12. Any occupation receives the “professional” status in a society when its presence contributes constructively to the society’s growth and its absence levels a vacuum. The dancing community until the nationalist, colonial iron hand vanquished it from temples, had a very important significant role in the religious sphere of the society’s everyday life. When that very practice came under the scanner the dancing ritual was the first to be hit. We are soon moving towards a time when the diaspora and the dancing fraternity is assimilating not only non-hindu but also non-religious dancers. If questions of ownership of Bharatanatyam as a hindu art are raised in a few decades (God forbid) are we well prepared to face it? Can we rediscover a context for today’s dance and through that to dancers in order to enable a more significant place and relevance to the society it breeds in? I mean not ideal relevance like cultural and aesthetic upliftment which have themselves become matters of personal choice and global assimilation. I mean purpose and relevance like that of say doctors and lawyers perhaps? This was my response to a question that was raised by my good friend and dancer Jayachandran.

13. I wouldn’t dare give one solution to all the above problems. But here is a start, nevertheless. BN dancers are all over the world. The diaspora has an equal stake in BN as we do. Let us not remain in denial. If we consider Chennai as the “hub” of BN practice and performance, then it must create a guild. A guild that recognizes (using fair parameters of economic and resume professional artistes) giving them IDs to entail them fare and portioned opportunities on performance platforms, assess to funding agencies, medical insurance etc. Kautilya in the Arthasastra suggested that unmarried women dancers must be given governmental jobs as spinsters (to spin the yarn). Such was the socio-economic vision of our ancestors. Must not we follow suit? It is appalling to note that dancers have no retirement, let alone retirement benefits.

 14. This guild must take on issues of foul play and come as a mediation body in case of dispute. It must have a grievance redressal cell to help young dancers deal with issues of sexual harassment, exploitation by so-called patrons, organizers, scholars and others. It is all happening. We can pretend “holier than thou” but it is an open secret. It could take up issies of maximum and minimum wages for dancers and ensemble members. It must also enroll and encourage amateur dancers. Those who want to and absolutely must, can continue their marketing and purchasing of opportunities but should never be identified as a professional artiste. The audiences will be made to know the difference. In order to get a professional status they must fall within some stipulated parameters for both performative standards, experience, income and integrity. A time when fair application, audition and selection process must encourage dancers to become marketing savvy, promotion through innovative social networking can be encouraged and the “lobbying” with silk sarees, undue flattery, other “favors” and money cannot buy you platforms and awards.

 15. The guild must later bring under its fold artistic groups like the Bhagavatamela artistes, kaisiki natanam artistes”, folk artistes, contemporary and experimental artistes etc for these are our brothers and sisters and we need to fend for them as well. We are after all what we protect!

16. In short, we are a large number of dancers, scattered all over. We are not a community yet. Can we become one? The immediate history of this art was the disengagement of the artiste community and its rites of passage, assimilation and strict rules of adherence. Now, it seems that that community- ship is the need of the hour again. This is truly the hour of retrospect.

 17. In all…IT WAS LAUNDRY DAY FOR DANCERS, WE WASHED LINEN ALRIGHT, DIRTY OR OTHERWISE…THE IMPORTANT THING IS ARE WE GON
NA COME CLEAN?

 SWARNAMALYA GANESH
AT THE LAUNDROMAT- WITH QUARTERS ET.ALL

here is a  poster done by a person named Shashank on facebook. its perfect for this article, I thought. 

Soul searching at the Attic !

Dear all,

Well in the middle of the season we are. I have had a good month, except that I have had to make a few very important re schedules. But I believe that everything happens for a reason.

This time I choose to talk about a very important tradition that had changed my artistic journey forever.

Right about the time when life, both personally and artistically was really rough on me I took one of my pilgrim trips to my haven, Tanjavur. It was the month of april, may about 5 years ago. I wanted a big "time-out" from chennai and hence was stationed at tanjavur for a good 20 days. Tanjavur is not only a center of culture, but all pockets of small villages around it are rich with different cultural identities of their own.

During the time of the Nayak king Achyutappa, who was a great patron of arts, he had encouraged artistes and artisans of various art forms to come to his country. He promised them patronage and honour. It was under his guidance and great patronage that the Tanjavur Bhagavata mela natakams were encouraged. Achyutappa made large endowments for the up keep of this art form. He gifted an entire village as free hold lands for five hundred Brahmin families who had migrated from Andhra. They were the Bhagavatas. this village, which is presently called Melattur was previously known as Unnatapuri and during Achyutappa's time it was called Achyuta Puri. This bhagavatha tradition following the Sri Vaishnava cult, perform various melas (natakas) based on puranic stories. They perform Prahlada Charitram on Nrisimha Jayanti day and continue for the next ten days with Rukmini kalyanam, Usha Parinayam, Harischnadra and other plays.Several other villages including saliyamangalam, neegamangalam, ottukadu all situated nearby too have a bhagavatha mela tradition.

I share with you my experiences.

Secrets of the soul -a divine and defining experience! The Bhagavatamela festival.

Man is one psyche, one whole of which body, mind and spirit are aspects. Every individual has in him this vast whole of consciousness, this great amount of contents of which the conscious self is not fully aware.

Many a times, I ponder about the artistic unhappiness one feels from time to time. While the reasons range from commercialization to marginalization one other important reason is excessive intellectualization too. While looking for a solution we realisation that to regain the lost happiness, the means is to attain inner artistic tranquillity- which is again the very purpose of art.

While, we struggle so hard to recreate a “temple stage” in our city prosceniums, while under the glares of arc lights, sophisticated acoustics, contemporary commentaries and the works we struggle to achieve the inwardization, let alone the more elusive “rasanubhava”, here is a clan of artistes who know no less than absolute inner tranquillity. It was a conscious, yet effortless reach for the “daiva siddhi” that Bharata talks about in the Natya Sastra, as the highest achievement or attainment of aesthetic enjoyment and the purpose of art.

Natya, a drama with music, dance, dialogues, stories, stagecraft and theatrics is best preserved by these dedicated artistes or Bhagavatas. The Bhagavatamela festival at Melattur year after year bings alive the greatest living traditional theatrical art form of Tamilnadu.

As I sat through the different plays I was overwhelmed, overjoyed and this excitement reached a crescendo leaving me tranquil. That’s when I started thinking; Melattur is almost cut off from even the main stream town crowd of Tanjavur or any of the other nearby towns. Just the travel to this place through the almost deserted road increases a sense of anticipation. Add to that a reverence one feels as we move into the streets. We begin to feel at home as we join people, both locals and visitors all gathered outside their homes and talking to each other from their “tinnais”. The air is fragrant with a festive mood. From the oldest living member of the village to even a tiny toddler, everybody is assembling and also assuming a sense of responsibility.
How hard do we struggle here in the city to gather people inspite of all the communication and transportation facilities? The audiences of our modern theatres are at luxury. They feel no obligation or sense of responsibility towards either the art or the artistes. Ofcourse, let us not blame them completely because when we are in the audience, don’t we do the same?

At Melattur, the reverence the artistes- each and everyone of them show (including every member of the musical ensemble) by first paying their obeisance to God at the temple and then getting on stage, the way they sanctify the stage with unhurried rendition of Bhajana sampradaya namasankeertanams, todaya mangalams while sanctifying the atmosphere and space with sugandas like sambarani automatically transforms the “site” or the stage into a reverential space. The message they send out is very clear; “we are about to engage in no ordinary entertainment, hence in the name of God let us endeavour upon this divine journey”. And then there is a beautiful start sans commentaries, explanations or credits. Including the audiences too in the namasankeertanams truly purifies and prepares our mind for the oncoming divine experience. All this stands in total contrast to the blaring of names, titles and laurels won, accompanied by thunderous applause that we are used to in the city. We applaud here at the Bhagavatamela too alright. Example, when Sri.Natarajan, the prime mover of the Bhagavatamela and a senior artiste walks in as Lilavati one cannot resist the urge to want to welcome him with a roaring applause, such in his poise, grace and if I may say, beauty. But when Lilavati and Hiranya have a repartee about his uncontrollable anger or while watching the long drawn powerful conflict between Hiranya and Lord Narasimha one simply not only forgets to applaud but even to breathe. Such is the power of their performances. Sri.Kumar who plays an electrifying and brilliant Hiranya brings out the character with so many shades that while watching his quivering lips and angry eyes one forgets that Hiranya is supposed to be a horrific rakshasha and begins to like the character and his mannerisms. There is no big fuss about drawing a line between loka dharmi and natya dharmi etc here. They are governed by spontaneity and that involvement absorbs us so completely that words of praise or even applause seem simply inadequate and almost silly. We are only filled with a sense of gratitude to God for giving us an opportunity to be a part of such an amazing experience.

Their technique, talent and artistic brilliance shine through with a power that oozes out of each voice that sings, each pair of eyes that express, each hands and legs that move. This power is palpably and directly drawn from none other than Lord Sri Narasimha himself from the temple right opposite to the stage. It is revelling to see how even Hiranya takes his strength from Hari. Everytime an artiste’s eyes fell on the temple, it glittered, dancing with joy and emotion as if, saying to Him “all this is your doing, for you and from you”. This absolute surrender reached the audiences like a wave of current. The young lad who plays Prahlada shines like a fresh pearl, timid and shy and yet showing bhakti and determination through his eyes that never once left the temple site.

The unhurried pace at which the Bhagavatamela natakas gradually unfold, scene after scene, helps the characters blossom and last in the minds of the spectators. This in itself contributes greatly towards reaching the aesthetic pleasure – Rasaanubhava. It is rather simpleton sometimes to expect this same feverish joy within the confines of an A/C auditorium, time clocks and an hour and fifteen minutes iron hand et al; Let us wake up and face the fact that by pushing our arts to the so-called grand venues we stripped much of its chance to unfold and leave a telling impact. The ambience and the audience play a very vital role in the aesthetic enhancement of any art. And if most times all we can have them remember is the colour of our costumes and some frivolous detail about the program that’s no success.
Notwithstanding the tough calls one needs to take on the choice between fast paced items to slow (chowka kala) pieces etc to retain audiences!, even the choice of language for commentary becomes somehow crucial and subject to criticism often. We think and come up with ways of simplifying and spoon feeding the spectators; Indian audiences, NRI audiences. Will the telugu audience like watching a tamizh varnam? Will the tamizh audience understand a telugu varnam? The dilemmas are endless. But at Melattur, which is a tiny village in Tamilnadu with predominantly tamizh speaking people, the Bhagavatamela natakas are presented in pure literary telugu. Ofcourse they do present an occasional tamizh play too like a Valli Kalyanam etc but definitely not with a prime motive of pleasing the tamizh audiences. It is extremely refreshing to see that there is no parochialism what so ever here. It is my opinion that it is only us, in the city who in the name of betterment and reach are over intellectualising the arts. The best tool that these traditional art forms like Bhagavatamela uses against this problem is, simplicity and adhering to tradition. They inculcate a taste for higher standards and understanding in the audiences rather than playing to the gallery. After all, how can the art be a tool of communication if its language is its own barrier or if its commentary leaves no room for interpretation? Of course by saying all this I do not mean to belittle the artistic greatness of those veterans whom we have seen and see as inspiring examples of how we can use the given space and time to create aesthetic joy on a city stage too. However, the accessibility we have to better ambiences, better aesthetics (viz a viz our great ancient temples) and how we almost overlook them and are quickly trading them for modernity and so called globalization urged me to think whether we are stepping into the global scenario without a definitive individuality and are allowing ourselves to be simply swept off our feet.

The religious and spiritual force that drives the Bhagavata mela artistes is telling. This great ritualistic nataka tradition answered many a questions for me. These dedicated artistes or Bhagavatas and faith taught me to never try to please anybody. I have to be truthful to my art and my heart. Criticism for that kind of process is abundant and success rather slow, but I learnt from them how to marginalize that disadvantage and look at the larger, bigger picture, where we might be part of a tradition building process. Of course traditions will have to stand the test of time. That will decide their destiny and future. But I shall strive to search deeper, farther and forever for the roots. I shall in the meantime, uphold what I have been left with, with sincerity and appreciation. How else can we explain how Sri.Venkatarama Sastri’s natakas (lived during the reign of Raja Serfoji) works would be fodder for powerhouse performances year after year, each year drawing the locals (repeat audiences) while being the canvas for stunning performances, fresh and new each time, yet still somehow unchanged for decades.

Afterall, creation is man’s lonely attempt to know his own strange and secret soul and its vocation along with his roots.

With this blog are some of the pictures that I had taken myself of prahlada charitram nataka. They belong to 2006, 07 and 08 I think.


Swarnamalya ganesh
Soul searching at the Attic !

Some hues on the Attic

The Tanjore quartette in the Big temple Painting

The Tanjore big temple was a seat of learning, particularly music and dance. From the time of Rajaraja II this temple premises was brimming with artictic learning and activities. The times of the Nayak rulers consolidated this and the last ruling dyansty of Tanjore, namely the Marattas greatly patronised all art forms. Most of the kings being musicians, dancers and poets themselves their respect and love for arts and artistes was great. It was in the court of these Maratta kings that the architects of present day Bharatanatyam flourished.

The Tanjore quartette lived about 200 years ago. They were the “astana” or resident music and dance teachers of the Maratta court. They not only have taught bharatanatyam but also hindustani dance. This fact is authenticated by their own words in a letter that they have written to the King and signed themselves. The tanjore quartette are the four brothers namely Cinnayya (1802), Ponnaiyya (1804), Sivanandam (1808) and Vadivelu (1810). They were the children of Subbaraya nattuvanar (in the court of Pratapa Simha) and Paramanandam Ammal. They were trained from an early age in the twin art of music and Nattuvangam (teaching and choreographing for dance). They were in service during the time of Serfoji II and Shivaji Raja. They were the students of none other than the great Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar (one of the musical trinity). They are credited with having created a “margam” or path, format which we use in bharatanatyam even today. They were great vaggayakaras (twin art of composing the lyrics and the music simultaneously). Their compositions are preserved in hand written manuscripts in the possession of their family members and their students who have passed it on through generations through practice and traditions.

There is a beautiful painiting of the time of Serfoji II in the front Mandapam of the amman shrine where the Tajore quartette are depicted as doing nattuvangam and singing while a woman is dancing. This goes to prove beyond doubt that they were the appointed dance masters for the Brihadeeswara temple. They were empowered to do so. For these services the Raja had granted them a house near the temple (today opposite the sankara madam on kamakshi koil street) apart from other rights and previleges during temple festivals like Brahmotsavam etc.

They created dances called the Navasandhi kavutuvam which are based on agamic rituals. These are part of the dik bali poja offered to the nine cardinal directions and to the Gods of each direction. This was set to music and dance and performed by devadasis under the mastership of the Tanjore quartette during the Dvaja arohanam (falg hoist or flag ascending day) of any festival. It is truly my blessing that my gurus from the hereditary community have taught me all of the navasandhi and the pancamurthy kautuvams.

The tanjore quartette’s musical compositions are plenty. Their pada varnams, jatiswarams, sollus, javalis, sabdams, tillanas are available to us both thorugh oral traditions and from the Manuscripts they have left behind. However, as mentioned above the Tanjore quartette have not only taught karnatic music and dance but also hindustani music and dance. We have not got muvh material on their hindustani compositions (if there were any) or the kind of dance they taught. From a beautiful painting in the nrtta mandapa outside the Murugan shrine (a nayak period addition) which depicts on either side a karnatic dancer (costumed in south indian dancing style) and a hindustani dancer (dressed in a hindustani style, which resembles closely the present day kathak costuming with a whirling skirt and blouse) we can understand that they were not only teaching and performing both karnatic aand hindustani dances but these were practiced in that very same nrtta mandapa.

There is a very important document at the Saraswati mahal library, tanjavur. This is a hand-written letter from the tanjore quartette signed (in tamil)on behalf of them by Sivanandam . This is in Modi script and addressed to Serfoji II. In this letter they introduce themselves as the appointed music and dance masters at the Big temple were they teach both karnatic and Hindustani dances upon the ordain of the King on the occasion of the marriage of Sowbhagyavati Rajasabai Ammani to Raje Saheb. This letter is a complaint that the temple authorities do not allow them to meet or perform in front of the King. From this it is amply clear that a tarditon of both karnatic and hisndustani music and dance existed in tanjore all the way till the time fot he Maratta rulers. This writer is presently researching on the Hindustani compositions that the tanjore quartette taught to the devadasis, the Tanjore quartette’s contribution to hindustani compositions and the influence of that on present day bharatanatyam.

The tanjore quartette moved to various other samastanams too. While Cinnaiyya moved to the Mysore court, Vadivelu Nattuvanar was patronised by Maharaja Swati Tirunal at the Travancore court. Their music and dance genius has helped shape the dances and music of these regions too.

The Tanjore Quartette returned to the tanjore court again during the time of shivaji raja and contiued their yeomen service to dance and music from there.

Thus, the walls (paintingss), Manuscripts, documents of the tanjore temple and library speak volumes of the presence and importance of the Tajore quartette.

P.S.: This is a part of a paper of mine that was published in a university journal.

Next, on my Sufi experience...Tasawwuf!!!

Swarnamalya Ganesh

From under rubbles of rich remains :-)