Staring into the depth of the faces at the Attic

In South India one cannot ever talk of sculptures or paintings without speaking of the Cholas! They are the holy grail of South Indian fine arts. No doubt. But often we will hear modern scholars eulogize chola art by comparing them to the later works of art like that of the Nayaks or Marattas. The truth is Chola art is incomparable. Which not only means they are extremely fine and beautiful but also that arts of other periods can't be looked at from the same prism. 

The one thing I have often heard about Nayak art is how it has very garish colors and disproportionate structuring. While I am not a fine art student, I would always think there is more to the understanding of these paintings than just calling them poor cousins of their Chola counterparts etc. The Nayaks ruled the South of India for over a 150 years. They have left an identifiable mark in temple renovation, construction and specially frescoes. One look at the bright colors, large figures and the strokes one will be able to say they are "Nayak" frescoes. Therefore they must have had a method and an idealogy. 

The art of painting during the Cholas period was highly evolved. They had a great sense of proportion, symmetry, color and aesthetics. If the Nayaks painted over them on the inner walls of the Tanjore Big temple, they surely noticed these and yet had a reason to do what they did. So, an artiste/ painter who saw such marvellous works didn't paint over them to spoil the originals. If that was their mindset, one of destruction or discontinuation of past glory and tradition they would have done many changes to the structure of the temple in a more obvious way and place. Instead they only added pieces of structures to  accentuate the original's awe. 
So then what drove them to draw over? 

To answer this I kept looking at the paintings of the Nayaks. As if a deep, penetrating stare will give me the answers. When you do stare at them, the way I did, you will find the characters almost staring back at you. In the art of painting there is a technique called caricaturing. The modern understanding of caricature is that they are exaggerated for an element of humor. But the elemental quality of caricature is to evoke a life like portrait image using simplistic or exaggerated ways. With larger eyes and mouths, louder colors and motifs and out of proportion images the Nayaks perhaps were trying to say something? A caricature always is to convey. It was for the immediate audiences and consumption. It was a socio-political statement. It is a next step in evolution of painting technique were the characters even when not real, were portraits of humans of their times. Even the images of Gods and Goddesses perhaps drawn with a striking resemblance to human beings. 

This would also explain the use of natural characteristics in actual sizes like the big nose, eyes, stalky hands, legs etc. Portrayal of acquired characteristics like finer lines, a paunch (that is reflected in the Nayak sculpture at madurai temple of the King himself in middle age. See my earlier blog for this reference). And the depiction of real colors, costumes, textures, hair styles, moustaches, beards etc reveal their evolution into depicting real people on their paintings. This was a few steps before the picture portrait era and a few more steps before the photograph era. Every Nayak painting was a  a weighty portrait. It was to convey to the people of the immediate context about important people, characters, features around them. Hence they needed the spaces that were in use in the temples etc. And therefore perhaps the painting over the Cholas at Tanjore temple with  the exaggerated features and proportions perhaps. 

The other important aspect is  the thicker lines or outer sketches that are starkly different to the other finer Ajanta or Cholas paintings. The pen as a brush or stylus for lines was adapted from the persian term "kalam". This concept of an inked pen to draw outlines filled with colors was employed from a persian influence both on cloth and walls. Just like painting on wet walls or damp walls was the fresco style of the Cholas, the Nayaks perhaps had the pen stylus painting. It was called "Kalamkaari" and was greatly patronized by the Vijayanagara Kings and therefore adapted by their feudatories, the Nayaks.  You will be surprised to know that Achuytappa Nayaka gave away villages near Tanjore to Kalamkari artistes as he realised the water (cauvery) in that rock bed had natural Alum (color fixing agent) in the water!! Kalamkari was traditionally used to also say/ convey stories, legends and myth.

Maybe the Nayaks who made these exaggerated frescoes had many stories and incidents to depict through their paintings (mythological and contemporary). The fact that these caricature like paintings may have been drawn with life like closeness and resemblance to actual people means, we are holding an entire visual documentation (like modern photos) into an era that we believe had not actually evolved to that stage. Their paintings of dancers and musicians means we are staring into the actual faces of our predecessors perhaps. WOW! 

This revelation allows me to take a closer look. And what do I see into the depths of those big eyes, fluttering pallus, bright fans, big maustaches and long breads....that's what you will find out at FROM THE ATTIC

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Dr.Swarnamalya Ganesh
Staring into the depth of the faces at the Attic

At the attic- Not at all asking "Indendu vachitira" (why have you come here?)

The one good lesson I have learnt in the many years now of interaction with scholars, pandits and great people is a precious secret of how we find sources. Often when I meet younger students they ask me how I go after my sources and where to begin etc. While that is a very complex question and the answer would vary from person to person, quest to quest, there is one simple truth of an answer in it. As my guru Sekeezaar Adi-p-podi Dr.T.N.Ramachandran sir told me years ago, when we persevere and go relentlessly after a fact or source, it may evade us now. It will. And it is at that point that we must invoke. We invoke a deeper sense and connection that we believe we have with the truth that is around us in this universe. Then, when we least expect it, these truths or leads or sources will start hounding us. They will reach us. The story below will explain this phenomenon.

The year is 1998. I am a young teenager who is learning dance and a very active performer on stage under my guru Sarasama. One day, from her rich repertoire she chooses to teach me a beautiful padam in Telugu "Indendu vacchi tira". True to her style of teaching for me, she familiarized me to the music and imbibed in me the musicality for Suruti (the ragam of the padam) and the misra chapu (seven beats) in its rhythm. At which point she told me "listen, go fetch the meaning and other details of the song from TSP mama for yourself". Now, who is TSP mama. When I met him in the earlier part of 90-s he was a young 75 year old man! Full of zeal for karnatik music, Indian dance (all forms), harikatha, bhajana sampradaya, history, archaeology, and what not. He was a polyglot, musicologist and a great friend of the arts and the artistes. He was the secretary of Music Academy then (with 30 years of service) and  was instrumental in bringing many a scholarly volume for us. I, from the age of 12 was his disciple! 72 would teach a 12 to spell and write words like "Natyasastra", "Abhinayam" etc. Such was our bond. He was my best friend, my confidant, my mentor, my motivator and much more. 

When I ran into his house one day announcing proudly that I have learnt the famous  "indendu" he said "aiyaiyo! (alas) you are in for trouble." I was shocked obviously and asked him what the matter was. When a dance guru from the hereditary community teaches any composition they would simply without much ado jump into its performative intricacies. There would be no discussion on the raga, tala, mode of the song, or any such academic analysis. The dancer no matter how old or young would simply watch and repeat and learn. It has a meditative quality to this process where the entire communication is non verbal and intuitive. Whereas, when a musicologist teaches anything they would begin with a long discourse on the context, history, date, name of the composer etc before teaching us the meaning or comprehensions of the song. I had the rare fortune of learning almost each piece from both these angles. What questions I couldn't ask Sarasama I would bombard TSP mama with. So, when I put a pen to paper mama told me, Indendu is a controversial padam. People usually say it is a Kshetrayya Padam but it is not, he said. Kshetrayya padams always will have the mudra (signature) of "Muvva gopala". This songs has none, also it uses a name Kasturi Ranga, therefore it has to be a composition of Kasturi Ranga perhaps, he concluded. As an obedient student of mama I believed that it was Kasturi Ranga, the composer. But slowly as the years rolled by and Indendu became an often repeated composition of my repertoire and as my own acedemic comprehensions started widening, , my mind would wonder as to how come there are no other compositions by Kasturi Ranga, if he was after all the composer of this famous padam? My TSP mama had passed away by then. Without a brain to storm this with, I let the internal conflict about the authorship of this most beautiful padam rest within me. 

Years rolled by. Many Indendu performances too. One day, I was sitting at my desk reading some manuscripts of a Telugu yakshaganam for my research. I was also simultaneously scribbling the geneologies of various Kings, their contributions, the vageyyakaras (poet musicians) whom they patronized. 

This King in the line of the Madurai Nayaks was Kasturi Ranga Nayaka (15th century). He was a weak but nevertheless patronizing king and was an early contemporary of Vijayaraghava Nayaka (the Tanjore Line) in whose court  was patronised Kshtrayya. When I was writing this down, it suddenly struck me that Kshetrayya traveled to the court of Madurai and Srirangam many times during his lifetime. More importantly I found enough evidence (with many many other examples) to understand that Kshetrayya did not use his mudra Muvvagopala while writing eulogy compositions (padams ) on Kings but only when he addressed the hero to be his favourite Krishna, Muvva gopala. I sat at my desk at 3 am. (yes I work those timings)  wondering if this solves my long quest for an answer of whose composition Indendu was. It could very well be Kshetrayya's. Subbarama Dikshitar is right, I thought to myself! We can vouch Kshtrayya quality in this padam with the lovely language and musicality. But if he didnt sing it on Kasturi Ranga, the King, he perhaps sang it on Kasturi Ranga (the Utsavar of Sri rangam- The Azagiya Manavalar)!!!One way or other, it is Kshetrayya with historical context. Not a improbable, evidence less some random Kasturi Ranga (TSP mama would have been thrilled with this revelation of mine with evidence, I thought)

"Mandara giri dharudaina Kasturi rangesa..."

In all, TSP mama gave me the puzzle and TNR sir helped me find a vision to perhaps find an answer to it.

Dr.Swarnamalya Ganesh   www.facebook.com/fromtheatticcomingsoon

At the attic- Not at all asking Indendu vachitira (why have you come here)

Please listen to this beautiful rendition of Indendu is the Veena Dhanammal Patandaram...it is a stunning visual of what musicality is rendered...

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

From the Attic- Warned but not badgered by the cracks in the ladder!

Fifteen minutes after I was born, my father knocked on the doors of Pandit Sethuraman, renowned numerologist and astrologer. He recorded my birth chart and wrote at the bottom of the page that I will attain fame and name and it will be very hard to protect me" and then named me Swarnamalya (as a name sake after my mother's favourite attai, Swarnambal). 

Swarnambal was beautiful, strong woman force in our family. She was many things to many people. She was a child who had undergone child marriage and widowhood, a teenager who had to be mother-like figure to her younger siblings, a befuddled twenty-something whose beauty and strength were her enemies, the woman who bolted away with a man who showed her a way to a second lease of life and therefore devalued by her own kin who of course didn't hesitate to take her support for their life and living. Sometimes despondent, sometimes blissful, but at all times austere, controlled and unblemished and very very strong woman (voice)- this was her.

Combination of my stars and the soul of Swarnambal perhaps, I seem to have inherited the spunk for contentions, thankfully with the strength and neatness from her too.

 My neighbour Kausalya Akka (student of Chitra Visveswaran) was a constant presence in my childhood life and my memory holds vividly, the feeling of my baby hands holding her dance arangetram brochures, imagining the pictures to be me. I wanted the costumes, the jewels, the make up and the glamour, and I was encouraged.  Bharatanatyam had come a very long way by then. Socially it was not sacrilegious to want to become a dancer anymore. I was a free, young woman to choose what I wanted to become. Our society had come of age!

As a child or teenager or even later in all my dancing years,  I have never heard my  Guru, K.J.Sarasa (who belonged to the nagaswaram, nattuvanar family of Karaikal Sri Jagadeesan Pillai) make any proud mention of her lineage etc. She was a very strong woman (see my blog on my guru to know more about her). She gained a lot of voice within the sorority of dance as well as the society at large. Even then, she seldom spoke of her ancestry, barring the ambiguous mention of her lineage to the dancers in the court of Raja Raja in the arangetram brochures of her disciples. A couple of stray interviews about her childhood and early years do mention some facts but they all quickly focus on the economic constraints she faced, her learning under Vazuvoorar and her move to migrate to Chennai. I have personally tried speaking to her about her lineage but was shot down very quickly by her. It seems she had unflattering memories, economic limitations and other social debases that she was only willing to let die with her. She didn't want it any other way and I didn't probe. 

To Madras, she was a new age Bharatanatyam guru who had a stamp of approval from the turnpikes of  tradition (vazuvoor). In her own words. her Guru had blessed her to become a nattuvanar (dance teacher) for what she lacked in beauty and glamour of Baby Kamala and others she gained in her lilting voice, strong layagyana and dynamism. Thus the daughter of Karaikal Jagadeesan Pillai became, Guru K.J.Sarasa. Even as a teenager learning dance in her class, I have observed how she would curve ball the various social forums that held the new-age Bharatanatyam's locus and social concurrence. She was a young woman, willing to build on a new, cosmopolitan distinctiveness to her personality. As a brilliant guru who was training phenomenal young girls into groomed classical dancers (Ratna Papa, Jayalalitha, Padma Subrahmanyam and many others) she was Ramaiyya Pillai's protege (he himself carving a niche in cinema and public life through his choreography for Kamala and others),  was a resident of Madras (Mandaveli) and therefore an accepted entity into the urbanite. 

For decades that followed even until after her demise, her laurels are always traced back to her training years, her certitude as a matriarch in leading her band of sisters, her glowing student body and social recognition for all the above in the form of awards and honours. Her immediate ancestry had been buried and done so, willingly by her. 

This willingness of hers to loose her ancestral identity could be seen when I observe her life and career graph. She would speak the urban language (Tamil of course) that reflected her "modern" adaptations. She learnt to sign her name in English and would do so with great pride. Open to choreographing for new age compositions and making way for any au -courant trends in Bharatanatyam, she was an accepted traditional practitioner cut and sewn successfully into the fabric of modernist Madras. She didn't rebel or resist change. Not only did she go with the flow but also was in some ways a forefront example of how such an operation could be done. She so successfully turned the tables of gender, race and ancestry, the same evils that buried several of her sisters (from the fraternity) so consummately towards her. She is hailed as a "Nattuvanar", one of the first females to wield the cymbals for dance in a very strong male domain of Nattuvanar parampara.

It is interesting to see the relationships and reactions of her male counterparts like Swamimalai Rajaratnam Pillai, Dandayudapani Pillai and others who were her seniors, her brothers (related and she addressed them as "anna") who became her colleagues and contemporaries at work. 

Almost always she ran the race with this newly built identity. Rarely I have witnessed the enfeebled ancestry in terms of discussions, down the memory lanes, attitudes or actual family members, only to be very quickly nipped and tucked and trimmed at the edges to fit in. Her participation in this post colonial social operation also extended to her being sometimes a part of controvert movements against any social constructs that she was so carefully demolishing. That which she belonged to and had let go but that, some other sisters of hers hadn't. 

As a student of Tiruvazaputtur Kalyani grand daughters too, under whom I trained later to quench my thirst for more on the Devadasi dances, repertoires and thereby life and norms, I got to see a very similar phenomenon in them too. When I met them the first time, they addressed themselves as family of Wodeyar's.  Even though I had gone to them for learning the art which was an identity only relatable to their matriarchal lineage, i.e; Kalyani ammal and her daughters the Kalyani daughters, they insisted I understand and think of them as family of Wodeyars.

These are all very important social and personal revisions that many many women from the hereditary communities for dance made, post the 1947 Devadasi Abolition Act.  How many of these personal transmutations were successful and how many of them willingly participated in this process, forms the various biographies of these women and their community at large. Its a very complex social order that is nonpareil and therefore challenging. It has issues of gender, caste, colour, religion, social sanctions, methods, western and foreign movements, politics of various parties in the Indian soil, policies and views of colonial sovereigns, feudal and capitalistic concerns and finally personal choices.

It is extremely significant to react to all this through studied approaches. No amounts of high strung emotions or simpleton views in black or white based only on some racial or political illiberality will help. 

From the time I was a toddler, through the times of being an obsessed teenager and in my later years I have been engaged in these thoughts on dance both at a practical level and for the last decade on an academic level too. I ask, I seek and I reflect. It is what my gene has given me. What perspectives I have gained through earned academic degrees, long years of practical learning and interactions, steadfast gathering of facts and preparedness for public deliberations of all this cannot be outcry-ed with simple hysteric intolerance. This country is not the place for that. 

We will revisit our past at all times,  for that' s the way we shall calibrate to our future. We need policies, social understands, cultural curation and political insights. We cannot hole ourselves up. That is not going to happen. We are not willing to loose our identities and stay muted, are we? 

 I am Sarasama's pupil and Swarnambal's blood, a combination that put me in ascendance and authority to write and speak. That I will more and more. 

I answer all the various social and anthropological questions I have raised in this blog and more in my forthcoming book on the Devadasis. There have been voices before and there will be more. I am one among them. I speak with social and academic warrant. 

Await the book...

Dr.Swarnamalya Ganesh
Warned but not badgered by the cracks in the ladder!

                                            My Parama Gurus- The Kalyani  Daughters

Me in their foot steps

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