Other States - Pondicherry   

Natyanjali faces many hurdles

Special Correspondent

Several constraints cast a shadow on its future prospects

CUDDALORE: The famed annual Natyanjali festival, being held in the hallowed precincts of Lord Nataraja Temple at Chidambaram, is facing several constraints, which cast a shadow on its future prospects.

In its Silver Jubilee year (2006), the Natyanjali Trust has come under tremendous pressure to shun ostentatious display on stage and to shorten the programme duration for just three hours, from 6 to 9 pm daily, excepting on Mahasivarathri.

Earlier, no such time limit was imposed. The Trust has been instructed not to mention either in the invitation or in the publicity materials that this is the Silver Jubilee edition.

The Trust sources told The Hindu that it had to accept the conditions in the interest of classical dances, performing artistes and budding talents. Hailed as the Mother of Dance Festivals, the event was quite popular in the country and abroad. The Trust was receiving about 250-300 applications every year from individuals, organisations and dance schools.

So far, it had staged 1,050 performances in 20 classical dance forms such as Bharata Natyam, Kuchupudi, Kathak, Odissi, Manipuri, Mohini Attam, Kathakali, Yakshaganam and folk with over 10,000 artistes.

Venue shifted

Started in 1981, the festival was aptly named as Natyanjali, a dance offering to Lord Nataraja, the Cosmic Dancer. In its initial years, the fete was held in the "Thousand-Pillar Mandapam", and later it was pushed to the periphery of the temple to be conducted on a makeshift stage in the open.

A small thatched enclosure near the stage served as the greenroom. The audience had to squat on the floor filled with thorns and thistles. Though the Trust desired to have a permanent stage and better amenities, Sri Sabayanagar Temple Committee was opposed to it. Shifting the venue outside the temple would belittle the significance of the event. Owing to resource crunch, the Trust was finding it difficult to even partly meet the expenses.

The Trust did not have any corpus, and was solely dependent on public contributions and occasional support from private companies and artistes.

The Trust proposed to bring out a magazine/souvenir to augment revenue through advertisements, but it should never be construed as a commercial venture, the sources said.

Obviously, the continuation of the prestigious event hinges on the committee's support.

Parallel programme

The committee was firm that the sanctity of the temple should not be marred by the activity of extraneous agencies and no programmes should extend beyond the "Artha kaala puja".

However, it was organising a parallel programme "Gananjali (song offerings)" inside the temple for the past four years.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Natyanjali faces many hurdles
Foundation raises saplings

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu