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People's timeless story
Photo: Avinash Pasricha
Priyadarshini Govind
Given the general apathy to culture outside one's own regional domain, the seminar by the India International Centre, "Cilappadikaram: Dimension and Perspectives" spurred by art enthusiast Manna Srinivasan's zeal, pleasantly evoked some non-Tamilian participation. Conspicuously absent, barring the odd exceptions, was the dancer biradari.
The story locale from Pumpuhar to Madurai to Vanji (respective capitals of the Chola, Pandya, Chera kingdoms of that era), reference to the Satavahanas, to Gajabahu (Gayabaoo) the Simhala ruler, to Nedunchezhiyan the Pandya ruler and to the Himalayan military expedition of Cheran Senguttuvan (whose brother Ilango is credited with the authorship) place Cilappadikaram somewhere between the 2 and 3rd Century A.D - post-Tolkappiyam and Tirukkural. Citing of historical events notwithstanding, Cilappadikaram is primarily a literary work throwing light on the political/social/artistic fabric of the time. With Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan presiding, both M. Varadarajan and Ramaswamy Iyer moderating the sessions mentioned how it is the geography of land and mind so effusively portrayed, as also the people's love for life and absence of prudery that Cilappadikaram vividly paints.
Pulavar Viswanathan spoke of this "Muttamizh Kaappiyam" as a `people's story', emphasising female chastity as the highest dharma. By far the most focussed morning paper was "Text, Interpretation and Impact" by Purushottam Billimale. Cilappadikaram became an inspiration for the 20th Century Kannada literature movement, with writers veering away from old colonialist, elitist "admixture of liberalism, utilitarianism and a `discovered' or constructed Vedic tradition" to begin looking into local traditions and lifestyles. Shivaprakash, poet, playwright and critic, inspired by Cilappadikaram wrote three works Madhura Kaanda, Madhavi and Matruka, each viewing the story from a sociological perspective - of womanpower. If Kannagi was wronged, so was Madhavi, for whom he takes up cudgels. As for Kovalan, whose right half is Kannagi and the left, Madhavi, he who announces himself as the main player with the women as edges, is non-existent without them - "a multiple and displaced self in a dislocated cosmos". Cilappadikaram exemplifies victimized woman, subsequently deified as a sop to the conscience. "Tell me, what would you do in her (Kannagi's) place?" asks the author. Sadly, Professor Amrit Srinivasan, slated to speak on society as reflected in the text was unavoidably absent.
Dr. Premeela Gurumurthi, Head of the Department of Indian Music, Madras University, gave an insightful lecture on the musical mores of the time with the talas and the pans approximating contemporary ragas. She defined several technical terms, the four speeds, the `new tradition' and the `older tradition', and the aesthetics of playing instruments like the yazh with seven `narambu' (strings), kuzhal and vocal music.
The finale was a sophisticated Bharatanatyam recital by Priyadarshini Govind. Stringing stray events into a unified narrative, highlighting perspectives of all the main players Kovalan, Kannagi and Madhavi, not excluding glimpses of the people's animistic and Hindu beliefs, the dancer assisted by Raghuraman's research and Dr. Prameela's musical inputs had a fitting take-off point, invoking Sun, Moon and Rains in "Vaazhtum Vanakkam - Tingalai Porrudum". A delightful nila kavutvam from Adiyarkku Nallar's commentary formed Madhavi's entry. The lovers' misunderstandings in Kaanalvari and Varikkolam in Venil Kadai, with Kovalan bitterly detailing eight different ways courtesans deceitfully entice man, was an abhinaya treat. The bristling khandam rhythm for the worship of the tandava form of the Goddess Korravai in Vettuvavari was a contrast to the Mayon/Nappinnai exchange in the dance of the cowherdesses. Oor Shozhvari with Kannagi's grief and curse and her deification in Kunrakkuravai with the joyous folk lilt and the Neelambari ending were all dignified, and evocative in restraint. What a rainbow of rakti ragas by the fine sympathetic vocalist Chitra Mahesh!
LEELA VENKATARAMAN
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Entertainment
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
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