Forever a festival
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Shovana Narayan’s latest book delves into the pervading influence of Krishna in the arts. ANJANA RAJAN
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Whether we think of value systems OR emotions, Krishna acts as a bridge.
Photo: Sushil Kumar Verma
Revelling in a universe Eminent Kathak dancer Shovana Narayan with her book.
A coffee table book by a dancer? The stereotyped reaction is to expect the book to be full of pictures of the author in various lovely postures. Big pictures, big text, lots to see, an easy read. That description, like all generalisations, is unfair.
A cursory look at Kathak exponent Shovana Narayan’s latest offering “Krishna in Performing Arts” (her tenth book) shows that the coffee table format is conducive to detailed research-based writing too.
Shovana’s book covers the concept of Krishna in various dance and music forms, and mentions the visual arts as well, like the ragamala paintings, pata chitra of Orissa, and pichwas of Rajasthan among others. Drawing liberally from various sources including the scriptures, she has spent a good two-three year effort.
“I just delved into it,” she says. The line between dance and research and ordinary interactions blurred as she found just how ubiquitous Krishna is in the arts of India and the psyche of people. “Wherever I went I was asking,” she recounts. Much of her information has come from discussions with dancers, the Goswamis of Vrindavan and others who deal with the concept. With collaborative projects bringing artistes from different disciplines together frequently, she says, she had a golden opportunity to learn.
“We all love to dance our Shivas,” she says of dancers. But when it comes to expressing emotions beyond the Ananda tandava of Shiva, she feels, it is Krishna whose “dimensions are limitless.”
But in comparing the two, she also found innumerable points of coalescence, whether in attributes or attitude. These are dealt with at some length in the book too.
Innumerable arts
Besides, she points out, virtually every season has a festival related to Krishna. Also, Krishna is the source of the Bhagavad Gita, a discourse that provides endless material for the interested dancer. Similarly, the Krishna cult that spurred the Bhakti movement has also spawned innumerable arts.
“Sattriya dance, Vrindavan Ras, Manipuri Ras, Krishnattam, owe their existence to Krishna.
Then there is the entire thumri tradition, haveli sangeet, even the background and backdrop arts like Phool Bangla of Vrindavan and Saanjhi, the floor decoration of U.P.”
She finds Krishna a bridge between strata of society — “A king among cowherds and a cowherd among kings” — as also between different levels and forms of devotion. If we have Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi’s ecstatic poetry on the flute, we have the kirtan traditions of the villages.
“Whether you take it as a value system, emotions, or sheer outpouring of the souls, I think Krishna acts as a bridge,” she muses, adding, “When I started looking into it I found it was a whole universe, not just a world.”
Even if enthusiasm were the only gauge, Shubhi Publications could not have gone wrong in commissioning this dancer-bureaucrat-teacher-writer to put together this work.
Describing herself as one who loves to research, she says she has also looked into “the why: why Krishna became so great for us.”
All in all, says Shovana, “He’s great. The gentleman is great!”
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