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Tribute to a dancer

The legend of Aayi came alive at a dance drama presented by students of the Sangeetha Salangai Natyalaya

Mutharayarpalayam. It is a source of water that has quenched the thirst of Pondicherrians for centuries and still does now.

There is a legend associated with it — Aayi, a temple dancer during Krishnadevaraya's reign, is believed to have given up her house so that a pond could be dug in its place. While on a visit to Uyyakonda Mudaliar's house, the king mistook Aayi's house for a temple and bowed before it. When he was told that it was a Devadasi's house, he ordered its demolition. It was then Aayi decided to dig a pond there.

Later during the French regime in Pondicherry, the townspeople had a water problem and an engineer was deputed by Napoleon III to find a potable source. He stumbled upon the pond and brought water to the area where the Bharathi Park stands today.

The symbol

Commemorating Aayi's effort, Napoleon III ordered that a monument be erected. That is how the Aayi Mandapam came to be built, which is the official symbol of the Government of Pondicherry.

The Sangeetha Salangai Natyalaya (SSN), a dance school here, recreated this episode in a dance drama and presented it before an audience that included Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, MLA S. P. Sivakumar, writer Prapanchan and several other leading figures.

As many as 24 students participated in the hour-and-a-half-long programme that had 16 scenes and 16 songs in Tamil.

"We wanted to make a dance drama out of something pertaining to the history of Pondicherry and this story seemed apt," said Rajamanickam, who runs the school.

Service to people

"Aayi was portrayed as a person who dedicated her life to god and served the people," he added. Prapanchan wrote the script and Jayarayar, the songs. Arimalam Padmanabhan set the lyrics to music and the art direction was by stage personality Velu Saravanan.

The lead role of Aayi was performed by Juhi Jahan, Oosi (Aayi's sister) by Preethika, King Krishnadevaraya by Archana, Napolean III by Kayalvizhi, Appaji (who accompanied Krishnadevaraya) by Valliappan, who is the only male performer, and Uyyakonda Mudaliar by Anugrahavarsha.

The school, founded in 1992, has till date produced 10 dance dramas, including "Ramayanam", "Seetha Kalyanam" and "Veera Thaai", which was written by poet Bharathidasan.

DEEPA H. RAMAKRISHNAN

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