Exotic and expressive
Dancing for just sollukkattus at the beginning of a performance was customary under the Thanjavur Nayaks. Meenakshi Chittaranjan commenced her Bharatanatyam programme with this and continued with the song "Sivakamasundari" in raga Jaganmohini. Since the Vachaspati varnam, composed by Pandarainallur Meenakshisundaram Pillai, was in praise of the Raja of Ramanathapuram, Pandarainallur B. Srinivasan has substituted the lyrics suitably in praise of Lord Tyagarja of Tiruvarur at the request of Meenakshi. Though the Tamil lyric is good, the practice of substituting lyrics should be discouraged.
Some time in future, this Tamil varnam may be attributed to Meenakshisundaram Pillai or just to Srinivasan — including the musical part. Altering others' compositions is best avoided. It is common for some dancers to change a few words or lines in some Padams, as they appear lewd. Instead, they can opt for some other Padam.
Meenakshi performed the Vachaspati varnam with great felicity. The execution of the teermanams had clarity of footwork, though the first theermanam was a bit lengthy. The pulling of the deity's car was done as a sanchari and a line from a mallari sounded by the instrumentalists. It is common to use a mallari to depict a procession but switching over to Vachaspati immediately after Gambheera Natta was harsh on the ear. A short sollukkattu could have been inserted between the two ragas.
Meenakshi then took up a song but announced it as a Padam. Songs, just for their srungara content, cannot be called Padams. The song, "Pogum Vazhiyil," beautifully portrayed by Meenakshi, is about a youth offering flowers to a maiden who declines the offer saying her parents have forbidden her from talking to him. The young man, after a long argument, wins the day saying her parents have not forbidden him from embracing her.
Pandarainallur Pandyan did the nattuvangam creditably, with Radha Bhadri providing mellifluous vocal support. Vijayaraghavan, Srinivasan and Saktivel on the violin, flute and mridangam did a good job. Meenakshi used almost the same repertoire in one of her recent programmes in another sabha. Can she not avoid repetitions?
B. M. SUNDARAM
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