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GESTURES SAY IT ALL: Kalanidhi Narayanan

Jayanthi Subramaniam

In his introduction, guru Adayar K. Lakshman explained that amongst the rasas, sringara, particularly in the context of the devotee’s love for the Lord, was considered the highest form of expression.Bhava is the emotion that originates from within the dancer, while rasa is the response experienced by the person impacted, stated Kalanidhi Narayanan. Vibhava, anubhava and bhava together evoke rasa. Since sringara encompasses rathi, vatsalya and bhakthi, it offers scope for myriad interpretations, while other rasas offer a comparatively limited canvas. Beginning with the invocatory ‘Mooshika Vahana’ sung by Vanathi Raghuraman, accompanied by Balasubramaniam (mridangam) and Muthukumar (flute), the dancers moved on to the Navarasa sloka “Sivey Shringaaraardra” enumerating the rasas.

Priyadarsini Govind

Roja Kannan’s depiction of bhibatsa in the composition ‘Suddha Paithiyakkaaran Gangadharan’ (Kalyani) which belittles Lord Siva’s attributes with exquisite sarcasm and her illustration of the veera rasa in ‘Porukkul Vijayanan’ (Begada) carried the stamp of experience. Coming to adbhuta, sights seen and sounds heard evoke wonder.

Jayanthi Subramaniam conveyed adbhuta with élan in ‘Yaaro Ivar Yaaro’ (Bhairavi) from Arunachala Kavi’s Rama Natakam. The devotee’s longing for a glimpse of the Lord and His compassion (karuna) expressed in ‘Varugalaamo’ (Manji) from Gopalakrishna Bharati’s ‘Nandanar Charithram,’ moved as it always does. Priyadarsini Govind’s ‘Stop right there, or else...’ glare in ‘Yette Irundu Pesum’ (Kapi) was arresting and eloquently conveyed anger (roudra). ‘Enchu Boni’ (Pantuvarali) in which the affronted nayika questions the right of others to mock at her, as they are riddled with faults, offered scope for hasya, the spectrum extending to include humour and sarcasm.

Roja Kannan

Bragha Bessel’s wonderfully mobile features effortlessly communicated a child bride’s fear (bhayanaka) of the unknown in her reluctance to approach the bridal chamber in ‘Nandhetiki Pommanere’ (Pantuvarali).

The focus now shifted to sringara and variations were explained - sambhoga sringara celebrating the joy of togetherness and vipralambha sringara detailing the yearning and the desolation of the separated nayika. The different types of nayika were then specified - uttama (noble), madhyama (neither noble nor base) and adhama (base) nayikas. Further categorization extended to the mugdha (child-woman), madhya (young maiden) and pragalbha (assured woman) nayikas. Also the swakiya, parakiya and samanya nayikas, the concept of the parakiya nayika (a woman who is married but longs for another) being a recurring theme in Vaishnavite philosophy where the devotee, though shackled by earthly bonds, yearns for the Lord.

Bragha Bessel.

Swathi Tirunal’s lyrical ‘Chaliye’ (Brindavana Saranga) was elaborated by Jayanthi and a Kshetragna padam by Priyadarshini. The evergreen ‘Krishna Nee Begane’ which combines rathi, vatsalya and bhakthi was interpreted from different perspectives by Roja, Jayanthi and Bragha.

Guru Kalanidhi concluded with the observation that these dancers (three disciples of Adyar K. Lakshman and one disciple of Swamimalai K. Rajaratnam) had been learning the nuances of abhinaya from her for the past 30 years and were still learning, delving into the cornucopia of abhinaya. She also expressed her appreciation for the cooperation extended by all the dancers and members of the orchestra in making themselves available at short notice, as this presentation was held in lieu of the scheduled feature by eminent musicologist B.M. Sundaram, who was unable to present his lec-dem due to health reasons.As the absorbing session ended, one could not help wishing that a capacity audience had been present at this demonstration. Kalakshetra regulars alone would have ensured a full house.

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