Praphulla: Jataka and other tales of the Buddha in Bharatanatyam by Meera Sreeraj

This particular performance was recommended to me by a friend and I wanted to watch it because lately I have become interested in what and how the younger dancers teach their disciples. The generation of children today has to be lured skilfully to the classical forms of dance, what with there being so many distractions available to them, and their lives on the fast track on online platforms. So the younger students’ attention has to be engaged in whatever they are doing. The KalaKrita festival was organized at the Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts in Delhi on 21 August. It featured a Carnatic vocal recital by Smt. Geetha Rajendran and her disciples. Meera Sreeraj and her disciples presented a Bharatanatyam production.

Meera is a disciple of Guru Rama Vaidyanathan, is trained in both Bharatanatyam and finance, and has over 15 years of teaching experience at her Krita Academy of Art and Culture. The production was titled ‘Praphulla’ and was based on Buddhist philosophy and the Panchatantra and Jataka tales, a journey of blossoming in mind, myths and movement. 

Meera Sreeraj

It was inspired by the wisdom of Buddha – how the Buddha’s wisdom helped the minds of the common man to blossom or become praphulla. It portrayed how the mind gives rise to six root delusions (kleshas) and how awareness helps us rise above them. Meera acted as the preacher and a young dancer as the one who questions and then receives the wisdom. All were dressed in white and red.

The first tale depicted was that of Angulimala, who was a dreaded murderer. He would kill and wear a finger of each victim strung into a garland as a trophy. He had killed 999 people, but he could not catch the Buddha. He surrendered to him and became a monk. The verses used said ‘Udakaṁ hi nayanti nettikā, usukārā namayanti tejanaṁ, dāruṁ namayanti tacchakā, attanam damayanti subbatā (just as craftsmen skilfully shape raw material, a disciplined person skilfully shapes their own mind and life)’. I could catch only the last bit of this piece. 

The next tale was that of the three wise men and the klesha or vice was pride. The three wise men walked into a jungle and encountered a pile of the bones of a dead lion. They want to flaunt their capabilities, so a one of them puts the bones together, the second one stitches the flesh together and inserts the blood into it with his powers, making nose, eyes etc. The third one wants to put life in it since he was proud of his abilities. As the lion comes alive, the other two wise men save themselves, but the third is instantly killed and eaten up. The preacher tells the story to his disciple through verses that say ‘manaya bandhati sattā (pride binds even the wisest)’. The story was enacted along with the recitation of the jatis and nritta. The three young dancers as the 3wise men was commendable . 

In the third story, of Gautami, a mother refuses to part with her dead child. She asks the Buddha to revive the child, and the Buddha tells her to get mustard seeds from a house that has not seen death at all. But she does not find any such household. The Buddha enlightens her and gives her the wisdom that death is universal. The tale was told very sensitively and the vocals were very melancholy – ‘soya mera sunu’. The verses used were ‘Taṇhāya jāyati soko’ (from craving arises sorrow), ‘Rāgo veḷāya bandhanaṃ’ (attachment is a shackle), ‘Sabe sankara anicca’ (all conditioned things are impermanent). The klesha here is attachment.

The next tale was that of the lion and the rabbit. The lion, strong, the king of the jungle, asked for one animal a day to kill for his pleasure. One day, it was the turn of a clever rabbit. He was being made the scapegoat, but he goes willingly. He goes and, jumping around, tells the lion that he has met another lion in the jungle who wanted to have the rabbit as his food. Now the lion wants to go and fight the other lion, and the rabbit shows him his own shadow in the well. The lion, blinded by anger, jumps in to fight. The dancer enacting the lion depicted the lion leaping into the well, claws out, ready to fight. The klesha is anger and the verses used said, ‘Aggiva kodho dahati attānaṃ’ (like fire, anger burns the one who holds it).

The next illusion was doubt. The story told was of the Brahmin who was gifted a divine goat. The Brahmin performed severe tapasya and penance. He stood in fire and his kundalini rose to the highest level. He was gifted a divine goat by the devatas. The goat frolicked and followed him. The cunning people of the town made a plan to steal it. They tell the Brahmin that he is dwij shreshtha, an elevated class of Brahmin, so why is he bringing along a smelly goat? The vipr or Brahmin begins to doubt his gift and shoos it away. The goat tries coming with him, but he moves from away it. He falls into the trap of self-doubt. The verses used said ‘Yo vicikicchati, na pāraṃ gacchati’ (the one who doubts, will not cross over). The story telling was attractive.

 

The sixth and final story was about the shortcomings of mithyadrishti or misperception. The story was of the four wise men and the elephant. The four men were blindfolded and they were asked to give their opinion about a creature from touching its various parts. For them, the elephant was whichever part of the body they were holding. The one holding the leg said it was like a pillar, the one holding the tusk said it was like a spear, the one holding the ear, like a fan, the one holding the tail, like a snake. ‘Dekho, dekho, maine dekha (I have seen),’ each one says. To each, what he felt was the whole and not a part, but true wisdom is to see the whole. 

The dancers had their eyes rolled up to show blindness. The teacher then explains that these are six tales and keys to the mind — to what it is to be praphulla, enlightened. 

The performance reached its zenith with a tillana, which was danced by all the students of all ages moving in and out of the stage in groups and formations. The tillana, in accordance with the theme of praphulla, was danced with lotus hands. The lotus bud hands then flower. The dancers moved with expansive moves, the groups dancing in perfect synchronization. They moved all over the stage, sideways and across. In one step, they moved on alternate knees. 

 

The piece depicted the Buddha with hand gestures in the centre the rest of the dancers showing blooming through trembling fingers. Finally, three groups of dancers formed seven lotuses. 

The concept and choreography of ‘Praphulla’ were by Meera; music composition and vocals by Dr. S. Vasudevan, flute by Rajat Prasanna, mridangam by Prajesh, violin by Harikeshav, light design by Rahul Unnithan, sound operations by Mohit Bagchi, voiceover by Shubhamani Chandrashekhar and Anjali Sreekumar, recording and sound engineering by Kabir S. Chauhan, Sparrow Communications, Hauz Khas, and script and direction by Dr. Himanshu Srivastava.

 Pics courtesy Meera Sreeraj and Shibin Chandran (@foto_cardz/Instagram)