Guru Gauri Diwakar’s students and Vinay Tiwari create moving spectacle about Bihar with ‘Magadh’
You wouldn’t think it would be pleasant attending events at the peak of the Delhi summer, but it is in fact a great pleasure because the stage is decorated with mogra flowers. Their very sweet smell is everywhere. The Gauri Diwakar Sanskriti Foundation (GDSF) – Sarvatra Nrityam hosted their annual Kathak student showcase, called ‘Utsav’, at a packed Shri Ram Auditorium on 18 May. GDSF, established in 2009, has produced many artists making their mark in Kathak and garnered recognition and acclaim in the field. This year’s presentation was called ‘Magadh’, and it had been crafted by the guest choreographer for this year, Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher Vinay Tiwari.
What caught my eye first was the invitation, which featured beautiful Madhubani art. Outside the gate of the auditorium was a poster also featuring Madhubani art, giving the details of the program. The stairs too had Madhubani art pieces by Amarnath Jha hanging from the ceiling – canvases, kurtas and frames – and on the stage hung a sari with Madhubani work. Using Kathak’s storytelling aspects, Magadh presented the rich heritage of Nalanda, Mithila, Magadh and of Bihar. On one side of the stage was the sthapana of Chhathi Maiya, the deity of most Biharis.
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The other side had the musicians – Ashish Gangani on pakhawaj, Jaivardhan Dadhich on vocals and harmonium, Anil Mishra on sarangi and effects, Uma Shankar on sitar and Gauri herself on padhant. The production featured Milind Shrivastava on lights, Anand Kumar on sound, photography and video by Innee Singh, costumes by Inari Clothing House and Western Tailor, and Yogita Rawat on make-up.
It is natural that at the annual function of a dance school, the guru will try and put each and every student on stage. So, you are prepared to have the little ones sometimes absent-minded, or looking at each other or their parents, or simply looking blank. But there is the cuteness factor, so you go along with it. Surprisingly, none of that accommodation was required here, nor was there a dull moment. For the first, the credit goes entirely to their excellent guru, the redoubtable Gauri Diwakar, and for the second to Vinay. Vinay is a Doordarshan-graded artist, a senior disciple of Guru Saroja Vaidyanathan and Guru Rama Vaidyanathan, who is making his mark as a soloist and choreographer. Kathak guru Shovana Narayan was the chief guest.
The first piece was ‘Ganesh’, presented by the beginner batch. The age group was a mix of very young, young and slightly older students. The call of the conch announced the beginning. They all wore beige costumes, the girl in the centre depicting the trunk and two on the sides showing the ears. The shloka was ‘Namami Vighneshwar paad pankajam’. They depicted the god holding the modak in one hand and a weapon in the other. The nritta had a natwari, tihai, tukda with the trunk posture of Ganpati. The students performed aamad, tihai, tez aamad with 12 chakkars. The shloka ‘Vakratund mahakaye’ was recited. Gauri narrated the tale of Kartikeya and Ganesha being tested for their greatness. The one who circled the universe first would be the one worshipped first.
In pairs, the students enacted the episode in a tukda. Kartikeya set out to circle the universe on his peacock, but Ganesha simply circled his parents on his mooshak – his parents, he said, were his whole universe. That is how Ganesh became the god worshipped before all others in every puja. The music for the bit was interestingly done. The paran and the tihais were well presented. The girls showed the lotuses being collected and woven into garlands for offerings. They ended with nritta featuring tihai and tukde and the chants of Jai Ganesh Deva.
The second piece was a Bhavani Ashtakam, about shakti upasana in Bihar. Truly I did not know till that moment that there are several Shaktipeeths in Bihar, not just two. The presentation was by senior disciples Tanuja Bora, Ganya Sethi, Kriti Chawla, Khushboo Kukreja, Aheylee Saha, Aashima Dhingra, Ananya Dhingra, Trisha Chakraborty and Radhika Berry, who wore red lehengas.
Red smoke and Milind Shrivastava’s dramatic lighting created the perfect ambience for the piece. Bihar is also a land of shakti, gyaan and devi chetna. The Mangalagauri temple in Gaya is one of the Shaktipeeths where Sati’s breast fell. The land is blessed by Sati devi. The composition was sung was ‘Bhavani Dayani’. As the beej mantra ‘aum him klim chamundaye vichae namah’ was recited, the dancers moved in with clawed hands and feet circling in a special gat. The nritta, including paran, showed trishul and eyes that spewed anger.
In the main composition, the contrast was shown of a mother to a child for her bhaktas and a destroyer for the demons – jag janani and mahishasur mardani. With a paran and tukde, the fight was shown with trishul and sword, claws for the lion and skulls in her neck. The piece was done in jhaptaal. A verse from Aigiri Nandini was also used, the dancers standing in a row and moving alternately.
The next composition was about Mahalakshmi Sita. Maa Sita was born in Mithila, which is in Bihar. The scene depicted was when Sita is preparing for her swayamvar. She and her city are decked up like a dulhan. The sohar sung had been composed by Vinay himself. It was based on the pattern of Bhojpuri/Magadhi singing (gayan) and folk tunes.
The sakhis are drawing rangolis, collecting flowers and dressing up the palace for the occasion – ‘Sakhi sab gave ri sohar, bela manohar, Mithila kunwari ke hoye swayamvar’. The tune was typically folk, and the dancers clapped along to it. They were all dressed in red lehengas.
The women are dressing up each other – mehendi, mahavar, tying their hair into joodas and looking in the mirror. The nritta portion had aamad, paran with moves for dressing up, tez aamad, natwari, and then the dancers split up into two groups, taking circles – uthan with a gentle toe movement, ghungat ki gat and chakkars, and tapping of feet.
They depicted the singing of badhai and the mangal notes of shehnai. They danced holding hands behind them. The use of the manjira added novelty.
The male dancers formed a diagonal as they danced a parmelu and a paran. They leapt with footwork. Maa Sita leaves for Ayodhya, looking back at her people and the land where she was born. ‘Samriddhi aur gaurav ki pehchaan’ left Mithila, to take all that to the land of Rama.
Maa Sita is remembered as the cache of all these virtues. The entire piece, its vocals, music, choreography, was a beautiful amalgamation of folk and classical. The sohar was aesthetically rendered.
The next piece and the next feature of Bihar presented was gyaan – Nalanda university. Nalanda was the seat of knowledge, which is important for any civilization to grow.
Students would come from all over the world to Nalanda and learn in various fields, yoga and martial arts among them. This piece was performed by the intermediate batch, wearing orange dresses. They began with the shloka ‘Guru Bramha, guru Vishnu’, offering flowers.
They depicted reading and writing, studying, learning music with various instruments like flute and pakhawaj, practising martial arts with exercises, weapons like bows and arrows, swords, and yoga with various asanas. Gauri narrated that the progress of any civilization is reflected in its art. Madhubani art flourished, which was depicted by showing all life forms featured in the form.
A parmelu was used to depict the flowers, birds, fish, waves and lotuses. Great saints have been born on the land of Bihar – Guru Nanak, Bhagwan Mahavir, Lord Buddha. The shloka sung was ‘Ekam nityam vimalam achalam’ from Guru Mantra, finishing with shankh dhwani.
The constant and energetic nritta was woven into the piece, with the male dancers also joining in. The progression of a civilization from gyaan to spirituality was shown. The piece was very rich in movement and rhythm.
The final and the most aesthetically designed piece was about Chhath Pooja in Bihar. One side of the stage was decorated as the pratishtha of Chhathi Maiya. The piece started with one of the dancers speaking into the mic, introducing the festival. Chhath is not only a festival, but also an ode to prakriti and an expression of our gratitude to her for all that she has endowed upon us. As the depiction proceeded, each of the dancers came to the mic to explain the next step or aspect of the celebration.
The first step is cleaning the house. Then, one corner in the aangan is chosen to wash the grains and dry them in the sun. One person stands guard so that birds or other animals do not make it impure. They show the fast or penance that a mother is about to perform for her children. The dancers wore red lehengas and ghunghats. The dancers depicted the crop of wheat being harvested, the grains shucked, cleaned and spread out on sheets. The birds come and are shooed away. In the second extract, known as ‘nahaye khaye’, the people fasting have a bath and a shuddh meal, and vow to fast and with devotion and belief without drinking water. The second day, ‘kharna’, the fast continues. In the evening, after pooja, they break the fast with gud kheer and roti. Then they make a local delicacy, thekua, made with wheat, jaggery and ghee in wooden moulds. The ritual has been going on for generations. The dancers sitting on stage enacted the making of thekua from scratch and carrying them in baskets. A folk song was used for this section, asking Chhathi Maiya to overlook mistakes.
Then the dancers depicted offering jal to surya in the river on the final day. The bank of the river is crowded. They carry with them fruits, sugarcanes and bhog. At the riverbank, they offer obeisance to the sun god by offering anjali to him – all nature-embracing practices.
The offering to the sun god is done at daybreak of the sixth day in the month of Kartik. The women stand in the river with the bhog on their heads and offer it to Suryadev. It really is a pious moment. The water sparkles in the sunlight. The symbolism points to power and light. The women pray for the well-being of their families and children.
The significance of the sugarcane is that it represents belief and progress. The diyas flicker in the early morning sun and the colours of the rangoli light up in the sunlight. The pooja is a lesson in simplicity, in beauty, devotion and shakti, and in respect for nature as an integral part of our existence. The dancers chanted ‘jai Chhathi Maiya, jai Suryadev’. This was followed by a folk song in praise of Chhathi Maiya. The nritta woven into the piece, presented with excellence by the dancers, was a parmelu, tihai and a ladi. The enactment and the spoken parts were presented with perfection, reliving the rituals and traditions followed.
The last performance was the guest choreographer’s presentation in Bharatanatyam by Vinay Tiwari. It was an excerpt from his choreography ‘Abhadra’, and depicted the bilar, or male cat, the vahana of Chhathi Maiya. The music was by Dr. S. Vasudevan, flute by Rajat Prasanna, mridangam by Sannidhi Vaidyanathan, recorded at Neelam Studio.
Vinay stood in the centre, draped in a huge veil made of red net and surrounded by red smoke. The aalap and chants by Dr. S. Vasudevan made it a mystical moment. Vinay reclined like a big cat with one leg raised vertically, like the tail of the cat moving lazily. With clawed hands, he moved his shoulders to show the cat licking its shoulders.
As he crawled on all fours, one leg went up again to show the movement of the tail. He flexed his shoulders and ‘cleaned’ his limbs unctuously. With his hands extended forward, he swayed all over the stage.
The moves demonstrated the unique combination of flexibility, strength and balance, plus the mastery of his technique, which is Vinay’s signature as a soloist.
His style might be said to have a lot of lasya, but it is performed with such impressive flexibility and sheer strength that it makes sense when you learn that Vinay also teaches yoga!
Vinay was on the floor on all limbs, with one leg lifted, when the surprise of the evening was revealed. To the chants of the Shashthi Stotram, Gauri appeared on the stage and stood behind him, holding the ‘reins’ of the cat, depicting Chhathi Maiya. She wore a huge nath in her nose, looked beautiful in her attire and as she moved, she depicted the two sides of devi.
She is kind and generous in giving the boons of wealth, children and success. She is also the fierce one who vanquishes evil. As the door of the temple is opened and the bells ring, she appears to her bhaktas. The scene had divinity and moved the heart as the conch was blown to thunderous applause.
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| Aditi Mangaldas |
The formidable Kathak and contemporary exponent Aditi Mangaldas was one of the guru-guests, naturally – Gauri is a disciple of Pt. Birju Maharaj and Pt. Jaikishan Maharaj, but has been mentored and trained for years by Aditi as part of her repertory. Aditi summed up the lineage of excellence on display by reminding everyone that the GDSF students were the fourth generation of disciples in a line that began with Aditi’s own guru, the late, great Kumudini Lakhia – then Aditi, then Gauri and so on. And so it made sense that even the littlest students, who, as I mentioned earlier, are cute to watch but are not expected to be precise or remember all their movements, really were alert and precise and remembered their choreography well. Gauri’s calibre as a performer and choreographer is internationally established and needs no repetition, but a testament to her excellence as a guru is that her mentor placed her in an illustrious line of gurus. More power to her!
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| Guru Shovana Narayan |
Before I watched ‘Magadh’, I really didn’t know much about Bihar; just that till many years back, the law situation in that state was universally deplored. Nobody wanted to travel through Bihar or to Bihar. Whenever we thought of going to Gaya for religious purposes, we were told not to travel alone. But today, Bihar has progressed. That day, we had a Kathak guru proudly showcasing her Bihari roots and a young and brilliant Bharatanatyam dancer trying to tell tales of bygone Bihari brilliance. And they successfully and convincingly told that story. They created a story through chaste Kathak nritta, a bit of Bharatanatyam, and songs, folk music and folklore, storytelling and padhant, abhinaya and nritya, and won the hearts of all. I left the auditorium with the taste of thekua in my mouth (hundreds of thekua were made especially for the programme by Vinay’s mother), some indelible memories and a basket full of fruits from the pooja of Chhathi Maiya.
Pics: Anoop Arora
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