SwarnaSaroja: Male dancers bring Nataraja to life in Shivaarghya

Amrit Sinha, Shamshur Rehman, Vinay Tiwari and (seated) Himanshu Srivastava, disciples of Guru Saroja Vaidyanathan, presenting the theme song of SwarnaSaroja

This was a special occasion since it was an offering of dance to the almighty Lord Shiva in the month of Mahashivratri at Ganesa Natyalaya in Delhi. The late Guru Saroja Vaidyanathan started this thence-annual festival in 2019 to give opportunities to talented young male dancers who have taken up dance full-time. It was also a part of the year-long series #SwarnaSaroja curated by Rama Vaidyanathan, celebrating 50 years since Guruji started Natyalaya and also paying tribute to Guruji, who passed away in September 2023.

V.R. Devika and Guru Rama Vaidyanathan

The plan of the year-long 50th year celebrations of Ganesha Natyalaya was prepared by Guru Saroja herself. The Natyalaya was laden with the love for dance through the many decades of dedication and honesty that Guruji and her family have put into it. The walls were covered with pictures of Saroja ji dancing, with flowers adorning the pictures. The garden featured a huge poster of the entire programme and the floor was decorated with flower rangolis. The who’s who of the Delhi dance circles was seated in the auditorium, which had wooden masks all around the walls. Ashish Mohan Khokar inaugurated the festival.

Bharatanatyam: Himanshu Srivastava, a disciple of Guruji, was the first to take the stage, and what a befitting start it was! If you expected the dancer to show the aspects of Shiva and dance to show the energy and agility of Shiva, you would be in for a surprise. Himanshu began with a Ganpati Vandana, ‘Gaiye Ganpati jug vandan’, depicting the various attributes of Lord Ganesha – the swaying of his ears, the movements of his trunk, how he dances, the tandava he dances when angry, his big paunch, lambodar, his steed the mouse. He picks a laddoo with his trunk, opens his mouth under the trunk and puts the laddoo into it. The nritta interludes were powerful, with emphatic bols on jatis and various balancing postures, leg lifts, stretches and squats. 

This was followed by a ninda stuti, a conversation between Ganesha and his mother Parvati. Ganesha is miffed with his mother since she showers others with boons, but he does not get a fair deal. Now Dr. Himanshu Srivastava transformed into a child who plonks himself down and sulks. In fact, one felt like going on stage, pulling the cheeks of the kid and appeasing him, so realistic was the portrayal. Himanshu sat down with one finger rubbing the floor, pouting and tossing his head. Mother Parvati tries to get him to talk to her, but since he is not even looking up at her, she offers to hear him out. He complains that Shiva did sadhna and tapasya and she gave him the trishool. But I was totally ignored. I too did tapasya, trying to prevent my trunk venturing towards the laddoos, but I got nothing. And speaking of uncle Vishnu, you bestowed him with the chakra that sits on his finger, and even brother Skanda – he rides high and mighty on his peacock. He makes fun of me, saying that I have huge ears and that the little mouse as my steed is weighed down by my weight. He even pokes me when I ride my mouse. 

Himanshu’s gait as lambodar Ganesha was delightfully perfect. Ganesha counts his drawbacks – gaj shir (the head of an elephant), trunk like a pendulum, vaaman shareer (a dwarf’s build), vighat udar (his big paunch) and his mouse disappearing under his weight. Ma Parvati listens carefully, with full attention. She tells him that he is so brainy; he has the best eyes and the sharpest brain, that he is worshipped by all when commencing any auspicious work. And the big ears are good for listening to people’s troubles and prayers. She says his paunch is so large because, Himanshu endearingly depicted, when people tell him their anger and strife and negative emotions, he digests them all and destroys them in that big belly. She makes a laddoo and offers it to him. Ganesha picks it up in his trunk and satiates himself. She puts tilak on his trunk and tells him to go the temple, where she will have not one or two but several tasty dishes prepared just for his bhog. Delighted, little Ganesha forgets his complaints and finally toddles away, and Ma Parvati breathes a sigh of relief, rolls her eyes at her dramatic child and gets back to work. What a masterful display of abhinaya this was! 

Pung Cholum and Dhol Cholum: Next to take the stage were the disciples of Shyam Singh, presenting Pung Cholum and Dhol Cholum from Manipur. The energy and agility of the group was truly a blessing of Shiva. This group, of dancers dancing with mridangam or pung, dhol, a large drum and huge manjiras took various formations and performed leaps while playing drums amid war-like cries of ha he and claps. The footwork and slow chakkars with drums and fast leaps and chakkars with drums, leaps and chakkars with manjiras, squats and jumps with drums were awe-inspiring. They slowly built up the drumming with footwork, which culminated in simultaneous leaps and chakkars. For one piece, the large drum was placed on the floor in the centre and the dancers leapt around it, with the drummer striking it regularly while taking a chakkar with a leap. The audience thoroughly enjoyed the percussion and the energy of the performance and the group got several whoops and a huge round of applause. 

Kathak: This was followed by a Kathak recital by Ashish and Bhavani Gangani, disciples of Pt. Rajendra Gangani. They presented the Shiv Panchakshar Stotra, depicting the various attributes of Lord Shiva, and then a pure nritta piece in taal dhamar. 

Bharatanatyam: Next in the line of performances was Shobhit Ramesh, a disciple of Parshwanath Upadhye. I am a great fan of Parshwanath’s style and perfection and Shobhit lived up to those expectations as his guru’s disciple. He presented a jatiswaram in raag Todi followed by a bandish, ‘Pasupate’, interspersed with the verses of Natesh Kautuvam. It was obvious that Shiva had blessed this platform. Shobhit had very expansive moves in his nritta, covering the entire stage with his rhythmic jatis. His footwork had great vigour, strength and razor-sharp precision. In the ‘Kaali Natakam’, Shobhit began with an offering of flowers from trembling fingers. He performed the trishul moves, asking the devi to please destroy the seeds of sorrow. Her hand is open to give blessings, the varad hasta, as she dances the dance of creation and destruction. When angry, she destroys with her trishul. This was followed by ‘Pasupate’. Shobhit took stances to show Shiva – his jata or the matted locks, trishul, damru, pasupate, girija pate, his nupur or anklets going jhan jhan, gangadhara. Shobit moved around depicting Shiva holding the trishul and the damru, riding his steed Nandi. The dancer leapt with alternate legs, showing Nandi, the crescent moon on Shiva’s head, holding skulls in his hands and yet, being the mahayogi. Shobhit ended the piece by taking various stances.

Bharatanatyam: The stage was taken next by Dr. Varun Khanna, a disciple of Guru Saroja Vaidyanathan. He paid a tribute to Guruji and presented the last piece he had learnt from her. This was the tale of Rama as told by Hanuman. There was a round of rapid jatis showing various musical instruments and the panchabhuta. He depicted Rama going to Rishi Vishwamitra to help him keep the demons away as the rishis perform their tapasya. Rama and Lakshman kill the demons and proceed to Janakpur for the Dhanush Yagya, where he meets Janaki in the Pushpa Vatika and then goes on to break the Shiva Dhanush. The two get married. The festivities for anointing Rama as the king begin – tying toran, lighting diyas. Manthara comes to ruin the celebration; Rama, Sita and Lakshman are sent to exile and Raja Dashratha passes away. Hanuman wipes his tears during the narration. Ma Sita is kidnapped during vanavas by Ravana after she falls prey to the trap of the golden deer. She is taken to the Ashok Vatika. Hanuman flies there and gives her the ring that belonged to Rama. The Vanar Sena contructs the bridge to Lanka. War ensues and Ravana is vanquished. Rama comes back to Ayodhya and is made the king. Ma Sita maa gives Hanuman a string of beads but to him, they have no value because they don’t have ‘Rama naam’ in them. He just breaks them and throws them away. Siya and Rama reside in his heart, which he opens for all to see. Varun’s monkey walk and abhinaya were commendable.

Kathak: Akshar Tekchandani presented Kathak. He is a disciple of Guru Geetanjali Lal and Abhimanyu Lal. He presented a Shiva stuti, ‘Mahadev’, in raag Shankara and a tarana in raag Chandrakauns, both compositions of Guru Geetanjali Lal. Akshar had good stage presence and obvious confidence. The Shiva stuti he began by taking stances for Shiva – his jata, Ganga and chandra. The bhakta offers jal, chandan and pushp to the shivling. Shiva resides in Kailasha, which Akshar depicted through stances and gestures – damru and agni in hands, the matted locks tied, trishul, the bagambar, Ganga flowing from the locks. The bagambar was shown through lion gestures and naag through a gat. He took leaps, balancing stances and chakkars with great ease and elan. He depicted Parvati and Shiva as couple. The nritta ang, a tarana, was also executed with precision and energy. He took chakkars and performed tukde, aamad, natwari thaat and uthan with hand clapping with great confidence and technique. 

Bharatanatyam: Next on stage was Nilay Mandal, a disciple of Guru Saroja Vaidyanathan and Rama Vaidyanathan. He performed a padam based on the poetry of Shri Gopalakrishna Bharathi. The bhakta tells Shiva that all that the bhakta has done in this lifetime is useless. It was an abhinaya piece in which the dancer depicts that all the worldly pleasures are false. Get me out of here; what I have eaten, drank and written are all useless, the bhakta laments. This worldly desire is like a huge ocean, bhavasagar, and it is only you, Shiva, who can provide the boat to sail through. Everything is ephemeral – the pleasures, beauty, happiness. The body burns and turns to ashes and everything else goes with it. The bhakta opens the closed doors, walks through the entangled vines, lights a deepak, symbolic of his awakening, and asks the lord to break his shackles and the kaal chakra of birth and death. 

Kuchipudi: Next was Washim Raja, the only Kuchipudi dancer in the lineup. He is a disciple of Guru Vanashree Rao. He started with the shloka ‘Vande Shivam Shankaram, Umapati surgurum’ and went on to dance ‘Mahadev Shiva Shambhu’. Washim had the flexibility and fluidity to portray Shiva through various stances and gestures – holding the damru, the snakes on his body, the sun and the moon residing in his third eye, wearing the mrig chhala. Washim depicted the pooja of the shivling, offering the water and chandan. ‘Mahadev Shiva Shambhu’ was danced with abandon with footwork to jatis – swinging legs, rotating footwork and leaps holding the damru with the movements of the hand. He showed the Ganga residing on his jata, the snakes wound around his body  and the powerful tiger stance. The portrayal further depicts the bhakta performing the yagya and offering the aahuti with ghee. The bhakta clings to the shivling and the lord comes holding the trishul. The episode of Shiva coming to save Rishi Markandeya from the clutches of Yama was depicted. Washim ended with the imagery of Shiva drinking halahala to save his bhaktas. His technique, angashuddhi and eye expressions make Washim a powerful and memorable dancer. 

Bharatanatyam: The next performer was Pankoj Singha Roy. He chose to perform a piece on the Himalayas, the abode of Shiva. His tall, lean frame and hair tied in a knot gave him the appropriate look. Behold the Himalayas – the rishis come here for penance and salvation, where the water from the rivers is pure, where the clouds gather to give rain. The Bhagirathi originates here. It was a neat presentation when it came to  technique and abhinaya. 

Bharatanatyam: The next dancer, a disciple of Gurus Saroja Vaidyanathan and Rama Vaidyanathan, was Vinay Tiwari. His style is very distinct, with a lot of lasya element in his araimandi and movements. He presented the ‘Shiva Panchakshar Stotra’. His gestures and stances for Shiva were expansive, footwork very precise and expressions apt. With great ease, he bent his knees alternately in a squat and finally did a perfect  one leg lift balancing stance. 

His next piece was ‘Ardhnarishwar’, the imagery of Shiva and Parvati being two halves of one whole. On one side are the long silken tresses, on the other jata, the steed for the goddess is the lion and for the lord Nandi, the devi holds her ghunghat with grace and for Shiva, it is the crescent moon. Alongside the leaps for the damru playing, there were lasya moves – lying sideways, he depicted the ornaments for devi and snakes for Shiva. She wears a lotus in her hair and he the moon. Vinay ended with an astounding split showing the lotus mala for Parvati and the mala of skulls for Shiva.
Vinay has an element of fluidity to his moves along with endless energy and impressive agility. His portrayal held the audience spellbound and his smile was infectious.

Bharatanatyam: The next performer was another soloist to watch out for. Santanu Roy, a disciple of Guru Samrat Dutta, presented a Vishnu stuti which showed some incidents from Krishna Leela. After a squat and a pushpanjali, he took a four-armed stance of Lord Vishnu. ‘Jaya Narayana, brahma parayana’ were the bhajan’s lyrics. He wears the Shri Vatsa on his chest. He is also the Rama roop. He is the one who wears the morpankh and plays the flute. He is born to Devaki in jail. His father, Vasudev, lifts him and moves stealthily to carry him to Nandagaon. Vasudev puts the baby in a basket. When rain and thunder strike on the way, Shesha rises to spread his hood and protect from above as Vasudev wades through the Yamuna. The Yamuna yearns for the lord’s blessings and keeps rising, so Krishna drops a foot for Yamuna to touch. As Krishna Yadunath, he vanquishes demons. He kills the Bakasura by tearing his beak apart. Kansa meets his end at Krishna’s hands. Santanu briefly depicted the dashavatar to end his piece. The garuda arrives for Krishna to ride him. The piece ended with a crescendo of ‘Jay jay Narayana’ chants. The bhajan was a composition of Surdas. Santanu has very chiselled moves, precise footwork, energy and stamina. This was a very well-executed performance. 

 

 

Bharatanatyam: Amrit Sinha performed a Ganga stuti next. I wasn’t able to watch his piece. I also missed the performance of Shamshur Rehman from Lucknow.

Bharatanatyam: As I took a tea break, there was a rush about going in quickly for the next performance. The next dancer looked quite young, with a short, slim frame, and his smile was very childish. But he was a big bang in a small packet. Anand C.S., a disciple of Guru R.L.V. Subesh, did the Anand Tandava, showing the jata, the Ganga flowing from them, the bagambar on Shiva’s body, the damru in his hand. He covered the entire stage, moving in all directions in his nritta with the agility of a gazelle. He lifted one leg above his head and in the split second it took for it to come back down, he was holding the other foot behind him! The bhakta pleads with Shiva, who appears to save him. The footwork and the leaps were very athletic and precise.
His next piece was a composition of Subramania Bharathi, ‘Chinnanchiru Kiliye’, and was an abhinaya piece depicting the playful exchange between Ma Yashoda and Krishna. Krishna plays hide and seek with his mother. She calls out for him, embraces him and kisses him. As she sits down to dress and braids her hair, he comes from behind. She puts a tika on his face with her black kohl. She asks him to kiss her and fakes annoyance when he refuses. She holds him up and throws him in the air to catch him. She sits down to feed him with her own hands and teases him by taking a bite from his food. In her lap, she puts him to sleep as she kisses him. The piece had vocals which were very lyrical and Anand’s abhinaya was as accomplished as his nritta in the previous piece. He was very expressive with his child-like face and smile. It was an otherworldly experience.

Kathakali: Next was a Kathakali performance by Sahil Suresh from Delhi. What was amazing to me was the twitching of his facial muscles, and these were further highlighted by the glasses on his angavastram which he held to reflect light on to his face. In the piece, Daksha describes the beauty of the surroundings to his wife.

Odissi: Krishnendu Saha presented a very different take on Jayadev’s dashavataram in Odissi. Of course, since he is the disciple of Guru Sharmila Biswas, the music and choreography had to be out of the box. Each avatar resembled each stage in evolution. As the meen or the fish, he reclined to show the movements. As kachhap or the tortoise, he bent his legs and moved around like one. As the boar or shukar, the expressions on his face changed. As the Narsingh, he tore apart with expansive moves. As the Vaman or the dwarf, he bent over while walking. As Bhrigupati, he killed with his axe. As Buddha, he meditated and as Haldar, he dragged his hal. As the Kalki avatar, he leapt and moved in expansive moves, depicting riding on a horse and swaying the sword. With the resounding sound of shankhadhwani, Krishnendu lay down sideways with one hand rising as the lotus. Krishnendu displayed very stylized movements, using not only his hastas but his entire body, footwork and grotesque body formations to show the gaits of the various avatars. And then the hands and feet began to be dragged down. Not only was the dashavatar depicted, but also the progression from aquatic animals to homo sapiens, and then man as the destroyer of all that was created and preserved so far. 

Bharatanatyam: Nilava Sen from Kolkata presented the raas leela, where the union of aatma and jivatama was shown through a composition of Surdas, ‘Murli naad sunayo’. Nilava is a disciple of Tanushree Shankar and Rama Vaidyanathan. Krishna plays on the flute wearing his morpakh. As the sakhis listen, they restrain themselves but are being pulled by the magnetism. They dress up in front of the mirror. Whatever chores they were doing, they forget, whether it was filling their pots or plucking flowers. Nilava almost stood on his toes for this part. All living and non-living entities are dancing with joy – the lotuses, the peacock, the elephants, the birds and the koyal. The nritta showed the peacock dance with leaps, elephants dancing, swaying their trunks, the birds cooing. There were leaps, leg lifts, squats and footwork with the feet making a thaap. The vocals, music, lyrics, nritta and nritya were almost intoxicating and that’s how he ended the piece – in a pose of intoxication!

 

Seraikella Chhau: Next was Seraikella Chhau by Shubham Acharya. He presented a piece based on Guru Rabindranath Tagore’s poem in Bengali called ‘The Peacock’. He was costumed like peacock and he also danced like one. 

Bharatanatyam: The next dancer I have known for very long. He is multi-faceted artist – a singer, a nattuvanar, a music composer, a dancer and a scholar. His knowledge of literature is vast. He can speak on any aspect of classical music and dance. Dr. S. Vasudevan danced ‘Nandanar charitam’. In this composition, the bhakta is very pained by the fact that he cannot go inside the temple for the darshan of Shiva since he was born into a lower caste. Full of despair, he pleads with Nandi to move a little from the centre of the temple so that he can get a glimpse of the lord. Heeding his persistent pleas, Nandi moves a little bit and Nandanar’s heart is filled with bliss at the glimpse of the lord. 

Dr. Vasudevan showed the bhakta going for his bath to purify himself and applying the holy tilak on himself, but when he reaches the temple, he stands hiding outside the sanctorum. But the massive Nandi blocks his view. He pleads, presses the feet of Nandi. His pining fills Nandi with kindness and he gradually shifts a little. The darshan of the lord fills the heart of Nandanar with light and illuminates his being. It was an entirely abhinaya piece and was rendered with great humility and sentiment, especially the pleading. But right at the end, Vasu sir stood on one leg in exhilaration and completed a whole circle effortlessly without faltering in balance. The track was sung by Dr. S. Vasudevan himself. 

Kathak: Next on stage was another fountain of energy. Gaurav S.S. Bhatti performed a Ganapati vandana. Through gestures and stances, he depicted the attributes of Ganapati – chandra ears, flapping the trunk, ek dant, mooshak vahan, chaturbhuj roop and a gait for Ganapati. There was a fast-paced section describing the mridanga, Gauri sut, the son of Shiva. There was a nritta section in which he executed aamad and paran, tode, tukde, ending with a piece on Shiva and Shakti showing the snakes, trishul, jata, third eye, parvat, the poison in his throat and Gauri in ghunghat and teeka, ending in chakkars  with damru. It was a neatly rendered piece, especially the very well-rendered nritta in Kathak, even though he is better known for his prowess in contemporary. 

Bharatanatyam: The next dancer on stage was Pritam Das. Pritam too has earned his place as a soloist with his talent in nritya and nritta. Most attractive was the glint in his eyes, which danced with him. He is a disciple of Guru Rama Vaidyanathan. He presented a varnam in raag Khamas, adi talam. The nayika requests her sakhi to go and get Lord Brihadeeshwara as she pines for him. She describes the temple and tells her sakhi that the lord’s formlessness evokes devotion in her and his form creates passion in her. 

 

Pritam in his abhinaya describes the form of the lord – the agni in one hand and damru in the other, his jata and ganga, how his form makes her passionate and that she is yearning for a union with him. As he comes riding his Nandi, she falls at the feet of her friend to go and tell him. She covers her face as passion and desire overcome her. She thinks of him coming to embrace her and kiss her and is struck by the arrows of the Kamadeva. Go tell him, she says, that as the birds call she burns in agony. She tells her sakhi, take my ornaments, but please get him to me. She folds a letter for him and gives it to the sakhi. The passion reflected in his eyes, which spoke so much, and his nritta, was flawless, his footwork precise with jatis, leaps and squats. In those 10-15 minutes, he exhibited his mastery of his technique.

Kathak: The next dancer was the very popular Vishal Krishna. He too is well-known for his speed and technique. He presented ‘Shankara’, a composition by Swaransh Mishra showing the attributes of Shiva jata, Ganga, chandra, the father of Gajraj and the sindur of Ma Parvati. It was a short, stylized piece, sung well and danced well. This was followed by nritta in teen taal.

Guru Jayarama Rao

 

Ashish Mohan Khokar

 

Manjari Sinha

I had gone to Ganesa Natyalaya to see the institute and the talk by V.R. Devika was my primary attraction. I had thought I would watch as many performances as I could and return maybe by the afternoon, but this whole day was an experience I could not afford to miss. The plethora of dancers and dance forms was amazing. There was a galaxy of gurus who were there to support their disciples. Rama Vaidyanathan of course, Vanashree Rao, Jayaprabha Menon, Aditi Mangaldas, Sharmila Biswas, Geetanjali and Abhimanyu Lal. Also, Kamala Srinivasan akka, Ashish Mohan Khokhar, Manjari Sinha and many others came for encouragement and blessings. Pavitra Krishna Bhat was there to watch. 

Meera ji and Guru Vanashree Rao

Dakshina Vaidyanathan Baghel was the emcee for the day

 

Guruji's son C.V. Kamesh was on tech for the day

It felt like Nataraja himself was there too and his attributes could be seen right from the morning session with V.R. Devika, who very articulately discussed the iconography. The male dancers, with all their energy, footwork and technique, brought the Nataraja alive with their dance as the arghya. Guru Saroja Vaidyanathan was the moon on his jata and the rest of the gurus the stars spangled on his jata. It was a humongous effort by Guru Rama Vaidyanathan, C.V. Kamesh, Dakshina, Sannidhi and Rama Vaidyanathan’s disciples on their feet the whole day. And of course, none of this would have been possible without all the musicians and vocalists whose recorded tracks were playing, most of whom are acclaimed artists in their own right. 

Myself and Guru Jayaprabha Menon