Sharanya Chandran pays tribute to family through Shiva in triumphant solo Hymns to Hara

 

Sharanya Chandran

Firstly, I will take the opportunity to apologize to the Delhi dance and music fraternity for my long periods of absence and delayed articles in the past year and a half. I had to prioritize many other issues that required immediate attention. Between travelling and setting things up, I could not meet deadlines. But I am trying to report as many events as I have notes about. I am also not being able to attend as many performances in the city as I would like to. Apologies for that too. 

Bharatnatyam dancer Sharanya Chandran did a solo at the IHC on 14 September. Sharanya is an established soloist and vice president at Natya Vriksha, being the daughter and disciple of Guru Geeta Chandran, and has also learnt from Guru K.N. Dakshinamurthi. She is empanelled with ICCR as a solo artist, is nationally graded by Doordarshan and has also learnt Carnatic vocal.
Nataraja was virajman on the stage in the form of bronze figurines, probably from the family’s antique collection. Sharanya was taking the stage in a solo after a long sabbatical following the birth of her daughter. ‘Hymns of Hara’, as was announced, was a tribute to her grandfathers from both sides of her family. The year 2024 marked the birth centenary of both, and they were both Shiva bhaktas. Sharanya chose to delve deeper into the emotions that Shiva invokes: shringara, adbhuta, bhakti, haasya, veera and even vibhatsa. For that, she chose to delve into poetry in various languages, from Tamil to Mythili. 

 

Accompanying her were Geeta ji on nattuvangam, K. Venkateshwaran on vocals, Manohar Balatchandirane on mridangam, Varun Rajasekharan on ghatam and G. Raghavendra Prasath on violin. Lights were by Sharad Kulshreshtha, sound by Devmittra Thakur, costume by Sandhya Raman, make-up by Brij Mohan Gupta, videography and poster by Innee Singh, photography by Sarabjeet Singh, and compering by fellow NV dancer Divya Saluja.

The musicians and the vocalist rendered the Shiva Panchakshar Stotram to begin the performance. It was a flawless rendition by the team. Next was Chokkanaathar Kavuthvam. The kavuthvam weaves images of Shiva in which the myths and mysteries are explored. It is a composition of Madurai Ganga Muthu Nattuvanar in ragamallika, misra chapu talam. She entered the stage in a red and purple aharyam with great energy and elan, covering the entire stage diagonally with powerful, expansive moves. Shiva is smeared with bhasma, the jata joot – his hair tied in a knot – he wears the tripund on his forehead and the baghambar as his angavastra. Sharanya took the lion postures with ferocity. Shiva bears the Ganga on his head, his third eye looking on in anger. 

Hara was brought on stage with immense energy. Sharanya depicted the attributes of Shiva through gestures and postures. She was everywhere on the stage, coming right to the edge of the stage front. Her nritta had very clean footwork and her hastas were expansive. Her energy never flagged. The jatis were power-packed, with leaps and squats. After a short interlude, when Raghavendra played on the violin very melodiously, Sharanya resumed the performance. 

The centrepiece was a Tanjore quartet varnam in raag Kamboji set to aditalam. A varnam is danced by many dancers, and it is a challenge to make it your own voice. Sharanya stood out since her abhinaya was very subtle. There were no forced expressions or gestures, just a faint smile, and her eyes did the rest of the talking. The nayika, madly in love with Lord Brihadeeshwara, goes in search of her sakhi. She takes her by her hand and tells her to go immediately to the lord and get him to come to her. The environs are ripe for a union. She addresses her sakhi as the maiden with lotus eyes – go and tell him that the birds are chirping and mating, the wind flows to fan my desires. Very subtly, Sharanya hinted at the rati that she yearns for. If he is a tree that is not moved by the wind and stands firm, she is like a vine that wants to wrap around him. As she dreams of a union, she asks Shiva to put away the snakes, the Ganga too has to be put aside, the moon that dazzles her has also to be sent away. It is only then that they embrace and kiss. She suddenly awakens from this dream. Sharanya gently pulled her foot on tiptoe to show the passion that the nayika is experiencing. 

She goes on to tell the sakhi to hurry as the noise of the birds increases her pain. On the other hand, Kamadeva is busy collecting flowers and makes arrows with them. With great pride, he strings his bow and shoots the arrows. He is collecting the blooming flowers and relentlessly shooting them at her, which induces pain in her as they hit her everywhere. It was a very sensitive abhinaya, executed with a very affable smile. The nritta was a cache of various jatis. She moved all over the stage with great ease, from the back to the front edge. She moved right, left and diagonally as well right up to the edge. Her footwork was crisp, with squats, turns, leg lifts, leaps and backward leg stretches. She chose gaits between jatis. Jatis had hand movements, sideways and up and down. The varnam was performed with a lot of verve and style. The rhythmic inputs for this varnam were by R. Sriganesh and the jatis by Manohar; choreography by Geeta Chandran.

The third piece, a padam, was a favourite of Sharanya’s grandfathers. ‘Etai kandu nee’ is a ninda stuti, a conversation between a mother and her daughter. The daughter is desperately in love with Shiva and the mother mocks him and discourages her. She tells the daughter that Shiva looks like a lunatic. Has the nayika been influenced into a friendship due to his ganas, or the bull or the old tatters that he wears? He wears the skin of a tiger and the mountain snakes as ornaments. Does she desire that? He does not have any relatives and lives as a recluse in the mountains, so no visitors or gifts. What does she see in him? The padam is in raag Kalyani, taalam roopakam. The mother, Mainavati, had also dissuaded her daughter Parvati from marrying Shiva after the mother got scared looking at him. Sharanya’s abhinaya in the padam was full of sarcasm. The mother catches her daughter romancing Shiva. The lovelorn daughter brushes off her concerns and the mother starts with a tirade on Shiva’s faults. He wears the Ganga in his locks. He wears the tiger skin and snakes on him. They might bite you, she says. He has Nandi as his steed. He is ugly, with the third eye and the bhasm. He drinks poison, he is a pauper with no money. She calls people to go and make her daughter understand and when she is not successful, she blames her destiny (bhagya). This was choreographed by Geeta Chandran as well.

The next composition was a poem written by Gopalakrishna Bharati in raagam Devgandhari, taal adi. The poem is an ode to Shiva. As the poet enters the sacred city of Chidambaram, he is enchanted by the ambience and holiness of the city – swaying palms, the temple gopurams, the garden ponds and the bhakti in the air. Sharanya depicted the ambience of the temple and the surroundings, and he attributes of Shiva and the procession with musical instruments like the mridangam and the manjira, which are moving towards the temple, through poses and gestures. The devotee whose pain is assuaged by the environs offers flowers, has darshan of the aarti, seeks blessing to cross the bhavasagar, takes an iktara and is lost in the dhyan of Shiva.

The final piece was very impressive. This was ‘Ardhanarishwara’ by the poet Vidyapati. The poet draws parallels between Shiva and Parvati, manifested as half Shiva and half Parvati. The vocals by K. Venkatesh were very powerful. The choreography by Sharanya was very impressive. She used her tall stature to move all over the stage in very chiselled jatis with squats, leg lifts, back leg stetches and expansive hands to show the attributes of both, one on each side. The lasya and tandava elements were shown. The fair-complexioned Parvati against the blue-throated lord, one with a chest and the other with a bust, the rundmal and the gajamoti mala, covered with bhasma and chandan, belt on her sari and a rope to hold the baghambar, the chandra and the sindoor, one frightening and a yogi and the other beautiful and vilasini, one for destruction and one for the birth of the world. The two rise in the body using each chakra as the step, meeting in the sahasrara chakra, shown with lotus hands. A gait that Sharanya took to show the masculine and feminine, one foot stamping assertively and the other being dragged on the toe, was very impressive.

Pics credit: Sarabjit Singh Dhillon