ONLINE: Depth, richness and virtuosity in Divya Ravi’s exquisite Hladini

 

Shree Radha, synonymous with the purest form of devotion, is the hladini shakti of Krishna, the supreme lord who is worshipped by all. Hladini means the one who gives pure pleasure or anand to all. I once heard from my guru that Krishna’s love gives bliss to all. If that bliss is the milk, then one can make curd out of it. The curd is churned into butter, and then that butter is turned into ghee, the purest form of that milk. Since Krishna’s love is the milk, Radha Rani is the ghee made by processing that milk, the highest and purest form of divine love. She is thus the hladini shakti of Krishna. 

Bharatanatyam dancer Divya Ravi performed Hladini for the Spirit of Margazhi Utsav in December 2023, which was in the form of a dance film and is on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qhyl_mmeMo). Divya has trained under The Kirans, Dr. Soundarya Srivathsa, learnt abhinaya from Bragha Bessel and done a Navarasa Sadhana actor training module under Kootiyattam exponent G Venu. She lives in the UK now and is mentored by Mavin Khoo. 

Divya is a dancer who dances with her emotions. You do see perfect form in her and the creative thought process of an exceptional practitioner, but above all, you see the emotional aspect of her dance, which is what radiates all the way to you. In Divya’s depiction, Radha is the luminous yin to Krishna’s dusky yang. She is the divine primordial power or shakti who delves in anandam. She manifests in the yellows, oranges, reds and infra reds. She is the kinetic energy behind activity. She loses herself to Krishna’s transcendental love or prema.  

Radha manifests in reds and Krishna in the quieter blues, violets and ultra violets on the other side of the visible spectrum. The milan or union happens right in the centre of the visible spectrum in the green nikunj. Their separation is unbearable to both of them. She feels varied emotions – anger, anguish, despair and remorse – and Krishna too is in angst. They gravitate towards each other, meet in the nikunj and their unison occurs when they lose their identities to become one. Radha is Krishna and Krishna is Radha. They are inseparable essence, intertwined in their existence. The seven colours are a dispersion of one white light, the supreme feminine power, the hladini. This was the commentary by Dr. Sharan Subramanian, Carnatic vocalist and Divya’s husband, to the enactment by Divya.  

The use of the visible spectrum to as a metaphor for the aura of Krishna and Radha, and the change of colours on the screen, was very powerful and spiritual. When the blue and yellow mingle, they produce green. White is aura of Shri Radha – ‘tapt kanchan gaurangi’. Shri Radha is Vrindavaneshwari, the gopika shreshtham hladini shakti. Divya depicted the playing the strings of a sitar. The gait of a peacock is her walk and the sound of the cuckoo is her voice. She has the golden hue of gold, and is doe-eyed. Divya danced like a peacock with leg lifts and performed jatis raising her leg with the ease of a doe. She wears the chandan and her waist is like that of a lion – a simile rarely used. She is adorned with gold ornaments danced through nritya). Her hair and braid are like a snake. Her eyes flit like hovering bees. Her face is like the moon and her pure name is like a chant.the piece was powerpacked with nritta.   

The focus suddenly changes from divyas  front to her back with a full moon like light in front. The expression on Divya’s face was not of arrogance but of humility, which embodies Radha. The hues turn to blue and so does the narrative, which is now about Krishna. He is a benevolent friend, he nourishes the cows; he is beautiful, trustworthy, vanquishes trouble, bhupal – nourishes the earth, the moon-faced one. The abhinaya then changes to that of a virahini Radha who is waiting for Krishna. She uses the sandal paste to alleviate her pain, she embraces the dark clouds, mistaking them for Krishna. The moonbeams exacerbate her pain. Now she is the khandita and kalahantarita nayika, who tells Hari to go away – she has spent the night waiting for him and has been deprived of his love. The abhinaya was evocative and impactful. The sakhi or dooti then comes into the picture and tells Radha to go and seek Krishna and complete her conquest.  

The union was shown in a very romantic manner. The moon again comes into the frame, suggesting a night of dalliance. Krishna wears Radha’s sari and Radha his peetamber, depicted by Divya in the pleating and tucking of the sari. Krishna parts his hair to don her hair ornaments and flowers. Radha looks into the mirror to apply Krishna’s tilak. The act of gently touching the face and looking into the mirror coyly was endearing as the vocals sang ‘Oji Re’. He wears her anklets and toe rings and she his golden necklace and girdle. The two exchange each other’s clothes, ornaments, identities, emotions and embrace each other, full of love. They even touch each other’s feet. They dissolve into each other as Radha becomes Mohan and Mohan becomes Radha. They laugh together and give pleasure to each other. Divya took chakkars to show the morpankh with one hand and the other to show the ghunghat, and she became totally immersed in the movement.  

Next was the final piece in the tillana format, which Divya started with the stance for ghunghat in one hand and the other as the morpankh, taking expansive jatis and covering the entire stage. Her hastas were altered to depict the morpankh and ghunghat and her footwork was flawless. She covered the entire stage in all directions, moving diagonally, back and forth, left and right. 

She paid an ode to Nandkishore and Radha, who have eyes like lotuses – arvind nayana, their faces like the moon, which bring pleasure to gopas and gopis as they roam in Vrindavan. Reaching a crescendo with the chants of Radhe Radhe Hare Hare, Divya squatted, and the two lights, blue and yellow, merged to then produce a bright green light. 

The last shloka contained the essence of the entire performance. The voiceover said, ‘Aham Lalitha Devi’ – I am Shree Radha. I am also Krishna; there is no difference in the two forms. I become two to show the union in the two forms, the male and the female, the yin and the yang. Scientifically too, it is the yellow and the blue colours that merge to form the green. And hara or hare, or the green, is the colour of the hladini shakti.  

Divya is excellent at thematic productions. Her research on the theme and the compositions to go with it are almost perfect. The vocals by Dr. Sharan Subramanian are lyrical and enhance the mood of the production. The music is always done sensitively. The nritta is slick, with perfect moves, agile footwork and the hands moving in clean lines. In fact, even in the nritta, she weaves the theme into the choreography and composes the jatis accordingly. But it is the abhinaya that is so wonderful that one tends to identify with it and submerges in the flow of thoughts. The attributes that have been shown in the beginning give you a spiritual look into the beauty and divinity of Radha. Her khandita form is also relatable as she herself wants him to go, love the other gopis and spread his love, and yet, for the sake of leela, she berates him. The piece where they exchange their jewels and clothes is spiritually seductive when you realize that they not only share their outer beings but also their inner beings. From one, they become two to show the world the divine unison and give it the message of blissful love. They finally unite into one again, as if they were never two. That is what the last shloka is about.

 

The lighting by Keerthi Kumar was a major part of the magic of the piece. The play of colours in lighting is surreal. The vocals by Sharan and the voiceover by Divya imbued the composition with deep and divine essence. 

The madhurageetham was by His Holiness Maharanyam Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji. The concept, script, research and choreography were by Divya. The thillana was by Karnataka Kalashree Brunda Krishna Iyengar, the shlokas used from Radha Sahasranama and Padmapurana, the Viraha Alaripu from Jayadeva Swami’s Gita Govindam composed by Dr. Sharan Subramanian, and the Gujarati Bhakti poem by Dayaram. For the music used, the vocals were by Dr. Sharan Subramanian, mridangam by Srihari Rangaswamy, flute by Mahesha Swamy, veena by Shubha Santhosh, sound engineering by Umesh Minnanda (Studio Ananya). For the video, the cinematography was by Arjunjith, the brilliant light design by Keerthi Kumar, and the venue was Seva Sadan.