The third dimension – நாடகம் – Play – Understanding the dance through visual medium by enacting
In the first part of the “Dance of the Yuga”, I tried to understand Purandara Dasa’s description and Daskam 55 of Narayaneeyam. In the second part, I tried to get the grasp of Oothukadu Venkata Kavi’s description of the dance by listening to two generations of artists.
Seeing is believing, they say. In this part, we will watch three dance events. Dance is the third dimension and eyes are the medium through which we understand and absorb the event
Dr. Padma Subramanyam is a living legend in the South Indian Form of Dance called Bharath Natyam. We will link with her depiction of the event as described by Bhattathri in Narayaneeyam.
Team led by Bhairavi Venkatesan of Sridevi Nrithalaya presents the dance as composed by Oothukadu Venkata Kavi.
The third one is by the youngsters Janaki & Kalyani for the Purandara Dasa Krithi at Guruvayur where Narayaneeyam was written.
These three dances are available in the social media. We will link up with them.
Video 1 – Depiction of Narayaneeyam
Video 2 – Depiction of Oothukadu Venkata Kavi’s Composition by Sridevi Nrithyalaya
Video 3 – Depiction of Purandara Dasa’s Adidanao Ranga
Happy viewing. Tomorrow I will conclude the Dance of the Yuga with a prayer to Lord GuruvAyurappan. Please look out for the blog and visit again. Thanks
இசை – Music – Sensing the Dance through aural medium – Oothukadu Venkata Kavi.
We are now moving into the second dimension of the Dance of the Yuga. We will look at a composition which will provide visual images through the aural route !
Anyone who has the ability to sing or anyone who has the ability to listen to the composition will be able to understand the essence of the dance through rhythmic notes and lyrics. So this blog will only provide the translation of the composition.
Audio Link
This is as old as me (more than 65 years back) when the music industry was at its elementary level of technology in audio engineering. This particular composition was never presented in a classical Carnatic Music Concert in those days and was normally explained in bits & pieces in the traditional Hari Katha Kalakshebam (a musical discourse about a story related to God). Sri. Needamangalam Krishnamoorthy Bhagawathar is credited with the first exposition of this full composition and making it popular and reach out to the masses.
This link is from the current generation of young musicians Kuldeep Pai, Sooryagayathri & Rahul Vellal, with the latest technology in audio engineering in the Carnatic Music style.
Ever since my visit to Guruvayur, I have been planning to study Narayaneeyam. The sheer daunting task of studying over 1000 Slokas put me off perhaps.
The only Slokas which I heard (without knowing that it is from Narayaneeyam) was the ones that KJ Yesudas used to sing “Yogeendraanaam…..aayur aarogya sowkyam” and the religious discourse by the legendary Sengalipuram Anantharama Dikshithar on GuruvAyurappan
They say that for every thing to happen the way it happens, one needs a specific time and God’s grace. Perhaps I got that when I decided to do a blog on Lord Krishna’s Kalinga Narthanam.
So, here I am plunging into the nectar of Bhakti and looking at how the little Krishna danced on the hoods of the serpent Kalinga.
In Narayaneeyam Dasakam 55, Bhattadhri brings out the details of Kalinga Narthanam through 10 Slokas/verses. I will present each Sloka, its English Transliteration, its English and Tamil Meaning. For those who are interested in the meaning of the individual Sanskrit Words, I will provide a link to my Drop Box at the end of each blog where it will be stored and available. This is primarily to save space and memory. I will also consolidate the Tamil Meaning for the 10 slokas and provide as a separate blog at the end.
Oh Lord ! Determined to drive away that deadly serpent from the river, Thou, quickly,climbed on to the Kadamba tree, on the bankof, river with all its leaves dried up, owing tothe poisonous air around it.
Meaning in Tamil
நதிவாழ்நச்சுடைநாகம்தனைவெருட்டிடஉறுதியிட்டு
நச்சுக்காற்றினால்நதிக்கரையில்நலிந்துமக்கியஇலையுடை
கதம்பமரம்ஏறினான்எந்தன்மாயக்கண்ணன்
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Sanskrit Sloka 2
अधिरुह्यपदाम्बुरुहेणचतं
नवपल्लवतुल्यमनोज्ञरुचा।
ह्रदवारिणिदूरतरंन्यपत:
परिघूर्णितघोरतरङ्ग्गणे॥२॥
English Transliteration
adhiruhya padaamburuheNa cha taM na
vapallava tulya manOj~naruchaa |
hradavaariNi duurataraM nyapataH
parighuurNita ghOratarangagaNe || 2
Meaning in English
Placing the feet with a a pleasing radiance and which resembled tender leaves, Krishna climbed the tree trunk and reaching to the top, and with a long leap jumped far out into the deep waters with swirling fierce waves of the river, and went far down below.
Meaning in Tamil
கொழுந்திலைத்தளிரெனஒளிமிகுகமலமலர்ப் பாதமுடன்
காழ் மர உச்சிக்கொம்பேறி எழும்பித்குதித்து
சுழிர்நிறைநதியில்வெகுஆழம்சென்றான்பாலகிருஷ்ணன்
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Sanskrit Sloka – 3
भुवनत्रयभारभृतोभवतो
गुरुभारविकम्पिविजृम्भिजला।
परिमज्जयतिस्मधनुश्शतकं
तटिनीझटितिस्फुटघोषवती॥३॥
English Transliteration
bhuvanatraya bhaara bhR^itO bhavatO
gurubhaaravikampi vijR^imbhijalaa |
parimajjayati sma dhanushshatakaM
taTinii jhaTiti sphuTaghOShavatii || 3
Meaning in English
When, the bearer of the weight of the three worlds, jumped, Thy immense weight caused the waters to swirl and swell. On the river bed an area of a hundred bows (yards) submerged, as a sudden roar arose from the river.
Meaning in Tamil
மூவுலகுச்சுமைதாங்கும்முகுந்தன்முக்குளித்ததும்
முழுநீரும்சுழன்றுபொங்கிஆர்பரிக்கும்ஓசையுடனே
மூழ்கடித்தேநதிக்கரையைநூறுவில்அம்புசெல்தூரம்
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Sanskrit Sloka 4
अथदिक्षुविदिक्षुपरिक्षुभित–
भ्रमितोदरवारिनिनादभरै: ।
उदकादुदगादुरगाधिपति–
स्त्वदुपान्तमशान्तरुषाऽन्धमना: ॥४॥
English Transliteration
atha dikshuvidikshu parikshubhita
bhramitOdara vaari ninaadabharaiH |
udakaadudagaaduragaadhipati-
stvadupaantamashaantaruShaa(a)ndhamanaaH || 4
Meaning in English
The deep whirling swells, generated in the agitated waters, in all directions, due to Thyplunging into it, and the deafening uproar, which accompanied it, enraged the Kaaliya, and he emerged from the waters, and approached Thee in a fit of blinded anger.
Meaning in Tamil
ஆழ்சுழிநீர்பொங்கிஎட்டுத்திக்கும்கரைபுரண்டோட
ஆர்ப்பரிக்கும்ஒசைகேட்டுஎழுஅரவரசன்காளிங்கன்
அடைந்திட்டான்நிலைகலங்கிசீற்றமுடன்கடுஞ்சினம்
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Sanskrit Sloka 5
फणशृङ्गसहस्रविनिस्सृमर–
ज्वलदग्निकणोग्रविषाम्बुधरम्।
पुरत: फणिनंसमलोकयथा
बहुशृङ्गिणमञ्जनशैलमिव॥५॥
English Transliteration
phaNashR^ingasahasravinissR^imara
jvaladagnikaNOgraviShaambudharam |
purataH phaNinaM samalOkayathaa
bahushR^ingiNamanjana shailamiva || 5
Meaning in English
Thou saw the serpent in front with his thousands of peak like hoods emmitting burning fire flakes and fierce poison fluid, looking like a many peaked black mountain in front of Thee.
(* Yuga – a Sanskrit term used to define a very large period of time spanning 1000s of years)
In the “Dvapara Yuga”, some say in 3228 BC an event happened on the banks of the River Yamuna in Mathura, a place near Delhi. This is about the dance of a little boy called Krishna. This is a dance with a difference – an young boy dances on top of a five headed King Cobra. The dance is called Kaliya Mardhan /Kaliya Daman in North of India and Kalinga Narthanam in South of India.
A Yuga later (in Kali Yuga) around the end of the 14th century and beginning of 15th century some one near Theerthahalli village in Shimoga Taluk in Karnataka broadly outlined the event through a composition in his native language Kannada.
In the middle of the subsequent century, another gentleman from Malayalam village Melpathur near Kurumbathoor in Mallapuram District of Kerala wrote a divine epic in Sanskrit language in a temple where it is is believed that the event was reproduced by the same boy who performed this act 5000 years ago. In that epic he wrote ten verses describing the entire event.
Two centuries later between 1700-1765, yet another one from a village in Oothukadu in Tanjore District of Tamil Nadu known for his compositions in Tamil, wrote in Sanskrit the way in which the boy danced.
In this current period we move to Chennai where we will witness one of the finest depiction of that dance (as envisaged by the man from Kurumbathoor in the fifteenth century) by a phenomenally talented and globally acclaimed lady.
The event is so imbibed in India’s culture that not a single year passes/will pass without someone somewhere in India celebrating that event through available medium of expression.
Now I will try to understand that immortal event through a series of blogs bringing out the three facets (3 dimensional) of the Indian Arts.
Only Three facets for Indian Arts ! I am not kidding. Well, I am just summarizing them into three categories like the Tamils of the Sangam era (300 BC – 200AD) viz, Iyal, Isai, Natakam (Prose/Literary, Music, Dance respectively).
The Literary description [ “Iyal – இயல் “] of the event
The gentleman from Theerthahalli is none other than Saint Purandara Dasa, the Grand Father(Pitamah) of Carnatic Music. he brings out in eloquent (yet even the ignorant can understand), the essence of the event in Kannada Language.
The gentleman from Kurumbathoor Village in his epic work called Narayaneeyam, devotes a set of ten verses (Slokas) to describe the event. Sri. Narayana Namboodhri called as Bhattathri brought Krishna from Mathura to every single home in south of India through his Naryaneeyam written in Sanskrit.
The works of these two great Saints drive devotion (Bhakti) through their works in a meta physical plane. It sets you thinking and appeals to the heart and soul of human beings through brain. I will try to understand these two works.
The Musical Description [ “Isai – இசை” ] of the event
Music in any language appeals to the heart and soul through the ears. This aural route requires that the lyricist/composer understands the nuances and brings out an integrated version of his thought processes about an event. An event like the dance of an young boy needs to be depicted taking into these factors.
The gentleman from Oothukadu who specialized in compositions in Tamil brought out a superb composition in Sanskrit about Krishna’s dance; ideally composed for the seamless integration of music with the dance movements. I will try and study the composition of Oothukadu Venkata Kavi.
The Dance [ “Natakam – நாடகம்” ] portrayal of the event
In this section we will watch three dance events. Dr. Padma Subramanyam is a living legend in the South Indian Form of Dance called Bharath Natyam. We will link with her depiction of the event as described by Bhattathri in Narayaneeyam.
Team led by Bhairavi Venkatesan of Sridevi Nrithalaya presents the dance as composed by Oothukadu Venkata Kavi.
The third dance by Janaki & Kalyani in Bharath Natyam style is for the composition by Purandara Dasa. This dance was performed at Guruvayur where Narayaneeyam was written.
These three dances are available in the social media. We will link up with them.These are just representative samples. Just type “Dances of India – Kaliya Daman”. You can view the dance in perhaps every single Indian Languages and in every type/style of Indian Dances like, Kathak, Manipuri, Kuchipudi etc.
Prabhu's Ponder 