“Raavaiya Raa! Yudhamunakhu Ninnu Thallada Month-enchathan,” (Come! I will destroy you in the war) Hiranyakasipu played by Arvind Subramanian screams in anger. There has been a fiery samvada (verbal exchange) between him and Narasimha that has created an air of exhilaration. Hiranyakasipu finally collapses on the ground in front of the Lakshmi Narasimha deity in the temple. There is silence and an aura of trance; some people peeping amidst the crowd, whisper lines from the Sthamba Stotra. P. Ramaswamy, 82, who has been playing the role of Narasimha for the past 50 years is held carefully while the audience seek his blessing before his mask is removed; he now represents the Lord.
Melattur Bhagavata Mela Natya Vidya Sangam, led by senior Bhagavata exponent R. Mahalingam, performed ‘Prahlada Charitramu,’ of Melattur Venkatarama Sastri in the illumination of traditional oil lamps as part of the Narasimha Jayanti Utsav.
Opening with a Melaprapthi that came as an overture to the drama, the play opened with K. Arunachalam playing the role of Konangi or the first character to appear set to Khambodi ragam, Chatusra Eka talam. Anand Subramanian showed his confidence in nritta by taking continuous sequence of the Thodaya Mangalam and Shabdam after which M. Swaminathan entered as Ganesa. It was interesting to watch the natural movements of the elephant headed God and at the end, a Bhagavatar performing a puja, with flowers and aarati.
The real story began with S. Gopi, Kattiakaran, who wielding a stick, warned the audience to be silent and heralded the arrival of the king. What stayed in the mind was the demonic entry of Hiranyakasipu. Raga Devagandhari was juxtaposed to Attana, conveying the grace of Leelavathi (Prahlada’s mother) played by S. Nagarajan. It is to be noted that Attana, generally a raga used for veera rasa is used in Bhagavata Mela for the entry of female characters. Nagarajan is naturally talented and well equipped with the right presence of mind to meet any audience. As Prahlada, eight year old, N. Hariharan, son of Nagarajan, captivated the audience with his innocent devotion.
Sukracharya might have convinced the audience but not Hiranyakashipu, whose anger against Prahlada reaches its peak. “Hari Needi Vairambhu,” a song through which Leelavathi laments on the stubborn nature of Hiranyakasipu was a fine example of the rare Ghanta raga.
In natya, comedy or hasya plays an important role. M. Swaminathan lightened the mood with his spontaneity while teaching Prahlada to chant Hari’s name. “Hari Bhajane” in ragam Manji was youthful. The teacher gives up on realising that Prahlada’s dedication to Hari is absolute.
Hiranyakashipu orders snake charmer (R. Subramanian) and wrestler (Surya Swaminathan) to throw Prahlada off a cliff but Bhoomi Devi cradles him. Hariharan moved the audience with his bhava in “Deva Deva Ithai Samayam Aiya,” beautifully rendered in Purvikalyani. An enraged king breaks the pillar. Out comes the Lord, giving a dramatic climax to the play.
All through the play, dwipadas (couplets) recited by scholar N. Srinivasan, who also rendered vocal support added a fantastic rhythm to the play. Nattuvangam was sharp and bold by Herambanathan and vocal by Murali Rangarajan and Kaliya Moorthy was lilting. Overall, with Sathish Kumar on the mridangam, Vinod on the flute, K.V.S Gurumoorthy on the violin and Rajendran on special effects, there was evidence of good team spirit and spontaneity.
However, there lacked a coordination between the dancers and the orchestra at times, but the fact that the performance was passion driven and was an act of ritual worship made up for the small flaws here and there. On that day, they lived the characters they played. All the actors wore a thread on the day of the performance and ‘Narasimha’ fasted the entire day.
The next day when one walked in the temple complex where neither the lamps nor the carpets adorned the performance space, but a few empty chairs and bamboo sticks lay around, one could still feel the characters walking past, the dialogue vibrating and the moment coming alive again.
Some moments indeed survive the test of time.
