The choice of male dancers with just one female artiste was a consciously crafted one in keeping with the theme – "Divya Astra" (divine weapons), the first of the Divya trilogy staged at the India Habitat Centre. It is difficult to judge whether the theme enhanced the dances or the dancers enriched the motifs. Each was an asset to the character they took upon, viz. the five potent weapons of ancient times that had far-reaching disastrous consequences than the present day nukes. To top it, these weapons were vested with powerful code letters (mantra) that was the prerogative of very specially ordained, skilled persons to ensure they were used with discretion.
The theme had a chronology of sorts; since Lord Brahma is the creator and since creation is the beginning, we had Himanshu Srivatsava dance the Brahmastra. He depicted the genesis of this weapon with swift, striking movements, commanding nritta and matching abhinaya that served in reinforcing the astounding annihilation of this super astra. The ‘srishti chakra’ refrain was embellished with varied abhinaya which was a pleasure to watch. The serpent hasta mudra as the dancer executed the jatis and was very impressive. The four Vedas originating from the four faces of the creator could have been shown turning towards the four directions rather than from a frontal position for greater clarity and variation.
However, the Vedic slokas for each of the Vedas bestowed a dignity to the presentation. The Katha vachan mode was a quaint post-script that revealed the use of the Brahmastra during Treta Yug by Sri Ram. Himanshu emerged as a dancer who could mould himself to the role he undertakes be it in pure dance or in the expressive (abhinaya) aspect of dance. His postures, moves, use of stage space, costume stand as testimonials to his potential as a dancer of calibre.
Vishnu being the protector, Sudarshana Chakra was naturally the second to follow Brahmastra. Mithun Shyam’s approach to choreography was at its creative best. Since the weapon was more in the form of a disc, it obviously moved in circular motion when released.
The artist based his entire Bharatanatyam in spherical, wheeling movements – a cutting edge technique in a traditionally linear dance form-that vested a dimension on this piece, as if personifying and picturing the velocity and propelling of the chakra. The Chakravaka raga further enhanced the poetry that flowed along with the dance.
Everything that the dancer undertook to interpret this weapon was artistically excellent, an evidence of his grip and involvement with his medium. The chanting of Sudashana Shatkam was an appropriate opening giving the right impetus to the rest of the narrative. It was a pleasure to watch Mithun circle the entire stage on his knees like a top in rapid motion as it was to see him manoeuvre his footwork to represent the chakra as long as he was on stage. His body kinetics was amazing especially when he bent his back like a bow as he aimed his arrow ready to get off the bow! The use of the chakra by lord Vishnu/Krsna-one to cut asunder Dakshayani’s lifeless body being carried by an enraged lord Shiva and another at Sishupal who went overboard in abusing Krsna upheld the artist’s abhinaya abilities.
The Pushpastra, essentially didn’t sound like a weapon, was illustrated by Anil Iyer to a string of melodious raga. The astra, a bow and arrow belonging to none other than Manmadha (Cupid), is said to be a constructive one nevertheless powerful in its own way.
The dance was, therefore, concentrated on expression and mime, where each arrow was shown to be made of a set of flowers like the lotus (aravinda), the blue lotus (neelothpala) and such other fragrant flowers. It’s a very romantic concept, this weapon of the love god that has the potency to drive anyone aimed at, to dizzy highs or lows! The Pushpastra was shown as being used on Manmatha’s consort Rati rather than on the Yogi Shiva in trying to help Parvati. This served as a relief from the other four impregnable weapons. The use of swar bhol at many places to substitute the mnemonic syllables went in line with the theme.
The all-powerful Pinaka (a bow belonging to lord Shiva) fell to Parshwanath Upadhyaye, an inimitable dancer who has the right balance of grace and vigour to fit the role. The description of the Pinaka was in itself pronounced through extraordinary dance – circulating the stage like a chariot (personification of Bhumi Devi with Brahma as charioteer and the sun and moon as the two wheels) to the utterances of the sollukattu (dance bhol), a sight beautiful to behold. So was his snake-like gyration to delineate Vasuki. Since the Pinaka was a combination of Agni at the helm and Vayu at the tail, Parshwanath’s footwork and mime did full justice to the intensity and swiftness of these two elements. The rigour of his movements gives way to mellow abhinaya as lord Shiva eschews the Pinaka which finally finds its way to King Janaka and becomes an integral factor to lord Rama and Sita’s wedding – an apt wrap-up.
Dakshina Vaidyanathan’s entry as Durga/Shakti was enthralling with her fluid presentation of all the mudras of Bharatanatyam in succession to the verse on samyuta hasta (Abhinaya Darpana) which conveyed that Devi as all-encompassing female power. The artiste, a vibrant dancer with infallible laya and nritta set the stage afire with her brilliance and pace, which are expected of her character as the wielder of the Trishul, a weapon that was fashioned out of the individual powers of the Trinity. There were two snags from regional point of view and also from the change of scenario: a Sanskrit song would have been greatly appreciated rather than a Tamil one, and when it came to depicting the spiritual connotation of Trishul as the Sushumna, Ida and Pingala nerves running within the spinal column, well, the pace of the psychic chakras being awakened by the grace of goddess could have been tempered down since spiritual awakening is a slow process and couldn’t be rushed through, even if it were in dance!
The finale was again an impressive Gayatri recitation to the goddess which lifted the show to a different level. Conceptualised and compered by Usha RK, "Divya Astra" had live orchestra with a compelling nattuvangam by Dr S Vasudevan, an emotive rendition by Venkateshwaran, commanding percussion by T. R. Keshavan, mellifluous flute and violin by Rajat Prasanna and Raghavendra Prasath.
