It was one-of-its-kind fests — the 15th edition of Lalit Arpan Festival. A rare phenomenon where the Gurus of classical dance genres came together on the same platform and interpreted a theme that was equally sui generis. The two-day presentation was like a tribute to the lesser known 14th Century poet Vidyapati whose verses on Krsna-Radha love reflect the ancient dance heroines (nayikas) who are generally typecast into eight nayikas by the treatise “NatyaSastra”. Vidyapati’s poetic language was essentially the archaic Mythili, hence difficult to comprehend, much less to interpret.
But seasoned artistes that they are, Shovana Narayan, Bharati Shivaji, Ranjana Gauhar, Madhavi Mudgal, Pratibha Prahalad, Geeta Chandran, Jaya Rama Rao and Vanashri and Manipuri exponents Singhajit Singh and Charu Sija Mathur not only took up this arduous theme and translated it into dance, but were able to educate both the connoisseurs and the uninitiated making it an edutainment. The romantic verses of Vidyapati, like Jayadeva (Gita Govindam) move from physical yearning to spiritual satiation (masculine and feminine energies inherent in nature), the crux of Vaishnav bhakti philosophy of the times.
In the concert, Shovana, dons the Vasakasajja, a heroine who conscious of her youthful body craving for union with her beloved Krsna decks herself with love intoxicating fragrances and beauty ingredients.
Shovana says, “Vidyapati was not the first to write on nayikas. It was Bhanudat who first wrote about the eight types of nayikas in pure Sanskrit. But I got this idea of bringing Vidyapati to present day audience with the help of Shalini Rao who was working on the poet. Things fell into place once I contacted my other dancer friends. We decided to delineate each nayika across six dance forms, four each day so that the difficulty of Mythili would be deciphered with clarity.” Her tihayees and abhinay together explored Vidyapati’s imagery to its full extent.
Madhavi Mudgal and Ranjana Gauhar, both Odissi exponents of calibre, took up the Virahotkantitha and Abisarika respectively. Ranjana’s entry with a lighted diya on her palms guarding it from the imaginary wind was breathtaking to say the least. She was the love-smitten nayika who ventured in the dark surreptitiously for a rendezvous with her beloved. Her darting glances, her tip-toed gait, her gestures conveying the cloudy monsoon sky and the moon to cooperate with her brought the abhisarika alive to us. The fragile Madhavi Mudgal’s frame fell into place for the Virahotkantitha, a love-obsessed maiden, who is forlorn in the gloomy rain-fed nature in pangs of separation from Krsna who has left the place with a promise to return. “I could interpret the nuances of this emotion with ease since I didn’t feel it difficult to understand Mythili. That is the reason I took up another piece that complimented the earlier one and I did more of abhinay so that it peters down to the audience who need time for the bhava to sink in, in order to appreciate,” says the veteran dancer.
To Mohiniattam maestro Bharati Shivaji donning the Proshitbhartrika (husband in absentia) seemed a challenge, more so during the poetry and the language, though the bhava (emotion) was intelligible. “It was my first experience. It gave a lot of scope to improvise. I added a pan-Indian facet which made Mohiniattam richer. It sublimates from shringara to bhakti. The body and its contours are very crucial to this form as whatever is expressed is reflected through body movements; otherwise it ceases to be Mohiniattam.”
Geeta Chandran as the Kalahantarita depicts Radha’s reaction to the sight of an exhausted (from love-making) Krsna’s but not before she mimes the “guilty” lord first to “Madhura madhu rithu madhukar panti” to Bharatanatyam mode. As the irate, pained Radha, Geeta said it all with her eyes and expressive mukhabhinaya while sizing up Krsna. The Swadhinabhartrika (one who held her beloved in subjugation) in the Kuchipudi format by Jayarama Rao and Vanashri went like a duet, while the Khandita nayika (enraged heroine) by Prathibha Prahlad, again in Bharatanatyam and Vipralabdha (duped one) in Manipuri style was depicted by Singhajit Singh and Charu Sija Mathur.
The dramatic element was provided by apsaras in the form of sutradar (narrators Shalini Rao and Shivani Verma), while Dhyanendra Mani Tripathi personifies the poet Vidyapati making for a complete picture. The show conceptualised by Shalini Rao was put together by Shovana Narayan and Jyotsna Suri. India Habitat Centre hosted the show where Shubha Mudgal, Paramjit and Arpita Singh were honoured with Lalit Arpan Samman for 2016.
