Shiva Shakti Dance Academy’s leader or rather dance director, Jodharam Kumar is a third generation Purulia Chhau dance performer-cum-teacher-cum-costume designer. Everything connected with the form is personally supervised as well as executed by him. Apparently only the face of the mask worn by Purulia Chhau dancers ––which is fashioned out of clay –– is sculpted by the Sutradhar family, whose profession it is and who are known for their ingenuity and artistic tradition.
Kumar, the artist from village Matkuma of Purulia, practically breathes his art. He is either busy making the elaborate head gears, which differ from character to character – much like Kathakali or costume planning, teaching, choreographing and enriching the existing repertoire by borrowings from other forms, while remaining rooted to his own Chhau form. Or he sings and plays the instruments associated with Chhau and does sundry other things required for the success of the show. He was in Kolkata recently along with his group at the behest of ICCR Kolkata to perform “Shumbha Nishumbha Badh” at Satyajit Ray Auditorium of Rabindranath Tagore Centre of the ICCR.
In an interaction, Kumar spoke about Chhau and his troupe’s performance and the condition of Chhau dancers.
Excerpts:
In Guru Gopinath choreographed “Shumbha Nishumbha” in Kerala Natanam style, the duo were bestowed immortality by the gods on the condition that, they could be killed by each other only if they fight each other over Mohini, who is Devi sent by gods. In your drama Devi came in the form of Kali and killed the brothers as well as all their evil followers like Chanda and Munda and others.
Yes! There are many versions of the story. My story, which I staged, is from Shiv Puran. The followers of the two asuras Shumbha and Nishumbha are representative of all the evil qualities possessed by man and it was left to the Devi to cleanse the world. It was Brahma who pleased with the thousands and thousands of years of tapasya by the two asuras granted them their wish of enjoying immortality. They could not be killed by any man. However, Brahma had never said that they cannot be killed by Devi. So he invoked Devi to cleanse the world of the evil asuras.
How were you able to achieve the awesome formation of pyramids in the drama?
In reality we have adopted making elaborate pyramids formations from Raibense and Natua dance forms, which are also martial dance forms of Bengal but performing somersaults atop them is our very own.
The animals you used in your drama previously were rather small but the lions in Shumbha Nishumbha were gigantic!
We were influenced to adopt this idea of making huge animals from the Chinese.
How do you perform all kinds of acrobatics with your masks, which look heavy and unwieldy?
You are right. The weight of the masks varies between five and seven kilograms. Only intense practice can enable dancers to to move about in an agile manner on stage and perform somersaults and acrobatics.
Could you recall some of your memorable performances?
I cherish the memory of the Republic Day parade of 2014, held at New Delhi, when I performed the pala of Mahishasura Mardini along with my troupe. I was given just one-minute and five seconds to showcase it to the President of India. It was a tall order, but somehow we managed it and bagged the first prize for it that year. Our joy knew no bounds. It has been a milestone in our lives.
How sustainable is Chhau dance as a profession?
I am totally involved in my profession as a Chhau dancer and have no other profession. After passing my Madhyamik examination, equivalent to Class 10, my father inducted me into his profession as a full-fledged artist and I have been at it ever since.
However, it is difficult to make two ends meet just by being a Chhau dancer. So there are performers, who toil by day as farm hands and do other odd jobs and burn their midnight lamp to remain a dancer. Such is their passion.
Our Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, has sanctioned ‘Bahal Bhata’ from the State for Chhau artists from age 18 to 60, to compensate their earnings. After 60 the artists are given pension.
Recently, I was awarded by her the first award of my life, the “Sangeet Samman Puroshkar”. It was a proud moment for me and my family.
