Tripura Sundari Dance and Music festival held on the eve of the Festival of Lights on the precincts of the 16th Century temple of Tripura Sundari at Udaipur started on a promising note.
Every nook and corner of the temple and the open spaces all around dazzled the eyes of tourists and visitors with magic lights and the moonless night made things interesting as it is when the Goddess is worshipped, because she dispels all that is evil and evil is rife when the night is pitch dark.
The priestly clan of the temple were brought from Kannauj, when ‘mother’ was brought by Maharaja Dhanya Manikya from Chittagong. Thus Tripura Sundari, the consort of Shiva, was installed in Udaipur. Chakraborty was the title given by the king to the Pandey priests who are into performing the daily rituals of worship. Worshipping the Gods through sangeet has been an intricate part of temple prayers for the Sanatan Dharmis. Here too it was no exception.
After the red dhoti clad priest completed his Sandhya Aarti with dancing steps, the festival in praise of Tripura Sundari Mata started. Not a chair of the hundreds went empty as the people thronged to the performance area. Amar Ghosh sang in praise of the Devi through the genre of music known as ‘Shyama Sangeet’. Well known and talented mridangam guru Sri Venkata Rao had come all the way from Vishakhapatnam with his ghatam disciple M. Kamesh. They were accompanied by M. Ramacharan on the violin. Sri Rao had taken the trouble of composing a Varnam specially for Goddess Tripura Sundari in teen taal.
Dr. Ardhanareeswara Venkat of Hyderabad showcased his unique choreographic work Ardhanareeswara in the Yakshagana format. The concept of Shiva Parvati being inseparable from each other brings harmony in the world. Complete discarding of ego between Prakriti and Purusha keeps the balance of the world was the conveyed message. It was a challenging piece, where Sri Venkat had to don Shiva’s attire on one half of his body and female attire on the other half and perform Tandava and Lasya alternately. Never for once did he mix up the two. Parvati’s anger was boundless, because Ganga dwelt in his locks. He solved things by giving space to Parvati in the left half of his body. Swapna Sinha, a disciple of Kalavati Devi, performed gracefully Radha Nartanam and Krishna Nanichuri.
Tripura has no problem in switching from Shaiva to the Vaishnava concept of dancing in front of the goddess. To start with the sanctum sanctorum of the Tripura Sundari temple worshipped Vishnu. The king however had no problem in replacing it with the deity of Tripura Sundari, in accordance to his dream, even as early as 1501. The oneness of God head is recognised by the people of Tripura.
Flautist Babul Debnath and Carnatic vocalist Sruti Ravali delighted Tripura Sundari’s devotees with their music. The flautist’s rendition of Kirtangi tunes were delectable. Sruti’s Ganapathy Prarthana in raag Natai and taal ektali caused aesthetic delight. She has mastered her art at quite an early age. The rendition of Bal Murali Krishna’s Onkarkarini was flawlessly sung.
Boby Chakraborty, Kuchipudi dancer and this year’s Bismillah Khan Awardee from Central Sangeet Natak Akademi, performed Shiva Stuti for this festival, leaving no stone unturned to present the form in the Vempati Chinna Satyam style which she has imbibed and practised to perfection. Sri Bedanta Vikash Dutta, a disciple of Guru Jatin Goswami performed Sutradhari Nach. In the second dance he related the story of Rama Sita and Ravana very stylistically.
Rina Jana is no new name in the Odissi firmament. You may see her any number of times and still feel the freshness of her style. A student of both Sanjukta Panigrahi and Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, she is blessed with dancing feet and great emoting power. She started with Hamsadhwani Pallavi showcasing all the intricate nuances of the genre and resembling the sculptural poses etched in temple walls. “Braja ki asichu choro” –‘the kidnapper is at your door waiting to capture you if you do not go to bed immediately’ had no effect on the impish child Krishna and the mother was at a loss. The emotions of both mother and child was vividly shown by Rina. The success of the programme lay in the admiration of the rasikas, which was boundless.
