Bhavantarana (Immanence)

In You Tube, i came across a film titled ‘Bhavantarana’ made in 1991 by Kumar Sahani, on the legendary Odissi Dance Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra of Odisha. It features, among others, renowned Odissi danseuse Sanjukta Panigrahi and the famous Odissi dance exponent Kumkum Mohanty. The music is provided by the renowned musicians Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi (husband of Sanjukta Panigrahi) and others. Famous Odissi danseuses Daksha Mashruwala and Jhelum Paranjape have also been associated with the making of the film.

 

Bhavantarana (“Immanence”)

Director: Kumar Shahani
Year: 1991
“The point is, no film can be made on other arts as if it were some sort of social scientific question. You have to transform and violate the other art to some extent; through juxtaposition and montage, you violate the unity of that particular work, and you have to, because unless you do that you cannot achieve a kind of transcendence. As Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra said of my film, it is not a film ‘on’ him, but something which goes beyond him and beyond gestures; it is an interpretation.”
– Kumar Shahani.

Here is the video:

An Accomplished Odissi Danseuse Who Survived Cancer

I watch the classical dance programme telecast by DD Bharati in afternoons every day. Whenever i like a particular presentation, i note down the name of the artiste and later, i watch her/his dance numbers on You Tube and sometimes, find out more  about the dancer from Google. One day, in a programme produced by Door Darshan, Mumbai,  Subhada Varadkar was the danseuse. I very much liked her presentation.

Here is one:


 

Subhada first started learning Bharatnatyam. Then she learnt Odiss dance under the tutelage of the legendary Odissi dance Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra of Odisha. She was amazed by the nuances and subtleness of Odissi dance. 
 
From Google i came to know that she had survived an attack of ovarian cancer! The following is extracts from this.

Source: Google - The Times of India


During a performance in London in November 2006, Shubhada began to feel uneasy. "I was bleeding but assumed it was a regular menstrual problem since there was no pain." She flew back to India the next day and underwent a sonography. Her doctors were surprised that she had danced with such a large tumour, not even complaining of pain. She was 40 at that time.

Subhada's grandfather, Dr V R Khanolkar was the first dean of Tata Memorial's Cancer Research Institute. 


Although she was not allowed to practice, she conceptualised her dance, lying in bed. 

The reports came and these showed that she had two tumours, one in the ovary and another in the uterus. Fortunately, both were in the primary stage.

In January 2007, she started chemotherapy. She would schedule performances keeping the chemotherapy and radiation sessions in mind. She used to lock the dates for performances three weeks after chemo, because, by then the blood count would be back to normal.

While undergoing weekday radiation sessions, she  used to perform on weekends.


She tried to bring in positive rhythms in her body and mind. "Cancer treatment isn't just about access to the best drugs or therapy. It's also about how positively your body responds to treatment. Your state of mind plays a huge role its cure," Subhada adds.

The four chemotherapy sessions she underwent between January and April 2007, left her vulnerable.

Being a dancer meant that she had to be physically fit and look presentable. She was losing her hair, and even her eyebrows. The medication made her hands and feet go numb. While dancing, balancing the mukoot on a wig with nothing to latch on was a challenge. Her mother crafted a special toupee that could be tied behind the ears.She was determined that she would dance and afraid that if the truth about her health became known, she might not get any performance.


Later, months after her last chemotherapy session and when she was recuperating, Subhada  stopped hiding her cancer-survivor status. In 2008, she met another cancer patient who was finding it hard to accept the truth. The impact she made on the other, encouraged her to take up awareness as a cause, especially among other artists. She spreads such awareness about the disease.


"Early in 2008, I met a fellow cancer patient who was having a hard time accepting the truth. I tried to motivate her by using myself as an example. The impact I was able to make on her encouraged me to take up awareness as a cause, especially for the artist community," she adds. With dance being her only language of mass communication, she now routinely gives performances to spread awareness about the disease, communicating that although the cancer-treatment is difficult, it is curable.

She has written a book titled 'Mayurpankh' narrating her struggle and ultimate triumph.

My post titled 'Goddess of Odissi Dance' dated 29.09.2012, is about the legendary Odissi danseuse Sanjukta Panigrahi of Odisha who made Odissi dance what it is today. When she was at the height of her dancing career, she was diagnosed with cancer and succumbed to it in 1997 at the age of 53.

Here is another of Subhada's dance recitals:

Odissi Dance Guru Aruna Mohanty's Muses

On the 17^th October, 2015, i attended a seminar organized by the central Sahitya Akademi, on ‘Nári Chetna’ in which six eminent ladies who have earned name for their performance in the field of art like classical dance, vocal music, short story-writing, poetry etc. were invited to speak on their muses. One of my favourite Odissi danseuses, Guru Aruna Mohanty, was among them.

She started her talk with an explanation that as a performing artist, it was easier for her to ‘speak’ through her limbs like ‘mudras’, eye-movements, silent lip-movements, foot-work etc. but it was not as easy to speak by using the lips and tongue. However, she did speak wonderfully.

Her first muse was her mother. As a child, she had seen her mother worshipping, morning and evening, the basil (tulsi) plant on the chaura at the entrance to their house. The devotional and peaceful expression on her face was permanently etched in Aruna’s mind. So was the warmth of her pallu when Aruna as a child, used to snuggle close to her mother in evenings. She used to go for dance-class and whenever it was late in the evenings for her to return, her mother was there, waiting for her.  Aruna shared that this ingrained feeling about her mother in her mind expresses itself on her face when she portrays on stage, the role of mother Yashoda of Krishna.

Her second muse was an old lady who used to sell berries outside the gate of her school. One day, the old woman did not have the change to return when after buying some berries from her, Aruna gave her a currency-note. So she gave back the note asking Aruna to pay the next day. Aruna was a little reluctant to accept it back. “What if i don’t come tomorrow or day after tomorrow?”, Aruna put the question. To this, the old woman replied, “By looking at the eyes of a person, i know whether i can trust him/her.” Aruna recalls this expression on the old woman’s face, while portraying the role of Shabari in the tale of Rama. (I have written about this tale in my post 'Teen Deviyan' of Odissi Dance dated 17.09.2016.) 


There was an elderly man who used to put up a table near her house and iron the cloths of people in that locality. He had befriended her. Whenever she had a tired or grim face while returning from school, he used to ask, “What is the matter? Did you have a hard day at school today?” Or, “Did you not do well in the examination today?” One day, she had a fall and was limping. Seeing her in this condition, he carried her inside her house and handed her over to her mother. Aruna still remembers the expression of concern on this man’s face on such days and wears it on her face on suitable occasions on stage.

One of her friends had lost her seven-year old child and was heart-broken. This grief goaded her for long. Aruna met this friend after a couple of years. By that time she had regained her composure while Aruna still felt sad for her. This composure on her friend’s face inspired her to move on.
Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, who coached her the minute details and nuances of Odissi dance, has a lasting inspiration behind her achievements.

When she got married, she was afraid that her passion for dance might get curtailed by mundane matters and family-responsibilities. To her delight, her father-in-law told her on the first day that since dance was like breathing to her, she should never flinch from her first love. Equally supportive, are her husband and – later – her daughter. They show their confidence in her that like the bird who flies afar but never fails to return to her nest in the evening, she might give the full play to her career as a leading danseuse but would never forget to come back to them.  

Aruna added at the end that the greatest muses to her were the lyrists like Jayadeb who composed classics like Geet Govind which provide the backbone to her dance-numbers. She particularly mentioned the Odia poet the Late Mayadhar Mansingh whose lyrics she gives shape in dancing.
To me, her narrative seemed like a well-knit poem.

Recently, i chanced upon a video-recording of this programme in You Tube. Here it is:

'Teen Deviyan' of Odissi Dance

Srjan, the Odissi Dance School set up by the legendary Odissi Guru, the Late Kelu Charan Mohapatra and carried forward by his son, Guru Ratikanta Mohapatra and daughter-in-law Sujata, organized a 5-day dance festival from the 5^th to the 9^th September, 2016. The first day saw a unique dance number titled ‘Naari’ which saw the three leading ladies – Teen Deviyan’ – of Odissi dance, Guru Aruna Mohanty, Guru Meera Das and Guru Sujata Mohapatra perform together. It was like the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Sraswati!

Guru Aruna Mohanty runs her dance school Odisha Dance Academy at Bhubaneswar and Guru Meera Das has her Gunjan Dance Academy at Cuttack. Guru Sujata Mohapatra joined them in the presentation of ‘Naari’. I have written about Sujata in my post ‘A Legend in the Making’ dated 18.07.2014.

‘Naari’ presented three characters -  two from the Indian epic Ramayan, viz., Seeta, the consort of Lord Rama, the Shavari – the tribal woman devotee of Rama, and the third, the Indian historical character Meera, who considered herself as the consort of Lord Krishna. Aruna played the role of Seeta, Meera, that of the Shabari and Sujata, that of Meera.

Seeta, after being abducted by Ravana and got released by Rama after defeating and killing Ravana, was asked to undergo Agnipariksha – test by entering fire – to prove her purity and chastity, as she had been interned by Ravana. Then Rama, Seeta and Laxman returned to Ayodhya and Rama’s coronation as the King was performed.  At that time, a washer man’s wife had gone to her parents’ house without informing her husband and when she came back, he refused to take her back. She argued that when King Rama had accepted Seeta even though she had spent so many days in Ravana’s land, why she could not be accepted. When this matter reached King Rama, the epitome of justice, equality and rajadharma, he banished Seeta to a forest. When again Seeta was brought back to Ayodhya, Rama, true to his devotion to justice, asked Seeta to once again to undergo the ordeal of Agnipariksha. An exasperated Seeta appealed to Mother Earth – King Janaka had found her under earth while ploughing land- to take her back into her fold. A wide crack on earth appeared, Seeta entered into it and it was closed. This poignant role of Seeta was played by Guru Aruna Mohanty with the other danseuses accompanying her.  

Shabari – the tribal woman – was a great devotee of Rama and was eagerly waiting for the day when the Lord would set foot in her hut. When she came to know that he was indeed coming, she collected various berries in the forest to offer him. When he came, she sat him down reverentially and offered him the berries but before handing these over to him, she tasted each berry to find whether it was sweet or otherwise. She rejected those which she found not sweet and gave only those which were sweet, unaware in her devotion that what she was offering, was food already been partaken by her! Laxman was startled by this and told so to Rama. But Rama understood the feeling in her heart and gladly ate those berries. At the end, Rama blesses her and she gets salvation. The Sabari‘s actions and facial expressions were meticulously presented by Guru Meera Das.

The last portion of the dance-drama portrayed the devotion and complete surrender by the earthly person Meera to Lord Krishna, who considered herself as Lord Krishna’s consort, was portrayed by Guru Sujata Mohapatra, with all its nuances. 

These three parts were nicely blended in the presentation by the three high priestesses of Odissi dance form. When one of them was portraying her assigned role, the other two were accompanying her, creating the ambience. It was a very enjoyable and memorable evening.
 

An Odissi dance presentation by Guru Aruna Mohanty:




A presentation by Guru Meera Das:





'Ravan' - A Srjan Creation with Sujata Mohapatra as Sita and Ratikant Mohapatra as Ravan:





TAIL PIECE:
Remember the old Hindi movies ‘Teen Deviyan’ and ‘Teen Bahuraniyan’?

Daksha Mashruwala - Crossing Oceans

In my post ‘Introductionto Odissi’ dated 02.03.2015,  i have uploaded as the first video-clip, a lecture-cum-demonstration of how to learn Odissi dance by Daksha Mashruwala. A disciple of the legendary Odissi dance guru the Late Kelu Charan Mohapatra, she started her Odissi dance institute ‘Kaishiki’ in 1992 in Mumbai (then Bombay). The word ‘Kaishiki’ literally means ‘graceful style’ and Odissi dance has a lilting style.

On the 28^th August, 2016, I had the good fortune of watching the presentation of ‘Crossing Oceans’ a fusion of Odissi, Chhau and Contemporary dance forms choreographed by Daksha along with Raka Maitra.  It wove together 3 folklores, Greek, Australian and Japan, blended together. The legendary Greek hunter Orion, King’s prime huntsman, fell in love with the king’s daughter and once, in an intoxicated moment, made advances towards her. The enraged king cursed him making him blind. With Kedallion sitting on his shoulders and guiding his faith, he went to Lemnos where, with the first rays of the rising sun, he recovered his vision. Taking Artemis, the beautiful goddess as his partner, he resumed hunting. He grew vain and boasted that he would kill every beast on earth. Mother Earth sent a giant scorpion to kill him. In the end, the two killed each other.  Artemis placed Orion among the stars and Mother Earth placed the Scorpion in the opposite end of the sky.    

The second folklore depicted in the dance was the Australian lore of the Rainbow Serpent. In Dreamtime, the world was bare and lifeless. The Rainbow Serpent slept under the ground. One day, he woke up from his slumber and began to traverse the land. As he pushed his great body, he forced out hills and mountains. His tracks created river beds and lakes. He created clouds and rain with which trees sprung up and life-forms originated. Tired, the Serpent curled up in a waterhole and went out of sight. The living creatures that drank from the waterhole were careful not to disturb him. Often, he arched up his back and traveled to another far off waterhole. People could see him in the sky as a magnificent rainbow.

The final part depicted a Japanese folklore. A woodcutter used to eke out a megre living cutting bamboos. One day, he found a beautiful girl inside a bamboo-stalk. He brought her home. Seeing her, his wife became very happy. The villagers were curious. News about her beauty spread, the Emperor came and asked for hand in marriage. Kaguya, the girl, reciprocated his love but her heart longed to go back to her home, the moon, where she could truly be herself – free and boundless. Just as mankind remains in constant struggle between wanting to be free and yet be bound to earthly attachments, so was the moon princess torn between two emotions – freedom and attachment. So, on a full moon night, Kaguya leaves for the moon leaving behind the heart-broken village.

The audience was mesmerized by the programme. When it ended and the team led by Daksha Mashruwala came back to the stage to take the final bow, each one in the large audtorium filled to capacity, gave them a standing ovation and an endless applause.

For me, it became an evening worth remembering and recalling for times to come.      

Here is a trailer of the show:

Here are some excepts from Odissi Dance presentations by Daksha Mashruwal: