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‘It is this veneration and the daily religious and socio-religious services and ceremonies which have hitherto maintained discipline in the Hindu family and cemented it together. Their gradual extinction is tending to seriously disturb the harmony and happiness of the family among those who have advanced most on the Western path…….Western civilisation on the other hand, takes but little heed of spiritual life and seeks to accomplish the well-being of man mainly—if not solely—by the gratification of his senses, by adding physical comforts, by multiplying his wants and desires. With us, the death of desire is the birth of happiness. With the Westerns, the satisfaction of desire is the chief, if not the only source of happiness as it is understood by them. Our sages have sought spiritual development at the expense of the animal, the Western scientists seek the expansion of the animal life taking little account of the spiritual’,
As Śrī.Sandeep Balakrishna says here.
If we are to stem the steady decline of our civilizational corpus, what would be the best model to begin with, how would we conceive its potential design, where would we make a creative intervention positively, in what manner would we try and bring our past glory back? Wherein people are not mere citizens but aesthetes of the highest order, where one’s aesthetics does not merely serve epicurean tendencies but is based on the highest spiritual and philosophical ideals that our tradition holds as sacred. Where the connoisseur is also a patron and a performer. This idyllic scenario was put to test and implemented in Hyderabad last weekend to a rousing encore. From dance to music, puppetry to calligraphy, from hands on workshops to academic talks, every known creative fora was invited to participate, the theme being Rāmāyaṇa.
Why have yet another show on Rāmāyaṇa; IPS officer Hemant Pandey preempted this query by stating how Rāma is a matter of anubhava i.e. experience and not anveṣaṇa i.e. research or academic study. Hence in these three days of indulging in Rāma nāma (March 31st- April 2nd 2023 at the CCRT Auditorium, Hyderabad, Telangana) every activity was designed by Shankarananda Kalakshetra and Natyarambha with other associates, partners and sponsors, to evoke bhakti and śraddhā in the participants. Be it through Rāmacaritramānas pāṭha by Pandit Dilkash Bharti Sadanand Vishwakarma and Party all the way from Varanasi, be it the nagara saṃkīrtanā to the nearby Rāmālayam in Hi-Tech city lead by Smt. T.K. Saroja and Sujatha, or through Thyāgarāja ārādhanā by singing his Pañcaratna kṛitis lead by Smt. Sweta Prasad, or whether it was with a fabulous Puppetry show by Smt. Anupama Hoskere of the Bāla Kānḍa and the exquisite kolam (muggu) by Smt. Hema Kannan, or via indulging in meditative garland making for pūja by Shri. Rahul Teddy, everyone was absorbed in Rāma.
Is Rāma really a maryādā puruṣottama if he killed a woman, Tāṭaka, or Vāli, hiding behind the trees, some may question. Supreme Court Advocate Śrī. Sai Deepak, spoke on the concept of rājadharma and lessons from the Rāmāyaṇa which brought in thunderous claps and hoots from the audience. Smt. Ami Ganatra, who started off the Rāmāmṛita session of talks by various experts, explained satisfactorily that Rāma being the embodiment of dharma and ethical conduct, was bound by his duty to rājadharma; his kartavya as a king (even in exile) to protect people from adharma. An evil rākṣasī like Tāṭaka who attacked without provocation and ate humans was not a dhārmika being, let alone a ‘woman’, a rapist like Vāli who forced himself on his brother’s wife was not a dhārmika man. In fact getting rid of them was Rāma’s primary duty even as a kṣatriya if not as a king. As Smt. Sudha Seshaiyyan reiterated the Rāmāyaṇa is not a story of a good hero versus an evil villain, it is in fact a story about the sustenance of dharma. Sage Vasiṣṭha and his father Daśaratha both teach Rāma that it is not in the annexing of territories or going to war that makes a great king, but only by sustaining and upholding dharma is a great king made. Dr. Nagaraj Paturi provided more clarity by saying that reading the Rāmāyaṇa superficially or even academically, instead of indulging in our rituals and rites the way our ancestors did, we may conclude like Sheldon Pollock did that the Rāmāyaṇa is ‘othering’ and the Mahābhārata is ‘brothering’. Whereas the fact of the matter is that the Rāmāyaṇa has much more ‘brotherhood’ in it; be it Rāma’s filial bond with tribals, pakṣīs, rākṣasas, vanavāsīs, or vānaras. Here the cooperation is across the board and not limited to only humans! A Rāmāyaṇa performance is an enactment of our sacred narrative, Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa is not simply about the rasa (śriṃgāra being the main theme here) but also about extolling the guṇa, he added.
Chief Guest Hon’ble Minister of Finance Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman extolled the epic Rāmāyaṇa, and the ideal that Lord Rāma presents as a ruler and king to not just Indians but also to the rest of the South East Asian countries from Thailand to Vietnam. From the Ramakien of Thailand to Reamker of Cambodia to the Kakawin Rāmâyaṇa of Indonesia, even in Laos and Vietnam, Rāmāyaṇa is a celebrated dance ballet that is performed with much love and reverence; a story that is as universal as it is personal in its idealism. “Indian culture has been strongly influenced by the Rāmāyaṇa whether it is its old story telling, written texts, visual arts, dance, theatre, etc. Rāmāyaṇa has spread a wonderful fragrance in our daily lives.” she said.
Padmashri Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayanth’s dance company presented Bhāvayāmi Raghurāmam, which she choreographed to the Swathi Thirunal composition in a soul-stirring Rāgamālika, and was performed for the first time at the Rāmāyaṇa Kalpavṛikṣam.The dance ballet itself was as much a scintillating showcase of the clear and crisp performance of the talented dancers of Shankarananda Kalakshetra as it was the thrilling choreography by Ananda ji. In many ‘aha’ moments, the ballet, which was visually splendorous, conveyed the very well known story in a unique manner. Be it the boat that Guha rows with Rāmā, Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa in tow, or the typical gait of Mantharā, be it Hanumān or Śūrpaṇakhā (both parts played adeptly by Srividya Sripathi), or Rāvaṇa carrying Sītā away; with each set-piece, the freshness of the choreography stood out even while the Kalakshetra stamp was clearly visible. The form and lines were exact and in perfect coordination as is the hallmark of this hoary institution.
A point to be noted is that the nṛtta in this piece took the narrative forward. Given that this ballet conveys the whole of the Rāmāyaṇa in under an hour, which is no easy task in itself, each time Ananda ji took over the naṭṭūvāngam, the audience was presented with fast track feet literally taking us to the next sarga or kānḍa in the story, very similar to Kūcipūḍi. Especially the building of the Rāma Setu by Hanumān and other vānaras was a treat to watch. When Śūrpaṇakhā comes to pick a fight with Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa, the various side plays happening simultaneously made the nāṭya that much more enticing to experience, as the stage was made good use of, and one could pick and choose what and whom to concentrate on; a Rāma and Sīta engaged in loving togetherness there, a Lakṣmaṇa engaged in chores and sharpening his arrows here. The thoughtful choreography made use of the stage and space with dexterity.
It would have been good to have men play some parts in this ballet, but for this we need more men to take up the classical arts, especially dance. If they did, certain roles could be played by men without women having to resort to playing both parts. Unlike Kūcipūḍi where men played women’s parts in olden days, today we have women playing male parts due to the dearth of men taking up classical dance and the arts in large numbers, and with dedication. Also unlike the other dance form Vilāsīni Nāṭyam, the devadāsi dance of the Telugu states (or even Kūḍiyaṭṭam from Kerala), there was not much scope for detailed intricate abhinaya in this particular dance-drama.
As expected of classical arts of the bhāratīya jnāna paramparā, the dance ballet transported rasikās to subtle realms of the Rāmāyaṇa, connecting them to navarasas through nāṭya and sangīta. A person moved by such aesthetics and wanting to preserve it, to be a patron, is a nāgarika in the truest sense (Harsha V. Dehejia. The Advaita in Art), a civilised and refined person capable of letting go of the grossly mundane for the spiritually abstract, even while staunchly protecting and propagating what is available.
Indian Aesthetics, with its ‘age-old’ canons of rasa, dhvani, aucitya, and vakrokti has no significant role to play in the modern and post-modern world of literary criticism. This is an unfound objection. Every theory of art appreciation connected with expression (vakrokti), suggestion (dhvani), impression (aucitya) and experience (rasa)—developed by any school of thought at any point in time—finds its philosophical and applicational completion in the canons of Indian Aesthetics. The champions of modernity are preoccupied with socio-political and geo-cultural implications of Aesthetics and care little for pure art.
Pure art was made evident in the Hari Kathā rendition by Vid. Vishakha Hari in her navarasa Rāmāyaṇa. With a mixture of compositions in Telugu, Marathi, Tamizh and Sanskrit, she took a specific incident from the Rāmāyaṇa to evoke a particular rasa. For example the hāsya rasa is not usually associated with the Rāmāyaṇa, but there are many incidents including the antics of the vānaras which evoke laughter in us. All this was sung in specific rāgas associated with each rasa. Blessed by Mā Sarasvatī, Vishakha ji regaled everyone with her erudition, her stories, and her felicity with the svaras.
Meanwhile Dr. Anupama Kylash in her compering brought out various facets of Rāmāyaṇa Kalpavṛikṣam, the magnum opus of Śrī. Vishwanatha Satyanarayana garu, the first Jnānapīṭha awardee of the Telugu states. The variety of talks carefully curated by her helped in clarifying many doubts that the attendees had, and also taught newer aspects of this itihāsa that lay people are usually unaware of. For example Śrī. Vinay Varanasi spoke of Sītā from a śākta perspective. He spoke of how Sītā is ayonija, of how Devi, if we pay attention to our Purāṇas, is never born but is always adopted. Sītā kalyāṇam he suggested is indicative of the breaking of rudra granthi and merging of Śakti with Śiva. Sītā does not negotiate with dharma as a human would by saying I will pray for the fire on Hanumān’s tail to be put off instead she is extremely confident that it will be put out, and so she says śīto bhava hanumataḥ; ‘If I have been true to my vows, and if I am waiting keenly to be with Him, waiting for Him to come to me, and if that dharmātma (Rāma) knows this, may Hanumān (’s tail) be cooled’. Sītā knows how dharma works and uses it accordingly. Śrī. Surajit Dasgupta brought to light Krittibas Ojha’s Bāngla Rāmāyaṇa, he stated how it differs from Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa in twenty different ways and how it is a precursor to Tulsidas ji’s Rāmāyaṇa which got its popular narratives of lakṣmaṇa rekhā etc., from this Bengali version, these incidents incidentally do not appear in the original Rāmāyaṇa! Dr. Gauri Mahulikar spoke of the various Rāmāyaṇas written and sung by women writer-poets. Be it Chandrabati Rāmāyaṇa or the various folk songs by Marathi saint-singers, be it the beauty and richness of Molla’s Telugu Rāmāyaṇa, Gauri ji explained each with examples by deconstructing many couplets grammatically.
Smt. Ramaa Bharadwaj ended the sessions with her inimitable humorous storytelling of the various Rāmāyaṇas that appear globally. We learnt that China and Persia have their own version of the Rāmāyaṇa juxtaposed with their local lores. Malaysia, an Islamic country, too has its own Rāmāyaṇa, as does Philippines, a Christian country for all practical purposes. She spoke of how the Ramakien is studied and taught in the schools in Thailand even today.
It was exhilarating to listen to all the native scholarship which presented Rāmāyaṇa from the emic perspective, without reducing the grand epic to a soulless text to be laid threadbare with personal ego driven ideologies.
What started off auspiciously to the tune of the nādasvaram by Śrī. T.M. Ramachandrudu and Party, ended with a bang to the beats of the drums and the twangs of the guitar by Groove Culture. Abhilash Venkitachalam and Sai Vignesh (of Varāharūpam, Kāntāra fame) held the audience - old and young - spellbound with their wonderful renditions of the traditional kīrtanas by Annamaya, Bhadrācala Rāmadāsu, and Thyāgarāja. Many music lovers and singers in the audience joined the artistes to sing and dance the evening away calling out Rāma’s name in ecstasy; Paluke Bangāramāyaena, Adigo Alladigo, Banṭu Reeti, Sāmajavaragamana, Raghuvamśa Sudhā, Jagadānanda Kāraka, and many more. Hyderabad grooved in unison to the tunes of Rāma! Govinda! Viṭṭhala!
Once again the philosophical underpinnings of our belief systems shone when the open air auditorium resounded with a call to One-ness;Brahmam okaṭe parabrahmam okaṭe - brahmaṇ is one, all is one.
As mentioned in thisarticle previously, what we need are more such spaces to not only showcase sacred Hindu art but also to indulge in and experience them at a community level. With the loss of the temples as centres of culture, where regular festivities involved the whole town and townspeople, we, the residents of urban areas are at a disadvantage. If we have to make sure that our exceptional heritage is not lost irrevocably we must make time and space for such events to happen on a regular basis. We must give ourselves that freedom to revel in the name of Rāma.
What we did also celebrate was Saraswati as Śāradā; as a civilization, as a river, as a pīṭha. From Kalakshetra came Vitasta, performed lyrically by its students who brought Kashmir to Telangana. Ananda ji’s concept of bringing her alma mater to perform in the city after nearly three decades, of having a cultural showcase of Indic organizations such as Brhat to speak of the work we do, of bringing in Śrī. Parameshwara Raju’s fantastic calligraphy paintings on the Rāmāyaṇa, of having arts and crafts on sale, along with food stalls from Simply South, everything together made it a completely immersive experience. All in all it was a three day festival that hopes to be an annual event if shown enough support and encouragement from the sponsors. May we not be disappointed!
Not just Hyderabad, the whole of Bhārata deśa deserves such a feast at least once a year. Given that Bhagavān Śrī Rāma’s Janmabhūmi mandir is to be inaugurated next year, perhaps this may indeed turn into a reality.
Jai Śrī Rāma!