Yogesh Pawar

Sarva Mangala Maangalye Shive Sarvaartha Saadhike |

Sharanye Traiyambake Gauri Naaraayani Namostute ||

Thou are the auspicious Shiva (Spouse of Shiva) the bountiful. I prostrate myself at the feet. O - Tryambaka (Spouse of Tryambaka - Shiva who has three eyes). Gauri (the one with fair yellowish complexion, Parvati), Narayani (the sister of Lord Narayana).

Whether Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Mohiniattam, Kathak or Manipuri, no Indian classical dance form can be removed from its mystical aspect. “The Cosmic Dance that we are all part of cannot be possible without the Divine Power or Shakti,” says leading Kathak exponent Uma Dogra who adds, “which is why I’m not surprised that the celebration of the feminine principle or Devi is of such paramount importance across disciplines.”

But what does the artiste think of as she goes about interpreting the Goddess through mudras, abhinaya and pure dance? “She is the Mother Manifest, strong and powerful, beautiful and feminine, at once, fierce and fawning. The very notion lends itself to dance in a way that is so unique and yet so universal in its reach,” says Odissi guru Jhelum Paranjape. “There is so much scope for the dancer to depict Devi in the splendour of all her forms. The dancer has to utilise all the physical tandav and lasya moves and aspects of her style, along with subtle nuances and expressions, to bring the Devi in her full glory to the audience.” She quotes a verse describing Laxmi to illustrate her point, “Namastestu Mahaamaye Shripeetha Surapoojite/ Shankha Chakra gadaahaste Sri Mahalakshmi Namostu te. (I bow down at Thy Lotus Feet/ Thou art the destroyer of delusion and the source of all prosperity/ who is worshipped by all the Gods/ who holds in her hands the conch shell, the discus and the club/ Oh, Mahalakshmi, I bow down to Thy Lotus Feet.)

Leading Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer Alarmél Valli echoes Paranjape’s views. “Like my dance, Bharatanatyam, which while being deeply spiritual never stops being vibrant, joyous and sensuous, the Mother Goddess is all that and much more,” she says and explains, “Even with the Goddess you cannot divorce sensuality and turn Her into something rarefied and inaccessible. From the subliminally spiritual to the vibrantly physical, from the purely intellectual to the intensely emotional you run the entire gamut when you depict the Goddess. At its most intense level, it becomes a joyous prayer with one’s very being.”

Is this not too esoteric and removed from contemporary reality?. Radha Reddy the reknowned Kuchipudi exponent disagrees. “If I look closely I see Devi around me… Women like Mother Teresa who I can look up to, ones who inspire me, motivate me to move ahead in life with positive energy. These are values that come down in our tradition where the mother who nurtures and teachers or guides you are both Devis,” she says.

But why is the Mother Goddess so ferocious in many of her forms?

Dogra laughs at the question. “The ferocious forms seem to also inspire the maximum venerance,” she points out, “there are many compositions devoted to fierce forms of Shakti like Kali, Durga and Chamunda. The fact that they vanquish evil always makes us respect them.”

Valli agrees that the compositions paying homage to fiery Feminine Principle have always struck a special cord with audiences. “The sheer dynamism and force of the words and images it conjures is enough to give you goose bumps and if this is being re-created on stage then the effect can be enormous,” she points outgoing on to demonstrate with the first verse of Adi Shankarcharya’s Mahishasurmardini stotra, “Ayi giri nandini, nandhita medhini, Viswa vinodhini nandanute/ Girivara vindhya sirodhi nivasini/Vishnu Vilasini Jishnu nute/ Bhagawati hey siti kanda kudumbini/ Bhoori kudumbini bhoori krute/ Jaya Jaya hey Mahishasura mardini/Ramya kapardini, shaila sute. (Victory and victory to you/ Oh darling daughter of the mountain/ Who makes the whole earth happy/ Who rejoices with this universe/ Who is the daughter of Nanda/ Who resides on the peak of Vindhyas/ Who plays with Lord Vishnu / Who has a glittering mien/ Who is praised by other goddesses/ Who is the consort of the Lord with the blue neck/ Who has several families/ Who does good to her family/ Who has captivating braided hair/ Who is the daughter of a mountain/ And who is the slayer of Mahishasura.)”

“We have had a culture of Shakti worship which predates the Aryan civilisation. How can that go away? Later, consortification where Goddesses became spouses of the Godsmay have tried to make them mere partners of their Lords but in those matriarchal times it was the women who wielded power and it is not surprising that they were worshipped the way they were,” she explains and speaks fondly of the Goddesses who have made a permanent place in her heart. “I can pray anywhere but there is some thing ethereal about the beauty of the Kanyakumari Amman, the Devi at Kanchi and the small Shankmukh devi temple at the beach on Trivandrum which will make me want to keep going back.

Always one to pick up compositions dedicated to her ishtadevta she speaks of one where the devotee treats the Goddess as her daughter. “Come to me she pleads as she tells her, ‘I will not draw kaajal on your lotus eyes, I will not put put a tika on your crescent forehead, I will not bedeck you in silken raiments and finery and refuse to play with you if you don’t come to me,’ she says and goes on to plead, ‘Oh toddler of the Himalayas you are the Mother of all that is, Why have you forsaken me so?” Valli explains how this movement from treating the Goddess as daughter and then going into complete surrender at her feet makes this composition from Sangam literature her most favourite.

But its getting late. The ankle-bells are tied, the curtain has risen, the tanpura picks up, the flute joins in the first alaap and its time for her to step from the wings onto the stage. From danceuse to Devi….