Day One at
Chidambaram
By Vincent D' Souza
Chidambaram is in the news on the eve of the annual Natynajali
dance fest.
"Is it tense and is it safe?", dancer Neeraja Srinivasan from
Chennai wants to know.
A small group led by local odhuvars have been wanting to recite
the Thevaram in thamizh in the thiruchitrambalam hall of the
temple.
They took their issue to court and having got a favourable order
and backed by orders of the state government, they enter the
temple to carry out what they believe is important.
The dikshitars who manage this magnificent temple dedicated to
Lord Nataraja don't seem to favour this idea. They maintain that
all rituals and prayers should follow the Vedic tradition.
Tensions rise.
Local politicians and activists join the odhuvar group and press
for the recitation of the Thevarams in the inner sanctum. Police
security is sought and provided, there are clashes, people on
both sides are arrested and locked up in jail.
Thankfully, issues are sorted out, the dikshitars make peace,
the others cool down and Thevaram is recited everyday.
For the local media, this issue is still fodder for close
reporting. So the dailies carry extensive reports and pictures.
Puttur V. N. Sampath and V. N. K. Ganesan and his group launch
the Natyanjali with their nadaswaram recital. And keeping to a
time-honoured practise, the students of Annamalai University
which is also synonymous with Chidambaram, perform first.
The Departmrent of Fine Arts and Music has had a colourful and
proud history. Nadaswaram vidvan Haridwarmangalam A. K.
Palanivel now heads it and he is here to see his students
perform - expectedly, one is a composition of nadaswaram artiste
P. S. V. Raja.
The stream of devotees to the temple begins to swell as dusk
falls on Sivaratri. And there are a sprinkling of foreigners. In
the southern courtyard of the temple, a Carnatic music kutcheri
is on. A group of dikshitars and well wishers here have been
hosting a music festival now every year on the eve of Sivaratri
and tonight, on stage are the violinists and brothers, Ganesh
and Kumaresh.
Back at the dance venue, the place has filled up. But there is
some disappointment for the Natyanjali Trust team as M. A. Baby,
a minister of Kerala, who was billed to be the chief guest,
cannot make it. Dance guru Dr. C. V. Chandrasekar steps in and
at the short, formal inauguration recalls his first trip to the
Natyanjali in the 1980s when he came here with his students of
the M. S. University, Baroda.
Shalu Jindal, a Kuchipudi dancer from Delhi impresses with her
performance. She is a sishya of the famed couple, Raja and Radha
Reddy. This year, the Sangeet Natak Akademi has sponsored at
least two artistes/groups for every evening of this five-day
festival. Which means that artistes from different parts of the
country get an opportunity to perform at this unique festival.
For three years now, KutcheriBuzz has been web casting excerpts
of the Natyanjali from Chidambaram. This provides rasikas the
window to watch the recitals minutes after they are over and
more importantly, get a feel of this atmosphere. Our team works
out from a abandoned Nandavanam and during the course of this
taxing work, explains to rasikas how the web cast works.
Dancer Shanmughasundaram drops by. He says he enjoyed performing
at the Natyanjali fest at the Mayavaram temple. "The crowd was
huge and that is great for a performer," he says. Today, the
Natyanjali circuit has grown bigger. Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur,
Kumbakonam, Thanjavur, Thiruvaiyaru, Thirunallar. . .
The circuit also provides an opportunity for dance schools to
tour and perform in the open air at famed temples. With parents
and friends tagging along with their wards, the caravans can be
big. Like the students of guru Amudha Dandapani of Coimbatore.
Their performance ends at 10.45 p.m. and they scurry into the
temple for a darshan and dart out to move on.
For the Anantanis from Ahmedabad, this has been a pilgrimage of
sorts. Shivangee is here to perform, guided by her mother a
senior dance guru who travels here despite undergoing a knee
surgery three weeks ago. "The atmosphere here is great with so
many people staying on to watch even at this late hour,"says
Shivangee's dad who has also caught up with a friend, a
professor at Annamalai University.
As the recitals continue past 2 a.m. on Friday and we pack up, I
realise that the Natyanjali also brings people together.
Videos of Day One are streamed on this site. Feel free to
share your comments here. Mail to
editor@kutcheribuzz.com
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