It has been just a few hours since she returned from Hospete after her performance at the prestigious Hampi festival. But she is all set for a conversation on dance. Seated in a semi-cushioned wooden chair, she signals to the waiter to delay the service as she is engrossed in talking about her production on Arishadvargas (the six passions of man), performed at Hampi. “These -- kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada and matsara -- need to be in balance. If it loses its proportion it will cause havoc as it happened to the mighty Ravana for desiring Sita, to Shiva for killing his own son in anger, to Ganga for her pride of overflowing….. If the power of arishadvargas is so strong that even the gods could not escape them, how aware human beings need to be in order to lead a balanced life! The awareness is like the balance achieved by a Kuchipudi dancer whose feet are on a plate and whose head is beneath a pot,” explains Veena Murthy Vijay gazing at the huge garden before her.
Veena Murthy Vijay is a familiar name in the dance circles of Karnataka . Apart from being an ebullient artiste in documenting, performing and teaching old texts, rituals and practices related to classical dance forms for over three decades, she is one of the foremost exponents of Kuchipudi in the State. She acknowledges her guru Korada Narasimha Rao for introducing the complete repertoire of Kuchipudi in Karnataka.
With overwhelming gratitude, she recalls, “Korada had to catch three trains from Ellur near Kuchipudi village to reach Bangalore in those days. After posting the letter, I used to wait for his arrival. My house for the next fortnight used to reverberate with jathis and adavus .”
As Veena was his only disciple in Bangalore at that time, she was lucky to pursue it in the age-old guru-shishya parampara. She elaborates: “Korada, after introducing me to a margam , not only made me understand its meaning but also made me learn the language (to read and write Telugu), so that I could comprehend other items by myself. The encyclopaedic approach to dance is what has given me strength and confidence to come back whenever I have moved away from it.”
Can the dance schools of today impart the kind of dance education which was possible in the guru-shishya tradition? Veena responds: “You see, to receive that kind of knowledge of dance, you need to first of all have the liberty of space and time, both in physical and mental terms. Nowadays, when dance schools are all institutionalised, it is difficult to conceptualise guru-shishya style of imparting knowledge. However, if one is deeply committed, one can carve a way for oneself regardless.”
Commenting on the current state of dance, she continues, “while it is welcoming to see so many dancers everywhere, it is depressing, at the same time, to watch the depletion of quality. It is all to do with the teaching methodology. Dance is taught as mere performance, neglecting its roots in philosophy, culture and tradition. Thus, we are able to see the labels everywhere, but rarely do we experience characteristic beauty of the art form.”
A dance pilgrimage
As a young girl, Veena performed Bharatanatya and Kathak learnt under various gurus like Nagabhushan, Lokaiah, Kittappa Pillai, Narmada, Venkatalakshamma and others. However, as her father was keen on getting her to learn Kuchipudi, she began her lessons at the age of 14. She reveals, “Like my father’s, Kuchipudi became my favourite too. I was fortunate to learn both Yakshagana and solo styles of Kuchipudi. However, my heart throbs for Yakshagana style as it possesses features that clearly make Kuchipudi stand out among other dance forms.” She elaborates, “It has majorly imbibed Loka Dharmi (realistic) approach unlike other dance forms that essentially embody Natya Dharmi (stylised) approach. As most dance forms were performed in royal courts, they are mostly shringara oriented and interpretative in nature. But as Yakshagana style of Kuchipudi (Bhagavata mela) was being performed in villages among common people, the content is usually folk or mythological. Even the language is the local one. Hence it has been rather easy for me to communicate the message to a larger audience through this form.”
In spite of being a dance form, ‘drama’ is an innate feature of Kuchipudi. The aspect of drama provides tremendous scope for enactment of prasangas/kathas (incidents). Therefore, the speciality of Kuchipudi is that “the form offers plethora of possibilities for storytelling. Prahlada Charite, Amba Ravana, Mahishasura Mardini etc. are more effectively enacted out in Kuchipudi than in any other form,” claims Veena.
Experimentations
The integration of some of the temple rituals that were performed by Devadasis in Andhra region can be seen in Kuchipudi. She explains, “Devadasis used to perform kautvams glorifying the goddess on procession and at the end of it, they would draw the figure of the deity’s convoy through their footwork.” This unique tradition that was taught to her by C.R. Acharyalu is now being carried out by some of her disciples like Anuradha Vikrant, Shama Krishna and others.
Other notable productions that she has choreographed are H.S. Venkatesh Murthy’s Chitrapata and Taara incorporating the Tibetan hymns. “Can you believe that the man who built the city of Bangalore could have written a Yakshagana in Telugu?” she asks. “With the guidance of BVK Shastry, we explored the creative aspect of Kempegowda in 1982. If I wore the hat of Ganga (in Kuchipudi), Usha Datta became Shiva (in Kathakali), Bhanumathi was Parvathi (in Bharatanatya) for that production,” she mentions.
Veena had chosen a short play by H.S. Venkatesh Murthy called Chitrapata for which the team had composed music, sung and played the instruments by themselves.
Taara became a new chapter in Veena’s journey. She was in the U.S. when the tragic 9/11 occurred, and the pain of watching agonised Veena. Though she felt like doing something, her hands were tied.
“In helpless despair, I happened to go to a monastery and witnessed Buddhist monks praying . I was moved by their generosity and confidence in bringing peace through prayer. I immediately invited some of the monks from Bylukuppe who came willingly with their unique instruments. The genre of music was mostly bhajan, on the goddess Ashtabhaya Nashini Taara.
The goddess is believed to help man face various fears that often steal his mindfulness,” narrates Veena.
The exploration of Tibetan belief and culture was deeply fulfilling for Veena. “It was while working on this project that I realised how close Indian and Tibetan mythologies were. S.K. Ramachandra Rao’s book on the comparison of Indian and Tibetan gods helped me understand Buddhist iconography ,” she recalls with gratitude.
As a key observer of Kuchipudi-Yakshangana and Karnataka-Yakshagana, she is presently in the middle of a comparative study to understand where they connect and depart. She has put together 20 new adavus that can be performed in both forms applying the drishti, khati bedhas and nritta hastas for which she was awarded with a doctorate from Duke University, North Carolina.
“While I experiment with new themes, I am often reminded of my guru’s word of caution. As Kuchipudi is nascent, a vast canvas is available for exploration. it also entrusts immense responsibility on the artiste to take it in the right direction. And for this, exploration into authentic literature is the only way,” she states.
